Improvements in Saddles, chieny asigu
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1895-Accepted, 6th July, 1895
Improvements in Saddles, chieny asigu
I, ERNEST GRFENE CONE, of East Hampton, County of Middlesex, and State
of Connecticut United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same 1- to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
My invention relates more particularly to the class of saddles that are adapted
for use on velocipedes and like vehicles of that general kind, and the object of my
invention is to provide a saddle with a flexible seat that shall be strong, light,
durable, elastic as well as flexible, and possessing capabilities of adjustment to the
surface of the body in contact with the seat which shall tend to prevent chafing
and shall be cool and comfortable to the user
To this end my invention consists in a frame having in combination seat made
of spring wire peculiarly constructed and attached to the frame, and it further
consists in the details of the several parts making up the saddle as a whole and in
the combination of such parts as more particularly hereinafter described and
pointed out in the claims
Referring to the accompanying diawings
Figure 1 is a top view of a saddle embodying my invention
Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the saddle
Figure 3 is a detail rear view of the saddle frame
Figure
4 is detail side view of the saddle frame
Figure 5 is a detail view on enlarged scale in cross section through the cantle or
back part of the frame
Figure 6 is a detail view on enlarged scale of a part of the coil making up
the seat
Figure 7 is detail view showing the coil extended by a lengthwise strain
Figure 8 19 a detail diagram view illustrating one half of the elastic seat
In the construction of a bicycle the saddle forms an important part but being
removably secured to the frame of the bicycle forms a distinct article of
merchandise, and as such many different forms have been made and put upon the
market, the greater number comprising a fiame usually of metal and a covering
or seat stretched between parts of the frame and usually made of leather
In the earnest attempt that is being made by manufacturers and riders to reduce
the weight of the bicycle as a whole to the minimum, the saving of weight in a
saddle is an important feature In prior saddles having the sent of leather or like
material a constant objection has been the tendency of the leather to stretch, to
become distorted, and to assume a shape which cuts and chifes the user, and a
further objection is found in the warmth of the leather surface which has been
practically continuous except for a lengthwise opening along the center
It is also known in the pilor art that a bicycle saddle can be made with a frame
having stretched across it a seat made of individual coils of spring wine and of
other elas ic material, but such a construction of saddle has failed of success and
has not come into use for the reason that the large size of the coils required to
give the needed strength to support the rider has added to the weight and also
served as a distinct irritating feature

page_text: In the practice of my improvement the coil is made of very small diameter, two
or more strands being nested together in the coi! A continuous length of coil is
preferably used so attached to the pommel and cantle as to arrange the coils
preferably in pairs side by side and almost in contact with a sufficient space
between the pans of coils to afford the desired ventilation, and these coils are
attached to the frame by a method which enables a comparatively light frame to
be used and the coils to be held under a sufficient tension to maintain the normal
shape of the eat and to afford to the coil the desired resiliency which will enable
the surface to change to meet the pressure of that part of the body applied 10 and
in movement on the seat and at the same time to enable the spring to restore the
original or normal shape of surface of the seat when the pressure is removed
In the accompanying drawings the letter a denotes the fiame of the seat and it
is preferably made of a length of wire or small bar of metal, as steel bent to shape,
and with the ends united either by welding, brazing, soldering or any other
desirable manner This frame is biond at the rear part forming the cantle b, has
a nariow portion terminating in the pommel d In the horizontal plane the
frame is dished or bent downward into something of a V-shape the lowermost
portions el being near enough together to enable the fiame to be secured as by
means of a clamp e to the seat post of a bicycle, or to a rigid part of the frame of
any vehicle to which the sent may be attached
Along the cantle banchor points fare secured and these points are preferably
arranged at even intervals apart and are made of metal sufficiently flexible to
enable them to be bent downward to firmly hold the coil of we passed around
each anchor point
The front portion, or pommel, of the frame is also provided with these projecting
anchor points firmly secured to the frame and so arranged as to form pomts of
support for the front ends of the coils of the fabric of which the seat is composed
The fabric of which the sen is composed is a coil of wne preferably continuous
and each individual length of the coil g is composed of a number of individual
strands g', g, nested together A spiral foined of we wound to shape has a
resiliency after lengthwise extension of the coil dependent upon the material of
which the wire is made and the diameter of the coil It is possible by a tensile
strain upon the coil to extend the convolutions such a distance from each other as
to cause the metal to set and to take all of the resiliency out of the coil For the
purpose of a sent for a saddle it is desirable to make the coil of very small diameter,
using for this purpo e a wire of comparatively small gauge, and it has been found
by experiment that a coil having a diameter of 1/20 inches made of number
28 gauge wire, and of German silver will stand a tensile strain of about nine pounds
before becoming et If two strands of wire are coiled up together side by side
they nest with each other, as shown in the enlarged detail view in Fig 6 of the
diawings but it is evident that if the ends of the respective coils are held and a
tensile strain be exerted the resistance to the extension will be twice nine pounds,
or eighteen, for the single strand By so nesting the coils the added strength of a
coil of comparatively small diameter is gained, and at the same time a degree of
tensile strain pern itted which would distoit and set a coil made of a single strand
More than two strands may be coiled up together if desired and the same principle
followed out securing a greatci tensile strength of the coil without departing from
the invention
In order to briefly describe this construction I have termed each length a
compound coil, meaning by that that it is composed of more than a single strand,
and in the practice of my invention a continuous compound coil is produced of
sufficient total length to extend back and forth across the top of the frame and to
form the seat, the lengths of coil being looped around the several anchor points on
pommel and cantle in alternation forming a surface which is of an outline as shown
in the drawings, the side parts extending down about the pommel and forming the
skirt of the saddle
In fitting such a seat outo the frame the coil is first bent on a form so that

page_text: adjacent coils are formed of suitable length, and hen beginning either at opposite
ends on at the center, length after length of the material is passed over the anchor
point, either working from the center outward, or from the sides inward
If an
ittempt is made to secure this spring coil to the seat working altogether from one
side the strain is sufficient to distort and bend an extremely strong frame of steel
wire but by attaching the material to the frame in the manner described the
strains are balanced and a frame can be used of proper diameter to secure
sufficient igidity of fiame to support the strain and at the same time make the
saddle as a whole extremely light
Where the strand bends around the anchor points the latter is bent downward, as
shown in Fig 5, and secures the strand firmly in place In order to aid in the
wear a packing of leather is placed along the cantle and pommel and a finish k
also of leather placed over that, each anchor point extending through a hole in the
cushion of leather or like soft material The interposition of this leather cushion is
of considerable advantage as forming of itself a soft seating surface, and at the same
time permitting a free action of the elements of each coil up to the anchor point
By constructing the seat or covering layer of the saddle of the continuous coil of
wire, as described, I am enabled to use wire of small gauge, coils of sinill diameter
and therefore to place the coils side by side in pairs so that they afford mutual
support, and the advantage is obtained in almost every instance, even where an
object of quite small surface area is pressed upon the saddle, of the resistance to
the pressure by two coils at least, these two coils having a tensile strength of four
single wires in case the compound coil is made up of two wires, and of the sum of
the individual strands where a larger number of separate coils than two is used
By the practice of my invention I produce a seat which is at all times flexible so
that it yields readily in all directions, is elastic, has the coils formed so close
together that there is no chance to pinch any article of wearing apparel between
them resilient so that all parts of the surface are restored to their original
position as soon as the pressure is removed, is cool, strong and durable, and, as has
been ascertained by actual experiment in which the saddles have been used in many
thousand miles of riding, is a form of surface which will absolutely prevent chafing
by heating the surface of the body in contact with the seat
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inveu-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1 The method of constructing a saddle, which consists in forming a rigid frame
to shape with raised pommel and cantle portions, providing the pommel and cantle
with anchoring points for the seat fabric, then stictching across the saddle elastic
and flexible coils, two or more lengths being attached simultaneously on opposite
sides of, and working towards or from, the centre line of the saddle frame, all
substantially as described
2 The method of constructing a saddle, which con ists in forming a rigid frame
to shape with a raised narrow pommel and a broad cantle portion, providing the
pommel and cantle with anchoring points for the seat fabric, then stretching across
the saddle a continuous elastic and flexible coil of wie, bending around the
anchoring points and attaching the coil simultaneously on opposite sides of, and
working toward or from, the lengthwise centre-line of the saddle, all substantially
as described
3 In combination, in a saddle, a frame with raised pommel and cantle portions,
and a seat suspended therefrom, the seat cops sting of a compound elastic and
flexible coil of wire, the strands nested together and the coil extending from
pommel to cantle and secured thereto, all substantially as described
4 In combination, in a saddle, a frame with raised cantle and pommel, flexible
anchor points secured to the pommel and cantle, and a seat composed of a compound
elastic and flexible coil, of strands of wire nested together, in a continuous length

page_text: stretched back and forth from pommel to cantle and secured to the flexible anchor
points which are bent down to secure the seat to the frame, all substantially as
described
ERNEST GREENE CONE
D Young & Co,
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings, London, WC,
Agents for the Applicant