Year: 1897

page_text: We, CHARLES ALBERT MILLER and FREDERICK JOHN MILLER, Managing
Directors of H. Miller and Company Limited, of Miller Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:
This invention relates to inflators or air pumps, principally for use in connection
with cycles, motor cars and the like, and has for its object, to produce a portable.
step pump, having the advantages of large stirrup inflators so far as rapid inflation
is concerned, whilst being of moderate weight and convenient for carrying upon a
cycle or the like.
Our invention consists in providing such inflating instruments with a combined
and detachable foot, rest or step and flexible connection, which, when in use, is
screwed upon the fore end of the pump, and when out of use, is unscrewed and
secured to the handle or grip in such a manner that the said connection part passes
into the hollow after and open end of the piston rod, whilst the step or stirrup lies
snugly against and partially embraces the handle or grip.
Thus the inflator consists of a barrel having at its front end, a cap carrying an
outside screwed and axially bored nipple or stem, whilst the other and after end
has a cap which forms a gland wherethrough the tubular piston rod fitted at its
inner end with a cup-leather or other piston and at its outer end with a tubular
grip or handle, works. The said after end of the piston rod is open and is inside
screwed at the mouth part, to take an outside screwed and axially pierced nipple
or pipe extending from the inner side of the cross-end of the stirrup or step frame,
and to the extreme end of this nipple, the inner end of the flexible connection,
which passes between the sides of the frame, is attached. The hole through the
frame cross-end and nipple is inside screwed to take upon the nipple at the fore
end of the barrel.
The stirrup, rest or step consists of a two-sided frame, whose inner ends are
connected by the cross-head before mentioned and at the outer ends by a semi-
circular bridge or half-piece, whose inside diameter is a little greater than the
outside diameter of the grip.
When in use, the step or rest is screwed on the barrel fore end and the step can
then be placed upon the ground, and steadied by the foot bearing upon the semi-
circular piece, and the end of the flexible connection is turned outwards and
connected with the tyre valve when inflation can be performed. Then unscrew
the conuection invert it, and pass or thread its loose end through the open back
end of the grip and into the hollow of the piston rod. The nipple at its shank end
is screwed into the tapped mouth of the piston when the sides and bridge-end of
the step or rest frame lie snugly up to and partly embrace the grip so as to be out
of the way when not required for use.
If necessary it
may be made detachable from the step or rest.
The step or rest frame may be made by casting or from sheet metal, it is
fashioned out of a strip having an eyed middle part and its ends coming at right
angles into an figure, then when the sides are folded up staplewise, the
:

page_text: ends of the L pieces are brought together and brazed, soldered or otherwise
connected.
Dated this 29th day of January 1897.
CHARLES ALBERT MILLER,
FREDERICK JOHN MILLER,
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicants.
improvements in Pneumatic Tyre Inflators or Air Pumps.
We, CHARLES ALBERT MILLER and FREDERICK JOHN MILLER, Managing
Directors of H. Miller and Company Limited, of Miller Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and.
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to inflators or air pumps, principally for use in connection
with cycles, motor cars and the like, and has for its object, to produce a portable
step pump, having the advantages of large stirrup inflators, so far as rapid inflation
is concerned, whilst being of moderate weight and convenient for carrying upon a
cycle or the like.
Our invention consists in providing such inflating instruments with a combined
and detachable foot, rest or step and flexible connection, which, when in use, is
screwed upon the fore end of the pump, and when out of use, is unscrewed and
secured to the handle or grip in such a manner that the said connection part passes
into the hollow after and open end of the piston rod, whilst the step or stirrup lies
snugly against and partially embraces the handle or grip.
Thus the inflator consists of a barrel having at its front end, a cap carrying an
outside screwed and axially bored nipple or stem, whilst the other and after end
has a cap which forms a gland wherethrough the tubular piston rod fitted at its
inner end with a cup-leather or other piston and at its outer end with a tubular
grip or handle, works. The said after end of the piston rod is open and is inside
screwed at the mouth part, to take an outside screwed and axially pierced nipple
or pipe extending from the inner side of the cross-end of the stirrup or step frame,
and to the extreme end of this nipple, the inner end of the flexible connection,
which passes between the sides of the frame, is attached. The hole through the
frame cross-end and nipple is inside screwed to take upon the nipple at the fore end
of the barrel.
The stirrup, rest or step consists of a two-sided frame, whose inner ends are
connected by the cross-head before mentioned and at the outer ends by a semi-
circular bridge or half-piece, whose inside diameter is a little greater than the
outside diameter of the grip.
When in use, the step or rest is screwed on the barrel fore end and the step can
then be placed upon the ground, and steadied by the foot bearing upon the semi-
circular piece, and the end of the flexible connection is turned outwards and
connected with the tyre valve when inflation can be performed. Then unscrew
the connection, invert it, and pass or thread its loose end through the open back
end of the grip and into the hollow of the piston rod. The nipple at its shank end
is screwed into the tapped mouth of the piston when the sides and bridge-end of
the step or rest frame lie snugly up to and partly embrace the grip so as to be out
of the way when not required for use.
..If
necessary it may be made detachable from the step or rest.

page_text: The step or rest frame may be made by casting or from sheet metal, it is
fashioned out of a strip having an eyed middle part and its ends coming at right
angles into an L figure, then when the sides are folded up staplewise, the ends of
the pieces are brought together and brazed, soldered or otherwise connected.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, represents a side elevation of a portable
stirrup pump, made according to our improvements.
Figure 2 represents the said pump partly in section and partly in elevation.
Figure 3 represents a part elevation and part section of the said inflator, with
the flexible connection thereof placed within the hollow end of the piston rod, and
the foot step connected with it partly embracing the tubular grip.
Figure 4 is a back end elevation of Figure 3.
:
Figure 5 represents a section of the inflator taken at right angles to that of
Figure 3.
Figure 6 represents a front elevation of Figure 1.
Figure 7 represents the combined flexible connection and foot step, removed or
detached from off the fore end part of the barrel as shown at Figure 8.
Figure 9 represents upon an enlarged scale, a section of the back end of the
pump, with the flexible connection part about being introduced into the hollow end
of the piston rod.
Figure 10 represents, upon an enlarged scale, the fore part of the inflator fitted
with the foot step and flexible connection.
Figure 11 shows a section, upon an enlarged scale, of the back end of the inflator.
with the combined flexible connection and foot rest fitted to it and in a position
when out of use.
Figure 12 represents an inside elevation of the foot step and Figure 13 is an.
outside elevation of the same.
Figure 14 is a complete longitudinal vertical section of Figure 10.
Figure 15 shows a plan of the blank from which the foot, rest or step may
be made.
is the barrel of the pump, having working within it a piston rod b, whose fore
end 6', carries a piston 62, and its hollow after end 63, a cylindrical handle or tubular
grip 6, which telescopes over the after end a', of the said barrel a.
The mouth or
entrance to the hollow after end 63, of the hollow piston rod b, is screwed for
receiving the outside screwed nipple c¹ of the stirrup, step or rest c, comprising side
arms c², connected together by the head end e³, and .with an inside screwed socket c
for taking upon the screwed nipple a² at the fore end a³ of the said barrel a.
The fore parts of the branches c², of the foot rest are connected by a semi-circular
shaped bridge c³, a little larger in diameter than the tubular grip 6, whilst
forward of the nipple screw c', is a tail end c, upon which the end d', of the
flexible connection d, takes and is there secured. It is understood that the
inside bore of the after end of the piston rod is a little greater in diameter
than the outside of the flexible connection.
In Figure 15, the blank consists of an eyed middle part e, with arms e¹,
terminated by angle ends, which are brazed or otherwise connected together,
after the branches have been turned up staple-wise parallel with one another as
represented in Figure 16, of which Figure 17 is a section.
Figure 18 represents a modified form of our invention, in which the flexible
connection is made detachable from the foot step which is in turn made attachable
to and detachable from the pump.
c is the foot step, with the end c³, formed with an inside screwed socket for
taking upon the screwed nipple at the fore end of the pump, and c is a
secondary inside screwed part for receiving the screwed end d', of the flexible
connection d. When not in use, the flexible connection is dropped down the
hollow piston rod when the outside screwed part c' of the nipple c³, is wormed
into the tapped mouth entrance at the hollow end of the piston rod.
It is obvious that in the arrangement Figures 1 to 14, that instead of having an
outside screwed nipple f, on the end of the pump and an inside screwed socket on

page_text: the step for taking thereon, we may carry the outside screwed nipple on the
step frame end and an inside screwed socket in the end of the pump and instead
of the nipple c¹, on the step being outside screwed for taking into the screwed
mouth end 6, of the hollow piston the said piston end may be extended into
an outside screwed nipple over which an inside screwed part of the nipple
may take.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
First. A combined and detachable foot rest or step and flexible connection for
inflators, adaptable to be connected to either the fore end of the pump for use, or
to the after end of the pump for carrying when not in use.
Secondly. A combined and detachable foot rest or step and flexible connection
for inflators, with the attachable end formed with an inside or outside screwed
socket, peg or equivalent coming upon the outer side and an outside or an inside
screwed nipple or equivalent, whose tail carries the flexible connection, coming upon
the inner side, to admit of the same being connected to either the fore end or
the after end of a pump, substantially as and for the purpose described and set
forth.
Thirdly. The improvements in inflators or air pumps and their connections, and
the arrangement and combination of the parts, substantially as and for the purpose
as described and set forth.
Fourthly. The method of making the step or foot rest, substantially as described
and set forth in Figures 15, 16 and 17.
Fifthly. An attachable and detachable foot, rest or step for air pumps,' with or
without an attachable flexible connection, substantially as described and set forth
in Figure 18.
Dated this 5th day of February 1897
CHARLES ALBERT MILLER,
FREDERICK JOHN MILLER,
By Henry Skerrett,
24 Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.