Improvements in Mechanical or Velocipede Horses.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanical or Velocipede Horses.
I, JOSEPH SALTZMANN, of 22, Cooper Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancashire, Gentleman, 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 :-
My invention relates to improvements in mechanical or velocipede horses and
consists in so constructing a horse that its legs will imitate the motion of those of
a real animal while its rear legs will at the same time propel the machine.
In carrying my invention into practice, I provide a frame suspended on the front
and rear axles of two pairs of wheels, and carrying a hollow shell or casing formed
to represent a horse in outward appearance and containing three adjacent crank
shafts, the extremities of which are held by blocks secured transversely to the said
shell or casing. The middle and uppermost crank shaft carries a sprocket wheel
gearing by means of a chain with another sprocket wheel mounted on the rear shaft
and is connected to the third and front shaft by suitable rods. The front and rear
crank shafts are respectively supported by the upper ends of the front and rear pair
of legs of the horse which ends are capable of moving freely within the shell or
casing aforesaid. The hoofs of the front legs are fixed to a fourth crank shaft
carried with the aid of a suitable support by the front axle upon which the steering
wheels are mounted, while the hoofs of the hind legs are fixed to the rear crank
axle, carried by the rear and driving wheels. The front axle is formed integrally
with a central horizontal forked piece to the shank of which is fixed a vertical
steering rod, entering the shell aforesaid from below, and issuing therefrom through
the neck of the horse, whereat it is terminated by a fork carrying two rings at their
upper ends to which the ends of one or two reins are attached. The middle crank
shaft is connected at both ends to two rods extending on each side through the shell
below the horse and connected at their lower ends to two treadles actuated by the
rider and forming the treads of a pair of stirrups suspended in the usual manner,
by stirrup straps. A. saddle is fixed to the horse the front legs of which move only
for the sake of appearance, while the hind legs drive the rear or driving axle and
wheels, and thus propel the machine.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a side and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation of my improved mechanical horse.
Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a rear and a front view of the mechanism for driving
the rear and front legs of the horse.
Fig. 5 is a side view and Fig. 6 a plan of a portion of the steering mechanism.
H is the shell shaped to represent a horse and furnished with openings for the
legs, for the steering rod and for the connecting rods g g'. This shell is
carried by the frame F which is suspended upon the axles b c¹, the latter being
supported by the wheels wow & w¹ w respectively. The rear axle c¹ is the driving
axle of the machine and has three cranks one in the centre and one on each side as
shewn in Fig. 3. The rear end of the connecting rod A is fixed to the central
crank, while its front end is secured to the central crank of the shaft c supported by
the axle b with the aid of the frame F. The hoof ends of the legs and are
respectively fixed to the side cranks of the shaft c and of the driving axle c'.
a a a² are three double cranked shafts carried at their extremities by suitable blocks k
fixed inside the shell to the two opposite sides thereof. The legs are each
furnished at the top (Fig. 4) with two supports i to which are fixed the two cranks
of the shaft a, while the straight ends of two forked connecting rods t t¹ are attached
between each pair of supports to the said shaft a². The upper and forked ends of
the rods bb' are fixed to the two side cranks of the shaft a¹ which carries a sprocket

page_text: wheel d in the centre. An endless chain e passes over this wheel d and over a
similar wheel d¹ mounted centrally upon the shaft a the two side cranks of which
are likewise fixed to two pairs of supports i secured to the top of the hind legs 1.
To the two cranks of the shaft a' are likewise fixed the upper ends of two connecting
rods g g the lower ends of which are secured to the treadles f (one of which only is
shown on the drawing) pivoted between the forked ends of the stirrups s fixed in
the usual manner to the saddle S of the horse or shell H. The front axle bis
formed integrally with a partly circular forked and horizontal piece R which has a
straight arm R. When this arm is turned in either direction by the steering rod r
it moves against two rollers n, upon which as well as upon a vertical axis u, is
mounted the front and forked end of the frame F as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6.
The steering rod r, is fixed at its lower and forward extremity to the arm R', and
passes successively through a slot formed in the connecting rod A, and through
openings formed in the frame F and the shell H whereat it is supported by the
blocks og respectively, its upper extremity terminating outside the shells H, by a
fork carrying two rings hh', to which the ends of the reinj is attached. By pulling
this rein in either direction the rod r, and the arm R¹, are simultaneously turned
and with the latter the axle b of the steering wheels w w. The rider sitting on the
saddle S actuates the treadle with his feet and thereby imparts a motion to the
shaft a', by which it is communicated to the shafts a¹ and a². The shaft a
transmits the motion to the hind legs, which acting as connecting rods, impart
a motion to the crank axle c' and thus drive the machine. The shaft a², drives the
front legs which operate the crank shaft c this motion which is purely illusory
having for its sole object to imitate the motion of a horse's legs, one of the front
legs, being raised, while the other moves down and the hind legs ll, acting
reversely so that the four legs llll' contribute to this imitation.
As my improvements are capable of some slight modifications without departing
from the principle thereof, I do not restrict myself to material or dimension or to
the precise form or placement of the several parts thereof.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :--
(1) In mechanical or velocipede horses, the mechanism for moving the horse's
legs in imitation of a real horse substantially as and for the purpose described.
(2) The improved mechanical or velocipede horse arranged constructed and
operating, substantially as described and shown, and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 3rd day of January 1891.
RAYNER & CASSELL,
37, Chancery Lane, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.