Improvements in and relating to velocipedes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 31st July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 27th May, 1896-Accepted, 31st July, 1896
Improvements in and relating to velocipedes.
I, JAMES ROBSON of No. 3, Devonshire Place, Pershore Road, Selly Park, in
the County of Worcester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention of improvements in and relating to velocipedes, consists in forming
the outer casing of detachable pneumatic tyres for wheels with open ended wires or
cords enclosed in the edges of the covers. The ends of such wires project through
the cover and have on them deep grooved pullies. These pullies are drawn
together by cords, or chains passing round from one to the other a few times so
that by pulling one end of the cord the wires can be drawn close and held tight
on the wheel rim or opened by pulling the other end of the cord.
I make the india-rubber inner air tube used in pneumatic wheel tyres with,
cupped, fluted, corrugated or indented formations in its walls to a moderate depth,
so as to be concave on one surface and convex on the other, so that when air is
forced into the tube, it forces the cups flat against the inner surface of the outer
cover and thus puts the entire thickness of the walls of the air tube into a state of
contraction, so that in the case of the tyre being punctured by any article as a
nail, on the withdrawal of the uail, the hole left in the air tube will be closed by
the contraction of the india-rubber, and thus prevent the further escape of the
compressed air.
To regulate the pressure of the air in pneumatic tyres 1 incase a part of its
supply tube from the air pump, with a short length of rubber tube. There is a
small passage way in the side of the pump's connecting tube, so that.when the
pressure rises in the supply tube, it communicates with the incasing tube and
expands it, and also expands a steel tempered hoop with open ends on its outside
so that the marked distances, opened between the hoop's ends, show the air
pressure in pounds per square inch.
I make the pins of velocipede chains of hard tempered steel with grooves cut
partly round each end, and force the encircling side link into the pin groove,
instead of riveting the pin over the plate.
1 make the cranks of velocipedes with a slit the whole length from the axle
hole to the pedal hole, or a short slit from the pedal hole, and then close the sides
of the crank together by screw bolts, so as to hold the pedal in its hole, in the end
of the crank.
In velocipede crank chain wheels; I first firmly attach to the axle a pulley and
form the chain wheel with an internal rim, fitting closely on the axle pulley; the
internal iim is slit and can be drawn together by screw bolts, and thus be clamped
tightly on the axle pulley.
In double or more plate fork crowns, I make the bottom plate arch over the
tyre and down the fork sides where it is fixed so as to gain more leverage for
strength.
In some cases I make the india-rubber inner air tube larger than the outer tyre
casing, and case it in a canvas wrapper about the size of the outer casing, conse-
quently when the inner air tube is inflated with compressed air, the entire walls of

page_text: this tube is put into a state of contraction, and will thus enable it to close a
puncture made in it.
Dated this 20th T... 1905
Improvements in and relating to Velocipedes.
I, JAMES ROBSON, of No. 3 Devonshire Place, Selly Park, in the County of
Worcester, Mechanical Engineer, 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 of improvements in and relating to velocipedes consists in forming
the outer casing of detachable pneumatic tyres for wheels with open ended wires
or cords enclosed in the edges of the covers. The ends of such wires project
through the cover and have on them deep grooved pullies. These pullies are
drawn together by cords, or chains passing round from one to the other a few times
so that by pulling one end of the coid the wires can be drawn close and held tight,
on the wheel rim, or opened by pulling the other end of the cord. The other
edge of the cover I cement in the rim.
I make the india-rubber inner air tube used in pneumatic wheel tyres with
cupped, fluted, corrugated, or indented formations in its walls to a moderate depth,
so as to be concave on one surface and convex on the other; so that when air is
forced into the tube, it forces the cups flat against the inner surface of the outer
cover and thus puts the entire thickness of the walls of the air tube into a state of
contraction, so that in case of the tyle being punctured by any article as a nail,
on the withdrawal of the nail, the hole left in the air tube will be closed by the
contraction of the india-rubber, and thus prevent the further escape of the
compressed air.
To regulate and gauge the pressure of the air in pneumatic tyres, I incase a
part of its supply tube from the air pump, with a short length of rubber tube.
There is a small passage way in the side of the pump's connecting tube, so that
when the pressure rises in the supply tube, it communicates with the incasing tube
and expands it, and also expands a steel tempered hoop with open ends on its
outside, so that the marked distances, opened between the hoop's ends, show the
air pressure in pounds per square inch.
I make the pins of velocipede chains of hard tempered steel with a groove cut
partly round each pin's end and a rivet head on the other end, and then force
the encircling side link into the pin's groove, instead of rivetting the pin over
the plate.
I make the cranks of velocipedes with a slit the whole length from the axle hole
to the pedal hole, or a shorter slit from the pedal hole, and then close the sides of
the crank together by screw bolts, so as to hold the pedal in its hole, in the end
of the crank.
In velocipede crank chain wheels, I first firmly attach to the axle, or crank, a
pulley and form the chain wheel with an internal rim, fitting closely on the axle
pulley; the internal rim is slit and can be drawn together by screw bolts, and thus
be clamped tightly on the axle pulley.
In double or more plate fork crowns, I make the bottom plate arch over the
tyre and down the fork sides where it is fixed so as to gain more leverage for
strength.
For the purpose of more fully showing how my invention is carried into practice,
reference is to be made to the accompanying drawings, similar parts being marked
with like nunerals of reference.

page_text: Figs. A. B. and C. represent the method of attaching the tyres to velocipede
wheels. 1 is the outer cover composed of india-rubber with a lining of canvas
having a wire or cord 2. inserted round one edge. This wire has attached to its
ends frames 3. in which run two deep grooved pullies 4. These pullies have an
endless cord or chain 5. running several times round from one to the other, so that
by pulling one end it draws the pullies together and thus tightens the wire and
cover on the wheel rim. The cord is further prevented from slackening by being
passed through two holes in a plate 7, which plate with the cord is twisted round
several times and then inserted between the cover and the rim to prevent it
untwisting. The other edge 8. of the cover, I prefer to continue nearly across the
rim and cement it to the rim, it being only necessary to slacken and open the wired
edge so as to remove the inflatable air tube 9. This rubber tube has formed on it
fluted cups, or indentations 10 as shown also at Fig. D, which cups are forced flat
against the walls of the outer cover 1 when the tube is inflated with compressed
air, thus putting the walls of the air tube into a state of contraction so that in case
of puncture the hole is closed by the contraction of the rubber round the puncture,
so as to prevent the escape of the air.
To regulate and gauge the pressure of the air in pneumatic tyres, I encase the
supply tube 11 shown in Figs. E. and F. which connects the tyre with the air
pump in a thin rubber tube 12. There is a small passage way 13 through the supply
connecting tube so that when the pressure rises in the supply tube and tyre it
expands the rubber tube 12 and also expands the steel spring hoop 14 on its
outside, so that the marked distances opened between the ends of the hoop show
the air pressure in the tyre.
Fig. G shows my method of making velocipede driving chains in which I use
a hard tempered steel pin 15 with a head at one end 16 and a groove round
the other end 17 into which groove the side link plate 18 is forced so as to secure
the pin which also passes through the block 19.
I make the cranks 20 as in Fig. H with a slit 21 the whole length from the axle
hole 22 to the pedal hole 23, or a short slit from the pedal hole only and by screw
bolts 24 and 25 close the sides of the crank so as to hold the pedal pin in its
hole, and crank on its axle.
Figs. I. and J. show the method of fixing a detachable chain wheel 26. The
internal rim is slit at 28 and can be closed tightly on the pulley 29 by a screw
bolt 30 the pulley 29 can be fixed to the axle 31, or be made in one piece with
the crank 32.
In deuble or more plate fork crowns I make the bottom plate 33 shown in
Fig. K. arch over the tyre and down where it is bent out and attached to the
forks 34 thus increasing the distance between the two points of attachment to
the plate crowns and giving greater strength to the head and forks and at the same
time not increasing the total length of the forks.
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:-
1st. The means of attaching the covers of pneumatic tyres to the rims of
wheels by a single wire or cord drawn together by cords and pullies on one side of
the cover only, the other side of the cover being cemented to the rim as shown in
Figs. A. B. and C.
2nd. Forming the inner air tube of pneumatic tyres with indented cups for the
purpose of closing a puncture, as described and shown at Figs. A. B. C. and D.
3rd. Making a pressure gauge to regulate and gauge the air pressure in
pneumatic tyres with a rubber tube and open spring hoop, as described and shown
at Figs. E. and F.
4th. Making velocipede cranks with a slit from the axle hole to the pedal hole,
or a short slit from the pedal hole only with the use of screw bolts to close the
sides of the cranks tightly upon the pedal pin, as shown at Fig. H.

page_text: 5th. Making and fixing detachable chain wheels, as described and shown at
Figs. I. and J.
6th. Using in double or more plate fork crowns an arched bottom plate for
strengthening the crown and forks, as described and shown at Fig. K.
Dated this 26th day of May 1896.
JAMES ROBSON.