Improvements in Driving and like Chains.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Nov., 1898- Accepted, 14th Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Driving and like Chains.
I, ROLLIN ABELL, of Everett Road, Savin Hill, Dorchester, in the City of Boston,
and County of Suffolk, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Draughtsman, 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 drive-chains for bicycles and other machinery, and
it consists in those features of novelty in construction and arrangement which
I shall now proceed to describe and claim.
Of the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification:
Figure 1 represents a view in side elevation and section, showing a sprocket-
wheel, and a chain thereon constructed in accordance with my invention.
Figure 2 represents a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the
direction of the arrow .
Figure 3 represents a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the
direction of the arrow y.
Figures 4 to 6, inclusive, represent detail views in elevation, section and plan,
showing my invention embodied in a separable chain.
The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.
In carrying out my invention as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6, inclusive, I depart
from the common construction of bicycle-chains, in which the bearing-pins
extending through the apertures in the blocks are employed as rivet-pins to hold
the side links in place, and provide instead, third pins connecting the side links
at points between adjacent blocks, and acting as rivet-pins. These third pins
rest on the tops of the sprocket wheel teeth, preventing the blocks from bottoming
between the teeth, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth. The construction
also permits of the use of hardened bearing-pins.
In the drawings,
a may represent the rear sprocket-wheel of a bicycle having teeth or
sprockets a al of the normal size. B represents a portion of a chain, in which b b
are blocks of ordinary formation, having apertures bat either end, for the
reception of bearing-pins c c. The latter are formed with enlarged middle
portions 2, occupying the apertures in the blocks, and reduced end portions 3 3
occupying apertures in the side links or plates d d. These bearing-pius,
instead of being upset or headed outside of the blocks, as usual, merely have
their reduced portions passed through the side links, making a tight fit, and the
ends of the pins are preferably flush with the outside of the links (Figure 3).
e e are rivet-pins connecting opposite side-links between the blocks, the said
pins being shouldered and upset or headed outside of the links (see Figure 2)
after being assembled. The bearing-pins cc are given their final form before
being put in the chain, and may therefore be hardened to reduce wear.
To accommodate the rivet-pins ce, the side links d d are formed with ears &² d
projecting above the blocks and said rivet-pins are preferably located at such a
distance above the pitch line of the chain that they will rest or sit on the convex

page_text: tops or crests of the teeth and equi-distant from both the next adjacent teeth in
both front and rear sprocket-wheels, and also prevent the blocks b b from bottom-
ing between the sprocket-wheel teeth. This is an important consideration in
reducing friction, for when a driving tension is put on a chain of the ordinary con-
struction, a block in passing onto a tooth tends to grind against the base of the
tooth, thus producing friction, and when mud or dirt is thrown into the sprocket or
chain the friction is greatly increased. In my improved chain, the grinding of
the blocks against the teeth is largely done away with, and there is very little
increase of friction due to mud or dirt, for the dirt is given a chance to work out
between the blocks and the bases of the teeth.
The present invention also provides a chain having a "straight-line" pull.
This may be understood by referring to Figure 1. 4 and 5 are two successive or
contigious points at which the power of the chain is applied to the rear sprocket
wheel a.
Since the chain in action is pulling on itself, cach link drawing on
the following one, it has a tendency to straighten between these two points. This
tendency is resisted in a chain of the ordinary construction by reason of the blocks
bottoming against the sprocket-wheel between the teeth, but in the present con-
struction each link is pivoted or adapted to rock on top of a tooth, and the chain
is thereby permitted to assume a number of straight line segments on the sprocket-
wheel, each segment embracing three contiguous bearing-pins c, as illustrated in
Figure 1.
Figures 4 to 6, inclusive, illustrate a modification of my invention. This form
differs from the one above described in the employment of removable locking-pins c
connecting the side-links d d. The latter are formed with button-hole slots d³ ³,
through the lower or enlarged portions of which the pins may be introduced or
removed at any time. The upper or narrower portions of the slots are preferably
parallel-sided, and the pins are permanently grooved at both ends, to form neck
portions, which occupy the upper or narrower portions of the slots ³ and are
held therein by friction. When the chain is in action, the only tendency of the
sprocket is to force the pins further up into their slots and by making said pins
fit tightly, they will have no tendency to fall out of place. By constructing the
chain in this manner, all of the parts may be readily assembled and removed
without the use of special tools and without mutilation. The chain, as will be
seen, may be easily shortened or lengthened by the removal or addition of links,
and may be quickly repaired in case of breakage on the road.
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. The combination with a sprocket-wheel having its teeth of the usual form,
of a chain certain parts or members whereof are centrally provided with rivet-pins
which when the chain is in operative action, rest on the tops or crests of said
teeth, substantially as shown and described.
2. In combination with a sprocket-wheel of usual form, of a chain part whereof
are centrally provided with rivet-pins which when the chain is in action rest on
the crests or tops of the teeth of said wheel, and blocks of the chain hanging
between said teeth, all substantially as shown and described.
3. A drive-chain comprising apertured blocks, apertured side-links, bearing
pins occupying the apertures in the blocks, and side-links, and rivet-pins central
of the blocks and connecting the side links between the blocks, the blocks lodging
or hanging in the spaces between the teeth of a wheel, substantially as shown and
described.
4. A drive-chain comprising apertured blocks, apertured links, bearing-pins
occupying the apertures in the blocks, and side-links and rivet-pins central of the
blocks and connecting the side-links between the blocks and adapted to rest on
the tops of the sprocket-teeth, and equidistant from the next adjacent teeth.

page_text: 5. In combination with a sprocket-wheel, a drive chain comprising apertures
blocks, apertured side-links, bearing-pins occupying the apertures in the blocks
and side links and rivet-pins connecting the side-links between the blocks, and
resting on the tops of the sprocket teeth, and equidistant from the next adjacent
teeth.
6. The combination with an ordinary sprocket-wheel and with the teeth or
sprockets thereof, of a chain composed of blocks or parts which are lodged between
the teeth and have an endwise driving bearing on the sides of the teeth, and of
other parts which have a transverse supporting bearing directly on the tops or
crests of the teeth.
7. A separable drive-chain comprising apertured blocks, apertured and slotted
side-links, bearing pins occupying the apertures in the blocks and side-links, and
annularly grooved locking pins occupying the slots in the side-links and con-
necting said side-links at points between the blocks.
8. A separable drive-chain, comprising apertured blocks, apertured and slotted
side-links, headless bearing-pins occupying the apertures in the blocks and side-
links, and removable grooved locking pins occupying the slots in the side-links
and connecting said side-links at points between the blocks.
Dal 1141
Nash 1000
ROLLIN ABELL.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.