IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Joseph Smith, of Darlington, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES AND OTHER VEHICLES."
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Joseph Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th April 1878.
EDWARD JOSEPH SMITH, of Darlington.
OTHER VEHICLES."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES AND
The object of this Invention is the construction of the axle bearings of bicycles
and other vehicles, in such manner as greatly to reduce the friction between the
axles and bearings, to avoid unevenness of motion, and to provide means for the
adjustment of such bearings equally and concentrically round the circumference of
the bearing portion of the axle, when and as often as such adjustment may be
rendered necessary by the wear and tear occasioned by the working of the bicycle
or other vehicle.
As an example of the application of this Invention, I will now describe the same
with reference to bicycles only.
I make the lower end of the fork, at either end of the bicycle, of a concave
semicircular form, to which by means of bolts passing through suitable lugs or pro-
jections, I attach a cap of a similar shape, so that when the cap is bolted on to the
lower end of the fork there results a perfectly circular hole, which is parallel
until it reaches to about 1/8 or 1½ of an inch from the inner side of the fork or
bearing, in which short distance the hole is continued through of a smaller diameter.
The larger diameter of the whole is furnished with a female screw, preferably of fine
pitch. I then cut a groove round that part of the axle of the bicycle which revolves
within the bearing and carries the load. Having made the groove, I next place a
perforated sleeve or collar loosely over the same, and into the perforations of which

page_text: I place balls or spheres 'which fit so as to work freely, but without play, within the
same, the grooved axle being thus furnished with the loose sleeve or collar and
balls held in the perforations of the same; I then screw a circular hollow collar
or nipple into the larger hole at the lower end of the fork until, and just so far as
to cause the balls in the perforations of the loose sleeve to be slightly pressed against
the inner end of the large hole in the fork. The end of the circular hollow collar
and the inner end of the large hole are so chamfered, that when the circular hollow
collar is screwed inwards, the balls are forced concentrically towards the axle of the
bicycle, thereby keeping them in contact with and pressing them against the edges
of the groove before mentioned. When it is required to slacken the bearing, the
circular hollow collar is unscrewed outwards, when the balls cease to be pressed
between the chamfered edges of the circular hollow collar of the end of the large
screwed hole and of the edges of the groove cut in the axle.
In order that the circular hollow collar or nipple may not work loose I furnish
the outer end of the same with a lock or back nut, which, on being screwed up
tight against the outer side of the fork, effectually locks the circular hollow collar
tight within the screwed hole. Above the bearing I make an orifice for the purpose
of lubricating the same when necessary. Therefore when it is requisite to tighten
the bearings, that is to say, to take up the slackness or play between the balls and
the groove in the axle, the lock nut on the circular hollow collar is loosened, and
the circular hollow collar then screwed inwards the sufficient distance to press the
balls concentrically towards the edges of the groove, which being done the lock nut
is then screwed up tight so as to keep the circular hollow collar firmly in its place.
I also make my concentrically adjustable bearing with cylinders instead of
spheres or balls. When cylinders are used I prefer to round off the ends of the
same, making them semi-spherical. In this case the groove in the axle is made
wider at the top than at the bottom in such manner that the two sides of the groove
are oblique or sloping, and when the cylinders are placed within the same their
semi-spherical ends bear on the two sides of the groove only, and not on the
bottom.
With the exceptions of cylinders being used instead of balls, and of the difference
in the shape of the groove on the axle, the construction and method of adjustment
in the latter case is substantially the same as in the former one.
Althrough the above is a description of my Invention of a concentrically adjustable
ball bearing as applied to bicycles only, the same may also be applied to the axle
bearings of other vehicles in a similar manner.