Improvements in the Manufacture of Tubular Frames.
Year: 1898

page_text: . PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Tubular Frames.
I, PERCY HARGREAVES, of Bolton-by-Bowland, in the County of York,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of tubular frames
such as are employed for cycles, motor vehicles, and machines where strength and
rigidity combined with lightness is a necessity. The object of the invention is to
up the
construct a joint between the different tubes or lengths which go to make
frame without brazing and with an equal tension on all points of the joint: a
part of the invention is also applicable to joints which are brazed and where a
lining tube is employed. The invention consists in connecting the tubes by locking
them together by means of wedges, wedge like keys, or locking devices on one
tube, engaging with slits, saw gates, or wedge like cuts in the other tube, or
employing a socket in or on which are the locking devices and in which the end
of the tube or tubes is or are secured. It will be obvious that the locking devices,
or slits, or saw gates, may be either on or in the socket, or on or in the tube as
desired.
now forced
According to this invention I employ a socket in the end or ends of which is
a longitudinal slot, saw gate, or wedge like cut, and on each side of the saw gate
is a projection or key. The end of the tube to be jointed to the socket is forced
therein, and by the interior of the socket being slightly tapered, the
on the interior
end of the tube which is also slightly tapered, binds
of the socket. A clip or wedge like locking device is
end
over the keys at each side of the saw gate and thereby the outer
The end of the tube
of the socket is contracted and tightly grips the tube.
may have a saw gate or slot cut in it, and in this saw gate or slot is placed a key
or wedge which as the end of the tube is forced into the socket, opens or expands
the end of the tube inside the socket, the latter being contracted as above described.
It will be seen that the outer end of the socket is contracted and the inner
end of the tube expanded. The amount of expansion or contraction of the tube
or socket at any point can be regulated by the locking device or tube wedge.
The tube or wedge may be loose, or formed on the socket, and one or more may
be employed, and they may be connected by a web or midfeather which
The socket may be contracted by a pin
strengthens the joint when completed.
or pins in which are wedge like grooves being passed transversely through the
socket and tube, the wedge like grooves engaging with projections formed on
each side of the saw gate in the socket. The pins may be driven into position, or

page_text: drawn and locked by screws or nuts, and a transverse sleeve or support may be
inserted in the tube to prevent its collapsing.
When a tube is to be jointed to a second one crossing it, as in the head of a
cycle, the socket may be formed with slots and inclined keys, and when drawn
together by means of the clips or locking devices, the socket simultaneously con-
tracts on each tube.
The clip or locking device may be made so that when it is forced onto the keys,
it at the same time causes a wedge to expand the tube, and the locking device
and wedge may be made in one piece. The piece provided for contracting the
socket, and the piece provided for expanding the tube may be forced into position
by screws or like devices.
Where the keys on the socket are formed on the interior of same, the clip or
locking device may be employed to expand the tube, or the locking device may be
formed in the tube itself, or the slots in the tube, and the keys in the socket may
be made to coincide, so that when the tube and socket are forced together the
joint is made.
A "liner"
or ferrule to to inserted in tubes for strengthening same has an
inclined slot cut in it, in which is driven a wedge which expands the liner. This
method of expanding the liner may be employed in making the joint between the
tube and the socket by gripping the cut end of the, tube between the liner and
the socket. The wedge of the liner may be connected to or formed in one with the
wedges or locking devices herein before referred to. The liner may be formed in
two parts, and the expanding wedges connected together by a web or webs. This
form of liner may be employed for strengthening tubes at any points, and for
supporting joints either brazed or otherwise.
It will be obvious that in all cases when the tube forms the exterior of the
joint, it is contracted, and the joint constructed in a reverse manner to that herein-
before described.
This 001
11000
BRIERLEY & HOWARD,
Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax, Agents for the Applicant.
improvements in the Manufacture of Tubular Frames.
I, PERCY HARGREAVES, of Bolton-by-Bowland, Clitheroe, in the County of
Lancaster, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of tubular frames
such as are employed for cycles, motor vehicles, and machines where strength and
rigidity combined with lightness is a necessity. The object of the invention is to
construct a joint between the different tubes or lengths which go to make up the
frame without brazing and with an equal tension on all points of the joint: a
part of the invention is also applicable to joints which are brazed and where a
lining tube is employed. The invention consists in connecting the tubes by locking
them together by means of wedges, wedge like keys, or locking devices engaging
with slits, saw gates or wedge like cuts in the tube, or employing a socket in or
on which are the locking devices and in which the end of the tube or tubes is ór
are secured. It will be obvious that the locking device or slits or saw gates may
be either on or in the socket, or on or in the tube as desired.

page_text: Fig. 1 is an oblique or plan view of the end of a tube and socket the latter
being in position for being gripped and locked on two tubes forming part of a
frame.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the clip or wedge like locking device.
Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of the end of a tube with the saw gate and key or wedge.
Fig. 5 is an end sectional view of the end of a tube similar to that shewn by
Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a socket for jointing or connecting two_tubes at
angles to one another, being a modification of the socket illustrated by Fig. 1.
Fig. 7 is an end sectional view of a tube and its liner in accordance with this
invention.
Fig. 8 is an end sectional view of a tube and the socket, the latter being locked
by the wedge like clip or locking device.
Fig. 9 is a plan view of the end of a tube and socket, the latter being shewn as
expanded inside the frame by a key or wedge and constructed to be fixed to a
second tube at angle to or crossing the first one.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a bottom bracket with one socket clipping the
outside of a tube and the other expanded inside a tube.
Fig. 11 is an end sectional view of a tube with a saw gate or slot expanded by
the wedge like key which also expands and holds the liner in position.
Fig. 12 is a view of the end of the tube with saw gate or slot.
Fig. 13 is a sectional plan view of the wedge like key shewn in Fig. 11.
According to this invention I employ a forged, stamped, or cast metal socket 1,
and in one or two sides of such socket 1 is a longitudinal slot, saw gate, or wedge
like cut 2, and on each side of the saw gate 2 is a projection or key 3. The end
of the tube 4 to be jointed to the socket 1 is placed therein and a tapered clip or
wedge like locking device (see Figs. 2 and 3) is now forced over the keys 3,3
(see Fig. 8) at each side of the saw gate 2 and thereby the socket 1 is contracted
and tightly grips the tube 4.
When a tube is to be jointed to a second one 4" (see Figs. 1 and 6) crossing
it, as in the head of cycle, the socket 1 is formed with two slots and inclined
beys 3,3 and when drawn together by means of the clips or locking devices 5,5 the
socket 1 simultaneously contracts on each tube 4 and 4 at the same time.
saw gates 2,2 and the inclined keys may be on the part of the socket 1 (see Fig. 1)
or as shewn in Fig. 6.
The
In Fig. 9 the socket is expanded inside the tube 4 by means of the wedge or
key 8 driven into the slot or saw gate 2, and the socket may be fixed to a second
iube as herein before described by means of the keys 3, 3 and locking device.
When the socket forms such a part of a frame that it is prevented from being.
expanded or contracted at one end as in Fig. 10 where the end of the tube 4 is
jointed to the socket 1 which forms a part of the bottom bracket 14, the tube 4 is
placed in the socket 1 as above described and the socket contracted at its outer
end by means of the tapered locking device 5 being driven over the keys 3,3
which in this case are parallel, pressure is obtained between the tube and socket
at the inner end by the interior of the socket being tapered outwards, i.e. enlarged
at the inner end or the end of the tube may be enlarged. When the tube 4 is
fixed on the outside of the socket 1 the latter is split and the tapered saw gate 2
is opened and the socket expanded at its outer extremity by driving into the
former the parallel key 8, and in this case the exterior of the socket 1 is slightly
tapered.
The end of the tube 4 may have a saw gate or slot 7 cut in it (see Figs. 4
and 5) and in this saw gate or slot 7 is placed a key or wedge 8 which, as the end
of the tube 4 is forced into the socket 1 opens or expands the extreme end of the
tube 4 inside the socket 1, the latter being contracted as above described. The

page_text: wedge or key 8 is forced into the tube 4 by the former coming into contact with
the inside of the socket 1 or with a cross tube or like device. The amount of
expansion or contraction of the tube 4 or socket 1 at any point can be regulated
by the locking device 5 or tube wedge 8. One or more wedges or keys 8 may be
employed and be connected by a web or midfeather 9 (see Fig. 5) which
strengthens the joint when completed..
The socket is equally contracted at all points when the keys 3, 3. and the locking
device 5 are equally tapered, but if it is desired to contract the socket more at
its entrance or outer extremity, it is done by, tapering the locking device more, or
by employing parallel keys 3, 3 (see Fig. 10).
The liner 10 (see Fig. 7) may be formed in two parts as shewn, and the expand-
ing wedges 11, 11, connected together by a web 12, and this form of liner may
be employed for strengthening tubes at any points and for supporting joints either
brazed or otherwise, and the wedges 11 may be used for both expanding the
liner 10 and also expanding the end of the tube 4 when the latter is provided
with a slot or saw gate 7 (see Figs. 11, 12 and 13) and in this case the wedge like
formation of the key 11 is greater for about the length of the slot 7, the remainder
of it being tapered to correspond with the taper in the liner 10 or between the two
halves of the liner 10.
The wedges or keys 8 (see Fig. 5) and expanding wedges 11. (see Figs. 7 and 11)
are tapered from within outwards and the edges of the slot or saw gate 7 or
liner 10 are correspondingly inclined as shewn, and this prevents the tube or
liner collapsing inwards. The socket and tube may be roughened where they
come into contact before the joint is made, and the locking device 5 and also the
wedge 8 may be fixed by a through pin, preventing the possibility of the slightest
rotation.
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 improved manufacture of tubular frames as herein described and sub-
stantially as illustrated by the annexed drawings.
(2) The improved manufacture of tubular frames as herein described and sub-
stantially as illustrated by Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 of the accompanying
drawings.
(3) The improved manufacture of tubular frames as herein described and sub-
stantially as illustrated by Fig. 7 of the annexed drawings.
(4) In the construction of and in combination with tubular frames the use of
the socket 1 split or provided with a saw gate 2 and projections or keys 3,
together with means for drawing together and holding said keys as herein
described and substantially as illustrated by Figs. 1 and 6 of the drawings annexed
hereto.
(5) In the construction of tubular frames a liner such as 10, 10 expanded and
held in position in the tube 4 by wedges 11, 11 connected together by the web 12
as herein described and substantially as illustrated by Fig. 7 of the annexed
drawings
(6) In the construction of tubular frames a socket such as 1 forming part of
the bottom bracket and contracted on the tube 4 by a device such as 5 as and for
the purpose herein described and substantially as illustrated by Fig. 10 of the
annexed drawings.
(7) In the construction of tubular frames a socket such as 1 forming part of the
bottom bracket and expanded in the tube 4 by a wedge 8 as and for the purpose
herein described and substantially as illustrated by Fig. 10 of the annexed
drawings.
(8) A tube 4 provided with a saw gate 7 and a liner 10 both of which are

page_text: expanded by one and the same wedge 8 as and for the purpose herein described
and substantially as illustrated by Fig. 11 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 26th day of April 1899.
PERCY
HARGREAVES.
By his Agents,
Brierley & Howard,
Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax.
PERCY HARGREAVES.
By his Agents,
Brierley & Howard,
Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax.