Improvements in or relating to Driving Mechanism for Cycles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Driving Mechanism for Cycles.
I, AUGUSTE CHARLES MARIE LELONG, of 17, Rue St. Maur, Paris, in the
Republic of France, 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:-
This invention relates to bevel pinion driving mechanism for cycles, enabling
the tread as well as the friction of the intermediate transmission shaft in its
bearings to be considerably reduced and also enabling the gear to be varied within
practicable limits, by simply changing the pinions placed on the spindle of the
driving wheel and on the transmission spindle without necessitating the replacing
or substitution of any other parts which is at present impossible in other known
devices.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 shows a sectional plan of the crank shaft mechanism, said section
being taken through the axis of the crank shaft and of the spindle of the driving
wheel.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the mechanism arranged on the hub of the
driving wheel, said section being in the same plane as that of Figure 1.
In order to bring the cranks ab as near as possible to the longitudinal axis
of the bicycle, without altering their symmetrical position relatively to said axis,
the boss or inner end of the crank bis recessed and made of a diameter sufficient
to enable the bevel wheel c to be placed within it.
The bevel wheel is screwed or connected to the hub of the crank which is made
of a suitable shape for this purpose.
In order to prevent the cranks from striking during their rotation, the lower
tubes d and e of the frame, the latter are symmetrically brought nearer together at
their ends towards the longitudinal axis of the cycle.
To enable these frame tubes to be brought nearer together to the axis of the
cycle, the bevel pinion secured to the hub of the driving wheel is arranged within
a chamber or casing preferably spherical and made in one with the hub to the
outside or circumference of which chamber the spokes of the wheel are secured.
The crank a can be secured to the end of the crank shaft g by any ordinary
means, it is however, preferable to make the end of the shaft square and to
prevent lateral movement of the crank by means of a screw h with a flat head.
The crank b may be secured to the shaft g by means of rivets ii or screws or
bolts of suitable number passing through the thickness of the hub of the crank
and into the flat head forming a portion of the shaft g. The contact surfaces
of the head and of the hub of the crank are afterwards brazed together.
The hub or casing k of the crank shaft has a suitable shape to enable it to receive
the pinion of the intermediate shaft m and to complete with the hub of the
crank the casing for the gearing and wheel c.
In order to prevent dust from penetrating into the interior of the mechanism
of the crank shaft, a circular ring n is cast together with the socket or casing k

page_text: being left between the two.
UL LIG
The pinion is screwed or connected to the hub o of the driving wheel, a lock
nut screw threaded in the opposite direction preventing the pinion from becoming
unscrewed.
The pinion serves as a cup for the balls placed between the hub and the cone q
of the spindle r.
The intermediate spindle m passes through the interior of the frame tube e.
This tube is on one hand brazed to the casing k and on the other hand to the
casing secured by means of a device hereinafter described to the end of the
spindle of the driving wheel.
In order to render the friction of the spindle m in its ball bearings as small
as possible, the surface over which this friction takes place must be as small as
possible.
The
For this purpose the pinions and s are screwed or secured to the ends of the
intermediate spindle and their position ensured by means of screws t and u screw-
threaded in the opposite direction to that of the pinions, and also by the lock nut v
which is also screw threaded in the opposite direction to that of the pinion s.
cup constituted by the outer end of each of the pinions s and is utilised for receiving
the balls and thus for causing the spindle to rotate between the points a and y, the
diameter of which is limited to the section required to resist the strain that may be
occasioned during the transmission of movement.
The part
is recessed in order to reduce its weight and is screwed into a boss
on the casing k. A lock nut a screwed on to the part when screwed against
the plate a before the crank and wheel care put in place will secure the
part in position, its rear end having notches bb arranged in pairs diametrically
opposite each other, in order to enable the part to be screwed up and its position
regulated, before the lock nut is tightened up.
A hole closed by the screw plug e and made in the casing k enables the recess
receiving the part to be screw threaded and the said part to be placed in
position.
A hole closed by a screw plug made in the boss of the crank enables, when
said hole is placed opposite the contact point of the pinions c and b it to be seen
whether these parts engage in a proper manner.
The party is also cut away in order to be lighter and is screwed into the part e¹.
The part el is, on the one hand, screwed inside the partly spherical casing
formed by the parts z, ', and on the other hand receives the screw threaded end of
the spindle r. The parts are put together as follows: before the parts h¹ and o
are put in position, the part el is screwed into a casing z. Then the cover h¹ is
put in place and the spindler is screwed into c¹, a lock nut i preventing the
disengagement of the parts. In this way the part el forms a connection between
the spindler and casing e. A lock-nut serves to secure the position of the
party relatively to the part el, and has a screw threaded passage into which is
screwed a bolt g¹, serving to secure the part h¹ terminating the closing device of the
gear case surrounding the mechanism at the back of the bicycle. The parts h¹
and have the same radius of curvature but this radius is a little smaller than
that of the chamber of the hub o, so that there remains a clearance between the
parts and on the one hand and the interior of the chamber of the hub on the
other.
jis a felt ring for preventing the dust from entering the interior of the gear
case of the corresponding portion of the gear.
It will be seen that if represents the circle of contact of the bevel pinions f
and s, owing to the spherical disposition of the gear case, in order to change the
gear of the machine, it is sufficient to vary the dimensions of the pinions f and s,
but maintaining the centre of the top of their teeth on the arc of the circle k¹
In this way the other parts of the gear or the walls of the gear case need not be
altered in any way.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. Driving mechanism for cycles comprising the arrangement of a bevel pinion
on the inside of the boss of the crank suitably constructed for this purpose, an
intermediate shaft carrying two bevel pinions one of which is placed in a spheroida!
chamber forming one with the hub of the driving wheel on the circumference of
which chamber the spokes of the wheel are arranged for the purpose of reducing
the width of the tread of the machine.
2. In a driving mechanism of the kind described the arrangement of parts a
and y for maintaining the intermediate spindle supported on ball bearings, the
described circumference of which is of a very small diameter, for the purpose of
reducing the friction to minimum, the bevel pinions in the intermediate spindle
being utilised as cups for said ball bearings.
3. In a driving mechanism of the kind described the spheroidal arrangement of
the gear case constituted by parts oz and h enabling the gear of the machine to be
varied by simply replacing the bevel pinions therein by others of different
diameters, the centre of the top of their teeth being in contact on the
circumference k¹.
4. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete driving
mechanism substantially as described or illustrated 111 the accompanying
drawings.
1
P
1000