Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles and other Velocipedes and Motor Cycles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Nov., 1896
Complete Specification Loft 10th Aux 1907 ccented 23rd Oct
1807
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles and other Velocipedes
and Motor Cycles.
We, CHARLES VERNON PUGIL, of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn, Corporation Street, Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, Velocipede Manufacturer, and JoHN VERNON
PUGH of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and HARRY PARSONS,
of Wren Street, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in brakes
for bicycles, tricycles and other velocipedes and motor cycles, which brakes are
automatically put into operation on the back pedalling of the velocipede or on
the slackening of the speed or stopping of the driving mechanism of the motor
cycle; and our invention has for its object so to construct and combine or arrange
the parts of the brake mechanism that the said mechanism is very quick and
effective in action.
We will describe our invention in connection with a safety bicycle.
We fix a circular disc on the chain wheel end of the spindle of the back wheel the
said disc having a cylindrical flange on its edge. The said flanged disc is made
preferably in one piece with the hearing cone of the hub at the side of the wheel
referred to, the outer face of the disc being in contact with the inner side of the
chain stay fork.
We form on the outer side of the chain wheel a flange which overhangs or
surrounds the cylindrical flange of the disc hereinbefore referred to, the said
flange of the wheel having on its inner side or face a series of, preferably four,
eccentric surfaces. Between the eccentric surfaces of the flange of the chain
wheel and the cylindrical periphery of the flange of the disc we arrange a series
of curved wedges the thin ends of the wedges being in the direction of rotation
of the wheel on the forward motion of the bicycle. The wedges are connected at
their thin ends to a screwed ring on the hub of which ring the said wedges form
an integral part. Or the said wedges may be formed in one piece with the ball
bearing cup fixed in the end of the hub.
The action of the brake is as follows:-On the forward motion of the bicycle
the wedges hereinbefore described rotate with the chain wheel and travel around
the cylindrical flange of the disc on the spindle of the wheel.
On back pedalling as when descending a hill or retarding the speed of the
bicycle the eccentric surfaces of the inner side of the flange of the chain wheel
take a slight back motion with respect to the wedges and thus have a slight
motion on the said wedges, forcing them into such close contact with the
cylindrical flange of the disc on the spindle of the back wheel that the said wheel
is quickly brought to rest or its motion retarded.
The application of our invention to tricycles and other velocipedes and motor

page_text: cycles differs in no essential respect from its application to a safety bicycle as
hereinbefore described.
Dated this twenty-fourth day of November 1896.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles and other Velocipedes
and Motor Cycles.
We, CHARLES VERNON PEGII, of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn, Corporation Street, Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, Velocipede Manufacturer, and JOHN VERNON
PUGII of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and HARRY PARSONS,
of Wren Street, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in brakes
for bicycles, tricycles and other velocipedes and motor cycles, which brakes
automatically come into operation on the back pedalling of the velocipede or on
the slackening of the speed or stopping of the driving mechanism of the motor
cycle and our invention has for its object so to construct and combine or arrange
the parts of the brake mechanism that the said mechanism is very quick and
effective in action.
We win describe our invention in connection with a safety bicycle.
We fix a circular disc on the chain wheel end of the spindle of the back wheel the
said disc having a cylindrical flange on its edge. The said flanged disc is made
preferably in one piece with the bearing cone of the hub at the side of the wheel
referred to, the outer face of the dise being in contact with the inner side of the
chain stay fork and consequently incapable of rotation.
We form on the outer side of the chain wheel a flange which overhangs or
surrounds the cylindrical flange of the disc hereinbefore referred to, the said
flange of the wheel having on its inner side or face a series of, preferably four
eccentric surfaces. Between the eccentric surfaces of the flange of the chain
wheel and the cylindrical periphery of the flange of the disc we arrange a series
of curved wedges the thin ends of the wedges being in the direction of rotation
of the wheel on the forward motion of the bicycle. The wedges are connected at
their thin ends to a screwed ring on the hub of which ring the said wedges form
an integral part. Or the said wedges may be formed in one piece with the ball
bearing cup fixed in the end of the hub.
The action of the brake is as follows:-On the forward motion of the bicycle
the wedges hereinbefore described rotate with the chain wheel and travel around
the cylindrical flange of the disc on the spindle of the wheel.
On back pedalling as when descending a hill or retarding the speed of the
bicycle the eccentric surfaces of the inner side of the flange of the chain wheel
take a slight back motion with respect to the wedges and thus have a slight
motion on the said wedges, forcing them into such close contact with the
cylindrical flange of the dise on the spindle of the bark wheel that the said wheel
is quickly brought to rest or its motion retarded.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents partly in elevation and
partly in section, the hub of the rear wheel of a safety bicycle provided with

page_text: brake mechanism constructed according to our invention; Figure 2 is an eleva-
tion at the chain wheel side of the hub, the fork end of the frame being omitted,
and Figures 3 and 4 represent respectively in side and end elevation the brake
ring of the hub detached.
Figure 5 represents partly in elevation and partly in section a portion of the
bottom bracket of a safety, bicycle illustrating the application of our invention to
the driving chain wheel of the bicycle.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the Drawing.
We will first describe the arrangement Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Instead of fixing the chain wheel to the hub a of the rear wheel as usual we
fix to the said hub a in the way commonly employed in fixing the chain wheel
thereto, a ring b (shown separately in Figures 3 and 4) the said ring carrying at
its outer side a series of wedges 6, 6. The said wedges are wholly detached
from the ring & except at their thin ends as will be best seen by reference tb
Figure 4 so that the said wedges 62 are elastic, that is, are capable of a slight
contraction. A series of four of the said wedges 2, b2 is shown in the drawing,
but we do not limit ourselves to this number as two or three or more than four
may be used with the same or nearly the same effect.
The chain wheel or chain ring e is provided at its outerside with a flange
having a series of eccentric surfaces corresponding in number and shape with
those of the elastic or spring like wedges 62, 6 of the ring b (see Figure 2). The
said chain wheel c is passed onto the ring b and is attached thereto by screw
pins e, e the ends of which take into an annular groove or neck f in the ring b
(see Figures 1 and 4) the eccentric surfaces e of the chain wheel e fitting the
elastic or spring 1.ke wedges of the ring b as is best seen in Figure 2. It will
thus be understood that while the chain wheel c is so secured to the ring b as to
be incapable of accidental detachment therefrom the said chain wheel is capable.
of a partial rotation backwards and forwards independent of the ring b.
When the chain wheel c and ring b are in the respective positions represented
in Figure 2 they will on the forward rotation of the chain wheel c, that is, on the
rotation of the wheel in the direction of the full line arrow in Figure 2 rotate
together, that is, as one, and consequently a forward motion is transmitted to
the hub and rear wheel of which it forms a part: but on the back rotation
of the chain wheel c, that is, on the rotation of the chain wheel in the direction
of the dotted arrow in Figure 2 the said chain wheel moves through a partial
rotation on the ring and the eccentric surfaces of the flange of the chain.
wheele working on the elastic or spring like wedges P, B of the ring & the said.
elastic or spring like wedges are contracted or are forced slightly inwards in a
nearly radial direction.
The brake action of the ring b is obtained by arranging within the wedges la, ba
a circular flanged disc d, the said dise being screwed to the spindle g of the
wheel and made preferably in one piece with the fixed cone d of the ball bearing
as is represented in Figure 1. The outer side of the dise d bears against the
hack fork end A of the bicycle frame. It will be understood that on the contrac-
tion of the elastic or spring like wedges , by the back rotation of the chain
wheel and its eccentric surfaces as before described the said elastic or spring
like wedges bear forcibly on the flange d of the fixed dise d and consequently
the wheel is brought to a state of rest or to a lower rate of speed.
The brake automatically comes into operation as follows: -When the bicycle
is travelling down hill or at too great a speed the rider has only to commence
back pedalling when the rear wheel rotating momentarily or nearly momentarily
faster than the chain wheel the ring b and its wedges 62, 62 advance within
the flange of the chain wheel consequently the elastic or spring like wedges 2, 1
are made to bind with more or less force on the flange of the fixed disc d and
thereby arrest or retard the motion of the bicycle."

page_text: When it is desired to remove the brake action it is only necessary to recom-
mence forward pedalling when the chain wheel e advances slightly on the
contracted wedges 62 in the direction proper to permit them to expand or resume
their normal position. The shoulders at the junction of the eccentric surfaces
of the chain wheel e again come in contact with or abut against the ends of the
wedges and the said wedges and their ring b and hub a to which the latter is
fixed again rotate as one with the chain wheel c.
In applying our invention to the driving chain wheel as illustrated in Figure 5
we attach the fixed disc d to the bottom bracket i of the bicycle and we form the
elastic or spring like wedges 62, 62 on a disc b in one piece with the crank of the
velocipede adjacent to the driving chain wheel. The driving chain wheel c is
attached to the disc b of the crank in a way essentially the same as that by which
the chain wheel of the hub of the rear wheel is attached to the ring 6 on the said
hub and corresponding parts in the two arrangements are marked with the same
letters of reference.
The action of the parts in the arrangement Figure 5 differs in no essential
respect from that described with respect to the arrangement Figures, 1, 2, 3
and 4.
Instead of the brake ring & being actuated by the contraction of its spring
like wedges, it may be actuated by the expansion of the said wedges within
a hollow brake drum.
This modification of our invention is illustrated partly in elevation and partly
in section in Figure 6.
The chain wheel e in this arrangement is internally cylindrical and fits a cylin-
drical bush a² of the hub a. The eccentric surfaces of the chain wheel are formed
on the exterior of its flange . The brake ring b is placed against the side of
the flange of the chain wheel c its spring wedges 6, 62 fitting the eccentric
surfaces on the exterior of the said flange 3 of the chain wheel c. The brake
ring is prevented from rotating with relation to the hub a by projections (not
shown in the Drawing) on the end of the bush a of the said hub engaging in
holes or notches (not shown in the drawing) in the ring b. The ring b is fixed
in position by a collar on the ball cup k which collar when the said ball cup k
is screwed into the internally screwed bush a of the hub a bears against the
brake ring b. The outer face of the fixed cone disc d, d' adjoins the slotted
end of the branch of the back wheel fork as in the arrangement first described
but the cylindrical flange d of the said disc d against which flange the spring
wedges bare expanded when the brake comes into action covers or conceals the
brake mechanism as will be understood by reference to the drawing.
The application of our invention to tricycles and other velocipedes and motor
cycles differs in no essential respect from its application to a safety bicycle as
herein before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner t same is to be performed we declare that we claim as
our invention:-
The improvements in brakes for bicycles, tricycles and other velocipedes and
motor cycles hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing
the said improvements consisting essentially in providing the hub of the wheel
when the brake is applied to the rear wheel of the velocipede or the crank when
the said brake is applied to the driving chain wheel of the velocipede with a
series of elastic or spring, like wedges and providing the chain wheel attached
thereto with a series of eccentric surfaces for taking and fitting on or in the said
wedges and so attaching the said chain wheel to the ring of the hub or disc of
the rank that the said chain wheel is capable of a partial rotation on or in the
said ring or disc and arranging on the spindle of the wheel or bottom bracket
and within or external to the said wedges a fixed disc or drum so that on the

page_text: contraction or expansion of the said wedges by the back rotation of the chain wheel or
crank the said wedges bind on or against the fixed disc or drum substantially as
described and illustrated.
Dated the eighteenth day of Anot 1807
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.