IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES
Year: 1885

page_text: I RICHARD VARTY of Mill Road, Royston in the County of Cambridge,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES to be as follows:-
:-
My invention as applied to bicycles relates first to the introduction of springs
between the wheel bearings and the frame for the purpose of making travelling
smoother and it consists in dividing the limbs of the front and rear forks at
suitable points in their length and interposing elliptic or spiral springs rigidly
bolted to crossheads formed on the parts of the limbs between which they are
interposed.
2ndly It relates to driving gear combining, safety, great propelling power, and
the ability to vary the stroke at will, and to arrest either or both pedals and use
the same as foot rests. These combined advantages are obtained by use of a
silent feed pedal motion as hereinafter described. According to one arrangement
the pedal lever is pivoted to a downwardly and forwardly projecting arm forming
an extension of the front fork, said arm being pivoted and made adjustable in a
fore and aft direction in order to bring the work more or less backward as
required.
This lever is of the second order and is connected by a link with a lever that
works on the driving wheel bearing as a centre and has pivoted to it the nipping
jaw of the silent feed, which bites against the periphery of a drum fixed on the
axle.
According to another arrangement the pedal lever carries the nipping jaw and
pivots on the axis of the drum as a centre, the drum being hung in the adjustable
extension of the fork referred to in the previous arrangement and geared up by
tooth or band gear with a wheel fast on the main axle.
The first described arrangement of gear is also applicable to tricycles of the
Humber type and with slight modification to front steering and open fronted
tricycles.

page_text: I RICHARD VARTY of Mill Road, Royston in the County of Cambridge 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:-
My Invention as applied to bicycles consists first in the interposition of elliptic
springs between the wheel bearings and the forks or at suitable points in the limbs
of the forks of the front and rear wheels said springs being rigidly bolted to
crossheads formed on the parts between which they are interposed.
My invention relates secondly to driving gear combining safety great propelling
power and the ability to vary the stroke at will and to arrest either or both pedals
and use the same as foot rests, these combined advantages being obtained principally
by the use of a silent feed pedal motion as hereinafter described.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification wherein Figure 1 is an elevation of. a direct motion driving gear for
bicycles and Figure 2 is an elevation and figure 3 a vertical section of a modifi-
cation thereof geared up Figure 4 is an elevation and figure 5 is a horizontal
section of another arrangement. These figures also show enough of the front fork
to illustrate the first improvement of my invention the same letters of reference
indicating the same parts in all the figures.
Referring to figure 1 A is the upper part of the one limb of the front fork
terminating in a horizontal cross head a. B is the lower part of the said limb in
one with the upper half of the bearing casing and provided with a cross head b.
C is an elliptic steel spring rigidly bolted to and between the cross heads a, b, as
shown by bolts c passing through holes in the crossheads and spring. Although
shown near down to the bearing the spring may be placed in any position in the
length of the limb of the fork. The application of similar springs to the rear
wheel fork is made in the same way and requires no further explanation or
illustration. The spring thus virtually constitutes a portion of the fork and
imparts longitudinal resilience thereto whilst preventing any lateral motion or
torsion between the parts.
The driving gear shown in figure 1. is a direct motion gear not speeded up. The
pedal lever D is pivoted at d, to a downwardly and forwardly projecting arm E
forming an extension of the limb of the front fork A said arm E being
pivoted ate and made adjustable in a fore and aft direction in order to bring
the work more or less beneath the rider. The stud e on which the arm E pivots is
carried by a short bracket projecting downwards from and in one with the lower
half of the ball bearing case said bracket terminating in a quadrant F with holes f
in it or a slot for securing the arm E in one of three or more positions as desired
by means of a bolt and nut.
The pedal lever is connected by a link G with the short arm of a lever H that
oscillates freely on the driving wheel axle X or its case as a centre or on the boss
of the drum K hereafter referred to, the bosses of the drum and lever in that case

page_text: being coned and secured by a lock nut. The connection of the link G with the
lever H is adjustable by means of a slot and the connection of the link with the
pedal lever may also be made adjustable by pivoting the link to a bracket movable
along the pedal lever as in figure 4. To the long arm of lever H is pivoted a
nipping jaw I curved eccentrically to the pivot i and of such radius as to bite
against the periphery of a drum K keyed on the axle X the jaw being pressed
against the drum by a light spring (not shown) and biting when the lever is moved
in the direction of the arrow and slipping freely when moved in the reverse
direction the drum-and nipping jaw constituting what is known as a silent feed.
The edge of the jaw I is of V section and the periphery of the drum is corre-
spondingly grooved to increase the bite of the jaw.
The pedal lever D must be provided with a spring for lifting it after each down
stroke preferably a coiled spring such as hereafter described in reference to figure 4
and it may also be provided with means such as that shown in figures 4 and 5 for
locking the pedal lever in the required position for use as a foot rest.
Referring now to figures 2 and 3 which show a similar gear but speeded up it
will be seen that the arm E is in one with the ball bearing case which is solid
instead of being made in halves and the bearing case carries the quadrant F
which is bolted to the part B of the fork which is formed with a saddle piece B¹
merely resting on the top of the bearing case instead of being in one therewith
the quadrant F and bolt maintaining the connection of the fork with the bearing
case whilst permitting the adjustment of arm E which thus pivots directly on
the axle.
The drum K is driven by a silent feed as before but is itself loose on the axle X
and has an internal ring k, of teeth which gears with a spur wheel L keyed on the
axle X through a pair of intermediate pinions S, T. turning on studs s, t, affixed
to the part B of the fork all this gear.being represented by the pitch circles only.
Referring to figures 4 and 5 the arm E is in one with the lower half of the
double ball bearing case which in this instance is made in halves the connection of
the part B of the fork and the bearing case and the adjustment of the arm E being
made as in the last described arrangement.
.
The pedal lever D is connected by a link G as before with the lever H which in
this case swings on a centre eccentric to the wheel axle said centre being a stud M,
projecting from a fixed arm or bracket m carried by the lower half of the bearing
case.
This lever H carries the nipping jaw I of the silent feed motion which engages
with a drum K as before the drum in this case turning loose on the same stud M
as the lever H.
The drum has an internal ring of teeth k gearing directly with a spur pinion L
keyed on the wheel axle and situated between the ordinary double ball bearing
and a single ball bearing attached to the bracket m and serving to take all strains
of the levers acting on the drum. The link G is attached to the pedal lever D by
a bracket or clip secured adjustably on the pedal lever and carrying the stud pin
for the connecting rod to pivot on. The pedal lever D pivots on a stud & attached
to arm E and to the eye of the lever D is attached a cylindrical case N containing
a coiled spring O attached by one end to said case and by the other to the stud d.
To the rear side of this case is affixed a slotted quadrant P through which passes
a stud pattached to the arm E and acting as a stop to limit the full stroke of the
pedal lever to the length of the quadrant slot.
In the outer or rear edge of this quadrant is a hole q in which is received the
end of a bolt Q sliding in guides alongside the pedal lever D and connected by a
rod with a foot lever R mounted on the lever D near the pedal so that by pressing
the foot upon the lever R the bolt Q may be thrown into the hole q whereby the
end of the bolt will come against the stud p and support the pedal lever at an
intermediate position thus enabling it to be used as a foot rest. The bolt Q is
retracted by a spiral spring q' upon it whereupon the pedal lever is free for
pedalling as before.

page_text: The first described arrangement of driving gear shown in figure 1 and the
modification geared up shown in figures 2 and 3 are also applicable to tricycles of
the Humber type the parts requiring no alteration other than using a single drum
with two grooves, a suitable balance gear being introduced at any convenient point
in the axle to make the machine double driving.
The same arrangements are also applicable to front steering and open fronted
tricycles the only alteration requisite in either case being to reverse the position of
the pedal lever end for end and alter the direction of the curved arm E accordingly.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim. is
0
1. The combination with the limbs of the fork of a bicycle or tricycle of elliptic
springs interposed between the bearings and the fork or at any suitable point in
the length of the fork and rigidly secured thereto substantially as described and
shown in the drawings.
2. In a bicycle the respective combinations of parts constituting the driving or
pedalling motions substantially as herein described and represented in figure 1,
figures 2 and 3 and figures 4 and 5 of the drawings respectively whereby discon-
nected pedals variable stroke, absence of dead centres and the ability to use the
pedals as foot rests are obtained.
3. In a bicycle or tricycle pivoting the pedal lever to a radius arm fixed rigidly
to the frame and adjustable in a fore and aft direction about the driving axis as
a centre whereby to bring the pedal more or less forward or backward as required.
4. The combination with the respective arrangements of silent feed driving gear
herein shown and described and with the pedals for operating the same of the
radius arms to which the pedals are pivoted said arms being made adjustable as
described for varying the position of the pedal levers in a fore and aft direction.
5. The application to tricycles of the Humber type and to front steering and
open fronted tricycles of the respective arrangements of driving gear described in
reference to figure 1 and figures 2 and modified in the manner herein specified
for the purpose of such application.