An Improved Mud Guard or Shield for the Crank Chain Wheel and Bearings of Cycles.
Year: 1895

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Mud Guard or Shield for the Crank Chain Wheel
and Bearings of Cycles.
I SAMUEL HUDSON WRIGHT of 33 Drury Street Dublin in the County of
Dublin Umbrella and Walking Stick Maker do hereby declare the nature of my
invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object an improved mud guard or shield for the crank
chain wheel and bearings of cycles by which the bottom bracket chain or sprocket
wheel and crank bearings are thoroughly protected from the dust and dirt which
may be thrown from the front wheel or which may rise from the road as the
machine progresses. My shield is manufactured of very light weight and is so
arranged as to suit any form of safety bicycle as well as some forms of tricycles
and is so simple as not to make any material increase in the cost of any cycle to
which it may be attached.
In carrying my invention into effect I stamp my shield out of sheet steel of
narrow gauge and of a shape or contour which fits the diameter of the sprocket or
chain wheel and which is sufficiently wide to cover the crank bearings. The shield
is provided with a sheet steel plate which is stamped up to form a groove a groove
or recess which fits the bottom front stay near the bottom bracket and this plate
may form part of the shield or may be separate & braized on, and one or two loose
flanges are provided whereby the said plate is clipped to the front stay by means
of screw pins, thumb screws or other suitable arrangement. This supporting plate
may be slotted out to allow the centre and bottom fork tubes to pass through but
I prefer to so support the shield from the plate by means of a strut that the shield
and plate are perfectly detachable & can be instantly attached and detached from
the cycle for cleaning purposes. The sheet metal of the shield can be carried up
the entire length of the front stay & clipped to it so as to form a mud guard to the
front wheel and thus protect the whole of the machine & rider.
Dated 15th day of July 1895
An Improved Mud Guard or Shield for the Crank Chain Wheel
and Bearings of Cycles.
I SAMUEL HUDSON WRIGHT of 33 Drury Street Dublin in the County of
Dublin, Umbrella and Walking Stick Maker, 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 has for its object an improved mud guard, or shield, by which the
chain, sprocket wheel, bottom bracket, crank spindle, and bearings of safety
bicycles, and some forms of tricycles are effectually protected from all mud, grit,

page_text: and dirt which may be thrown by, or from the front wheel' as the machine
progresses, also equally protecting all other such parts of the cycle, together
with so much of the person of the rider as is placed at the back of, or behind
the shield.
In carrying my invention into effect I form that part of the guard which
constitutes the shield proper, preferrably out of thin sheet steel, but if extreme
lightness is required, it may be formed of aluminum, vulcanite, celluloid, or other
suitable material, of a shape or contour which follows close round part of the
circumference of the sprocket wheel, but without touching it, or so much of same
as is protectively nessary, and is of sufficient width to cover the crank spindle,
bottom bracket, and bearings which lie between the cranks; if preferred the sides
of the mud guard may be left open for_the_purpose of avoiding pressure from side
winds, and also to allow of uninterupted and ready inspection of the chain, and
for cleaning, oiling, and adjusting same at the one side, and at the opposite side
affording equal facility for oiling, and adjustment of the crank spindle bearings;
without requiring the removal of the shield for these purposes.
Should it be desired, the guard may be closed in at the sides and up to the
crank spindle and so formed and contoured as to fit closely and cover in the
different diametres of the sprocket wheel, and bottom bracket respectively.
The shield is provided at the upper end with a plate of thin steel, or other
suitable material, being an extention of same, which may form part of the shield,
or be seperate and brazed, or otherwise suitably attached thereto, this extension or
plate is stamped up the centre to form a U shaped groove or resess which fits the
bottom front stay, and of a width to allow of flanges sufficiently wide at both sides
of the groove to form an efficient mud guard which may be carried up the entire
length of the said stay, to which it is firmly, and securely attached preferrably by
means of one, or more saddle plates placed over the stay, and held in position by
thumb screws, wing nuts, or other suitable arrangement.
To fix the shield in opperative position, it is instantly mad to take and keep its
proper place by means of the grooved plate in conjunction with a flat sided
projection, or foot formed inside or at the concave side of the shield and which
extends under the bottom bracket, and held in close contact therewith, immediatly
the beforementioned extention plate is clipped or screwed to the front bottom
stay.
To remove the shield from the cycle for cleaning purposes it is therefore only
nessary to undo the clipping arrangement, when the entire mud guard is instantly
detached.
I may at will further secure the shield in position by means of one, or two struts
attached to the bottom of the guard, and which strut, or struts is, or are then
carried up and hooked, or otherwise suitably clipped to the bottom fork stays, or
they may be carried up and round the bottom bracket and clipped to the seat
pillar close to the bottom bracket, or I may attain the same end by connecting the
projecting foot within the shield with the bottom back fork stays, or with the seat
pillar by a strut, or struts and suitable clipping arrangements.
Figure 1. is a side view of the shield having open sides, a, a, a, the shield, b, b, the
extention clipped on the front bottom stay.
Figure 2. shews the mud guard, and extention from the under or convex side.
Figure 3. exhibits the same and from the same side, but shewing the shield
proper a, a, contoured to fit the two diametres of the sprocket wheel and the
bottom bracket.
Figure 4. is a cross section of the extention. c. c. represents the flanges. d. the
recess.
Figure 5. shews the mud guard with open sides, a. a. a. the shield, b. b. the exten-
tion, e. the projecting foot against which the bottom-bracket is held when in
operative position. f. strut which connects the foot e. with the free end of shield a.
supporting and preventing vibration of the latter.

page_text: Having now particularly decribed and acertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
An improved mud-guard, or shield, held in position and attached to cycles
substantially as, and for the purposes herin before described in reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 15th dow of Anril 1806
SAML. H. WRIGHT.