Improvements in or relating to the Driving Gear of Cycles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1895-Accepted, 23rd Feb.,
1895
Improvements in or relating to the Driving Gear of Cycles.
A communication from HORST STEUDEL, of Dresden, Saxony, German Empire,
Locksmith.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
To lose foothold or command of the pedals in cycling is greatly dreaded as a
danger by riders. For if the cyclist attempts again to get his feet on the pedals
he exposes himself, unless he is very dexterous, to be sorely knocked about on the
shins by the rapidly rotating pedals; and when descending steep hills, his very
safety may depend upon the prompt recovery of the command over the pedals of
his machine.
With a special view to these risks the inventor has designed the device
hereinafter described, by means whereof the pedal crank axle and driving chain
may be thrown in and out of gear at will while the machine is running. By the
aid of this apparatus for example the rider is enabled, while descending a declivity,
to release the pedals so that they cease to rotate and he may leave his feet resting
upon them until such time as he again throws into gear the friction coupling, which
connects the driving chain to the hub of the driving wheel.
Although the attempt to restrain or arrest the movement of a swiftly running
machine by means of the revolving pedals should only be made by a skilled and
practised cyclist, and is only practicable for such an one, yet it may be quite
within the power of a less practised or even an unskilled rider, with a machine
fitted with this invention, to utilise this friction coupling between the chain-wheel
and the hub of the driving wheel as a means of developing and applying brake-
power to any desired extent.
On the fixed rear wheel axle is mounted in the ordinary way in ball bearings the
nave of the wheel. A prolongation outwards of the hub is provided with an
external annular wedge-shaped groove. This latter portion of the hub is encircled
by a ring forming a spokeless chain-wheel. The cheeks of the clutch-coupling are
arranged to slide on the radial bolts in this ring which bolts extend through the
said ring down to the bottom of the annular groove; suitable springs act upon the
cheeks in such manner as to tend constantly to press them inwards i.e. into
the groove. Thus, apart from all else, the chain-wheel forms one piece with the
hub, and the driving wheel is set in rotation, by the movement of the chain.
In order to throw the coupling out of gear and break the connection between
the chain-wheel and the nave, certain forked bent levers are pivotted to the cheeks
on bolts or pivot-pins. These levers are controlled by suitable springs which
aiding and co-operating with the springs which act on cheeks tend constantly to
force under the chain-wheel ring suitable projections formed on the backs of
the levers just above the pivot pin. In this position the levers contribute
to keep the coupling in gear. If however the outwardly projecting lever arms are
pressed towards the hub, the projections released, liberate the ring, when the
lever-arms find an abutment against the edge of a disc and the cheeks are thereby
at once released from the groove. This disc turns loosely on a shoulder or collar
of the axle so that it may be able to rotate when (on the coupling being thrown

page_text: out of gear) the bent levers rest upon its edge and the chain-wheel is not yet
brought to rest; provision is made against lateral displacement (i.e. in the
longitudinal direction of the axle) by means of a splint or cottar.
In order to enable all these bent levers to be operated simultaneously from
the rider's seat, a further outer portion of the axle is provided with a flat
screw-thread of a quick pitch and a screw-nut mounted thereon has a flange
extending sufficiently far outwards for the said lever ends to come well within its
range. The pitch of the screw-thread is so proportioned that the rectilinear
displacement of the nut and flange generated by a quarter-revolution of the same
suffices to move the levers. This rotation is imparted to the nut by means of a
bent lever connecting rod and bell-crank lever handle, the latter mounted on
a suitable part of the frame within convenient reach of the rider's hand; but
this arrangement may be replaced by any other suitable means appropriate for the
purpose.
When therefore the rider wishes to bring the pedal crank axle and chain wheel
to rest it suffices for him by a suitable manipulation of the lever handle to release
or throw out of gear the coupling between the chain-wheel and the hub of the
hind wheel. Then holding his feet quietly upon the pedals he can by suitably
releasing the lever permit the brake-cheeks to penetrate into the groove sufficiently
far to establish a greater or less amount of brake action, but without communicating
motion to the chain-wheel; it will only be when he allows the full power of the
springs to be brought to bear upon the brake-cheeks that they will be so strongly
driven into the groove as to couple the chain wheel and the hub firmly together.
He will then be able to propel the machine by working the pedals with his feet.
Dated this 13th day of November 1894.
GORDIIVIN
A communication from HORST STEUDEL, of Dresden, Saxony, in the Empire of
Germany, Locksmith.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :—
To lose foothold or command of the pedals in cycling is greatly dreaded as a
danger by riders. For if the cyclist attempts again to get his feet on the pedals,
he exposes himself, unless he is very dexterous, to be sorely knocked about on the
shins by the rapidly rotating pedals; and, when descending steep hills, his very
safety may depend upon the prompt recovery of the command over the pedals of
his machine.
With a special view to these risks, the device hereinafter described has been
designed, by means of which the pedal crank axle and driving-chain may be thrown
in and out of gear, at will, while the machine is running. By the aid of this
apparatus, for example, the rider is enabled, while descending a slope to release
the pedals so that they cease to rotate and he may leave his feet resting upon them
until such time as he again throws into gear the friction-coupling which connects
the driving-chain to the hub of the driving-wheel. Although the attempt to
restrain or arrest the movement of a swiftly running machine by means of the
revolving pedals should only be made by a skilled and practised cyclist, and is only
practicable for such an one, yet it may be quite within the power of a less practised

page_text: or even an unskilled rider, with a machine fitted with this invention, to utilise this
friction-coupling between the chain-wheel and the hub of the driving wheel as a
means of developing and applying brake-power to any desired extent."
On the accompanying drawings,
Figure is a general view of a safety bicycle fitted with this invention (on the
smaller or rear-wheel), the machine being of any desired type.
Figure 2 is a transverse section in part of the rear-wheel driving-axle, showing
the hub with the chain-wheel, and the friction-coupling connecting those two parts,
the latter device being represented as thrown into gear;
Figure 2B is a corresponding view of the same when the friction-coupling is
thrown out of gear;
Figure 3 represents the nave of the hind-wheel, the chain-wheel and coupling
thrown into gear in a section which is longitudinal as regards the wheel but
transverse in relation to the axle ;
Figure 3 is a view of the other half of the parts above-mentioned with the
coupling in the same condition.
The hub is mounted on the rear-wheel axle a in ball bearings in the ordinary
way. A prolongation outwards of the hub is provided with an external annular
wedge-shaped groove b. This latter portion of bis encircled by the ring e forming
a spokeless chain-wheel. The cheeks d of the clutch-coupling are arranged to slide
on the radial bolts e' in e which bolts extend through the said ring c down to the
bottom of the groove; suitable springs d' act upon the cheeks d in such manner
as to tend to press them constantly inwards, i.e., into the groove b¹. Thus, apart
from all else, the chain-wheel forms one piece with the hub, and the driving-wheel
is set in rotation by the movement of the chain.
C
In order to throw the coupling out of gear and break the connection between
the chain-wheel and the nave, certain forked bent levers e are pivoted to the
cheeks on bolts or pivot-pins e¹. These levers e are controlled by suitable
springs 2 which, aiding and co-operating with the springs di tend constantly to
force under the chain-wheel ring e suitable projections formed on the backs of the
levers e just above the pivot-pin e (see also Figure 2). In this position the levers e
contribute to keep the coupling in gear. If, however, the outwardly projecting
lever-arms are pressed towards the hubb the projections released liberate the ring
when the lever-arms e find an abutment against the edge of a disc f and the
cheeks are thereby at once released from the groove (see also Figure 2B).
This disc turns loosely on a shoulder or collar of the axle, so that it may be able
to rotate when (on the coupling being thrown out of gear) the bent levers e rest
upon its edge and the chain-wheel is not yet brought to rest; provision is made
against lateral displacement (i.e. in the longitudinal direction of the axle) by means
of a splint or cottar.
In order to enable all these bent-levers e to be operated simultaneously from the
rider's seat, a further outer portion a³ of the axle is provided with a flat screw-
thread of a quick pitch, and a screw-nut g mounted thereon has a flange extending
sufficiently far outwards for the said lever-ends e to come well within its range.
The pitch of the screw-thread is so proportioned that the rectilinear displacement
of the nut and flange generated by a quarter-revolution of the same suffices to
move the levers. This rotation is imparted to the nut by means of a bent lever g',
connecting rod h, and bell-crank lever-handle h', the latter mounted on a suitable
part of the frame within convenient reach of the rider's hand (Fig. 1); but this
arrangement may be replaced by any other suitable means appropriate for the
purpose.
When, therefore, the rider wishes to bring the pedal crank axle and chain-wheel
to rest, it suffices for him by a suitable manipulation of the lever-handle to
release or throw out of gear the coupling between the chain-wheel and the hub of
the hind-wheel. Then, holding his feet quietly upon the pedals, he can, by
suitably releasing the lever, permit the brake-cheeks to penetrate into the groove
sufficiently far to establish a greater or lesser amount of brake-action, but without

page_text: communicating motion to the chain wheel; it will only be when he allows the full
power of the springs to be brought to bear upon the brake-cheeks, that they will
be so strongly driven into the groove b¹, as to couple the chain-wheel and the hub
firmly together. He will then be able to propel the machine by working the
pedals with his feet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. In apparatus for throwing in and out of gear the pedal crank axle and chain-
wheel of cycles the combination with a ring such as c forming the chain wheel and
connected to the hub of the road wheel by means of a friction-coupling of spring
controlled cheeks such as d a disc or nut such as g and levers such as e substantially
as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete engaging
and disengaging mechanism substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1895.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.