AN IMPROVE- MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES to be as follows:-
Year: 1884

page_text: We WALTER JOHN LLOYD and WILLIAM PRIEST both of Quadrant Works
Sheepcote Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and
Copartners do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES to be as
follows:-
"
In the specification of Letters patent granted to Walter John Lloyd one of the
present applicants bearing date the 31st day of August 1882 N° 4157 there is
described represented and claimed among other things steering mechanism for
tricycles and other velocipedes consisting essentially of curved slotted or open sided
bearing plates for the bearing blocks of the axle of the steering wheel to slide in.
As the motion of the said bearing blocks is principally upon the middle parts of the
bearing plates in consequence of the small angle through which the axle of the
steering wheel is constantly moving when the velocipede is in use the wear is
practically confined to the middle parts of the said bearing plates and the object of
our invention is to compensate for the said wear and thereby avoid the rattling or
jarring motion of the bearing blocks upon the bearing plates and the production of
noiseless steering mechanism for tricycles and other velocipedes.
For this purpose we construct and arrange the said bearing plates and parts
connected with them in the following manner.
Instead of making the lower curved bearing plate fixed as described in the
specification of the patent before referred to we make the lower bearing plate
capable of approaching the fixed top bearing plate so as to compensate for the wear
of the said plates. We effect this object by hinging the ends of the lower bearing
plate to the bottoms of the pillars or distance pieces between the pair of bearing
plates. The said bottom bearing plate is thereby made capable by turning on its
hinges of a limited motion vertically to and from the fixed top bearing plate. In
order to make the hinged bearing plate self adjusting a spring is made to operate
upon its middle and press it upwards so as to cause it to take a close seat against
the bearing block and thus avoid the rattling or jarring motion of the bearing
blocks before referred to.

page_text: We WALTER JOHN LLOYD and WILLIAM PRIEST both of Quadrant Works,
Sheepcote Street Birmingham, in the County of Warwick Manufacturers and
Copartners, do hereby declare the nature of our Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES" and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
In the specification of Letters Patent granted to Walter John Lloyd one of the
present applicants, bearing date the 31st day of August 1882 N° 4157, there is
described, represented and claimed, among other things, steering mechanism for
tricycles and other velocipedes consisting essentially of curved slotted or open sided
bearing plates for the bearing blocks of the axle of the steering wheel to slide in.
As the motion of the said bearing blocks is principally upon the middle parts of the
bearing plates in consequence of the small angle through which the axle of the
steering wheel is constantly moving when the velocipede is in use, the wear is
practically confined to the middle parts of the said bearing plates and the object of
our invention is to compensate for the said wear and thereby avoid the rattling or
jarring motion of the bearing blocks upon the bearing plates and the production of
noiseless steering mechanism for tricycles and other velocipedes.
For this purpose we construct and arrange the said bearing plates and parts
connected with them in the following manner.
Instead of making the lower curved bearing plate fixed as described in the
specification of the patent before referred to, we make the lower bearing plate
capable of approaching the fixed top bearing plate so as to compensate for the wear
of the said plates. We effect this object by hinging the ends of the lower bearing
plate to the bottoms of the pillars or distance pieces between the pair of bearing
plates. The said bottom bearing plate is thereby made capable by turning on its
hinges of a limited motion vertically to and from the fixed top bearing plate. In
order to make the hinged bearing plate self adjusting a spring is made to operate
upon its middle and press it upwards so as to cause it to take a close seat against
the bearing block and thus avoid the rattling or jarring motion of the bearing
blocks before referred to. Or the position of the hinged bearing plate may be
adjusted by a screw rod and lock nuts.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in plan, a front steered
tricycle provided with steering mechanism constructed according to our invention;
Figure 2 represents in front elevation and Figure 3 in side elevation, the steering
wheel and steering mechanism of the tricycle drawn of the full size; Figure 4
represents one of the joint ends of the lower bearing plate as hereinafter described.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the drawings.
a, a are the travelling wheels and 6 the front steering wheel of the tricycle; c is
the axle of the steering wheel and d is the forked frame within which the steering
wheel works. The said frame d also supports the slotted or open sided bearing

page_text: plates for the bearing blocks of the axle c of the steering wheel b to slide in. Each
pair of slotted or open sided bearing plates is marked e, e² the upper bearing plate
of each pair being marked e and the lower bearing plate being marked e². The
upper bearing plate e is fixed and the lower bearing plate e2 is capable of a limited
vertical motion to and from the fixed plate e to compensate for the wear of the said
plates. This is effected by hinging or jointing the ends of the lower bearing
plate e² to the forked bottoms of the fixed pillars or distance pieces between the
pair of bearing plates e, e². The joints of the bearing plate e' are made in the
manner seen in the horizontal section and front elevation of one end of the plate
represented in Figure 4. That is to say, each end e of the bearing plate e² is bent
at right angles to the body of the plate and the said bent ends are passed into
the forked bottoms of the pillars fand hinged or jointed thereto by the cross joint
pins e. The ends of the plate e swivel or turn upon the said pins e³, the said plate
performing a vertical or slight curvilinear motion upon the said joint pins when it
is raised or lowered. The bearing blocks on the axle c of the steering wheel b may
either be fixed on the axle and slide between the bearing plates e, e; or the said
bearing blocks may be loose upon the axle c and roll upon the bearing plates when
the steering wheel is moved, so as to reduce the friction between the parts. In the
accompanying Drawings we have represented the bearing blocks made in the form
of wheels or rollers for rolling between the bearing plates. Each end of the axle c
of the steering wheel is provided with two loose bearing wheels or rollers h, i, the
upper fixed plate e bearing upon the wheel or roller h and the lower adjustable
plate e² working against the other wheel or roller i. The peripheries of the bearing
rollers or wheels h, i are V shaped or nearly V shaped and the engaging edges of
the upper and lower bearing plates e, e² have a corresponding figure for taking into
the said wheels or rollers as best seen in the right hand end of Figure 2.
The hinged or jointed lower bearing plate e² of each pair of bearing plates is
supported and adjusted in the following manner. At the middle of the said lower
bearing plate e² is a horizontal arm k to which the bottom of the screw rod is
jointed. The said screw rod passes freely through an eye on the end of the
horizontal arm m fixed to the upper bearing plate e and is supported in its place by
the strong helical or spring washer p the upper part of which takes a bearing
against the lock nuts n on the rod and the lower part of the said spring washer
bears against the eye part of the arm m. The lower adjustable bearing plate e² is
thus connected to the upper fixed plate e by an elastic connection, whereby the said
lower bearing plate is made capable of slightly yielding when strain is put
upon it.
In order to keep the bearing surfaces of the upper and lower plates e, e² in close
contact with the bearing blocks or wheels h, i it is only necessary from time to
time to slightly raise the supporting screw rods 1, by adjusting their lock
nuts p, p. By thus raising the screw rods, the top edge of the lower bearing
plate e² of each pair of plates is made to approach by a slight curvilinear motion the
fixed upper bearing plate e and the bearing plates are thus made to seat themselves
closely against the bearing blocks or rollers h, i and thereby avoid the rattling or
jarring motion of the bearing blocks upon the bearing plates.
The hinged bearing plate e' may be made self adjusting by causing the said plate
to be pressed upwards by a spring supported from the fixed upper bearing
plate c.
The axle c of the steering wheel b has jointed to each end of it a steering
connecting rod q through which the steering wheel is operated in the manner
described and illustrated in the specification of the patent herein before referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
The improvement or improvements in the steering mechanism of tricycles and
other velocipedes bereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying

page_text: Drawings; that is to say making the lower bearing plate of the curved slotted or
open sided bearing plates between which the bearing blocks or wheels of the axle
of the steering wheel work, capable of a limited motion vertically to and from the
fixed top bearing plate for the purpose of compensating for the wear principally
upon the middle parts of the said bearing plates, the said adjustable bearing plates
being constructed and combined with the other parts of the steering mechanisın
and operating substantially as described and illustrated.