Improvements in the Manufacture of Mud Guards and Dress Guards for Cycles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Sept., 1897.
Complete Specification Left, 1st June, 1898-Accepted, 23rd July, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Mud Guards and Dress Guards
for Cycles.
We, HORACE WALTER DOVER, Engineer, and PICKERING PHIPPS, Gentleman,
both of The Dorman Engineering Company, Mayorhold, Northampton, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of mud guards for cycles, of celluloid,
xylonite, or other similar compound, and has for its object a more efficient and
economical method of manufacture and to produce a mud guard which, without
increase in weight, is more durable and which retains its shape more permanently
than those mud guards as hitherto produced of that material.
In section the mud guard may be made of any plain or reversed curvilinear
corrugated or moulded form including that of a flattened tube, that wall of the
tube which is next the wheel being preferably concave towards the latter, and
according to this invention it is produced not from sheet celluloid (or the like) as
usual, but from a block of the " unseasoned" material by forcible extension of
such material (whilst in a plastic state from being subjected to heat) through a
die of the intended form, the edges of the guard being wired with steel wires to
ensure the necessary strength and maintain the permanence of form of the guard.
The operation of wiring may be performed either by feeding the wires through the
die so that they are enveloped by the celluloid or other material and made to
occupy their proper position at the edges of the mud guard, or by moulding the
edges of the guard in the form of tubular sheaths into which the wires are subse-
quently introduced. As the mud guard when made in the tubular form would
generally possess sufficient rigidity without the aid of wires, the latter may in such
cases be dispensed with, if desired, and the guard may be made with solid or
beaded edges. The rear portion of the mud guard may be flattened out and thus
widened so as to afford such additional protection against splashing as is required
at that part.
The invention also relates to the manufacture of laced dress guards for ladies
cycles.
The mud guard forming the peripheral rim of such a dress guard may either
be made of celluloid, xylonite, or the like material, in form and manner substan-
tially as above described, or may be of steel, wood, papier-mache, or other material
as usual heretofore. The lacing instead of being secured, as has hitherto been
usual, to eyelet holes pierced through the edges of the mud guard is attached to
or passed through a series of hooks or eyelets each having a spring clip formed in
one with it by stamping or otherwise, the jaws of the clips being adapted to
tightly embrace the wired or beaded edges of the mud guard. By this arrange-
ment the hooks or eyelets, whilst so secured to the mud guard as to be free from
liability to alter their position under the influence of vibration during riding,
can be slid at will along the mud guard in either direction when it is desired to
remove the lacing out of the way for the purpose of gaining access to the underside

page_text: of the mud guard for cleaning, and thereafter along with the lacing, can as readily
be re-adjusted in their normal positions.
Instead of the mud guard being formed with a continuous beading along its
edges upon which the spring clips may be slid as above described it may be
provided with a series of marginal notches or depressions into which the hooks
or eyelets would be clipped so as to be incapable of sliding, the hooks or eyelets
with the lacing attached being in that case removed entirely from the mud guard
when it is desired to clean the latter.
1
1.1
1907
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Mud Guards and Dress Guards
for Cycles.
We, HORACE WALTER DOVER, Engineer, and PICKERING PHIPPS, Gentleman,
both of The Dorman Engineering Company, Mayorhold, Northampton, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to the manufacture of cycle mud guards of celluloid,
xylonite, and the like, and has for its object a method of manufacture whereby to
produce a mud guard which retains its shape more permanently than those pro-
duced from sheet celluloid which are liable to soon become misshapen in
consequence of the tendency of the seasoned" material to resume its original
form.
"
"
The mud guard may be made of a single thickness but is preferably of flattened
tubular form in cross-section and it is produced in either case from " unseasoned'
material by extrusion (whilst in a plastic state) through a die the edges of the
guard being either solid or tubular beads and being wired or not with steel wires.
The invention also relates to the attachment of laced dress guards to the mud
guards by means of spring clips adapted to be sprung on to the beaded edges of
the mud guard whether made of celluloid, as above described, or of steel, wood,
or papier-mache as usual, the clips being readily sprung on and off and also adapted
to tightly embrace the wired or beaded edges of the mud guard. By this arrange-
ment the clips, whilst so secured to the mud guard as to be free to be slid along
the mud guard in either direction when it is desired to remove the dress guard
out of the way for the purpose of gaining access to the underside of the mud
guard for cleaning, can be readily re-adjusted in their normal positions.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification wherein Figure 1 is a side view of a mud guard with dress guard
attached. Figure 2 is a cross section (full size) of the mud guard of tubular
section shewing the spring clip attachments for the dress guard. Figures 3 and 4
are cross sections of the mud guard as made of a single thickness.
"
The method of manufacture consists in the forcible extrusion of a mass of the
"unseasoned celluloid through the die of a hydraulic "stuffing" machine, the
cylinder in which the mass of celluloid is contained and from which it is forced
out through the die by a plunger operated by hydraulic pressure, being steam-
jacketted to maintain the celluloid in a plastic condition and the die being heated,
if necessary, by a jet of steam directed against it to facilitate the flow of the

page_text: celluloid through the die. The moulded material as it is extruded from the die
is received upon a support curved to the intended curvature of the mud guard to
which the celluloid, whilst still plastic as it is expressed from the die, is made to
conform and upon which it is retained during the whole of the subsequent opera-
tion of seasoning by heating in a stove in the usual manner.
The form of the die depends upon the intended form in cross-section of the
mud guard, the construction of the die being varied accordingly as will be under-
stood, the form preferred, whether as a mud guard or as a mud and dress guard,
being that illustrated in Figure 2 from which it will be seen that the guard is a
flattened tube, the side a next the wheel being flat or slightly concave and the
outer side being convexly curved of any suitable configuration, the inner and
outer sides being united near the edges and also, if greater strength is required,
by intermediate webs as at c c. The extreme edges are moulded in the form of
tubular or solid beads through which, if tubular, steel wires tempered to the
intended curvature of the mud guard, are threaded whilst the material is still
plastic so that during the seasoning the beads will shrink upon the wires. Or
the wires might be drawn through the die and the beads be moulded around them,
by providing the cylinder of the stuffing machine with inlet tubes or orifices
through which the wires may be passed into the die without permitting the escape
of the material when under pressure.
The rear end of the mud guard is preferably flattened out, as shewn at f,
Figure 1, and thus widened so as to afford the additional protection against
splashing required at that part.
Instead of the mud guard being made of hollow or tubular form, as in Figure 2,
it may be made of a single thickness, as in Figure 3, and have either a plain
surface as there shewn or be stiffened by being formed with longitudinal corruga-
tions, as in Figure 4, or have any desired sectional configuration by using a die of
appropriate shape through which the material is expressed as above described.
In this case also the edges may either be formed with solid or tubular beads which,
in the latter case, may be strengthened by steel wires inserted during or after the
operation of moulding as above described.
Whichever of these sectional forms of mud guard be adopted the attachment
thereto of the dress guard is as follows:-The dress guard may be formed of
the ordinary radial cords but it is preferred to knot the cords together in the
form of a net-like fabric, as shewn in Figure 1, the cords or the net being attached
to spring clips e, such as that shewn, or of any other form, adapted to be sprung
into engagement with the beads d of the mud guard so as to securely retain the
dress guard in place whilst permitting of the dress guard being easily detached
from, the mud guard if required or being temporarily moved aside by sliding the
clips e along the mud guard towards the back stays of the frame so as to afford
easy access to the wheel and mud guard for cleaning. The spacing of the clips
the mud guard may be ensured, particularly when the dress guard is formed
of radial strings, by means of slight depressions formed at intervals in the beads d
by means of a hot pressing tool, in which the clips are normally retained whilst
permitting the sliding of the clips or their removal from the mud guard if
desired.
upon
The attachment of the dress guard by means of spring clips embracing beaded
edges of the mud guard is applicable in the case of mud guards made in other
ways and of other materials than celluloid and is therefore not limited to mud
guards made as above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The manufacture of mud guards of celluloid or the like, by extrusion of the
plastic unseasoned material through a die of suitable form, and receiving it while
still plastic upon a suitable former or support to give the required curvature
«
"

page_text: in the longitudinal direction and seasoning it whilst so supported substantially
as described.
"
2. The manufacture of mud guards of celluloid or the like, of hollow or tubular
section, by extrusion of the plastic unseasoned material through a die of suitable
form, and receiving it while still plastic upon a suitable "former or support to
give the required curvature in the longitudinal direction and seasoning it whilst
so supported substantially as described.
3. The manufacture of mud guards of celluloid or the like with beaded edges,
by extrusion of the plastic unseasoned material through a die of suitable form,
and receiving it while still plastic upon a suitable "former" or support to give
the required curvature in the longitudinal direction and seasoning it whilst so
supported substantially as described.
4. The manufacture of mud guards of celluloid or the like with tubular beaded
edges by extrusion of the plastic unseasoned material through a die of suitable
form, and the combination therewith of steel wires tempered to the required
curvature and inserted in the beads during, or immediately after, its extrusion
from the die substantially as specified.
5. The combination with a mud guard formed with thickened or beaded edges,
of means of attachment for a dress guard consisting of spring clips adapted to be
sprung into detachable or sliding engagement with beads of the mud guard
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Doted this lot dor of Luna 1808
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.