Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Seat-supports for Bicycles, Motor Cars, and other Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 3rd July, 1897.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Seat-supports for Bicycles,
Motor Cars, and other Vehicles.
I, EDWARD CASTILDINE MARTIN of No. 6 Ruabon Road, Toorak, near Melbourne
in the Colony of Victoria, Journalist, 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:-
This invention relates to the seat-supports of bicycles, auto-motors and other
vehicles and its object is to provide a pneumatic support for the seats of such
vehicles in order to lessen the jars to which the riders are subjected particularly
on rough roads and thereby make road riding more enjoyable than is the case
where the riders are supported upon seats carried by metallic springs in the
ordinary manner.
The essential feature of the invention consists in mounting the saddle or seat
upon a plunger or piston arranged to slide up and down within an oil-tight cylinder
so as to compress the air contained in said cylinder and thereby form an air cushion
upon which the weight of the rider will be carried.
In order to enable this invention to be clearly understood it will be described
with reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates its application to an
ordinary bicycle saddle and from which its application to any other kind of euicle
seat will be readily understood.
In carrying the invention into practice the back stay A of the frame of the
bicycle is fitted with a tubular liner B which is closed at the lower end as illustrated
at b. The seat or saddle-pillar C is arranged to fit inside this tubular liner B and
its lower end is enlarged as shown to form a piston or plunger and is provided with
a hydraulic packing ring e' to form an oil-tight joint between it and the inside of
the liner B.
Said seat-pillar is moreover made hollow from end to end and left open at its
lower end as shown and it is passed through a cap or cover a at the upper end of
the cylinder or liner B.
In the majority of cases where the back stay is inclined it is beneficial to insert
a small anti-friction ball E behind the pillar C in order to reduce the friction
between it and the liner or cylinder B in which case a short length of tube F having
a groove or channel / formed on its inner surface to receive said ball might be
inserted in the upper end of the liner B. This auxiliary piece of tube also serves
to strengthen the upper end of the liner or cylinder B so that it will resist the
pressure of the usual clamping screw.
The usual horizontal part of the seat-pillar also has a passage in it leading to
the interior of the main part of said support C and from the entrance to this
passage projects a screwed nipple G to which a length of india-rubber tubing may
be conveniently connected after the manner of the rubber connecting tube of a
bicycle air pump. This rubber connecting tube is fitted with a small air inlet
valve at any convenient part of its length in order that the seat-support may, if
desired, be used as a pump for inflating the tyres.
A certain quantity of liquid, preferably oil, is placed in the lower end of the
tubular liner or cylinder B, as indicated at H in the drawing, to ensure a tight
joint between the lower end of the piston or plunger carrying the seat and the
inside of said liner or cylinder. In order to prevent any noise when the seat is
raised into its highest position by the compressed air the seat-pillar C is pro-
vided with a collar or ring I above which is placed a rubber washer i which comes

page_text: in contact with the under side of the cover a of the cylinder. The seat pillar also
has a feather J which slides through a groove or key-way in the cover a and thus
prevents the seat from turning round, the cover itself being prevented from
rotating by means of a set screw or otherwise.
It will be evident that the application of the above described invention would
vary according to the vehicle on which it was to be used although the essential
feature, namely, a hollow plunger having an open bottom and working within a
liquid tight cylinder containing a certain quantity of liquid such as oil, would
remain the same.
The operation of the invention will be readily understood from the drawing it
being obvious that when weight is placed upon the seat or saddle the plunger or
piston will be forced down further into the oil in the lower end of the cylinder the
effect being to compress the air contained in said plunger to a sufficient extent
to support said weight. It will also be easily understood that the apparatus can
be used as an air pump to inflate the tyres of velocipedes by removing the usual
cap from the nipple G then attaching one end of the rubber connecting tube above
referred to to said nipple and the other end to the ordinary inlet valve or nipple
of the pneumatic tyre to be inflated.
-The seat and its pillar can then be moved up and down after the manner of an
ordinary air pump, the effect of the up-stroke being to draw in air through the
inlet valve on the rubber connecting tube and on its down-stroke forcing such air
through such connecting tube into the tyre or tyres of the vehicle.
The strength of the pneumatic seat-support can be varied to suit requirements by
regulating the quantity of oil in the cylinder or if found to be too strong by allow-
ing a small quantity of the compressed air to escape through the nipple G.
By using this pneumatic seat-support cyclists can dispense with the necessity for
carrying an air pump.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim
is:
1. A pneumatic seat-support consisting of a cylinder (such as 3) in combination
with a hollow plunger (such as C) fitted at its lower end with a hydraulic packing
ring (such as c) working in oil or other liquid in the bottom of said cylinder and
carrying the saddle or seat at its upper end substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
2. In a pneumatic seat-support an inner tubular liner or cylinder (such as B)
fitting into the hollow back-stay of the frame of a bicycle in combination with a
hollow plunger and saddle-pillar carrying the saddle or seat substantially as and
for the purposes herein described and explained and as illustrated in the accom
panying drawing.
3. In a pneumatic seat-support an inner tubular liner (such as 13) fitting into
the hollow back-stay of the frame of a bicycle in combination with a hollow plunger
and saddle-pillar provided with means (such for instance as the nipple G) whereby
one end of a length of rubber tabe can be connected to it whilst the other end of
said tube can be connected to the ordinary inlet valve or valves of the pneumatic
tyres of the vehicle wheel substantially as and for the purposes herein described
and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this ninth day of March One thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven.
EDWARD CASTILDINE MARTIN.
W. Lloyd Wise,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.