IMPROVEMENTS IN TANDEM VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1884

page_text: I THOMAS SHAKESPEAR of the Royal Machine Manufacturing Company Limited
Herbert Road Small Heath Birmingham in the County of Warwick. Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TANDEM
VELOCIPEDES "to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to readily convert a tricycle of the kind herein
after described into a tandem velocipede or a velocipede to be driven by two
persons one behind the other and my said invention consists of the additions to or
combination with the tricycle referred to of the parts hereinafter described.
The tricycle to which my invention has reference has two large travelling or
driving wheels and a smaller steering wheel in front of and in a line with the right
hand travelling wheel.
In order to convert this two track tricycle into a tandem velocipede to be driven
by two persons one behind the other I employ at the back of the tricycle a second
crank shaft to be driven by the second rider and also a backbone to carry a
second small steering wheel and to support the seat of the second rider the said
second small steering wheel being situated at the back of and in a line with the
left hand travelling wheel. The tandem velocipede thus constructed consists of
two large travelling wheels and two smaller steering wheels the said steering
wheels being situated respectively at the back and front and on opposite sides of
the velocipede.
The second crank shaft and the additional backbone carrying the back steering
wheel and the back driver's seat are made capable of easy detachment from
and attachment to the two track tricycle the connection being effected in the
following way.
The second crank shaft is supported in hanging brackets carried by a bar or
half clip which half clip is placed on one side of the shaft of the travelling wheels
and fixed to the said shaft by a second half clip and screw bolts and nuts or other
fastenings.
The half clip carrying the brackets of the back crank shaft has a short horizontal
arm to which the backbone carrying the second steering wheel and second seat is
connected by the end of the said backbone taking into a fork on the said short
arm and being fastened by a cross screw pin and nut. The chain driving the
travelling wheel passes over a chain wheel on the end of the second crank shaft in
Pri .71

page_text: addition to passing over the chain wheel on the end of the ordinary or front
crank shaft.
The two steering wheels are operated simultaneously from a single steering
handle by connecting the steering rod of the back steering wheel to one end of the
horizontal lever fixed on the cross shaft which lever is used to transmit the motion
of the steering handle to the front or ordinary steering wheel.
When it is wished to reconvert the tandem velocipede described into the two
track tricycle to be driven by a single person the additional backbone is unbolted
and removed from the arm of the clip of the second crank shaft bracket and the
said clip is unbolted and removed from the cross shaft of the two travelling wheels.
The tandem velocipede is thus reconverted into a two track tricycle having a
steering wheel at the front of and an a line with the right hand travelling wheel.
Dated this twelfth dex of December 1884.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant. 1
I THOMAS SHAKESPEAR of the Royal Machine Manufacturing Company Limited,
Herbert Road, Small Heath, Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TANDEM
VELOCIPEDES" 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 to readily convert a tricycle of the kind herein-
after described into a tandem velocipede or a velocipede to be driven by two
persons, one behind the other, and my said invention consists of the additions to
or combination with the tricycle referred to of the parts hereinafter described.
The tricycle to which my invention has reference has two large travelling or
driving wheels and a smaller steering wheel in front of and in a line with the
right hand travelling wheel.
In order to convert this two track tricycle into a tandem velocipede to be driven
by two persons, one behind the other, I employ at the back of the tricycle a second
crank shaft to be driven by the second rider and also a backbone to carry a
second small steering wheel and to support the seat of the second rider, the said
second small steering wheel being situated at the back of and in a line with the
left hand travelling wheel. The tandem velocipede thus constructed consists of
two large travelling wheels and two smaller steering wheels the said steering
wheels being situated respectively at the back and front and on opposite sides of
the veloninade

page_text: The second crank shaft and the additional backbone carrying the back steering
wheel and the back driver's seat are made capable of easy detachment from
and attachment to the two track tricycle, the connection being effected in the
following way.
The second crank shaft is supported in hanging brackets carried by a bar or
half clip, which half clip is placed on one side of the shaft of the travelling wheels
and fixed to the said shaft by a second half clip and screw bolts and nuts or other
fastenings.
The half clip carrying the brackets of the back crank shaft has a short horizontal
arm to which the backbone carrying the second steering wheel and second seat is
connected by the end of the said backbone taking into a fork on the said short
arm and being fastened by a cross screw pin and nut. A double chain wheel is
situated on the principal shaft for the two driving chains to pass over.
The two steering wheels are operated simultaneously from a single steering
handle by connecting the steering rod of the back steering wheel to one end of a
horizontal lever fixed on the cross shaft which lever is used to transmit the motion
of the steering handle to the back steering wheel.
When it is wished to reconvert the tandem velocipede described into the two
track tricycle to be driven by a single person the additional backbone is unbolted
and removed from the arm of the clip of the second crank shaft bracket and the
said clip is unbolted and removed from the cross shaft of the two travelling wheels.
The tandem velocipede is thus reconverted into a two track tricycle having a
steering wheel at the front of and in a line with the right hand travelling wheel.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in side elevation and
Figure 2 in plan, a two track tandem velocipede containing my improvements or
additions; Figure 3 represents in side elevation and Figure 4 in end elevation the
additions constituting my invention, drawn to a larger scale than in Figures 1
and 2.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the drawings.
a, b are the two travelling or driving wheels and c is the cross shaft of the same;
d is the front steering wheel carried by the backbone e; f is the crank shaft for
driving the velocipede by the person occupying the front seat g.
The parts combined with or added to the single driven tricycle described for the
purpose of converting it into a tandem velocipede to be driven by two persons are
as follows:-
h is the second crank shaft to be driven by the second rider occupying the back
seat i supported upon the arm on the rear backbone k which backbone supports
the second or back steering wheel / behind the left hand travelling wheel a.
The tandem velocipede with the additions described consists of two large
travelling or driving wheels a, b and two smaller steering wheels d, l the said
steering wheels d, 1 being situated respectively at front and back and on opposite
sides of the velocipede as seen in Figure 2. The second crank shaft h and the
additional backbone & carrying the back steering wheel and back rider's seat i are
capable of easy attachment to and detachment from the shaft c of the two
travelling wheels of the velocipede. This is effected as follows:-The back crank
shaft h is supported in the hanging brackets m, m carried by the horizontal bar
or half clip n which is placed on one side of the shaft c of the two travelling
wheels a, b and fixed to the said shaft by the second half clip p and screws and
nuts at q, q as best scen in Figures 3 and 4. The bar or half clip n has at one end
a short horizontal arm n³ to which the backbone / carrying the back steering
wheel and second seat i is connected by a joint at n³, the said joint permitting
the said backbone to rise and fall so as to follow the inequalities of the road on
which the velocipede is travelling as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3. Or the
joint na may be dispensed with and the backbone k may be made sufficiently
elastic to yield in a vertical plane to follow the inequalities of the road on which
the velocipede is travelling. The back rider's seat i is jointed at it to the arm on

page_text: the rear backbone k so that the said seat can be turned aside as indicated in dotted
lines in Figure 4 to permit the front rider to mount to his seat g. The stiffness of
the joint at maintains the seat i in its vertical position. The principal shaft c
carries a double chain wheel the driving chain from the first crank shaft f
passing over one of the chain wheels and the driving chain 8 from the back crank
shaft h passing over the other chain wheel of the double chain wheel.
เ
The two steering wheels d, are operated simultaneously from the single steering
handlet in the following way. On the bar or half clip n carrying the back
steering wheel and other supplementary parts is a horizontal lever u, u² turning
on the centre u³ (see Figure 2). To the outer end of the arm u² of the lever
a steering rod u is jointed and the said rod u is jointed by the joint at us to the
ordinary steering rod u passing to the front steering wheel d. To the outer end
of the arm of the lever the steering rod u for the back steering wheel 7 is
jointed. By acting upon the steering handle t the front steering wheel dis
operated upon through the rod u and the steering rod u of the back steering
wheel is moved in the opposite direction through the rod u and lever u, u³ and
the two steering wheels are simultaneously steered.
When it is wished to convert the tandem velocipede represented in the drawings
into the ordinary two track tricycle it is only necessary to remove the screw pins
at q, g of the clip n, p and disconnect the steering rod us at the joint u³ from the
steering mechanism of the back wheel l. On removing the clip n, p and the
driving chains the second or back crank shaft h, brackets m, m back seat i and
arm i³, the back steering wheel and its backbone together with the steering
mechanism of the back wheel are disconnected from the shaft c of the ordinary
tricycle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is of "Improvements in tandem velocipedes
"
Converting the ordinary two track tricycle having two large driving or travelling
wheels and a small steering wheel in front of the right hand travelling wheel into
a tandem velocipede by the addition to or combination with it of a back steering
wheel and its backbone and steering mechanism, a back seat and back crank shaft
and the appliances connected therewith substantially as herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
At 1002