Improvements in Velocipedes.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 8th Jan., 1890-Accepted, 8th Feb., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Velocipedes.
I, BRUNO NAUMANN, of "vor dem Briessnitzer Schlage," Dresden, kingdom of
Saxony, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
:-
My invention relates to velocipedes provided with a brake, the lever whereof is
pivoted to the steering-handle, so that both may be grasped and pressed together by
one hand, and the object of the invention is to facilitate the application of the brake
in driving down long inclines.
For this purpose I pivot to the brake-lever a catch or clasp, having one or more
teeth adapted to engage with a projection or shoulder provided for on the steering-
handle, the said catch or clasp being so arranged and combined with a spring that it
may be turned down on the brake-lever and raised at a right angle thereto, like the
blade of a clasp-knife, and that, when raised, it will engage with the said projection
or shoulder. By means of this device the brake-lever may be locked to the steering-
handle and the hand of the rider relieved from the necessity of exercising a protracted
pressure on 'the said lever.
1000
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.
* COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Velocipedes.
1, BRUNO NAUMANN, of Vor dem Briessnitzer Schlage, Dresden, kingdom of
Saxony, Manufacturer, 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:—
.
My invention relates to velocipedes provided with a brake, the lever whereof is
pivoted to the steering-handle, so that both may be grasped and pressed together by
one hand, and the improvement consists in means for temporarily locking the brake-
lever to the steering-handle in view of facilitating the application of the brake in
driving down long inclines.
a
In the annexed drawing fig. I is an elevation showing.a portion of the steering-
axle of a velocipede and one half of the steering-handle a with the brake-lever b
pivoted thereto at c. f is the rod connecting the lever b with the brake, and
spring arranged to press the rod f upward so as to take off the brake from the wheei
and to put the lever b into the position shown by fig. 2, the lever then bearing with a
collar d against the handle a. These parts are old.
The means for locking the brake-lever to the steering-handle consist firstly in a
catch h pivoted at k to the brake-lever, or to the piece i screwed to the lever, the
said catch having one or more teeth, and secondly in a projection n provided for on
the end of the steering-handle and with which the teeth of the catch are capable of
engaging. The said teeth or the projection n, or both, are so formed that, when the
catch is pushed upward in contact with the projection, its teeth will elide on the latter.
The catch is furnished with a spring 1, bearing on the end of the brake-lover, or of
the piece i, and this end is provided with flat surfaces in order that, when the catch is
put by hand into one of the positions 1, 2, shown by dotted lines, or when it is turned
down on the lever b, as represented by fig. 2, the spring will keep the catch in any of
these positions in similar manner as is the case with the blade of a clasp-knife.
Moreover, the parts are so arranged relatively to each other that, if the catch is raised

page_text: into position 2, and the lever b is pressed towards the handle a in view of applying
the brake, the catch, sliding with one or more of its teeth across the projection n,
will be caused to engage with the latter and be maintained in engagement there-
with by the spring Under these conditions the brake-block is permanently
pressed against the wheel though the hand be taken off the brake-lever. The device
therefore relieves the rider from the necessity of exercising a continuous pressure on
the said lever by hand, as is otherwise the case whenever a protracted application of
the brake is required.
If the brake is to be released again, the catch is disengaged by being turned into
position 1, whereupon the spring 9 immediately causes the lever b to recede from the
handle a.
The catch may then be turned down on the brake-lever, as shown by full
Preferably the brake-lever is made with a recess 6 for accommodating the catch
when it is not used.
lines in fig. 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
In velocipedes, the combination, with the steering-handle a and brake-lever b, of a
catch h, having one or more teeth and pivoted to the lever b, a projection n formed
on the handle a, and a spring operating to keep the catch in the position imparted
to it by hand and to maintain it in engagement with the projection n, substantially
as described.
Dated the 7th day of January 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
A gents.