Improvements in Ball Bearings for Velocipedes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Dec., 1897-Accepted, 12th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION,
Improvements in Ball Bearings for Velocipedes.
I, CARL WENIGMANN, of Herderstrasse, 6, Cologne-Lindenthal, in the Empire of
Germany, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
In the annexed drawing
Fig. 1 represents a cycle.
-
Fig. 2 is a substantially horizontal section partly in plan through the crank shaft
bearing and the back wheel hub on a larger scale.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the bearing for a chain wheel.
In the transmission of the movement of the pedal crank axle to the back wheel it
is especially important, to give to the moving axle parts a solid undisplaceable bear-
ing having the smallest possible friction by means of balls. It is especially desir-
able that the pedal crank axle has ball bearings lying as far as possible from one
another and that especially on the side on which the transmission takes place, the
balls used should have a large diameter and lie in a circle of large circumference.
Two bearings lying far from one another are necessary for the pedal crank
bearing, because by the one sided direction of pull thereon the axle tilts easily and
the chain then springs from the chain wheel, or the teeth are oversprung in toothed
wheel gearing.
In the hitherto usual constructions the balls always lie inside the casing of the
pedal crank bearing and the adjusting cones or cups are screwed against them from
outside, as shown at a in Fig. 2; in the present construction however the adjusting
cone nearer the transmission wheel is placed firmly in the casing so that it forms
with the casing a solid whole and projects therefrom so that the distance of the
ball bearings from one another has become much larger, and it is possible to have
the ball cup reach from outside round the cone without putting the cup in the
crank shaft bracket itself and to be able to arrange a larger ball circle with larger
balls, without the width of "tread" becoming larger.
In one of the present known constructions the bracket of the pedal crank bearing
is connected by a cross bar with the back wheel axle. On the cross bar there are
arranged two cones and the bevelled wheels serving for transmission are connected
with one another by a hollow axle surrounding the cross bar, the wheels having .
cups for receiving the balls running on the cross bar cones.
These hollows are soon worn out, the cross bar is easily bent by shocks and the
wheels no longer gear properly with one another.
In another known construction this construction is exactly reversed. A tube
connects in a complicated manner the pedal crank shaft bracket with the back
wheel axle, and inside the tube there moves an axle, on which the transmission
wheels are fixed. The exterior rod carries small bearing cups and on the inner
axle there are also small cones with balls of very small diameter.
The novelty of the present invention consists in the arrangement, that the cones,

page_text: on which the balls run, are connected rigidly with a bracket or such like rigid
part of the frame of the cycle itself, and not to an axle rod or the like.
This improvement allows of using ball cups of large diameter and larger balls,
and besides the running surfaces of the balls are moved further from one another
so that as the attacking points for transferring the power lie nearly vertically over
the ball bearing, a greater stability for the whole bearing, an easier driving and
thus a greater improved effect are produced.
The pedal crank axle a is independent on the impulsion side from the large
steel cone, which is fixed in the bearing bracket c. Over the cone b there reaches
the bored hub of the driving wheel r, Fig. 2, or 1 Fig. 4, which hub is provided
with a ball cup d. As this ball cup is very large, also balls of the largest diameter
can be used. The motive wheel can, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4 be either a bevelled
toothed wheel or a chain wheel.
The bevelled wheel r meshes with the wheel 2. The latter is fastened on a
hollow axle e the other end of which carries a wheel 3, which transfers the move-
ment to the wheel on the back wheel hub.
The wheels 2 and 3 are screwed on the hollow axle e and can be exactly adjusted
and fixed by means of counter nuts el e². On the pedal crank shaft bracket c there
is arranged a projection g, which is provided with exterior screw threads. On the
exterior screw-threads there is screwed the cone.h, which can be fixed by a counter
nut h¹. Into the wheel there is inserted the ball cup and this wheel runs on
balls without being in the least dependent upon the inner connection rod s. The
latter connects only the pedal crank bearing c with the back wheel hub o, and has
no connection with the cones. On the end piece n of the back fork there is also a
projection on which is screwed the cone 7 provided with counter nut ; the wheel
has a cup for receiving the balls. m is a cone on the back fork. By this arrange-
ment the connecting rod s is completely independent from the hollow axle e, the
balls run on cones which are connected with rigid parts of the frame and form with
the frame a whole, whereby an extremely easy and stable impulsion is rendered
possible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. Improvements in the axle bearings for cycles of any kind, whereby the balls
run on cones, which independently from the axles are each connected with a frame
piece itself and form hereby with the same one whole.
2. The construction of the ball bearings especially in relation to the placing of
the cones substantially as illustrated and described for the pedal crank shaft bear-
ing on the driving wheel side and for the intermediary hollow shaft of bevelled
geared cycles respectively.
Toted this 17th day of December 1807
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicant, 18, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C., London.