IMPROVE- MENTS IN VEHICLES PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Fraser, of 121, Adelaide Road, Haverstock
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VEHICLES PROPELLED BY MANUAL POWER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Fraser at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd September 1880.
WILLIAM JOHN FRASER, of 121, Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES PROPELLED BY MANUAL
POWER."
Whereas in the Specification of a Patent granted unto me and bearing date
1st November 1879, No. 4458, there is described and claimed an Invention
relating to the construction of a vehicle or carriage in which either all the wheels
or only the hind wheels thereof can be driven by the combined power of the legs
and arms exerted as in the act of walking, and also the means of steering at the
same time.
Now my present Invention consists of an improved means of actuating the
steering gear while the hand or driving levers are in motion, and in order to effect
this I introduce at or near the oscillating point of these levers (instead of the
chains and pulleys) an "universal joint" connected to the steering rods, whereby
the operator is enabled to turn the steering gear at any point of oscillation of the
hand levers while they are in motion with less friction and more effect, thereby
improving the mode of doing that which is described and claimed as a part of my
Invention under the Patent above referred to, viz., driving and steering by the
same operating levers in addition to the other novel mechanical arrangements for
propelling the vehicle therein set forth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William John Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
March 1881.
WILLIAM JOHN FRASER, of 121, Adelaide Road, Haverstock Hill, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VEHICLES PROPELLED BY MANUAL
POWER."
Whereas in the Specification of a Patent granted unto me and bearing date First
November, One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine, No. 4458, there is
described and claimed an Invention relating to the construction of a vehicle or
carriage in which either all the wheels or only the hind wheels thereof can be
driven by the combined power of the legs and arms, exerted as in the act of
walking, and also the means of steering at the same time.
32
Now my present Invention consists of an improved means of actuating the
steering gear while the hand or driving levers are in motion, and in order to effect
this I introduce at or near the oscillating point of these levers (instead of chains
and pulleys or other equivalent arrangement) an "universal joint connected to
the steering rods, whereby the operator is enabled to turn the steering gear at any
point of oscillation of the hand levers while they are in motion, with less friction
and more effect, thereby improving the mode of doing that which is described and
claimed as a part of my Invention under the Patent above referred to, viz., driving
and steering by the same operating levers in addition to the other novel mechanical
arrangements for propelling the vehicle therein set forth.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, in which is represented the apparatus to be applied to
Fig. 1 represents in front elevation my improved means of actuating the steering
gear while the vehicle or carriage is being driven by the arms; Fig. 2 is a side
elevation, and Fig. 3 a plan of the same.
A is a bracket fastened to the frame F of the vehicle or carriage, to which
bracket is jointed by means of pins a, a, a forked lever B, which is thus free to
move in a horizontal direction. The bottom part of the lever B is connected to
the swinging frames, driving gear, or treadles, by means of links or other suitable
connections. Through a hole in the top of the forked lever B the hand lever or
rod C passes upwards, and is prevented from dropping through by means of a
collar and set screw b, and is free to turn on its own axis.
The top of the lever or rod C is fitted with a suitable handle, and the bottom
of the same is connected by means of the cross E to another fork rod H. The said
forked rods C and H form with the cross E an "universal joint." The bottom of
the spindle H is connected to the steering gear.
By means of the arrangement above described while the levers or rods C and B
are worked backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction for driving the vehicle
or carriage the levers or rods C and H can be turned on their axes so as to actuate
the steering gear in the direction required, thereby effecting the steering with less
friction and more effect than heretofore.
In the foregoing description of my Invention the simplest form of “universal
joint "has been used for illustration, but it is to be understood that my Invention
is not confined thereto, as it may be advisable in some cases to adopt other known

page_text: forms of "universal joint" in order to adapt it for use with particular arrangements
of levers in connection with the steering wheel.
The form of "universal joint" represented in the Drawing shews the ends of
two coupling rods pivotted to the arms of a cross, having a freedom of motion in
planes at right angles to each other, allowing flexure in any direction; but it may
be also in the form of a double cross or a ring suspended by studs on opposite
sides thereof, so as to have a freedom of motion in one vertical plane, and having
within the ring the rod suspended on an axis through the diameter and at right
angles to the former, that is to say, being the form of “universal joint " known as
the "gimbal."
"
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim as of my Invention
is, the adaptation and application of an "universal joint of suitable form for
connecting the driving levers and the steering gear so as to enable the rider, by
the use of the hand levers, to steer and drive at the same time, as hereinbefore
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Fraser, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
W. J. FRASER. (L.S.)