Improvements in Devices or Appliances for use in Making or Building up Cycle Wheels and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Feb., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 15th Dec., 1898-Accepted, 15th Mar., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices or Appliances for use in Making or Building
up Cycle Wheels and the like.
I, CHARLES THOMAS AUSTEN, of 4, Crathorn Street, Lewisham, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to devices or appliances for use in making or building up
cycle wheels and the like, and more especially to apparatus of the character
described in Specifications of prior Letters Patent granted to me, numbered
respectively 10572 of 1895, and 23,204 of 1896, and my present invention com-
prises certain improvements hereinafter set forth.
In the said prior specifications I have described a slotted pinion having a
square or other suitable central recess adapted to receive the nipple, and by which
pinion the latter is screwed to any desired predetermined extent upon the spoke,
and, according to the second above mentioned specification, the driving mechanism
is then automatically released or thrown out of gear. According to my present
invention, instead of passing the nipple and loosely attached spoke into the said
slotted pinion and gripping the square shank or other portion of the nipple
between the rim of the wheel and the hub, I provide a slot or cut in the nipple
head or the said head may be of special conformation. With this slot or cut, or
specially shaped head, a screw-driver or tool of special construction is adapted
to engage and thus the required tension is put upon the spoke by operating the
nipple from the channel of the wheel rim. The said screw driver or tool is so
arranged in connection with one or more toothed wheels or pinions and one or
more hand levers or the like that it can be brought into gear and made to bear
against the nipple head, and after engagement therewith can be rotated to screw
up the said nipple, through a suitable train of gear wheels. In order to auto-
matically disengage or throw out of gear the driving mechanism, and arrest the
rotation of the screw-driver or tool, and consequently the screwing up of the
nipple at any desired predetermined point, I form the said screw-driver or tool
hollow and (if for use with a screw-headed nipple) the edge thereof slotted or
bifurcated, and I arrange in connection therewith a rod or plunger which can
be so adjusted as to extend to within any desired distance of the extreme edge
of the said screw-driver or end of the tool, and which rod or plunger will be
pushed or moved by the end of the spoke reaching or projecting through the
head of the nipple, and will operate to disengage a catch, and release or throw
out of gear the driving mechanism, in a manner substantially similar to the
rod or plunger mounted in the nipple supporting device described in the said
Specification No. 23,204 of 1896.
I may provide a suitable arm or bracket which will engage inside the rim of
the wheel and will serve to steady the latter whilst the nipple is being screwed up.
Dated this 15th day of Wuhu 1898
A. F. SPOONER,
323, High Holborn, London, Agent for the Applicant

page_text: Improvements in Devices or Appliances for use in Making or Building
up Cycle Wheels and the like.
I, CHARLES THOMAS AUSTEN, of 4, Crathorn Street, Lewisham, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, 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 devices or appliances for use in making or building up
cycle wheels and the like, and more especially to apparatus of the character
described in Specifications of prior Letters Patent granted to me, numbered
respectively 10,572 of 1895, and 23,204 of 1896, and No. 5832 of 1897 granted
to me in conjunction with Alexander Craig, and my present invention com-
prises certain improvements hereinafter set forth.
In the said prior specifications I have described a slotted pinion having a square
or other suitable central recess adapted to receive the nipple, and by which
pinion the latter is screwed to any desired predetermined extent upon the spoke
and according to the two last-named specifications the driving mechanism is
then automatically released or thrown out of gear.
According to my present invention, instead of passing the nipple and loosely-
attached spoke into the said slotted pinion and gripping the square shank or other
portion of the nipple between the rim of the wheel and the hub, I provide a slot
or cut in the nipple head, or the said head may be of special conformation. With
this slot or cut, or specially shaped head, a screw-driver or tool of special con-
struction is adapted to engage and thus the required tension is put upon the spoke
by operating the nipple from the channel of the wheel rim. The said screw-
driver or tool is so arranged in connection with one or more toothed wheels or
pinions and one or more hand levers or-the like that it can be brought into gear
and made to bear against the nipple head, and after engagement therewith can
be rotated to screw up the said nipple, through a suitable train of gear wheels.
In order to automatically disengage or throw out of gear the driving mechanism,
and arrest the rotation of the screw-driver or tool, and consequently the screwing
up of the nipple at any desired predetermined point, I preferably form the said
screw-driver or tool hollow and (if for use with a screw-headed nipple) the edge
thereof slotted or bifurcated, and I arrange in connection therewith a rod or
plunger which can be so adjusted as to extend to within any desired distance
of the extreme edge of the said screw-driver or end of the tool, and which rod
or plunger will be pushed or moved by the end of the spoke reaching or project-
ing through the head of the nipple, and will operate to disengage a catch, and
release or throw out of gear the driving mechanism, in a manner substantially
similar to the rod or plunger mounted in the nipple supporting device described
in the two latter specifications.
I may provide a suitable arm or bracket which will engage inside the rim of
the wheel and will serve to steady the latter whilst the nipple is being screwed up.
I may adapt my hereinbefore-described invention to machines made in accord-
ance with those described in the said two latter specifications, in which case I
may secure within the slotted pinion therein referred to an extension piece or tool
rotated by the said slotted pinion and extending from the plunger to the nipple
head. The end of the extension piece is shaped to engage with such head, and
a plunger carried by the extension piece serves, when the spoke end has reached
the predetermined position, to communicate with the main plunger and throw the
mechanism out of gear. A coiled or other suitable spring serves to keep the

page_text: extension piece bearing on the main plunger. A bifurcated arm fixed on to the
machine keeps the nipple against the screw-driver.
The screw-driver tool or extension piece may be formed hollow, in which case
the plunger may be located within it, or if it is not hollow the plunger may slide
by its side.
My invention may be applied to a hand tool or to a machine which is driven
from any source of mechanical power.
My invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompany-
ing drawings wherein
Figure 1 is a plan.
Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, and
Figure 3 is an end view of a mechanically-driven machine embodying my
present improvements.
Figure 4 shows in detail the screw-driver or appliance for engaging the nipple,
and
Figure 5 illustrates the application of my invention to a manually-operated
machine.
Referring first to Figures 1 to 4, A indicates the bed or base plate; B, B¹
and B are standards or brackets; is the belt pulley; a is the main driving
spindle is the toothed clutch; is the lever; k and are the gear wheels;
is the hollow plunger, and m is the spindle running through it, all substantially
as described in the Specification of the prior Patent No. 5832 of 1897.
According to my present improvements the pinion q is provided with a long
boss which rotates and is held within the bracket B. Extending through this
pinion and boss and secured thereto by a key 2 in a key-way 11, is a sleeve 3
which rotates with the said pinion but is free to move longitudinally therein.
Formed on, or firmly secured at the end of, the sleeve 3 is a hollow screw-
driving or engaging tool 4. The spindle m passes through this tool 4 and the
end of the spindle normally projects between, or is flush with, the two arms 5 of
the said tool.
6 is an arm or bracket bolted or otherwise secured to the machine to steady
the wheel rim 7 during the screwing of the nipple 8 upon the spoke 9. The said
arm is slotted as shown at 10 (Figure 3) to permit the insertion and withdrawal
of the spoke and nipple.
Upon the hollow plunger being brought by the lever into the position
shown in Figure 2 the end of the plunger bears against the sleeve 3 which in turn
presses the tool 4 upon the nipple-head. Thereupon the nipple will be screwed
upon the spoke until the end of the latter comes into contact with the spindle m
pushing it backwards and releasing the arm as described in the Specification of
the said prior Patent No. 5832 of 1897. After the lever j has been returned so
that the plunger is drawn back within the bracket B2, the sleeve 3 can be brought
up by hand to the plunger and the spoke and nipple released from the slot 10.
The spring o2 serves to maintain the spindle m in its normal or forward position.
Referring now to Figure 5, and q are the gear wheels as before, the one k
being capable of rotation through the handle h. The pinion is mounted upon
the spindle m and takes an additional bearing upon the sleeve 3. The pinion q
and the sleeve 3 are provided internally with a key-way 11 and the spindle m
has a key of suitable length 2. Upon the spoke end coming into contact with the
end of the spindle m the same will be pressed backwards until the key is free
of the key-way 11 in the sleeve 3. Thereupon the continued rotation of the
pinion will have no effect upon the sleeve 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In a machine for making or building up cycle wheels and the like, the
screw-driver or tool constructed substantially as set forth.

page_text: 2. The combination, in a machine for making or building up cycle wheels and
the like, of a screw-driver or tool adapted to engage with the nipple head or that
part within the channel of the wheel rim, and a plunger carried by the said tool
operated by the spoke-end and serving to release or throw out of gear the driving
mechanism of the machine substantially as set forth.
3. The machine for screwing-up the spoke-nipples of cycle wheels and the like
constructed substantially as described.
natal 41 1141. day of Tacoma 1808
A. F. SPOONER,
323, High Holborn, London, Agent for the Applicant.