Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 16th Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Sept., 1888
I EDWARD MUSHING of 68 Smithford Street Coventry in the County of Warwick
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object improvements in velocipedes and refers particularly
to the front or steering wheel portion thereof and though it is applicable to the steering
wheels of all machines it is specially suitable for the machines known as safety bicycles
and I will therefore explain it as applied thereto and its application to other machines
will be clearly enough understood. The difficulty of successfully dealing with the
steering wheel of Bicycles or Tricycles so as to give sufficient elasticity combined
with stability and compactness of the parts is well known and this my invention
overcomes.
To the top of the fork I attach a hollow or other spindle which is connected to the
handles through the medium of a coiled spring placed between the spindle and an
outer sleeve the top of which has a set screw tapped into an internal piston by which
the tension of the spring is increased or decreased to suit various riders or weights.
At the base of spindle I carefully secure an outer casing or foundation which is very
important as it becomes the real guide for the base of the outer sleeve to work over.
The base of this sleeve is formed in one two or more steps the lower or larger one
constitutes a powerful ferrule upon which I build bosses or projections through which
adjusting screws pass the points of which are supplied with anti-friction balls which
enter vertical grooves in the outer casing or foundation piece before mentioned. These
set pins whether with or without the balls form a very neat arrangement for holding
the spindle so that the steering wheel will answer to the steering handle. The head
of the machine is secured to snugs on the back of the enlargements upon the outer
sleeve. With this arrangement, large stones, pieces of brick ends and other con-
siderable obstacles may be mounted without much inconvenience to the rider. The
set pins may be formed of hollow steel tubing with cupped ends to receive
the balls.
000
GEORGE BARKER,
77, Colmore Row, Birmingham,
Agent for Applicant.

page_text: I, EDWARD MUSHING of 68 Smithford Street Coventry in the County of Warwick
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my said 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 has for its object improvements in velocipedes and refers particularly
to the front or steering wheel portion thereof and though it is applicable to the
steering wheels of all machines it is specially suitable for the machines known as
safety bicycles and I will therefor explain it as applied thereto and its application to
other machines will be clearly enough understood. The difficulty of successfully
dealing with the steering wheel of bicycles or Tricycles so as to give sufficient elasticity
combined with stability and compactness of the parts is well known and this my
invention overcomes.
To the top of the fork I attach a hollow or other spindle which is connected to the
handles through the medium of a coiled spring placed between the spindle and an
outer sleeve. At the base of spindle I carefully secure an outer casing or foundation
which is very important as it becomes the real guide for the base of the cuter sleeve
to work over. The base of this sleeve is formed in one or more steps, the lower or
larger one constitutes a powerful ferrule upon which I build bosses or projections
through which adjusting screws pass the points of which are supplied with anti-friction
balls which enter vertical grooves in the outer casing or foundation piece before
mentioned. These set pins whether with or without the balls form a very neat
arrangement for holding the spindle so that the steering wheel will answer to the
steering handle. The head of the machine is secured to snugs on the back of the
enlargements upon the outer sleeve. With this arrangement large stones pieces of
brick ends and other considerable obstacles may be mounted without much incon-
venience to the rider. The set pins may be formed of hollow steel tubing with cupped
ends to receive the balls.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood and more easily carried into
practice I have appended hereunto one double sized sheet of drawings, upon which
there are five figures from which I shall be able to point out in what my invention
consists as I do not profess to have originated the idea of giving some amount of
elasticity to the front wheel previous attempts having been made to apply springs to
the forks to lessen vibration but without the desired success.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the front wheel B and fork A with my
new arrangement fitted above the same.
Figure 2 is a vertical or slightly diagonal section on the line 3. 4 shewing my
arrangement of parts in their various details.
Figure 3 is a cross sectional plan on the line 1. 2.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of one of the adjusting screws N shewing an alternative
mode of construction.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of one form of safety bicycle with my invention applied
thereto but it is equally applicable to other forms and builds of bicycles as will be
hereafter understood.
In both figures 1 and 2 a small portion of the fork A is shewn attached in the usual
way to the cap or solid pièce C which becomes a foundation upon which I build my

page_text: arrangement the spindle P being shrunk or otherwise secured upon the neck c² of the
part and is continued up to p where it forms a base for the long spring R. Over
the junction p² of P with the block C I carefully fit the outer casing or foundation
piece E in which the vertical grooves e¹ and e² are formed which constitute the guiding
medium in the sliding action which I am about to explain. The sleeve K is generally
formed with the reduced portion or step k¹ and k² which however are not absolutely
essential to the working action and upon the lower part of K I form one, two or more
bosses and in which the set screws N are tapped and in the points of which the
anti-friction balls S. S. are fitted so that a section of their circumference enters the
before-mentioned grooves e and e². It will be obvious that these balls may be adjusted
to the greatest nicety by the screws N after which they may be securely locked by the
locknuts n so as to give a very free sliding action to the sleeve K under all circum-
stances. It is of course possible to obtain a somewhat analogous result by forming
the ends of the pins N to enter the grooves without the friction balls but the action is
not nearly so free nor the adjustment so easy. This sliding action is controlled by the
spring R which rests upon the point pl of the spindle P the abutment for the other end
being formed by the scrow cap so that the length of the sliding action will be in
proportion to the severity of the blow transmitted through the fork A to the spindle P
and thus to the spring K which is the controlling medium. I do not of course confine
myself to the particular length of spring shown as that may be varied according to
the nature of the country for which the machine may be built or used. I attach great
importance to the outer casing or foundation piece E because it not only makes a most
stable sliding guide in which the grooves e¹ and e² are cut but it establishes a perfect
junction for the spindle P and fork block Cuniting the two together in the firmest
possible manner and at the same time allowing of the part E being renewed at any
time when needful.
It will be readily understood from the drawing that the handle spindle E is attached
in an adjustable manner to the fork spindle by the projecting boss k and that the back
bone M is pivotted at m¹ to the part K by the projecting lugs 3 and 4 in the usual or
any desired manner. In the side elevation Figure 5 the extent of the sliding action
is seen by the dotted lines and e, that is to say, the shoulder 8 may slide down
sufficiently until it abuts against e¹. The modification seen at Figure 4 shews the
pin N made tubular so as to form almost a natural socket for the ball S without much
machine work.
The action of the steering handle H is transmitted to the fork and wheel through
the pins N and balls S and outer casing or foundation piece E.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First The improvements in velocipedes consisting of the spring sliding action
built up with the outer casing or foundation piece E and the antifrictional arrange-
ments of balls S and pins N substantially as herein set forth and shewn upon the
drawings.
Second: In velocipedes having a front spring fork the pins N fitted with the anti-
friction balls S for guiding the sliding action thereof.
Third In velocipedes having a front spring fork the construction of the same with
an outer casing or foundation piece E substantially as herein set forth.
GEORGE BARKER,
77, Colmore Row, Birmingham,
Agent for Applicant.