Improvements in Brakes for Cycles and other Vehicles having Chain Gear or the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd July, 1897-Accepted, 11th Sept., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Cycles and other Vehicles having Chain
Gear or the like.
I, JOHN THOMAS BURNIP, of 448 Flinders Street, Melbourne, in the Colony of
Victoria, Importer, 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 brakes for cycles and other vehicles which will act auto-
matically upon the chain thereof, and consists in certain combinations and arrange-
ments of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereby I secure not
only the obvious automatic braking effect which will occur when back pedalling
or other reverse driving motion causes the lower or sagging side to become taut,
but I also secure easy adjustability of the brake surface, easy replacement of the
brake block when worn, exceeding lightness and cheapness of construction, and
ease in connecting my brake to or disengaging the same wholly or partly from
the cycle.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of part of a bicycle
showing my brake in one of its positions; Figure 2 is a side view and Figure 3
an end view of the brake on a larger scale. Figures 4, 5 and 6 represent details,
on the same scale as Figures 2 and 3. In all the figures like parts are indicated
by the same reference numbers. 7 shows the vehicle frame or cycle back stay,
8 the vehicle or cycle chain in its ordinary position when it is being used to drive
the cycle forward; the dotted line 9 represents the position assumed by the chain
when, in order to check the forward motion of the cycle, back pedalling is practised;
and 10 shows my brake having its lower or brake surface so located that when the
chain assumes position 9 the said chain will come into contact with and be
retarded by the said brake, whilst at other times the chain will (by reason of its
sag) work in a position clear of the brake.
The brake shown is attachable either to the middle or to any other part (not too
near an end) of the back stay or similar portion 7 of the vehicle frame, but where
special lightness is desired it may be made of suitable small size to act near the
rear end only of said part 7.
The material I use for the brake block is not narrowly limited; it may be rubber,
leather, or other suitable material which is slightly elastic or compressible; a
block of rubber (shown by 11) has been found to answer and it has been found
that in practice one or more ruts or grooves will in time be worn by the chain
in the brake surface 12 thereof. Such grooves are not a disadvantage as they
provide an extra surface for friction on the edges of the chain exactly in the path
naturally travelled by the latter.
My brake block is made with grooves 13 therein, one on each side, into which
fit the flanges 14 one on each side of the brake block casing or holder 15. The
fore end of this casing is open so that the block 11 can be readily slipped into or
out of the same, but the back of the casing is closed by a complete or partial flange
רנס ...D

page_text: or end 17 so that the action of the chain when it is being retarded by the brake
shall not disengage the brake block.
The brake block holder 15 has a slotted shank 18 by which it is attached to the
depending lug or lugs 19 of the back stay or frame clip 20.
The back stay or frame clip is preferably made in two parts, which are easily
separable, one to fit on each side of the stay, a tongue 21 on one part hooking into
an eye 22 in the other part above the stay, or at other part of the stay in the case
of a round stay, holes 23 in the parts below the stay serving to enable the parts
to be tightly clamped or bolted together.
The same bolts and nuts 24, 25 may serve not only to fasten the clip to the stay,
but also the shank 18 to the clip, and in so doing moreover the height of the
brake surface 12 above and its inclination to the sagging chain may be regulated
according to the special adjustment desired by the user. The latter is made
feasible by the use of elongated slots 26, 27 in the shank 18. The essential feature
is the adjustability of position in which the shank may be fastened and it may be
fastened to a single lug 19, .e. not necessarily between the lugs as shown in the
drawing. If it is found that the chain does not bear powerfully enough against
the brake, or does not apply itself evenly thereto, and so tends to score a rut in
the brake block deeper at one end than at the other, the relative position of the
said block or its angle may be readily altered as found necessary by reason of the
elongated slots 26, 27.
When the shank 18 is not fixed between two lugs 19, it may be placed between
the outside of a lug, and the inner, side of a plate as 28 (Figures 1 to 3), the said
plate being perforated with holes corresponding to the holes 23, ie, holes which
the bolts 24 will snugly fit.
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. The combination in a brake for automatically acting on the chain of a cycle
or the like, of a back stay or frame clip, a lug or lugs depending therefrom, and a
brake block the shank of which is adjustably connected to the said lug or lugs
substantially as set forth.
2. The combination in a brake for automatically acting on the chain of a cycle
or the like of a brake block 11, a brake block holder 15 having one end 17 closed,
or partly closed and the other open, and having side flanges 14 which fit into
grooves 13 on the sides of the brake blocks, substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
3. The combination in a brake for automatically acting on the chain of a cycle
or the like, of a brake block holder having a shank as 18 provided with elongated
slots as 26, 27, and fastened to a lug or lugs as 19 having holes as 23, the inclina-
tion or height of the brake block being adjustable, all substantially as set forth.
4. The combination in a brake for automatically acting on the chain of a cycle
or the like of a clip consisting of two parts one having a tongue 21 adapted to enter
an eye 22 in the other, and the said parts having depending lugs 19 and holes 23
for connecting purposes substantially as set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of July 1897.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.