IMPROVE MENTS IN VELOCIPEDES OR MANUMOTIVE OR PEDOMOTIVE CARRIAGES
Year: 1867

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Tribe at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th June
1867.
I, WILLIAM TRIBE, of Horndean, in the County of Southampton, District
Surveyor, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN VELOCIPEDES OR MANUMOTIVE OR PEDOMOTIVE CARRIAGES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to a new construction of velocipede in which the
power exerted by the operator instead of being directly applied to the pro-
pulsion of the carriage in the usual way is so utilised as to compress or coil
a helical spring or springs; in the spring or springs is thus stored the power
exerted, and the endeavour of the spring or springs to uncoil is employed to
give motion to the wheels of the velocipede through an arrangement of tooth
wheels and pinions, or endless strap or chain.
My Invention consists in the use of one, two, or more helical springs,
which I so arrange that I can coil or compress it or them by means of a
lever and ratchet and pall motion, and retain the spring or springs
compressed or coiled ready for action when required; I next so arrange tooth
wheels or gearing in connection on the one hand with the spring or springs,
and on the other hand with tooth wheels, strap, or chain or teeth on the axle
or axles of the driving wheels, that upon the spring or springs being released

page_text: its or their power as given forth will set in motion the tooth wheels or
gearing, and thereby rotate the axle and driving wheels, urging forward the
velocipede or carriage.
It will be obvious from the foregoing statement that the operator may
accumulate and store his power before starting by means of the lever and
ratchet and pall motion, and then may run his carriage until the power thus
stored is expended, renewing his store of power as from time to time it is
required; or he may if he thinks proper work the apparatus continuously as
is done with the ordinary velocipede.
In order to illustrate more clearly my Invention I append to this Provisional
Specification a Drawing having figures and letters of reference marked there-
upon, the like letters being used to denote similar parts in each Figure.
In this Drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan, of a
velocipede constructed according to my Invention. The springs are denoted
by the letter a and are enclosed in casings a¹; b, c, d, is the lever ratchet and
pall motion; e is a strap or band passing over the driving wheels f, g, the
latter is upon axle h of velocipede. The power having been stored in the
springs, by working backwards and forwards the levers 6 the velocipede is
now ready for use, and the pall having been raised, so as to release the springs,
motion is given to the driving wheel f, and by the strap or band e to the
wheel and axle h, thereby putting in motion the vehicle; i, j, is a quadrant
and lever operating the guide wheel; k is the lever of a brake for stopping the
machine when desired. I prefer to arrange the levers so as to work them by
hand, but they can be so arranged as to be operated by the feet, or by both
hands and feet. The levers 6 can be so arranged as to wind either one or
two springs at a time.
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