Improvements in Wheels for Cycles and similar Vehicles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 8th Sept., 1893—Accepted, 14th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Cycles and similar Vehicles.
We, MARTIN DIEDERICH RUCKER, of Thames Dittou, in the County of
Surrey, Manager of a Cycle Company, and GEORGE PILKINGTON MILLS, of
Round Hill Cottage, Beeston, in the County of Nottingham, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in the wheels of bicycles, safeties,
tricycles, and similar vehicles, whereby the wheel is made of light construction,
and the spokes are not liable to cut or sheer off above the flanges of the hub, the
manufacture being cheaper than is the case with wheels as hitherto constructed.
For the purpose of our invention, we build up the wheel with tangent spokes on
the driving side thereof and direct or radial spokes on the other side.
By this
arrangement the direct spokes do not take the driving strain, but merely serve to
hold the wheel together. The flange or portion of the hub of the driving wheels
which is next the cog or gear wheel, is constructed suitably to receive the tangent
spokes, the other portion or flange being made to suit radial spokes. The hub can
be made as light as for a wheel having all the spokes at a tangent, and the difficulty
and expense of making a tangent spoke front, to match a tangent spoke back are
avoided. The spokes are secured to the rim in any well known manner. Wheels
which are not subject to a driving strain may be constructed as above described,
and by their use the weight of the vehicle is diminished.
Dated this 20th day of February 1893.
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 6, Victoria Street, Nottingham,
Agent for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Cycles and similar Vehicles.
We, MARTIN DIEDERICH RUCKER, of Thames Ditton, in the County of
Surrey, Manager of a Cycle Company, and GEORGE PILKINGTON MILLS, of
Round Hill Cottage, Beeston, in the County of Nottingham, Civil 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, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our invention relates to improvements in the wheels of bicycles, safeties, tricycles,
and similar vehicles, whereby the wheel is made of light construction and the
spokes are not liable to cut or shear off above the flanges of the hub, the manu-
facture being cheaper than is the case with the wheels as hitherto constructed.
For the purpose of our invention we construct or build up the wheel with tangent
spokes on the driving side thereof, and with direct or radial spokes on the
other side.
By this arrangement the direct or radial spokes do not take the driving strain,

page_text: "
but serve only to hold the wheel together. The flange, or portion of the hub of the
driving wheel, which is next the cog or gear wheel, is constructed suitably to
receive the tangent spokes, the other portion or flange being made to suit radial
spokes. The hub can be made as light as for a wheel having all the spokes at a
tangent, and the difficulty and expense of making a tangent spoke front-wheel to
match a tangent spoke back-wheel are avoided.
The spokes are secured to the rim in any well known manner.
And in order that our invention may be readily understood we will describe the
same fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show a cycle wheel
constructed in accordance therewith.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a driving wheel for cycles.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, with the hub partly in elevation, and
Fig. 3 is a side elevation to a larger scale of that end of the hub to which the
tangent spokes are secured.
a, a, are the tangent spokes at that side of the wheel which carries the chain
wheel b, or other driving mechanism; they are arranged at a tangent to the hub
for the purpose of obtaining a direct tensile strain in them by the act of driving.
These tangent spokes a, a, are bent at their inner ends a¹, a¹, and are provided with
heads a, a, by means of which they are secured to the drum or flange of the hub.
Or a flange, separate from the chain wheel, may be formed on the hub for the
attachment of the tangent spokes in any suitable and well known manner; or teeth
or projections may be formed on the hub through which the spokes may be passed
or threaded; or any other form of flange suitable for tangent spokes may be
employed. The tangent spokes a, a, may be laced at the points where they cross
each other by fine wires c, c, in the usual manner.
•
d, d, are the direct or radial spokes which are secured in position by heads in the
rim, and by being screwed into the hub, or in any other suitable and well known
manner.
We have shown in the drawings sixteen tangent spokes a, a, at one side of the
wheel, and sixteen direct or radial spokes d, d, at the other side, but we do not limit
ourselves to any particular number of spokes, nor do we limit ourselves to any
particular method of securing them to the hub, or to the rim, as these will vary with
the size and design of the cycle, or like vehicle, to which the invention is applied.
The hub e is constructed at one end with a flange f, or its equivalent, for the
reception of the radial spokes d, the other end g, of said hub being provided with a
light drum, or flange, h, preferably formed on the chain-wheel b, or driving device,
and through which the bent ends a', a', of the tangent spokes pass. The other ends
of these tangent spokes are secured to the rim ; by nipples k, or in any other usual
manner.
With wheels constructed according to our invention, the liability of the spokes to
break is reduced to a minimum.
Although we have described and shown our invention as applied to a wheel for
cycles, it may be applied in like manner to wheels for similar vehicles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The construction of driving wheels for cycles and similar vehicles, with tangent
spokes at the driving or chain-wheel side, and with direct or radial spokes at the
other or opposite side, substantially as set forth.
2. In cycle and like wheels, a hub having one end or flange tapped for the
reception of direct or radial spokes, and the other end constructed to form the chain"
wheel, or driving mechanism, and provided with a flange, or its equivalent, for
attachment of tangent spokes, substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. The combination, with a driving wheel for cycles and similar vehicles, having
tangent spokes on the driving or chain wheel side, and direct or radial spokes on

page_text: the opposite side, of a hub having one end provided with a flange, or drum, to
receive the tangent spokes, and the other end formed to receive the direct or radial
spokes, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 31st day of August 1893.
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 6, Victoria Street, Nottingham,
Agent for the Applicants.