Improvements in Velocipedes
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1889
ARTHUR HUNNABLE City Bicycle School Barbican E.C. London Bicycle Maker
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Improvements in Velocipedes namely a means of implying a vertical pull or
pressure into an orozontal pressure or pull specialy needed for Tandem Tricycles &
bicycles were one or two Rods or bar will take the place of a Chain as are usuely
used, one end of the bar is attached to a cranke or stud or pin attached to the crank
with a free bearing, the other end to a equal distance from center axle either to a stud
attached to an ordanary crank or to one extended crank set out to form a free bearing,
for the Bar to work on & alow a free passage for the bar while in motion extending
from this point where the bar works is an extended length of crank or Leaver forming
about circle about quarter round to take the treadle or stud so that when the treadle
as gone over the centre in a position for pressing down the front & back crank to
which the Bar is attached is almost orrozontal while the crank is being pressed down
the Bar is traveling in a circle orrozontaly, when my new crank is attached to a axle
that will alow another crank to be attached it only neads an ordanary crank on the.
other side & one bar may be made to do the work of the both sides, that is were the
spindle runs through the centre of wheel where the crank must be independent it will
require my new crank on either side were the crank works independent the same result
may be obtained by two ordinary cranks fixed togeather some how so that when the
power is aplyed on one it aplys to the others while one crank is vertical the other
would have to be fixed about orozontal, in this case the bar would have to pass on
the out side oposite to were the treadle or stud is attached a special designe for my
crank & bar to be aplyed is a tandem bicycle a girder of an ordanary rear driver
safety takes up a rider at the back, a Seat & Handles is attached at the back of the
front rider the axle or shaft that is in the ordanary way fixed in the fork ends will
work in a free bearing & one of my new cranks attached on one or either side to
which is attached treadles for the back rider then the bar is attached from the back
crank to the front riders crank it is my new crank that gives the result a afore
ID 17

page_text: discribed vertical to orozontal a chain may be used in the place of my Crank & Rod,
for this a chain wheel would have to be fixed to the axle or shaft which is afore
discribed to revolve by cranks attached, another chain wheel instead of beeing fixed
would have to be attached to the front.riders crank shaft by the afore discribed designe
the parts that I add to the ordanary safety may be detached very easy thus leaving the
machine an ordanary single machine to make the action of my crank more clear
when attached to the ordanary Bicycle, a arm extends from the fork or hearing to
attach one of my cranks a bar would connect the loose crank & the one fixed to the
wheel the treadle for the rider would be attached to my crank so the riders foot
would not travel round the axle of the wheel but round the end of the extended
arm.

page_text: Improvements in Velocipedes.
ARTHUR HUNNABLE City Bicycle School Barbican London E.C. Bicycle Maker
I 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 relating to Improvements in Velocipedes has for its object the
converting of pressure or power applied, vertically to the treadles into a horizontal
push or pull on the cranks for driving such machines, and also provides a means
of dispensing with part of the driving chain mechanism in tandem tricycles
and tandem safety bicycles, also for readily converting same into single machines.
In order that my said Invention may be clearly understood I shall now proceed
to particularly describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the figures on
the accompanying sheet of drawings wherein the same letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts.
In carrying out my Invention as applied to what is known as the ordinary bicycle
shewn in Fig I, at a suitable distance in the rear of the crank A I fit a second crank B
of the same length, to revolve freely on a stud or bearing carried by a bracket or
arm (and the two cranks are connected to each other at their ends by a rod D which
admits of the said cranks revolving together with the said rod. To the end of the
rear crank B I rigidly fit, or form thereon, at a suitable angle therewith, an arm E
preferably somewhat longer than crank, and at the end of this arm I attach the pedal F,
which, in its position at the end of the arm describes a circle in revolving the same as
it would on an ordinary crank. The angle of the said arm E and crank B is such, that
when the two cranks are at the half turn forward, viz.-in the horizontal position, the
pedal F is down at the bottom of the stroke, and when the cranks are behind (hori-
zontal) the pedal is at the highest point, so that from the time the pedal begins to
descend until it gets to the bottom, the cranks travel from the backward horizontal
position over the top to the same position forward, the result being that the downward
pressure applied to the pedal is converted to a direct push through the connecting
rod D to the front crank A that is attached to the axle of the bicycle. Power for
driving is very advantageously applied by this method, inasmuch as, instead of it going
in the direction of the ground and thus obviously retarding in some measure the progress
of the velocipede, it is diverted in the direction that the machine is travelling, thus tending
to more effectually assist its onward course. In addition to power being applied to great
advantage by the hereinbefore described system of driving, the position of the pedals,
which are always in the rear of the axle of the driving wheel of the bicycle, enables
the rider to sit much farther back than is possible on the ordinary bicycle as usually
constructed, with reduced liability of his going over the handles, thus rendering his
position so much safer that the machine becomes essentially a safety bicycle.
In order to prevent the rear crank B of the hereinbefore described driving mechanism
having any tendency to get disarranged and drop out of its correct position when
horizontal, to which it is liable, I may fit two extra rods jointed together, the end of
one rod being rigidly connected to the front crank A and the end of the other being

page_text: fitted to revolve at the end of the arm E of the rear crank B. In lieu of these two
rods I may apply with the same object a single rod, its ends being fitted to work on
two excentrics that are fitted or formed at the ends of the two said cranks, the said
excentrics being adjusted about at right angles with the cranks, the excentric rod and
the connecting rod D working side by side, or I may apply the excentrics to the axle
and axis of the two said cranks, which will have the same effect as when applied at
their ends.
I will now proceed to explain the hereinbefore discribed system of driving as applied
to a tandem safety bicycle (rear-driver), and also my method of converting a single
machine into a tandem and visa versa.
The driving mechanism for the front rider is in the usual position between the two
wheels as shown in Fig. 2, the crank shaft and driving wheel having each a chain gear
wheel connected by a chain in the usual way. The axle of the driving wheel instead
of being fixed to the fork, as is usual, I make to revolve, preferably in ball bearings,
and thus convert it to a crank shaft for the rear rider. To the two crank shafts I fit
the driving mechanism hereinbefore discribed, but employ the same form of crank BI
fitted with pedals F to the front, as the crank B to the driving wheel, the connecting
rod D, as the cranks are further apart, being longer than to the bicycle as shewn in
Fig. I. If desired the chain mechanism shewn in Fig. 2 for transmitting the power
from the two crank shafts to the driving wheel, and for gearing up same, can be
dispensed with, the power applied to the front crank BI being transmitted
through the rod D to the crank B, to which may be fitted a gear in connection with
the driving wheel, such, for example, as the "Sun and Planet," when a small toothed
wheel would be fitted on the crank and a larger toothed wheel on the hub, the one
gearing into the other. The whole or part of the driving arrangements herein before
discribed are applicable to single and tandem tricycles.
For converting a rear-driver safety bicycle into a tandem safety I fit, as shewn in
Fig. 2, a tube G horizontally over the driving wheel and firmly attach it in any
suitable way to the upright H which carries the seat of the front rider, the said tube
being supported at the rear end by an upright stay or rod I on each side of the wheel,
the lower ends of which supports are secured to the fork. On the tube G the handle
bar and seat for the rear rider are fixed, the side supports I making the addition to
the machine very firm and rigid and entirely free from any side sway. This addition
to a single machine for the use of a second rider I propose to call my Tandem
Attachment.
It may be secured to the machine in such a way as to be very readily attached
and detached.
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. For driving velocipedes, the rod D in combination with the crank B with
an arm E, and the crank A, substantially as herein before discribed and illustrated in
Fig. I of the drawings.
Second. For driving velocipedes, the rod D in combination with the crank B
with an arm E, and the crank BI as hereinbefore discribed and illustrated in Fig. 2 of
the drawings.
Third. For readily converting single rear-driving safety bicycles into tandems, the
additional parts G and I for supporting the handle bar and seat of the extra rider, as
herein before discribed and illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of October 1888.