Improvements in Driving Chains.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Driving Chains.
I, GEORGE CROYDON MARKS, of 18 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
London, W.C., Consulting Engineer, (a communication from abroad by Lucien
Stephen Crandall, of Brooklyn, in the County and State of New York, United
States of America,) 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 improvements which are more especially applicable to
cycle driving chains, and has for its object the more expeditious and inexpensive
production of such chains, and the arrangement of parts or constituent links in such
a manner as to provide for easy substitution or repair of the chain or its ready
disconnection at any link joint; while I am enabled to provide a chain that shall
be of uniform tensile strength and in which the joint pins shall firmly secure the
alternating links without rivetting or screwing their respective ends.
In the accompanying drawings ;-
Figure 1 is a plan of a stamped blank from which the outer side links are
formed.
Figure 2 is a perspective elevation of the outer side links as pressed up from the
blank.
Figures 3 are perspective elevations of laminar connecting links, respectively
shewn together and apart.
Figure 4 is an elevation of the joint pin employed, while,
Figure 5 is a perspective view shewing the several constituent parts assembled.
In carrying my invention into effect as illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
I form the intermediate connecting links B of laminar plates or pieces 6 stamped
out from sheet metal, which are held in position upon the joint pin C by the side
links A. A which side liuks are stamped from one blank and are connected together
by a bridge piece or pieces a a.
The side links A A are provided with slots a¹ extending lengthwise, such slots
being enlarged at or about the centre of the links for the purpose of introducing
the joint pins when assembling together the parts of the chain.
The joint pin C has lateral necks c'c' provided thereon which register and engage
with the edges of the slots in the respective side links A A; but is otherwise of
uniform diameter and of the same diameter as that of the bores of the laminar
connecting link B in which the joint pins freely work.
In building up the chain, the blank A is pressed up into the form shewn in
Figure 2; and the constituent pieces b of the intermediate link B previously
stamped are then placed together in alignment, with the bore of one boss in line
with the enlargement of the side slots. The joint pin C is then passed through
the bore and the intermediate link passed forward, allowing the necks c¹ c' of the
joint pin to engage with the edges of the respective slots, and the links are thereupon
firmly connected together. The opposite end of the connecting link B is then
placed in line with another link A and threaded with a joint pin, and so on.
To disconnect any one connecting link from its contiguous main link, it is only
necessary for the joint pin and connecting link to be carried forward in the slots a
in a position transverse to the main link as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 5 ;
and on the pin passing into the enlargement of the slot, it is taken out and the
disconnection is effected.

page_text: It will be observed that I am enabled to produce chain links exclusively by
stamping from sheet metal and I thereby effect a considerable economy; while by
connecting together the outer side links I am enabled to use laminar connecting
links and to readily effect the connection of one link to another.
It will also be observed that it is impossible to effect a disconnection in the
working of the chain or in the normal alignment of the links; while at the same
time when necessary any individual link or pin may be substituted and the repair
of the chain readily and easily effected.
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-
(1.) In driving chains for cycles and other purposes, the provision of outer side
links from one common blank and held together by a bridge-piece or pieces
substantially as herein described.
(2.) In driving chains for cycles and other purposes, in combination, outer side
links connected together in which slots are formed lengthwise with central
enlargements, and joint pins having lateral necks or recesses for engagement
with the edges of the respective slots as and for the purposes herein before
described.
(3.) In driving chains for cycles and other purposes in combination outer side
links connected together in which slots are formed lengthwise with central enlarge-
ments, laminar intermediate connecting links, and joint pins having necks or
recesses for engagement with the edges of the respective slots as and for the
purposes hereinbefore described.
s
Dated this 9th day of September 1896
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents.