Improvements in Brakes for Velocipedes and in the Manufacture of Parts of the said Brakes.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Jan., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 12th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Velocipedes and in the Manufacture of
Parts of the said Brakes.
We, RUDGE-WHITWORTH LIMITED, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
Velocipede Manufacturers, and JOHN VERNON PUGH, of Primrose Hill House,
Coventry, aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and VICTOR AVISON HOLROYD, of
Clifton Cottage, Great Heath, Coventry, aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and
WILLIAM HENRY NELSON, of Fern Villa, Butts, Coventry, aforesaid, Cycle
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The said invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in
brakes for velocipedes by which improvements the said brakes are made more
efficient in action and the attachment of the said brakes to and their detachment
from the said velocipedes facilitated. The said invention consists further in the
manufacture in the manner hereinafter described of certain parts of the said
brakes.
The improvements constituting the first part of the said invention relate to
brakes of the kind in which the brake spoon is carried by a pair of arms jointed
at or near the rear of the crown of the steering fork and the said invention
consists first in so arranging the brake spoon and and block with respect to the
jointed arms that when the said brake is operated by the brake lever the rear end
of the brake block that is that end nearest the joint on which the brake spoon
arms turn comes into action first. A brake constructed according to the said
invention when brought into action operates first as a scraper clearing mud,
grit or other foreign matter from that surface of the india rubber tyre on which
it is about to be pressed.
We give the brake block of the brake at its rear end a V shaped figure in
plan so that the mud or the like cleared from the tyre is diverted on opposite
sides of the wheel.
In attaching a brake spoon of the kind hereinbefore referred to, according
to the present invention we provide the outer side of the arms of the brake
spoon with jointed hook shaped catches and we provide the joint pins which
are detachable with a head at their inner ends and with a neck near their outer
ends. The pins are passed through the holes in the ear pieces to which the arms
of the spoon brake are jointed from the inner sides of the said ear pieces and
also through the holes in the ends of the arms of the brake spoon, the jointed
catches being turned down and engaged in the necks of the joint pins.
The said invention consists further in the method of connecting the upper
end of the brake rods of velocipede brakes to the brake lever which improve-
ments are applicable to the brakes hereinbefore.referred to as well as to ordinary
velocipede brakes.
We form the brake rod with a spherical head the said head passing into the
cylindrical stem of the rod by a neck and we form that end of the brake lever
to which-the-brake rod is to be attached into an inverted cup with an annular

page_text: groove near its mouth. In the said annular groove of the cup an open jointed
or elastic ring is arranged: In connecting the brake rod to the brake lever the
spherical head of the rod is introduced into the cup with slight pressure when
the head passes through the open jointed or elastic ring and the said ring closing
or contracting by its elasticity on the neck of the rod, secures the same in place.
The separation of the parts may be effected by slight force exerted in an oppo-
site direction to that required to connect the parts together.
The said invention consists further in making the clip by which the brake
lever is connected and jointed to the handle bar of the velocipede from sheet
metal. We take a strip of metal of the length required to make the clip and
of the thickness required for the open ends or ears through which the bolt
passes and we bend the said strip of metal into the figure of the clip to be
made but with the eye or loop which is to be closed on the handle bar somewhat
smaller than that required for the handle bar with which it is to be used. By
a boring operation the said eye or loop enlarged to the size required and the
metal of the eye or loop part of the clip is so reduced thereby that the elasticity
imparted to the eye or loop of the clip facilitates the opening of the same for
passing on to the handle bar.
Dated this Twenty-third day of January 1899.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
Improvements in Brakes for Volocipedes and in the Manufacture of.
Parts of the said Brakes.
We, RUDGE-WHITWORTH LIMITED, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
Velocipede Manufacturers, and JOHN VERNON PUGH, of Primrose Hill House,
Coventry, aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and VICTOR AVISON HOLROYD, of
Clifton Cottage, Great Heath, Coventry, aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, and
WILLIAM HENRY NELSON, of Fern Villa, Butts, Coventry, aforesaid, Cycle
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
The said invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in
brakes for velocipedes by which improvements the said brakes are made more
efficient in action and the attachment of the said brakes to and their detachment
from the said velocipedes facilitated. The said invention consists further in the
manufacture in the manner hereinafter described of certain parts of the said
brakes.
The improvements constituting the first part of the said invention relate to
brakes of the kind described, represented and claimed in the Complete Specifica-
tion of Letters Patent granted to one of us namely John Vernon Pugh No. 20329
of 1898.
The present invention consists first in so arranging the brake spoon and block
with respect to the jointed arms that when the said brake is operated by the
brake lever the rear end of the brake block, that is, that end nearest the joint
on which the brake spoon arms turn comes into action first. A brake con-
structed according to the said invention when brought into action operates first
as a scraper clearing mud, grit or other foreign matter from that surface of the
india rubber tyre on which it is about to be pressed.

page_text: We give the brake block of the brake at its rear end a V shaped figure in
plan so that the mud or the like cleared from the tyre is diverted on opposite
sides of the wheel.
In attaching a brake spoon of the kind herein before referred to according
to the present invention, we provide the outer side of the arms of the brake
spoon with jointed look shaped catches and we provide the joint pins, which
are detachable, with a head at their inner ends and with a neck near their outer
ends. The pins are passed through the holes in the ear pieces to which the arms
of the spoon brake are jointed trom the inner sides of the said ear pieces and
also through the holes in the ends of the arms of the brake spoon, the jointed
catches being turned down and engaged in the necks of the joint pins.
The said invention consists further in the method of connecting the upper
end of the brake rods of velocipede brakes to the brake lever which improve-
ments are applicable to the brakes herein before referred to as well as to ordinary
velocipede brakes.
We form the brake rod with a spherical head the said head passing into the
cylindrical stem of the rod by a neck and we form that end of the brake lever
to which the brake rod is to be attached into an inverted cup with an annular
groove near its mouth. In the said annular groove of the cup an open jointed
or elastic ring is arranged. In connecting the brake rod to the brake lever the
spherical head of the rod is introduced into the cup with slight pressure when
the head passes through the open jointed or elastic ring and the said ring closing
or contracting by its elasticity on the neck of the rod secures the same in place.
The separation of the parts may be effected by slight force exerted in an oppo-
site direction to that required to connect the parts together.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing represents in side elevation a portion
of the front or steering wheel of a safety bicycle and front of the frame of the
same to which the improvements in velocipede brakes constituting the said
invention are applied.
Figures 2 and 3 represent in side elevation (partly in section) a portion of
Figure 1, Figure 2 showing the brake in its normal or out of action position
and Figure 3 showing the said brake in its partially acting position, Figure 4
is a plan of underside of the said brake; Figure 5 is a cross section on the
linea, a Figure 2; and Figures 6 to 14 both inclusive represent details and other
parts hereinafter particularly described.
Figures 2 to 14 both inclusive are drawn to a larger scale than Figure 1.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawing.
According to the first part of the said invention we arrange the jointed brake
spoon a with respect to the wheel b so that when the brake is depressed into.
its acting position as represented in Figure 3 the rear end of the brake block e
comes first into action and acts as a scraper clearing mud, dirt or the like off
that part of the tyre on which the face of the brake block c is about to be pressed.
We give the said brake block c at its first acting or rear end a V shaped figure
in plan (see Figures 4 and 7) so that the mud, dirt or the like scraped or cleared
off the tyre is diverted on opposite sides of the wheel b.
In attaching jointed spoon brakes of the kind herein before referred to according
to the said invention, we provide each of the jointed arms a¹, a¹ of the brake
spoon a with a jointed hook shaped catch dat its rear end. The arms a¹, a¹ of
the brake spoon a are pivotted to ear pieces e, e carried by the crown of the
steering fork by removable headed joint pins f which joint pins are passed
through the holes in the ear pieces e, e and arms a', a when the hook shaped
catches d, dare in the raised position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 6.
Each of the pins f has a neck or contraction f (see Figure 8) with which the
jointed catch engages when turned down, as_best_seen_in_the_sectional_view.
Figure 5, by which engagement the accidental detachment of the joint pin f
is prevented.

page_text: By the construction and arrangement of parts described the brake is made
readily detachable for cleaning or repair or for storage when the rider wishes
temporarily to dispense with a brake.
The next part of the said invention consists in the method of attaching the
upper end of the brake rod to the inner end of the brake lever illustrated in
Figures 1, 9 and 10.
i
In carrying this part of the said invention into effect we give to the head g²
of the brake rod a nearly spherical figure the said nearly spherical head g²
passing into the cylindrical part of the rod g by a neck; and we give to the
end of the brake lever h to be attached to the rod g the figure of an inverted
cup with an annular groove i near its mouth. Into the said annular groove
we spring an open jointed or elastic metal ring k. In attaching the red g to the
lever the spherical head is pressed into the cup constituting the end of the
said lever the elastic ring opening on the passing of the head through it
and closing on the neck of the rod and thereby securing the two parts together.
A further part of the said invention illustrated in Figures 11, 12, 13 and 14
consists in making the clip 7 (Figure 1) by which the brake lever is connected
and jointed to the handle bar m of the velocipede from sheet metal.
We make from sheet metal a blank of the kind represented in plan and edge
view in Figure 11 and we bend the said blank into the figure of the clip to be
made as represented in Figure 12 the eye or loop which is to be closed on the
handle bar being somewhat smaller than that required for the handle bar with
which it is to be used. The partly made clip is fixed in a jig or holder by which
the expansion of the eye is prevented and by a boring operation the said eye or
loop is enlarged to the size required and the metal of the eye or loop part of the
clip so reduced thereby, that the elasticity imparted to the eye or loop of the
clip facilitates the opening of the same for passing on to the handle bar.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we
claim as the said invention of "Improvements in brakes for velocipedes and in
the manufacture of parts of the said brakes" :-
First: Arranging the jointed spoon and brake block with respect to the tyre
of the wheel in such a manner that on depressing the brake into action the rear
end of the brake block comes first into action and clears the tyre of mud or the
like the said brake block having such a figure in plan that the said mud or the
like is diverted on opposite sides of the wheel substantially as herein before
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 of the accompanying
drawing.
Secondly-The construction and arrangement or combination of parts herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing for permitting
jointed brakes to be readily detached from the velocipede, the said construction
and arrangement of parts consisting in the employment of detachable headed
joint pins having necks or contractions near their ends, the jointed arms of the
brake spoon (through which jointed arms and the fixed ear pieces to which the
jointed arms are pivotted the detachable pins are passed) having hook shaped
catches for engaging the necks of the said joint pins and thereby securing the
said joint pins in place substantially as described and illustrated.
Thirdly Attaching the brake rod to the end of the brake lever by a spherical
head on the brake rod taking into an inverted cup constituting the inner end
of the brake lever, an open jointed or elastic ring occupying an annular groove
near the mouth of the said cup and closing on the neck of the rod when the
spherical head of the rod has been pressed into the inverted cup and thereby
securing the said head of the rod in the cup substantially as described and
illustrated.
Fourthly: The improvements in the manufacture of brake lever clips herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, the said improve-

page_text: ments consisting in making the said clips from sheet metal bent into the figure
of the clip the eye of the clip being enlarged to the diameter of the handle bar
by a boring operation the said boring operation reducing the thickness of the
metal of the eye to such an extent that it can be easily sprung on to the handle
bar substantially as described and illustrated.
or RUDGE-WHITWORTH, LIMITED.
C. WALLIS,
C. VERNON PUGH,
}
Directors.
JOHN VERNON PUGH.
VICTOR AVISON HOLROYD.
WILLIAM HENRY NELSON.
For RUDGE-WHITWORTH, LIMITED.
C. WALLIS,
C. VERNON PUGH,
JOHN VERNON PUGH.
Directors.
VICTOR AVISON HOLROYD.
WILLIAM HENRY NELSON.