IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Corbett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
May 1869.
I, SAMUEL CORBETT, of Wellington, in the County of Salop,
Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of the following improvements in
velocipedes :-In order to enable velocipedes to be converted into two-
wheel velocipedes or three-wheel velocipedes at pleasure I provide two
independent and detachable front axles for the front or driving wheels;.
one of these axles has a wheel fixed to it at its middle,. and is provided.
with cranks outside the wheel as usual. The other axle I make much,
longer than the first-mentioned one and provide each of its ends with a:
wheel, the cranks on the axle being situated inside the wheels, I so
arrange the bearings of each of these axles that one or other of the said
axles can at pleasure be fixed to the bottom of the fork of the velocipede,
at the top of which fork the spindle and cross arm for guiding the

page_text: velocipede are fixed. When a velocipede with two wheels only is required,
one at back and the other at front, I use the axle having one wheel and
fix it to the fork described, the said wheel constituting the front or
driving wheel of the velocipede, and being situated and working between
the said fork. When a velocipede is required having one back wheel and
two front or driving wheels I remove the first-described front wheel
and axle and take the axle provided with two wheels and fix the said
axle to the fork by the same bearings which were used to fasten the
axle carrying the single wheel to the said fork. When the axle with
two front wheels is used the cranks on the said axle are situated on
either side the fork, and the wheels are outside the cranks. In some
cases the fork may be made wider than that horein-before described, and
the cranks be situated and work between the fork.
My Invention consists further in making one of the front driving
wheels of three-wheel velocipedes loose on the axle and the other fixed
for the purpose of facilitating the turning of corners. Or the same object
may be effected by the following arrangement of parts for temporarily
disconnecting one or other of the said front wheels from the axle on
turning corners :-I make the axle loose in the naves of the wheels, and fix
on each end of the axle a driver or short arm, and I make on the front
of the nave of each wheel a stud or projection. When by the rotation
of the axle of the front wheels of the velocipede the said drivers or armis
bear against the studs or projections on the naves of the wheels, the said
axle and wheels are connected together, the rotation of the axle causing
the rotation of the wheels. When in turning corners the outer driving
wheel necessarily travels faster than the inner wheel, the said outer
wheel is temporarily disconnected from the axle by the removal of the
stud or projection on its nave from the driver or arm on the axle, hence
the outer wheel moves with the required speed independently of the inner
wheel and axle, and the grating or rubbing of the said inner wheel which
commonly occurs in turning corners is thereby obviated. When the two
wheels run at the same speed the outer wheel is again connected with
the axle by the advance of the driver or arm against the stud or projection
on the nave as hercin-before described.