IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Simeon Edge at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th October 1881.
66
JAMES SIMEON EDGE, the younger, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Mechanical Engineer. 'IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, AND OTHER
VELOCIPEDES."
My Invention consists first of the following improvements in bearings for
bicycles, tricycles, and other velocipedes of the kind commonly called ball bearings,
that is bearings in which the friction between the axle of the wheel and the
fixed support in which it turns is reduced by the use of anti-friction spheres
or balls.
The end of the shaft which occupies the box constituting the bearing carries
a disc having a flange, and in the shallow cup formed by the said disc and its
flange two sets of steel spheres work. The spheres of one of these sets bear against
the inside of the flange and are kept in their place by a sheet metal disc having
semi-circular depressions in its edge; depressions fit the spheres. I will call these
the outer spheres.
The other set of spheres, which I will call the inner spheres, is situated near the
axle, each sphere of this set being intermediate between and bearing upon two of
the outer spheres. The plate or cap which screws into and closes the box or
bearing has a central tube which fits upon the end of the axle. When the cap is
screwed into the bearing this central tube is situated between the end of the axle and
the inner series of spheres, and as the said cap is screwed more or less home in the
bearing it presses the inner series of spheres more or less against the spheres of
the outer series. In the turning of the axle its shallow cup and the two series of
spheres are carried round the stationary tube of the cap of the bearing, the inner
series of spheres bearing upon the tube roll upon the said tube and the spheres of
the outer series roll upon the inner face of the flange.
By screwing up the cap of the bearing more or less wear can be compensated for
and the parts made to work with the greatest steadiness.
Or I make in the face of the bush of the wheel a circular groove and a similar
groove and a similar groove in the face of a disc screwed on the end of the fixed
axle. These grooves are nearly semi-circular in cross section, and the spheres are
Prine 91

page_text: situated between them. By screwing up the said disc and fixing it by a lock nut
the parts can be adjusted to compensate for wear. This last described modifica-
tion is especially suited for the back wheels of bicycles.
Or the first described arrangement may be modified for the pedals and back
wheels as follows:-The two sets of spheres work in a recess in the flanged end of
the tube of the pedal or bush of the wheel, and are pressed home by a plate
screwed on the end of the axle, the said plate having on its inner face a series of
pins for keeping the outer set of spheres in their proper places.
My Invention consists secondly of the following improvements in the forks of
bicycles and like parts of other velocipedes. Instead of making the lower ends of
the fork which carry the fixed parts of the bearing solid with the other parts of the
fork I make the said lower ends of separate pieces of metal and connect them
with the hollow branches of the fork by means of cylindrical rods carried by them
entering and sliding in the hollow branches of the fork. Strong coiled springs in
the hollow fork force the said rods downwards, the range of motion being limited
by a stop. By this method of construction the tremulous motion of the fork so
distressing to the rider is wholly or in part got rid of by the springs in the hollow
branches of the fork yielding under the tremulous motion of the vehicle. This
part of my Invention may be applied to tricycles and other velocipedes for the
purpose of deadening the tremulous motion of the vehicle.
My Invention consists thirdly in the following method of constructing the
metallic rims of the wheels of bicycles, tricycles, and other velocipedes.
The said rims as ordinarily constructed are of a semi-circular or trough like
figure and are made in one piece, the india rubber ring or tyre occupying the
hollow of the trough. The liability of the india rubber ring to escape from the
rim is a source of great annoyance to the rider, and the object of this part of my
Invention is to prevent the escape of the india rubber tyre. For this purpose
I make the rim in two parts, the said parts having flanges by which they can be
fixed together, I make each of the parts of the rim more than a quadrant in cross
section so that when fixed together they form a trough, having the Figure in cross
section of nearly three quarters of a circle. The india rubber ring or tyre is
'enclosed between the parts before they are fixed together and is so far encircled by
the rim that it cannot escape from the rim.