Improvements in Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Nov., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 12th June, 1891-Accepted, 25th July, 1591
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes.
We WALTER JOHN LLOYD and WILLIAM PRIEST, trading as the Quadrant
Tricycle Company of Sheepcote Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick
Velocipede Manufacturers do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention has reference principally to the mounting or connecting of the rear
or driving wheel of safety bicycles with the frame or body of the said bicycle but
our said invention is also applicable to bicycles other than safety bicycles as well
as to tricycles and other velocipedes.
We will describe our invention in connection with a safety bicycle.
We
We connect the bearings in which the axle of the rear or driving wheel works
with the seat post by means of two back forks as usual but instead of making the
said connection rigid as usual we make it elastic in the following manner.
make the back forks of strong wires or rods of hardened and tempered steel the
lower branch of the fork having near the end fixed to the seat post a coiled spring
of one or more convolutions. That end of the upper branch of each fork which is
usually connected rigidly to the seat post we connect thereto by a bell crank lever
jointed to the seat post. The end of the said upper branch of the fork is jointed to
the end of the bell crank lever at the rear of the seat post and the other end of the
said lever in front of the seat post is connected to the said post by a strong helical
spring the tension of which is capable of adjustment to suit riders of different
weights.
The action of the parts is as follows: -When the driving wheel passes over a
pebble or other obstruction and is thereby suddenly jerked upwards the lower
branch of the fork performs a slight upward angular motion the coil near the
junction of the said branch with the seat post being slightly contracted and brought
into a state of tension. The upper branch of the fork presses upwards the arm of
the bell crank lever to which it is jointed depressing the other arm and putting the
helical spring it is jointed to into a state of tension. Thus the jerking motion of
the driving wheel produced by its passage over obstacles is taken up by the springs
described and no tremulous motion is conveyed to the seat post and seat.
The helical springs and bell crank lever described may be dispensed with in
which case the end of the upper branch of the fork is jointed to the seat post by a
short link. We prefer however to employ the said bell crank lever and adjustable
helical spring as by their employment not only is the jerking motion of the driving
wheel the more effectually cut off from the seat post but the elasticity of the bicycle
can be readily adjusted for riders of different weights.
The application of our invention to velocipedes other than safety bicycles differs
in no essential respect from its application to a safety bicycle as herein before
described.
D 1 day of November 1890
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes.
We WALTER JOHN LLOYD and WILLIAM PRIEST trading as the Quadrant
Tricycle Company of Sheepcote Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick
Velocipede Manufacturers do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention has reference principally to the mounting or connecting of the
rear or driving wheel of safety bicycles with the frame or body of the said bicycle
but our said invention is also applicable to bicycles other than safety bicycles as
well as to tricycles and other velocipedes.
We will describe our invention in connection with a safety bicycle.
We connect the bearings in which the axle of the rear or driving wheel works
with the seat post by means of two back forks as usual but instead of making the
said connection rigid as usual we make it elastic in the following manner.
We make the back forks of strong wires or rods of hardened and tempered steel
the lower branch of the fork having near the end fixed to the seat post a coiled
spring of one or more convolutions. That end of the upper branch of each fork
which is usually connected rigidly to the seat post we connect thereto by a bell
crank lever jointed to the seat post. The end of the said upper branch of the fork
is jointed to the end of the bell crank lever at the rear of the seat post and the
other end of the said lever in front of the seat post is connected to the seat post by
a strong helical spring the tension of which is. capable of adjustment to suit riders
of different weights.
The action of the parts is as follows: When the driving wheel passes over a
pebble or other obstruction and is thereby suddenly jerked upwards the lower
branch of the fork performs a slight upward angular motion, the coil near the
junction of the said branch with the seat post being slightly contracted and brought
into a state of tension. The upper branch of the fork presses upwards the arm of
the bell crank lever to which it is jointed depressing the other arm and putting the
helical spring it is jointed to into a state of tension. Thus the jerking motion of
the driving wheel produced by its passage over obstacles is taken up by the springs
described and no tremulous motion is conveyed to the seat post and seat.
The helical springs and bell crank lever described may be dispensed with in which
case the end of the upper branch of the fork is jointed to the seat post by a short
link. We prefer however to employ the said bell crank lever and adjustable helical
springs as by their employment not only is the jerking motion of the driving wheel
the more effectually cut off from the seat post but the elasticity of the bicycle can
be readily adjusted for riders of different weights.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which our invention is to be performed.
Figure represents in side elevation a safety bicycle to which a spring or elastic
fork and apparatus constructed according to our invention for the driving or rear
wheel of the said bicycle are applied Figure 2 represents in side elevation and
Figure 3 in end elevation the driving wheel and its fork and apparatus connected
therewith together with the seat post, drawn to a larger scale.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the-drawings.
a is the front or steering wheel and the driving or rear wheel of the safety
bicycle c is the steering post and d the seat post.
The elastic fork in which the driving or back wheel of the safety bicycle is
supported and by which it is connected to the frame is marked i, k.
Each of the branches or sides of this fork is bent from a strong steel rod or wire
each branch having an angular figure. That is to say, each side of the fork consists

page_text: of the lower part or branch i and the upper branch or part k, the two branches i, k
of each side making the angle with one another represented in Figures 1 and 2 and
having at their junction the loop or bend which is connected to the axle d' of the
driving wheel b. Near the end of the lower branch i is a flat coil and the end *
of the said branch is fixed to the seat post d by the loop the extreme end of the
wire or rod bearing against or being coiled around the projection d' on the seat
post. The end of the upper branch of each fork is connected to the arm of a
bell crank lever 1, 12 jointed at 13 to the clip on the seat post d (see Figures 1 and 2)
and the upper arm of the said bell crank lever is connected to the seat post by a
strong helical spring n. The helical springs a, n connected to the two sides of the
fork are secured to the cross piece or bar carried by and working on the vertical
screw 1 at the top of the seat post, the said screw 7 being carried by the arm p²
and capable only of a rotary motion so that the screw box at p³ of the cross piece
or bar P, when the screw is rotated, rises and falls upon the said screw.
By means of this arrangement the tension of the strong helical springs n, n can be
adjusted to suit riders of different weights.
Should the driving wheel in its travelling motion pass over a pebble or other
obstacle so as to jerk it suddenly upwards the lower branch i of each fork performs
a short upward angular motion thereby causing the flat coil to slightly contract
and bringing it into a state of tension. By this upward motion of the lower branch i
of each fork the upper branch is pressed upwards and acting through the bell
crank lever, pulls down the helical spring n and puts it into a state of tension.
In this way the jerking motion of the driving wheel produced by its passage over
obstacles is taken up by the springs of the fork and by the helical springs n, n and
no or little tremulous motion is transmitted to the scat post d and scat d³ carried
by it.
The helical springs n, n and bell crank levers 12 described and represented may
be dispensed with in which case the end of the upper branch k of each fork is
jointed to the seat post d by a short link.
We prefer however to employ the said bell crank levers and adjustable helical
springs as by their employment not only is the jerking motion of the driving wheel
the more effectually cut off from the seat post but the elasticity of the bicycle can
be readily adjusted for riders of different weights.
The spring forks described and represented may be applied to the driving wheels
of tricycles and other velocipedes, the said spring forks and apparatus being applied
to tricycles and other velocipedes substantially in the manner represented with
respect to a safety bicycle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we
claim as
"
our invention of Improvements in bicycles tricycles and other
velocipedes":-
Making the forks of the driving wheels of safety bicycles tricycles and other
velocipedes from hardened and tempered steel rods or strong wire bent and fashioned
as described and illustrated so as to form a loop at the junction of the two branches
of each fork and near the junction of the lower branch with the lower part of the
seat post a coil or spring and connecting the upper branch either by a link with
the upper part of the seat post or through a cranked lever to an adjustable helical
spring on the seat post the elastic forks so made preventing or diminishing the
tremulous motion of the velocipede substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated the Fifth day of June 1201
WALTER JOHN LLOYD.
WILLIAM PRIEST.