IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, AND VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by André Etienne at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th April
1870.
I, ANDRÉ ETIENNE, of Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, AND
VELOCIPEDES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
carriages and vehicles of various descriptions for travelling on common
roads, and also of velocipedes, operated according to any of the systems
of propulsion hitherto used.
The Invention is based chiefly upon a former Patent obtained by me,
dated 28 May 1864, No. 1328, wherein I described a form of wheel,
the circumference of which was not a true circle, but which consisted
of a circle in one or more portions of which a depressed curvature
was made, so that the periphery of the wheel (according to the
true circumference) when coming in contact with the roadway at the
point of depression or curvature presented a depressed or irregular
periphery, and thereby caused the wheel or wheels to rotate with a

page_text: sudden impulse or descent from the centre, and consequently caused
a corresponding impetus to the vehicle.
The situations or positions of these diminished peripheries of the true
circle will depend on the vehicle to which the wheels may be applied,
but for velocipedes I propose to apply the decreased curvature at two
opposite points of the periphery, in such manner in regard to the
operation of the crank, that at each impulse given to the true diameter
the decreased curvature shall immediately present itself to the surface
of the road, thereby causing an increased tendency of motion in the
wheel or wheels.
With regard to the compound crossed wheels used in carriages and
other vehicles I propose to fasten all the layers of steel in their varying
lengths by means of two bolts at their thickest part so as to clamp the
shortest length to the longest, and thereby form as it were a solid
spring although composed of various pieces, thus preventing the sliding
action of the layers of metal, between the two points of their fastenings,
and only permitting of their elongation beyond those points, by which
means I am enabled to produce a stronger spring. By this construction
the ends of the springs beyond the bolts are isolated, the top and bottom
layer supporting the weight, and bearing on the intermediate layers in
two distinct ways, one being as against a solid uniform thickness of
spring, the other as against layers or sheets of steel of different lengths
capable of sliding on each other.
In three wheeled carriages, I propose to concentrate all the weight
on the two main wheels, so as to keep the front and rear of the
carriage constantly in a state of equilibrium. I propose as an addition
to carriages of this construction to substitute for the fork with two
branches on each side (in conjunction with the pole bolt intended to
keep the front wheel in position) a fork with a single branch on each
side, and I also propose to improve the doors of vehicles by forming
supplementary doors opening from the outside in conjunction with
the ordinary doors so as to afford facility of ingress and egress.
In velocipedes constructed with my improved differential wheels I
propose to apply to the naves or boxes of the driving wheels a series
of teeth, around which an endless chain is made to gear, deriving motion
from a drum or crank wheel, so that manual power being applied to
the crank, motion is communicated to the driving wheels.

page_text: In order to release the fore carriage in the event of horse or
horses falling, I apply a horizontal rod or bar fixed on a fulcrum on
the splinter bar, one extremity of the bar is attached to the screw ring
and the other is provided with a pedal within reach of the driver's foot,
pressure being made on the bar the screw ring becomes raised to the
opposite end of the bar, and the horses are thereby released from the
carriage.
In wheels of differential radii I propose to apply a ring of vulcanized
india-rubber, about three inches wide and half an inch thick, placed
on the inside edge of the felloes, or fixed there by means of a thin
ring placed on the inner edge of the india-rubber ring and screwed
thereto and to the felloes by means of screws placed near each other,
and transversing the iron ring and the india-rubber in order to cause
the latter to sink solidly into the felloes of the wheels, the india-rubber
being intended to give the appearance of true rotundity to the wheel.