Improvements in Bicycle Frames.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 29th July, 1897--Accepted, 11th Sept., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bicycle Frames.
We, GEORGE JOHN STEVENS, of 95, Falmouth Road, West Newington, and
JAMES HIX, of 2, East Hill, Wandsworth, both in the County of London, Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to bicycle frames and especially to the wheel forks thereof.
According to our invention the front wheel fork has the fork sides secured to
two crown plates one of which is of trumpet shape having an upward extension or
nipple for carrying a second crown plate and for attachment of the steering post
or head.
The front and back portions of the trumpet shaped part of the lower crown plate
are cut away to form arches which permit of the crown plates being brought much
closer down to the wheel than heretofore, whereby the socket of the framing which
receives the steering head can be made much longer than heretofore, thereby
allowing the lower tube of the frame to be brought closer to the wheel axle than
heretofore.
This construction of the fork is also applicable for the hind wheel of a bicycle.
D
We, GEORGE JOHN STEVENS, of 95, Falmouth Road, West Newington, and
JAMES HIX, of 2, East Hill, Wandsworth, both in the County of London, Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to bicycle frames and especially to the wheel forks thereof,
and has for its object to provide for bringing the crown of the fork nearer to the
wheel axle than is possible when the crown is constructed of two parallel plates
as has heretofore been usual.
According to our invention the front wheel fork has the fork sides secured to
two crown plates one of which is cf trumpet shape having an upward extension or
nipple for carrying a second crown plate and for attachment of the steering post
or head.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-

page_text: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crown of a front wheel fork constructed
according to our invention; and,
Figure 2 is a sectional front elevation of the same drawn to a larger scale than
Figure 1.
a, a are the fork sides and b, c are the two crown plates the former of which has
a trumpet shaped portion or bridge piece d and the nipple e. the said bridge piece
being cut away at the back and front so as to permit of the crown of the bridge
piece being brought down as close as possible to the top of the wheel, as shewn in
Figure 2 in which f indicates the wheel. The crown plate e is brazed on to the
crown plate b at g and as shown is provided with two lugs h, h which fit into the
upper ends of the tubular fork sides a, a.
i is the steering head which is fixed
on to the nipple e.
With this construction it will be at once seen that whilst allowing the necessary
clearance between the crown and the wheel the said crown is considerably lower
down on the fork sides than heretofore whereby the fork is stronger.
This construction has the further advantage that it permits of the socket of the
diamond frame which receives the steering head being made longer and thereby
allowing the lower tube of the frame to be brought nearer to the wheel axle than
heretofore.
When our invention is applied to the front wheel fork of a tandem bicycle we
advantageously make the crown with a third plate j as indicated by the dotted
lines in Figure 2 the fork sides being in this case passed through apertures in
the plate c.
The construction of fork herein before described can if desired be used in con-
junction with the back wheel fork of a bicycle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. In a bicycle frame a wheel fork having the crown formed with the lowermost
plate hollowed out, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
2. Wheel forks for bicycle frames constructed substantially in the anner
berein before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Tinted the 20th day of July 1897.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.