or relating to reda-operated Driving Cycles and other Apparatus.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application,. 11th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1895'
IHI
or relating to reda-operated Driving
Cycles and other Apparatus.
A communication from XAVIER FELICIEN Henriette, Workman, of Salzinnes,
near Namur, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
1, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
This invention relates to pedal-operated driving-gear for cycles and other
apparatus, its object being the construction of helical or worm-gear driving
mechanism in which no driving-chain is needed and in which the pedals can be
stopped while the cyclé runs on, or can be operated more slowly than the driven
apparatus or locked in operative connection therewith as desired.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a side elevation and
Figure 2 a sectional plan of as much of the rear wheel and adjacent parts of a
safety bicycle as is needed for the illustration of one form of my invention and
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A is a wheel which takes the place on the pedal shaft of the chain wheel
ordinarily placed there for chain propulsion.
A are small rollers, spaced equidistantly on the circumference of the wheel A,
and carried by pins or other bearings which are fixed on the rim thereof; each
roller turus freely on its own axis which is located in the plane of the wheel A.
B is a worm which has threads of great pitch and is carried on a shaft C
which latter is journalled at its ends in bearings B' and near the worm B in a ball
bearing B°, these bearings being carried upon the frame of the cycle. The
shaft extends from near the pedal shaft P to a point in proximity to the centre
of the driven wheel W. D is another worm carried by the shaft C; it is loose
thereon, that is to say under certain conditions it may turn relatively thereto; it
gears with rollers A carried by a disc A' which is fixed to the road wheel hub;
the rollers A of the disc A like those of the wheel A turn freely on their
own axes.
.
The threads of the worm B are preferably two in number and so arranged
that the contact of any one of them with a given roller A¹ commences just as the
contact of the next thread with the next roller ceases. The pitches of the two
worms B and D may differ in any desired degree or may be similar.
The rollers A of the disc A are placed preferably on its side and facing the
worm D with which they gear.
F is a collar free to slide on a feather key on the shaft C or otherwise so
arranged that it can move endwise thereon but cannot rotate relatively thereto;
this collar has ratchet teeth F¹ on one end thereof adapted to engage with
similar teeth F formed on the contiguous end of the boss of the worm D,
the opposite end of which boss bears against a collar C₁ fixed on the shaft. C.
The two sets of teeth and the parts which carry them constitute a clutch.
G is a spring, in compression between the end of the sliding collár F and a
fixed collar Con the shaft C.

page_text: .
.
+
H is a fork adapted, to slide upon the bottom members of the cycle frame
and to be operated by suitable mechanism controlled by the rider, to prevent
any endwise movement of the collar F if desired, by pressing against a collar F³
thereon.
In the operation of the aforesaid mechanism the pedal. shaft P when set in
motion rotates the wheel A, the rollers A' of which turn the worm B and
thereby the shaft C, which through the collar F turning therewith drives the
worm D by the teeth F1 F1; the worm D drives the disc A' and driven wheel W
in a manner which will be well understood without explanation.
The driven wheel W and disc A can over-run the pedals and the shaft C in
which case the teeth F will simply move the collar Fendwise along the shaft C
towards the collar C further compressing the spring G; this is a very important
feature of the invention inasmuch as it permits of a kind of impulsive action of
the driving gear. Any attempt to make the shaft C over-run the worm D can
only result in the engagement of the teeth F' F' which the spring G tends always
to keep in engagement.
To prevent the automatic disengagement of the worm D and collar F if it be
desired for instance to retard the cycle by means of back-pedalling, the fork H
can be operated to prevent disengagement of the teeth F F whilst back-pedalling
is. performed.
The disengaging clutch need not be in the position in which it is shown in the
drawings; it might for instance be anywhere in the shaft C if the latter were
divided. Moreover the disc A' can be on any convenient part of the mechanism
to which it is desired to impart motion. The rollers on the wheel A and disc A²
preferably have ball bearings.
The following are the principal advantages of my invention as above-described,
over the systems at present in use.
1. Abolition of the chain with all its inconveniences;
2. By the aid of this mode of traction-more powerful than that obtained by
means of the chain-combined with the automatic disengaging action, a more
considerable development of speed can be obtained, with a smaller amount of
pedal action than with the chain.
3. Upon descending slopes, the cyclist may remain at rest with his feet on the
pedals which can be stopped and he can also by the aid of the brake herein before
described, retain command over his machine by the pedals to retard or arrest its
progress.
It is important to remark that this driving-gear is applicable to all existing
bicycles and tricycles and the like without necessitating any modification of their
frames.
Moreover, in this invention the motive effort is applied to the helix or worth B
by means of the roller wheel A by a contact which is only tangential to the helix;
and that pressure is applied in a horizontal direction and approximately parallel
to the axis of the rollers, whereas in chain-gear, the more the effort to be exerted
by the pedals becomes considerable, the more the chain strains. itself round the
chain wheels, and produces thereon a species of vertical contraction (or distortion)
tending to bring the axis together, which gives a brake action.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. The improved driving gear substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
2. In a driving gear the combination with a worm such as B having a thread of
considerable pitch of a wheel such as A A' and antifriction rollers A'.of which
engage with the vanes or threads of the worm B substantially as and for the
_purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 3. In a helical driving gear such as described the combination with a worm
such as B of a certain pitch of a second worm such as D of a different pitch for
varying the velocity ratio of the driving and driven parts.
4. In a helical driving gear the combination of a pedal shaft P a wheel such
as A A¹ worm such as B a shaft C worm such as D and disc A' and rollers such
as A substantially as and for the purpose described.
5. In a helical driving gear the combination with the gear of an automatic
clutch mechanism for the purpose of interrupting the operative connection of the
driving and driven parts in case of over-running and the combination therewith or
not of means for preventing when desired the release of the said clutch substantially
as described.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.