IMPROVEMENTS IN TRICYCLES, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Gustav Schulz and William
Harrison at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st October
1881.
GUSTAV SCHULZ, Clerk, and WILLIAM HARRISON, Machinist, both of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRICYCLES, PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES."
The object of this Invention is to secure greater safety than the bicycle, while at
the same time it is propelled almost as easily, and is also adapted to carry one or
more persons, or an extra amount of luggage. The tricycle is made so that it will
fold up into a small compass.
We construct partly as follows:-We place two wheels in front of. the driving
wheel.
The rider sits over the driving wheel behind the two front wheels. A seat is
arranged for a second person in a front position of the back driving wheel, or a
scat is arranged over each of the two front wheels, which are propelled by fixing
and arranging cranks to each of the two front wheels, thereby using them also as
driving wheels, when it is made for more persons to ride. The seat arranged in
the front of the back driving wheel is arranged to work by land levers. We place
a fork some degrees forward of the centre, and three springs behind the fork,
which forms a triangle with the fork. The scat is fixed upon the upper spring.
Two propelling and steadying side rods are attached to the fork, and also are
connected to a ring. The wheels of the tricycle are in a triangular position. The
two front wheels are connected by an axle. The aforementioned ring rests upon
the axle for the purpose of steadying the axle upon which the two front wheels
are placed, and also for the attachment to the propelling and steadying rods.
We vary the form of the steadying ring to any part of a circle, or other shape.
We either slot the steadying bar at the two opposite sides, or we fix guiders into
the axle to clip the bar on the opposite sides, or when we slot the bar we fix
steadying bolts through the slots into the axle. We weld, screw, or bolt to the
axle of the two front wheels in a forward direction a bracket in the form of a
semicircle or any other convenient shape, with part of a circle at the forward
A centre bar is bolted or welded to the forward part of the steadying and
centre.

page_text: propelling or part circle ring which bears upon the axle of the two front wheels.
The centre bar rests upon the centre of the axlo of the two front wheels, and may
be continued to a connection with the two propelling and steadying side rods
attached to the bottom of the hind driving wheel fork, but preferably the side
propelling rods are attached to the steadying ring or part circle before mentioned.
At the forward end of this bar we fix horizontally a grooved roller upon a stud
which bears against the bracket or forward circle or slot, so that when the
tricycle is propelled by ordinary cranks or links and levers by the driving
of the hind wheel, the force is conveyed to a contact upon the forward circle
or slot of the fixed bracket, which causes the two front wheels to be drawn
by this forward contact of forec, which is the most preferable mode of contact
for drawing the two front wheels, but we make also the point of contact
of force upon the centre stud, which is fixed in the centro of the axle of the two
front wheels, or other connection which would be propelled by force of contact
from behind. We further steady the fork by rods attached to the head of the
fork, and side rods or steadying ring, or circle, diagonally or otherwise. We steer
either with the two front wheels or the bind driving wheel. The front steering is
arranged by taking a rod through the top bracket of hind fork behind or forward
of the axle of the two front wheels, at the end of which we place a toothed wheel,
and we make part of a circle toothed rack, into which the toothed wheel works, or
we arrange an excentric to work within a fork, and when the rod turns the two
-wheels-are-caused-to-turn to the right or left. We place a steadying stud centrally
into the axle through a wide slot in the bar which rests upon the axle. This slot
is made so wide that the force from behind does not come-into-contact-with_this_
stud when drawing the tricycle, as before described. We also make the tricycle to
steer by the hind driving wheel by an ordinary socket, in which case we make the
front wheel axle rigid. We also construct a tricycle with two wheels in front
which are propelled by the hind driving wheel. We connect two parallel rods to
the hind fork, and connect them a few inches forward of the driving wheel to a
cross stay rod. We connect other two parallel rods further apart to the end of the
cross stay rod, the latter parallel rods are connected at the forward ends to the
fork heads of the two front wheels.
A second cross stay is connected near the heads of the two front wheels to the
two parallel rods. Two rods are connected to the two socket steering heads, and
carried in a parallel or angle line to the top of the head of the fork of the hind
driving wheel, and connected together for the purpose of steering the tricycle by
moving the rods to the right or the left.
All of which is arranged to be unbolted and folded up.