IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, OR CONVEYANCES PROPELLED OR MOVED BY THE POWER OF PERSONS CARRIED OR CONVEYED THEREBY
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Neeves Hudson, of No. 1, Percy Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, OR CONVEYANCES
PROPELLED OR MOVED BY THE POWER OF PERSONS CARRIED OR CONVEYED
THEREBY."
Sealed the 5th November 1869, and dated the 6th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Neeves Hudson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th May 1869.
I, EDWARD NEEVES HUDSON, of No. 1, Percy Terrace, Bayswater, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, OR CON-
VEYANCES PROPELLED OR MOVED BY THE POWER OF PERSONS CARRIED OR CONVEYED
THEREBY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in carriages, vehicles,
or conveyances propelled or moved by the power of persons carried or

page_text: conveyed thereby. I apply the weight of the human body as a motor
in propelling it and any other burden proposed or intended to be
carried upon or in carriages, vehicles, or conveyances of any form
having ordinary or other wheels or rolling surfaces, such weight or power
of the human body being brought into action by the alternate pressure
of the body and feet of the person working the apparatus by a motion
resembling that of a person riding on horseback.
For this purpose I employ a carriage, vehicle, or conveyance having by
preference three wheels, the foremost of which is a guiding wheel, the
two hind wheels being connected with and attached to a cranked axle.
To drive the said axle for propelling or moving the vehicle there are
four levers or rods, which said levers or rods are operated upon and put
in motion in the manner following:-Vertical levers or rods are attached
at their upper ends to a saddle upon which the rider sits, and such
levers or rods are attached at their lower ends to corresponding bell-
crank levers having quadrant-shaped arms and pivotted on the frame-
work of the vehicle, the other ends of such quadrant-shaped levers being
freely connected with the driving rods or levers which communicate
with and give motion to the cranked axle previously referred to.
Motion is given to this portion of the apparatus by the rising and falling
of the human body somewhat as in horse riding. In order to produce
the complete and continuous rotation of the cranked axle, and to avoid
its attaining the position known as a dead centre, the weight of the
human body is brought to bear upon two smaller cranks situated at
right angles to the main cranks, for which purpose by preference the
feet are placed upon two stirrups working upon two bell-crank levers
having arms in the form of quadrants as above described, and which
quadrant-shaped levers impart motion to two rods or levers working
upon the cranked axle on the two bearings or smaller cranks thereof,
which have a shorter stroke or throw than the cranks of the main action
previously described.
It will be obvious that the apparatus for conveying motion from the
saddle or seat and stirrups to the cranked axle may be modified to suit
the requirements of particular cases.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Neeves Hudson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
NEEVES HUDSON, of No. 1, Percy Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, Her special licence that
I, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
FROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGES, VEHICLES, OR CONVEYANCES PROPELLED OR MOVED
BY THE POWER OF PERSONS CARRIED OR CONVEYED THEREBY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately aftor
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to the construction and com-
bination of parts by means of which the propulsion of the vehicle is
accomplished. In the first instance I form a framed carriage, the lower
parallel sides of which have bearings in the after part thereof resting
upon other suitable bearings of a crank axle running through and

page_text: rigidly connected with the two driving wheels of the said carriage; I
then form in the fore part of the said carriage a socket, through which
I run a forked bearing for the purpose of holding the guiding wheel
of the said vehicle by a short axle through the box or centre thereof
or by other suitable attachments, while the steering of the said vehicle
is effected and managed by means of a transverse cross head, bar, or key
pivoted on and attached to the top of the said. forked bearing, direction
being given to such guiding wheel by the hand of the person managing
or being carried by the said vehicle,
The second part of my Invention has reference to the way in which
I obtain the motive power or means of propelling the said vehicle, and
the carrying or conveying of the burthen placed or imposed thereon, that
is to say, I rigidly connect my two driving wheels to a crank shaft or
axle, such axle having four centres, crank points, or bearings at the four
cardinal points of the circle of revolution of such crank or axle. Two
of the said points are intended to have an equal stroke of five inches
or other suitable length or diameter of the circle of revolution. The
other two of the said points are intended to have an equal stroko of
2 inches or other suitable length or diameter of the circle of revolution.
The vehicle is then propelled by motion imparted to the said shaft
or crank axle, and consequently to the driving wheels of the said vehicle
by means of the following arrangement or mechanism, viat. :-I form a
saddle-shaped seat on which the rider or propeller of the said vehicle
is intended to sit, and I place the said saddle or seat over and upon the
upper part of the said vehicle, such saddle or seat having three or more
vertical guiding rods working in holes or sockets in the framework of
the said vehicle with the object when such saddle or seat is put in
motion of securing for the said saddle or seat a vertical undulation or
up-and-down movement and preventing lateral swaying or oscillation of
such saddle or seat,
The principle of my Invention for propelling such vehicles being
understood to be the power obtained by the weight of the body of the
rider conveyed thereon, the manner and means by which such power
is applied and conveyed to the driving crank or axle aforesaid is as
follows: To the under side of the said saddle or seat are freely attached
two vertical levers of suitable length pivoted to such saddle or seat, so
as to permit of their respectively moving in an arc of oscillation of
suitable radius or swing. Such last-mentioned levers are each of them

page_text: connected at their lower ends with and freely attached to a quadrant-
shaped lever or connecting rod, such quadrant-shaped levers or con-
necting rods being pivoted on one common bar or centre, which bar
or centre I fix transversely through the body of the said vehicle in a
suitable position from side to side thereof. I arrange the said quadrant-
shaped levers or connecting rods in reverse positions to each other, the
fulcra or bearing points thereof being on the same bar or centre but
their arcs or radii pointing in different directions, that is to say, one of
such arcs or radii and the lower end thereof to be next described
pointing towards the centre of the crank axle above described, and the
other of such arcs or radii and the lower end thereof pointing in a
direction opposite or furthest removed from such centre of the said crank
axle, by which contrivance I obtain with one motion of the said saddle
or seat a synchronous pulling and pushing of the two centres above
described, I then connect the lower ends of the said quadrant-shaped
levers or connecting rods freely with two levers or connecting rods of
equal length, which levers or connecting rods are at their other ends
freely connected with the crank axle or driving shaft above described at
the points of such crank of five inches or other suitable stroke or
diameter of the circle of revolution of the said crank axle.
It is obvious from the above description of the mechanical parts of
my Invention that a person sitting upon the saddle or seat of the said
vehicle, and imparting motion to such saddle or seat by alternately
lifting his body therefrom (thus allowing it to rise under him) and by
imposing his weight on such saddle or seat, depressing it to its normal
position, that motion will be imparted through the system of connecting
rods or levers to their ultimate points of free connection with the two
last-mentioned points or bearings of the driving or crank axle aforesaid,
and will produce a revolution of the said driving or crank axle and of
the driving wheels rigidly attached thereto, as above described.
The foregoing is a description of the main action of my contrivance,
and I now proceed to describe a supplementary or subsidiary contrivance
by means of which I insure the complete and continuous rotation of
the driving or cranked axle aforesaid, and avoid its liability to attain the
position known or understood as a dead centre or pause in the circle
of revolution of such crank or shaft. For this purpose I place two
quadrant-shaped levers freely pivoted to the respective sides of the said
vehicle of the same construction and in the same reversed positions as

page_text: the quadrant-shaped levers above described but of smaller dimensions.
On the upper ends or points of the arc of such last-mentioned quadrant-
shaped levers respectively are footrests, on which the feet of the rider
are intended to be placed. The lower ends of such quadrant-shaped
levers are freely attached to connecting rods, the other ends of which
are freely connected with and attached to the points or bearings of the
driving or crank axle which are above described as having a stroke of
2 inches or other suitable length or diameter of the circle of revolution.
The last-mentioned arrangement in combination with the mechanism
above designated as the main action to that imparted by the motion
given by the rider to the saddle or seat is intended by me to produce
continuous motion to the crank shaft or axle, and this of necessity is
accomplished by the rider in raising his body over the saddle, bringing
his weight upon the stirrup rests above mentioned, thereby producing a
half revolution of the said crank shaft or axle, and in sitting down or
bringing his weight to bear upon the above-described seat or saddle,
producing a corresponding half revolution of the said shaft or axle.
Having fully described my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, what I claim therein as being new and original
is, the employment and use of a crank axle or driving shaft rigidly
connected with the centres of the driving wheels, such crank axle
having four centres substantially as described, the revolution of such
crank axle being produced and maintained by the weight of the human
body being alternately imposed upon the respective parts thereof,
substantially as above described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Neeves Hudson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.