An Improvement in or applicable to Bicycles and other Pneumatically Tyred Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Oct., 1896-Accepted; 5th Dec., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in or applicable to Bicycles and other
Pneumatically Tyred Vehicles.
I, HENRY MAURICE NEWMAN, of 106, Hatton Garden, London, Merchant, 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 bicycles and the like vehicles (hereinafter referred to as
"cycles" or "vehicles") and has reference to improved arrangements or means of
inflating the pneumatic tyres of the wheels of such vehicles, designed to dispense
with the detached inflating devices generally used for the purpose and which are
disadvantageous in that they are liable to be forgotten and not taken out with the
cycle and so are not always available for use when wanted, and in that they require
to be supported by the hand and so are fatiguing in their use.
To this end, the invention consists in forming the inflating apparatus for the front,
rear and other (if any) wheel pneumatic tyres of the cycle in structural combination
with or as an integral part or parts of the cycle, by adapting any convenient or
suitable part or parts of the tubular frame of the cycle in such a manner as to cause
the same, in addition to serving its or their ordinary purpose of utility, to serve also
the further purpose of the invention by serving as the inflator-barrel and to contain
and support the inflator accessories, so that the inflating apparatus will always be in
position and available for use, and, through being supported by the cycle-frame,
will not require to be supported by the hand, and so can be used much more
conveniently and with much less fatigue than can ordinary detached inflating
devices.
The invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawings, by way of example,
as applied to a man's bicycle having the existing standard pattern of diamond-
shaped frame, and this example will equally well serve as an illustration of the
application of the invention to a woman's cycle, or to a tricycle or other like vehicle
having a tubular frame and pneumatically tyred wheels, the shape of the frame being
the main difference between such vehicles, as affecting the present invention, but this
being immaterial to the invention.
On the drawings, like reference letters indicate like parts wherever they are
repeated.
I may apply the inflating apparatus to any part or parts of the tubular frame of
the cycle, but I do so, preferably, to that or those part or parts thereof which is or
are nearest adjacent to the tyres to be inflated, and which is or are of the most
suitable diameter and length to act as inflator barrels, and which will place the least
strain upon the frame when in use in inflating the tyres, such, for example, as the
diagonal or down tube 1, or the lower backbone tube 2, the former of which is an
open-ended tube and serves to support the seat-post a, and the latter of which is a
closed-ended tube.
In the simplest method of applying the invention, vide Fig. 1, I adapt and use
the diagonal tube 1, as the inflator-barrel, and adapt the seat-post a, to serve also as
the inflator-plunger, so combining these parts that they may be secured together by
a nut and bolt b, or otherwise in any usual manner and used in an ordinary manner
for supporting the seat a 1, in any desired position, and that, when released from
the means thus securing them, they may be made use of for the purpose of the
invention.
In such case, I stop the lower end of the tube 1, across, as at c, in any convenient
manner, and apply a nipple (or nipples) thereto, as at c 1, and I apply to the lower

page_text: end of the seat-post, by brazing or screwing thereinto or otherwise applying thereto
in any convenient manner a plunger-rod a 2, the lower end of which is fitted with a
cupped leather a 3, or is otherwise. adapted to serve as an inflator-plunger.
When requiring to use this arrangement for inflating the wheel tyre, I release the
seat-post by loosening the nut and bolt b, and draw the tightly-fitting part of the
post a, out of the tube 1, which enables the plunger a 3, to be freely worked in
the tube by using the seat as a handle.
In a modification of this arrangement, vide Fig. 2, in which it is not required to
release the seat to manipulate the inflator-plunger, I continue the plunger-rod a 2,
through an aperture a 4, made in the seat, so that it will be always accessible when
the seat is not occupied and can be used without in any way interfering with the
adjustment of the seat, and will or may be guided in its movements by the aperture
in the seat. The plunger rod may also be fitted with collars a 5, adapted to ensure
its movement in an axial direction in the inflator-barrel.
In a further modification of the like arrangement, I disconnect the inflator-plunger
from the seat-post and seat, which will then remain unaffected by the application of
the invention to the diagonal tube, and apply the inflator-plunger wholly within such
tube, vide Fig. 3, or within the lower back-bone tube 2, vide Fig. 4.
In either such case, I connect the plunger-rod with a handle a 6, or other means
of manipulating the same, exterior to the tube, by forming a slot or slots c2, in the
tube. (1, or 2,) and connecting the inner plunger-rod and the outer handle by a
through pin, screw-pin or cotter a 7, adapted to be guided by the slot or slots 2,
which latter is or are made sufficiently long to accommodate the stroke of the inflator-
plunger.
The handle a 6, is preferably made tubular, vide Fig. 4, and of such a length as
to normally cover the full length of the slots c 2, so as to prevent the access of foreign
matter to within the tube acting as the inflator-barrel, but, it may consist simply of
an extension, projecting through a slot 2, and fitted with a shield adapted to
normally cover the slot, vide Fig. 3. To ensure the return of the handle to its
usual position, I may apply a spring a 8, within the inflator-barrel, serving to return
the handle and attached inflator-plunger to such position after each depression by
hand.
The diagonal tube 1, being open-ended, can be most conveniently fitted with the
inflator accessories, but the latter may, as aforesaid, nevertheless, be applied to the
lower backbone tube 2, or to any other closed-ended tube of the cycle-frame by
detachably applying the same to the sockets of its union pieces d.
One way of attaining this object is to correspondingly screw-thread the adjacent
ends of the tube and the sockets of the relative union pieces (vide Fig. 4) and to
unite the parts by screw-nuts d 1, and set-nuts d 2, which will serve to hold the parts
together as rigidly as if they were integrally continuous. The detachable connection
of the closed-ended frame-tubes or inflator-barrels and the union-piece-sockets may,
however, be made in any other convenient and equally effective manner.
e, is a flexible tube which is adapted to connect the nipple c 1, with the respective
tyre-valves f, when the tyres are required to be inflated. It may remain connected
to the nipple, so as to remain in position for immediate use, or may be disconnected
therefrom when not in use, and in either event, when not in use, it may be inserted
"into the tube to which the inflator-plunger is not adapted, vide Figs. 1, and 3,
through a hole a 9, which may be closed by a cap a 10, or into an external
groove a 11, rolled in such tube, vide Figs. 2, and 5, or into a separate tube a 12,
vide Fig. 3, in each case being out of the way when not in use while also accessible
for immediate use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
As an improvement in or applicable to bicycles and the like vehicles having a
tubular frame and pneumatically tyred wheels:

page_text: 1. Constructing the tyre inflating apparatus in structural combination with the
cycle tubular frame or applying such apparatus to such frame, in such a manner as
to cause the latter or any convenient part thereof to serve, in addition to its
ordinary purpose of utility, the further purpose of the invention, by serving as the
inflator-barrel and to contain and support the inflator-plunger and necessary
accessories, as set forth.
2. The several ways of combining or applying the inflating apparatus with or
to the cycle-frame hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 9th dow of October 1896
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
Chartered Patent Agents,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.