Apparatus for Measuring and Recording the Pressure on the Pedal of a Cycle, by the Foot of a Rider.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 16th Nov.,
1898
COMPLETE
DEMULTICATION.
Apparatus for Measuring and Recording the Pressure on the
Pedal of a Cycle, by the Foot of a Rider.
I, EMIL KANTOROWICZ; of 50, Elisabethstrasse, Berlin, in the German Empire
Doctor of Medicine, 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:-
The present invention relates to an apparatus by means of which the pressure
exercised upon the pedals of cycles during the riding may be measured. The
apparatus consists essentially of a tread plate, a spring constantly tending to push the
said plate upwards, and a small indicator apparatus which shews the degree of
compression of the spring. The spring itself may be of steel or it may be replaced
by a pneumatic cushion, or even by an india-rubber cushion.
The accompanying drawing illustrates by way of example two modifications of the
invention.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through one modification in which, however, the
pressure indicator proper appears in side view. The whole mechanism is connected
in any suitable manner with a pedal of ordinary construction which is shewn in
section in the figure.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the mechanism.
Figure 3 is a view of the face of a pressure guage of ordinary construction.
Figure 4 is a partial section of a modification of the device.
In all these figures a indicates the crank pin around which the pedal proper / revolves.
With the pedal itself there is connected in the modification shewn in Figure 1 a
cover c in any desirable manner, in which cover the tread plate d can move up and
down air tight like a piston. The letter e marks the pressure guage, which indicates
the pressure exercised upon the treadle plated by the foot during the ride, and conse-
quently when the treadle plate or the piston d is in the position shewn in the figure,
that is to say, in the unloaded position, the indicator e¹ will shew the pressure as zero.
A weak spiral spring f can be arranged to support the weight of the piston d. The
piston itself must be movable as air tight as possible, but also easily within the
cylinder c, so that the air which fills the space in c under d can escape outwards as
little as possible. For conducting the air from c to the pressure guage e the tube g
is provided. The guage must be so arranged that it can easily be observed during
the riding, so that the pressure shewn thereby can be easily read.
In order to replace the air which escapes in consequence of the unavoidable want
of tightness of the pistons, however little the same may be, from the cylinder c
to the outside during the depression of the piston d, there is provided the
little valve k. As the spring f always restores the piston d again into the highest
position as shewn in the drawings, that quantity of air which may have been forced
out of the cylinder through any want of air tightness of the piston d during the
depression thereof, will be again drawn into c during the latter part of the rise of the
piston which takes place when the same is relieved of the pressure of the foot at each
revolution of the crank.

page_text: In the modification shewn in Figure 4, the treadle plate & rests upon an ordinary air
cushion o. When the plate d is depressed the air in the cushion o will be com-
pressed precisely in the same manner as the air in the cylinder c already described,
and the pressure guage, which may be constructed in any known form will register
the increase of pressure.
The index e (Fig. 3) has a pawl attached to it, engaging in the teeth of
a ratchet wheel firmly fixed on an axle, to which a train of gearing (not shewn in
drawing) is connected and which by means of a revolving cylinder and style, or by
means of numbered wheels, or other known device, record the indications of the
pressure guage. The precise details of this recording device form no portion of my
invention.
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 :-
The above described apparatus for indicating the foot pressure exercised on a cycle
treadle arranged in the manner of a pressure guage, substantially as described.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.