Improved Mechanism for Driving Tricycles, Bicycles, and other like Vehicles.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 29th Mar., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Mechanism for Driving Tricycles, Bicycles, and other
like Vehicles.
I CAMILLE AIMÉ ROUVEYRE of 55 Rue St. Maur, Paris in the Republic of France
Accountant 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 a system of mechanism for driving or propelling
vehicles which is based mainly on certain novel combinations hereinafter setforth
namely.
1. Substituting in place of the movement usually applied to the cranks for driving
the wheels of vehicles of all descriptions bicycles, tricycles and the like jointed or
vibrating levers by means of which the displacement of the weight of the rider is
utilised as a motive power.
2. The arrangement of the support of the seat rendered independent of the said
levers so that the maximum weight of the body always acts uniformly notwith-
standing its displacement on the arms of the levers which are maintained equal in
all positions.
3. A system of transmission or driving gear admitting of modifications in its
arrangements but which in all cases obviates dead points in the transmission of move-
ment to the driving wheels of the vehicle.
4. Lastly the general construction and combination of the parts as a whole enabling
the motive power to be utilised to the best advantage.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the several
figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in longitudinal elevation an
example of a tricycle the parts of which are arranged according to the aforesaid novel
mechanical combinations herein specified.
Figure 2 represents the tricycle in plan.
Figure 3 is an end elevation partly in section.
Figure 4 illustrates the lever mechanism drawn to a scale twice as large as the
preceding figures.
Figure 5 drawn to a still larger scale illustrates details of the ratchet motion
worked by the levers.
Figure 6 illustrates in side and end views a modification of the ratchet motion
details of which are shown in Figures 7 and 8.
This vehicle is in the example illustrated constructed with a back bone A formed
by a hollow steel tube bent up at the forward end where it is provided with a
head for the fork B of the steering wheel and the steering handle bar B¹.
At the rear end of this back bone two levers C C¹ which are completely independent
of one another are centred being attached to pins or pivot c Figures 1 and 2. Each
lever is connected by a spring marked d and d¹ respectively to the bars D inclined
upwards and outwards which are united to a hollow bar or tube D¹ which completes
the framework of the tricycle by connecting the backbone A by sleeves or collars e
to the axle E of the driving wheels.
The springs d and d' being attached to fixed points simply serve to draw up the
levers that is to say to pull them back to their original position after they have been
depressed by the weight of the person seated on the seat or saddle and whose feet rest
upon pedals c¹ carried in forks at the ends of the levers C and C¹.
The bar F which carries the seat is connected at its lower extremity to a quadrant

page_text: or rocker G by means of a double articulation or connection and a stay f as indicated
in the drawing and the two extremities of this rocker work in two guides g gl
attached to the back bone. A slotted bar H attached to the tubular piece D¹ supports
the bar F laterally the said bar in the forward position being inclined as indicated
in full lines in Figure 4 and at the end of the backward stroke being inclined
in the position indicated by the dotted lines in the same figure and resting against
the tube D¹.
The object of this mode of connecting the bar F which acts as a support for the
seat and consequently for the rider seated thereon is to enable the rider by simple
rocking motion to move himself from the front to the back by pressing with all his
weight on the pedals of the levers C and C¹.
Now as may be readily understood by referring to the dotted lines in Figure 4 this
movement is not effected by causing the seat to describe an arc of a circle about a
fixed point as a centre not on a triple joint or articulation obtained by the displace-
ment of the quadrant G and the attachments of the stay f.
It results from this arrangement that the length of the lever arms remains
practically the same in all positions and that the force exerted although proportioned
to the excentric travel of the seat likewise remains the same at each degree
traversed.
As the bar F occupies in succession two extreme positions inclining from front
to back and vice versa the seat which it supports if it were rigid would present an
inconvenient resistance to the person seated thereon and I remedy this by employing
a parallelogram or parallel ruler arrangement or an internal compensating mechanism
enabling the rider to always occupy a normal position relatively to the vibrating
support and at the same time to follow the rocking movement.
In either case it is simply necessary to press upon the pedals the legs being
stretched out and to rock the body forwards and backwards alternately in order to
depress the levers which are elevated by the action of the springs & d¹ when the
pressure is removed.
In order to convert this alternate upward and downward motion into a continuous
rotary motion of the driving axle without a dead point, I employ two toothed wheels
fixed on the axle E and two pitch chains / each being driven separately by a double
ratchet motion enclosed in each of the levers C C¹.
Figure 5 represents this mechanism in longitudinal and transverse section and in
plan. Two spring pawls i in a species of rectangular box forged with the lever act
externally on opposite sides of the chain engaging with the projecting ends of the
link pins so as to pull down the chain when the lever descends and slip over it
when the lever rises.
The rider may press down both levers at once or he may depress them alternately
by raising one foot and pressing down with the other as in the act of walking and in
either case the chain is always driven without any dead point such as occurs in
transmitting motion by means of cranks.
Whilst retaining this system of direct transmission by levers and chains and without
cranks which I claim as my invention, the construction of the ratchet motion may be
modified without changing the principle. Thus for example two spring barrels may
be employed with ratchet wheels or pinions on the driving axle being connected to
the levers by a flexible metal band or by chains.
This modified arrangement is illustrated in Figures 6 to 8 and consists for each
lever of a drum J free to turn upon the boss of a ratchet wheel I keyed upon the
axle E. To this drum is attached one end of the chain or flexible band or connection
the other extremity of which is fastened to the lever so that when the latter is
depressed the drum is rotated the same motion being imparted to the axle by the
action of the pawl k which engages with the teeth of the ratchet wheel I. To the
boss of the drum is attached one extremity of a spring r the other end of which is
connected to a barrel M connected by a collar m Figure 6 to the tube D' so as to be
incapable of rotating and the spring is consequently wound up when the drum
rotates,

page_text: When the pressure is removed from the lever the drum J is driven in a contrary
direction by the action of the spring which in uncoiling causes the drum to rotate
thus maintaining the tension of the chain or band and causing it to be wound up or
drawn back to its original position relatively to the drum.
By making the spring in the barrel sufficiently powerful the two helical
springs d d (Figure 1) attached to the levers can be dispensed with, the latter being
raised as hereinbefore described directly the pressure of the foot on the pedal is
removed.
In order that the pawl k may not prevent the backing of the vehicle by
remaining engaged with the ratchet teeth I its pin or axis is prolonged so as to
project outside the drum J and is provided with an arm which when the said
drum has returned to its original position comes in contact with a stop n Figure 6
fixed on the tube D¹.
The combinations of mechanism herein before described constitute an apparatus
acting under novel and peculiar conditions and the construction of the several parts
may evidently be modified according to the circumstances or conditions under which
they are employed such for example as the different constructions of vehicles
which the mechanism is employed to drive, without affecting the principle of the
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
The combinations and arrangements of parts constituting improved mechanism
for driving tricycles, bicycles, and other like vehicles, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Dated this 10th day of February 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.