Improvements in Spring Frames for Bicycles and other Velocipedes.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Spring Frames for Bicycles and other Velocipedes.
―:
I, JOHAN LUNDEN, of No. 11, Magasinsgatan, Gothenburg, in the Kingdom of
Sweden, Printer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows; -
This invention has for its object to give the bicycle an elastic up and down
motion with relation to the frame on the shaft of the back wheel, and the device
is so disposed that the elastic motion may be said to take place without any
objectionable friction.
The axle of the rear wheel is in the ordinary way secured to the back end of
the horizontal or lower fork the latter being arranged between spiral springs
the opposite ends of which bear upon solid parts of the frame. The axle is thus
suspended between the springs, the upper ones being in tension and the lower
ones in compression when the bicycle is being ridden. The wheel axle may
thus be raised or lowered with relation to the rear fork when the wheel is pass-
ing over even the smallest unevennesses of the ground and during this motion
the wheel is exclusively guided by the lower or horizontal fork, the front end
of which is rotatably secured either to the pedal shaft or to the solid cover of
same, while the rear wheel axle is firmly secured to its back end. The wheel-
axle thus moves freely up and down without touching the rear fork and the driv-
ing chain is by the horizontal fork kept in constant tension.
The rear fork is supported by an extra fork or stay passing from the saddle
pillar and the lower end of the said rear fork is bent into the form of a circle
with the pedal-shaft as a centre, which bent portion receives the above-described
springs.
Improvements in Spring Frames for Bicycles and other Velocipedes.
I, JOHAN LUNDÉN, of No. 11, Magasinsgatan, Gothenburg, in the Kingdom of
Sweden, Printer, 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:—
My invention has for its object the provision of means whereby resiliency is
imparted to a velocipede or bicycle, by placing the driving wheel in resilient or
yielding bearings without materially increasing the friction of the parts.

page_text: In the accompanying drawing, Figure is a side view of a bicycle or veloci-
pede showing my improvement, and Figure 2 is a detail drawn to an enlarged
scale showing the resilient bearing for the rear wheel.
The same letters of reference refer to like parts.
I have shown a diamond wheel frame in which the rear parts or reaches H
constituting the horizontal or lower fork are revolubly secured at their forward
ends, either to the crankshaft I or to the crank-hanger and in the rear slotted
ends of said parts or reaches is adjustably secured the driving wheel in the usual
manner.
On the upper and lower sides of the rear ends of the parts or reaches H are
provided bearing plates B or equivalent devices in which are fastened the ends
of spiral springs A, and which at the same time form bearing surfaces for said
springs. The upper ends of the rear braces are secured at the top of the
saddle post K, and have arc-shaped lower ends D, the centre for said ares being
that of the crank-shaft 1.
At either end of the arcs D are bearing plates d, in which are fastened and
against which bear, the other ends of the spiral springs A.
Cross braces L, connecting the rear braces D' and saddle post K serve to make
a rigid structure.
The springs A are fastened to and are held between the plates B on the rear
reaches H and the plates d on the rear braces D', thus forming a resilient bear-
ing for the rear wheel, which has a limited motion in the arc of a circle around
the crank or crank-hanger, and readily responds to any unevenness of the road.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is: -
In bicycles in which the wheel-shafts are connected with springs, protecting
the frame against blows hitting the wheels, the arrangement, that the guiding
mechanism for the back wheel shaft in its upward and downward motion during
the tension, consists exclusively of the fork (II) of the bicycle frame passing
between the said shaft and the pedal shaft (1) the back end of which is secured
to the shaft of the back wheel, while its front end is pivotally secured to the
pedal shaft or its cover, for the purpose of effecting the said motion of the wheel
shaft, without any objectionable friction.
Doted this 1111 1
1
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.