IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLE AND TRICYCLE LAMPS AND OTHER LAMPS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Tongue and Thomas Edward
Bladon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th March
1881.
THOMAS TONGUE and THOMAS EDWARD BLADON, both of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Lamp Manufacturers and Tinplate Workers. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BICYCLE AND TRICYCLE LAMPS AND OTHER LAMPS."
Our Invention consists of the construction and combination herein after described
of the parts of bicycle and tricycle lamps, the said construction and combination of
parts being also applicable to other lamps which require to be suspended after the
manner of bicycle lamps; parts of our Invention are also applicable to lamps not
suspended. We will describe our Invention in connection with a bicycle lamp.
The objects of our Invention are principally so to construct the lamp that it may
readily be passed between the spokes of the bicycle wheel for suspending it to the
hub of the said wheel, and also to effect the fastening of the lamp to the hub in
a simple and efficient manner.
We make the front of the lamp containing the front glass or lens separate from
the body of the lamp, the said separate front being connected to and disconnected
from the body by a vertical sliding motion, the body of the lamp being furnished
with hollow beadings or grooves at its edges, in which beadings or grooves the
edges of the sliding separate front may engage. The top of the sliding separate
front carries the ordinary divided hinged barrel or clip by which the lamp is
suspended. The said front also carries a spring bolt immediately over the front
glass or lens, the said spring bolt shooting into a hole in the body of the lamp
when the sliding front is depressed to its full extent, and fixing the said front in
its place. On the top of the body of the lamp is a spring, upon which, when the
sliding front is shut down, the lower hinged half of the suspending barrel or clip
is pressed. The said spring presses upwards the hinged half of the clip, thereby
closing the said clip and causing it to grip the hub of the bicycle.
Or the spring
may be at the bottom of the lamp, in which case the said spring starts the upward
motion of the aliding front when it is unbolted. When the spring is at the
bottom the hinged half of the spring clip is closed by pressing on the top of the
body.

page_text: When the sliding front is withdrawn from the body of the lamp, the said body
can be conveniently passed between the spokes of the bicycle wheel. The separate
front carrying the spring clip is then passed by a sliding motion into its place at
the front of the body, and fixed to the said body by the spring sliding bolt
snapping into the body as described. As the sliding front is pushed home in the
body, the jointed half of the barrel or spring clip is raised and the clip is closed
upon the hub. The sliding front is thns fixed in its place at the front of the lamp,
and the lamp is at the same time suspended to the hub of the wheel. To
disconnect the lamp from the hub of the bicycle wheel, the projecting end of the
spring sliding bolt is drawn outwards when the upward motion of the sliding front
is started and the clip opens; the sliding front is withdrawn from the lamp, and
the said front and lamp are withdrawn from the hub. The oil reservoir is passed
into and removed from the body of the lamp and the wick trimmed at the open
front of the said body. The oil reservoir has a spring at its back, and a spring
snap underneath. When it is pushed home in the lamp body its spring snap takes
into a hole at the back of the lamp body. When the projecting end of the spring
snap is raised, the spring at the back of the oil reservoir starts the oil reservoir,
which can then be readily withdrawn; by this arrangement the shaking and rattling
of the oil reservoir in the lamp body is prevented.
In making the check wires by which the position of the lamp in the middle of
the hub is determined, wo employ, as usual, two screws with lock nuts; but instead
of making both the screws and lock nuts right handed, we make one right handed
and the other left handed. By this arrangement there is no tendency in the screws
and lock nuts to become loose by the motion of the bicycle. The arrangement of
sliding front and hinged clip may be applied to suspended lamps for various
purposes. The sliding front without the hinged clip, and the arrangement for
fixing and starting the oil reservoir, may be applied to lamps other than suspended
lamps.