Improvements in Wheels for Velocipedes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 15th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 13th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 19th Dec., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Velocipedes.
I, ARTHUR COMINGS HIDE of 23 West Street, Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to an improved construction of wheel for velocipedes, and
it consists in building up the wheel with two discs of sheet metal instead of spokes
and in combining therewith a hollow rim for the elastic tyre, the object being to
obtain a light and rigid wheel.
I am aware that it is not broadly new to use two discs of metal for connecting
the hub of a wheel to the rim thereof instead of spokes, but all such wheels hitherto
constructed have been defective in some way or the other.
In constructing my improved wheel, I take two discs of sheet metal, each stamped
In the centre
or pressed out to the required shape to form one side of the wheel.
of each disc a hole is formed by pressing the metal up and turning it back thus
giving increased thickness where it is rivetted or otherwise fixed to the flange of
the hub. The edge or periphery of each disc is also turned back to give a double
The two discs are.
thickness of metal to that part forming the rim of the wheel.
rivetted or otherwise fixed together immediately under that part forming the rim.
To complete the rim a strip of metal rolled into a crescent shape and having turned
over edges is placed over that part of the rim formed by the discs and is brazed,
sweated, or clinched thereto.
I sometimes construct the hollow rim in any of the manners already well-known,
and provide for the attachment of the two discs thereto by forming on the inner
side of the rim one or two flanges, to which the discs are attached as they are
rivetted together.
To lighten the wheel I may cut holes of any suitable size and shape in the discs,
and to stiffen them I may form radial indentations in them at the same time that
they are being stamped or pressed out.
Dated this 15th day of May 1891.
ROBT. ED. PHILLIPS, M.I.M.E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70-72, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Velocipedes.
I ARTHUR COMINGS HIDE of 23 West Street, Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, Manager of Works, 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 relates to an improved construction of wheel for velocipedes, and
it consists in building up the wheel with two discs of sheet metal instead of spokes,
and in combining therewith a hollow rim for the elastic tyre, the object being to
obtain a strong, light, and rigid wheel.
I am aware that it is not broadly new to use two discs of metal for connecting
the hub of a wheel to the rim thereof, but all such wheels hitherto constructed have
been failures from one of two causes, either on account of their increased weight, or
on account of their want of strength and rigidity. Hitherto in all attempts to

page_text: construct disc wheels the rim of the wheel has been formed of simple extensions of
the discs forming the wheel, with the result that to obtain a rim sufficiently strong
and rigid to carry the tyre the substance of the plates forming the discs had to be
considerably thicker than was necessary as mere substitutes for spokes, consequently
all such wheels have proved failures on account of their excessive weight.
I attain the object of my invention in the manner shown by the accompanying
drawing in which
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, show the progressive stages of the construction of my
improved wheel, and
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, show modifications in the construction thereof.
Throughout these figures similar parts are marked with like letters of reference.
In constructing my improved wheel I take two circular discs A of sheet metalas
shown by Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing. In the centre of each disca
hole is formed by pressing the metal up and turning it back as shown by,,Figure 2
of the accompanying drawing, thus giving increased thickness where it is rivetted
or otherwise fixed to the flange of the hub. The edge or periphery of each disc is
also turned back as shown by Figure 2 of the accompanying drawing to give a
double thickness of metal to that part adapted to form part of the hollow rim of the
wheel. Each disc is then stamped, pressed, or blocked into the desired shape to
form one side of the wheel as shown by Figure 3 of the accompanying drawing.
Two of these discs are then rivetted or brazed to the flanges of the hub B of the
wheel, and are rivetted or otherwise fixed together at that part forming the rimas
shown by Figure 4 of the accompanying drawing. To complete the rim a strip of
metal A, rolled into a crescent shape and having turned over edges, is placed over
that part of the rim formed by the discs and is brazed, sweated, or clinched thereto,
as shown by Figure 5 of the accompanying drawing. The method I prefer to
adopt for fixing the two discs A together at the rim, is to place them in a screw.
press and braze, or sweat them together at that part marked a before the outer.
shell A is put on.
When the substance of the metal used for the discs A. is so thin that a double
thickness of it is not sufficient to give the required strength at the rim, I increase
the strength at that part either by using a wider strip of metal for the part A. and,
lapping its edges down round the exterior part of the rim as shown by Figure 6 of
the accompanying drawing, or by inserting in the peripheral folds of the discs A a
strengthening strip A2 as shewn by Figure 7 of the accompanying drawing. Assa
modification of these devices I take a hollow rim A³ of any approved construction
and I seat it in the rim formed, by the discs A. as shown by Figure 8 of the
accompanying drawing and braze or sweat it thereto, or as a further modification,
I form on the said hollow rim one or more radial flanges a adapted to receive the
discs A as shown by Figures 9 and 10 of the accompanying drawing and to be
rivetted, brazed, or sweated thereto.
By this construction it will be apparent that the rim may be made as strong as
necessary and the discs-the equivalent of the spokes-as light as possible
irrespective of each other.
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
1st. The improved construction of wheel for velocipedes as hereinbefore
described..
2nd. In a wheel for velocipedes and similar vehicles, the combination with
metallic discs, as a substitute for spokes, of a hollow or tubular rim to receive the
elastic tyre, as and for the purpose set forth.
3rd. In a disc wheel for velocipedes and similar vehicles, making the rim of the
wheel to receive the elastic tyre-hollow, by adding to the trough-shaped channel
formed by the peripheries of the two discs an exterior strip of metal of a shallow.
crescent section, as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 4th. In the construction of disc wheels in which the sides of the rim thereof are
formel out of the discs, stiffening the said rim by extending the edges of the outer
strip so as to overlap those parts of the discs forming the sides of the wheel, as set
forth.
5th. In the construction of dise wheels in which the sides of the rim thereof are
formed out of the discs, stiffening the said rim by the insertion between the
peripheral folds of the said discs, of stiffening plates, as set forth.
Dated this 13th day of November 1891.
ROBT. ED. PHILLIPS, M.I.M.E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.