IM. PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF VELOCIPEDES FOR USE ON LAND OR WATER, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO WHEELED VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clarke, of Ladyfield, Wilmslow, in the
County of Chester, Doctor of Medicine, for the Invention of "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF VELOCIPEDES FOR USE
ON LAND OR WATER, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO WHEELED VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Clarke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1869.
1, THOMAS CLARKE, of Ladyfield, Wilmslow, in the County of
Chester, Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF VELO-
CIPEDES FOR USE ON LAND OR WATER, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO WHEELED VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION," to be
follows:-
as
The object of this Invention is to provide a perfectly safe and
comfortable velocipede by the employment of which a much higher rate

page_text: of speed can be attained, less exertion is expended, and the velocipede
can be constructed to carry and can be worked by one or more
persons.
The Invention consists, firstly, in the application of the philosophical
principle of making the weight of the person or persons to be carried
a part of the moving power. This is effected by placing the weight as
far forward in advance of the line of specific gravity of the driving
wheels as possible, at the same time endeavouring to secure a safe and
steady balance in going down hill or in passing over any inequalities in
the ground.
This improved velocipede will be so constructed that the balance or
centre under all the weights it may have to carry can be defined with
minute accuracy, just as certainly, in fact, as heavy bodies are weighed
in the weighing machine by the lever balance.
And the Invention consists, secondly, in the application of an ever
varying reduplicating and multiplying power by means of wheels, drums,
or pullies, and a combination of foot and hand power (or foot or hand
power separately), and substituting one power for another to suit the
nature of the ground to be travelled over, whereby a much higher rate
of speed than hitherto can be obtained, or a higher rate of travelling
power may be substituted for speed when required.
According to the first part of the improvements a movable seat or
saddle working on a joint is provided, and is attached at its front to a
bar or plate of wood or metal by screws or other equivalent meaus. This
bar or plate has holes made in it, and is adjusted to the required
position by means of pins being inserted in the holes and entering a rod
or bar, herein-after described At the back of the scat is a spring, which
according to the movement of the seat traverses a trough or other
suitably shaped groove in a plate or board attached to the framing of the
velocipede. By this means. the weight of the person (or persons) can
be brought forward as far as is practically safe in advance of the line
of specific gravity of the driving wheels, and thus assist in propelling
the velocipede, it also being specially cared for that the rebound of the
body shall be in the exact anatomical axis of the spinal column, and
persons with short arms or legs can be accommodated by moving the
seat to any particular position required, and so be able to propel the
velocipede with ease.

page_text: According to the second part of these improvements a metallic bar or
rod (herein-before referred to) is keyed or fitted on the axle of the
driving wheel or wheels. To the top of this bar is attached in suitable
bearings a wrought-iron drum or pulley, which is turned by means of
handles (and levers if required) fitted thereto. A strap passes over this
drum or pulley to a smaller or larger drum or pulley on the axle of the
driving wheel (or wheels), and in ascending hills or where a high rate of
speed is required this arrangement will render the work of propelling
considerably easier than hitherto. The treadles or cranks on which the
feet act can be used alone, if required, as also can the drums or pulleys
be worked alone.
When two driving wheels are employed there may, if required, be two
rods or bars and drums or pulleys, so that two or more persons can
work the velocipede.
This velocipede can be guided or steered either by the ordinary steering
bar or by the driver or drivers (guiding by the driving wheels) using one
wheel and stopping the other, or using or stopping or backing with both
hands, precisely as one or more persons would operate in turning a boat
when rowing.
When the velocipede is required to be made so that the person (or
persons) propelling it is (or are) but slightly elevated above the surface
of the ground the following modifications are applied :-At any suitable
height from the ground a drum with treadles or cranks is suspended
from any convenient part of the framing of the velocipede. This drum
when worked by the treadles or cranks imparts motion (by means of
straps) to other drums, and these by the same means impart motion to a
drum fixed on the axle of the driving wheel or wheels, or to the wheels
themselves. By regulating the size of these wheels or drums and their
relative positions any desired speed may be attained. Hand power can
be used in these modifications as well as in those hercin-before described
by fixing a pulley with handles above the framing of the velocipede, and
connecting it by a strap to the other pulleys, and these to the pulley on
the driving axle or wheels.
According to these improvements the points of traction and friction
are brought closer together, thereby saving muscular power and con-.
centrating the propelling force by bringing the single or double steering
wheel or wheels (whether behind or before) up to or within any suitable
distance of the axles of the driving wheels. Any one or more of the.

page_text: wheels of the velocipedes made according to my Invention I propose to
make with two sets of rims and two sets of spokes to one boss or central
nave, whereby greater safety and steadiness will be ensured.
When required mud protectors can be applied and attached over the
wheels, and hoods for protection from the weather can be affixed at will
to the velocipede, and snow brushes and sand boxes are provided when
the velocipede is required to be used in snowy or frosty weather.
The improvements further consist in providing a means of aiding the
push of the feet (which in this velocipede is directly downward, and
also ensuring that the rebound of the body shall be in the exact
anatomical axis of the spinal column, as before mentioned) by means of
clips or rings of metal attached or fixed to a metal plate fixed by scraps
or other equivalent means to the bottom of the boot after the manner of
a skate. A thickness of wood may be placed under the metal plate to
suit the length of leg (or legs) of the propeller (or propellers), and when
it is not desirable to move the saddle.
The above-named improvements have been described as bearing more
particularly on velocipedes for use on land, but the main features thereof
are equally applicable to velocipedes for use on water, the chief
difference being that paddle wheels will be substituted for the driving
wheels, and the apparatus for operating the paddle wheels will be con-
veniently arranged inside the boat or vessel.
The parts of these improvements which are also applicable to other
wheeled vehicles are the drum and strap arrangements herein-before
described, which may be applied to one or more wheels of auy such
vehicles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Clarke in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS 3
CLARKE, of Ladyfield, Wilmslow, in the County of Chester, Doctor of
Medicine, send greeting.

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Clarke, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Clarke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Clarke, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND
WORKING OF VELOCIPEDES FOR USE ON LAND OR WATER, PARTS OF WHICH IM-
PROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO WHEELED VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Clarke,
my executors and administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Clarke, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to produce a perfectly safe and
comfortable velocipede by the employment of which a much higher
rate of speed can be attained, less exertion is required, and which is so
constructed as to be capable of carrying and being worked by one or
more persons.
The Invention consists, firstly, in the application of the philosophical
principle of causing the weight of the person or persons to be carried to
act as a part of the moving power, and this I propose to effect by placing
the weight as far forward as possible in advance of the central line of
specific gravity of the driving wheels, at the same time endeavouring to
secure a safe and steady balance in descending inclines or passing over
inequalities of the ground.
Secondly. In the application of a variable reduplicating or multiplying

page_text: power by means of wheels (either toothed or plain), drums, or pulleys,
and a combination of foot and hand power (or foot or hand power
separately), and substituting one power for the other at will according
to the nature of the ground travelled over, by which means either a
much higher rate of speed than hitherto can be obtained or an increased
tractive power with a diminished speed may be substituted when
required.
And, thirdly. In the adaptation of the same mechanism slightly
modified to the propulsion of small boats or vessels on water by means
of a screw or paddles.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in the Construction and Working of Velocipedes for Use on Land
or Water, Parts of which Improvements are also applicable to Wheeled
Vehicles of every Description," I will now proceed to describe more
in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be more readily
understood, I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative
thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference
corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof, that is
to say:-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 is a plan view, and
Figure 2 a side elevation of my improved velocipede, constructed so as
to be driven by three persons, and having auxiliary hand power con-
sisting of drums or pulleys, and Figure 3 shows the same arranged with
hand levers instead of drums.
The machine is made with three wheels, two being in front and one
behind. The anterior forks a, «, (see Figure 2) are placed obliquely
forward, so that the weight can be arranged either behind, in frout, or
over the centre of gravity so as to diminish the traction of dead weight
as far as possible. (Thus in going up hill, if the hind man descends the
weight of the carriage and front drivers being thrown upon the ground
points of the two front wheels it will ascend in the easiest possible way.
The carriage in its entirety would then represent a lever balance). One
man sits over each wheel ou the saddles a*, a*, a*, the hind one steering,
whilst the chair-like seat b, b, between the wheels may be used either to
carry a relay (or a passenger), or for a worker who turns the interior foot
cranks c, c, which are prolonged for that purpose. The hind man in
addition to steering works the foot cranks d, d. From the top of the

page_text: hind fork e, e, descends the middle fork, f, extending to the front
uprights near the axles, and forming a strong collar round the swivel
pillar at the upper end of the hind fork e, e, to enable the hind wheel
to guide the fore part like a rudder. The carriage can also be steered
from the middle seat b, b, by means of small hand levers g, g, turning
the hind wheel by the cords h, h, passing round guide pulleys, or by
running the driving wheels separately. A fulcrum is made for the back
or hands by means of the movable back rest i, i, which can be fixed on
any part of the saddle spring, and one is made for the feet, (when not
working the foot cranks) by bringing a curved bar k, k, in frout of each
front wheel, which first branches out laterally to form a foot rest l, l, or
fulcrum for the feet, and if hand levers are employed each lateral branch
then turns upwards and backwards to form the pivots of the said levers
(see Figure 3). In the front and middle of this rest is the drag m, m,
for the wheel, working on a joint, and kept in its place by an india-
rubber or steel spring, which drag acts upon the wheel immediately
whenever the horizontal projections n, n, above the foot rest are pressed
by the toes of either or both feet. A curved piece 0, 0, of thin metal
fixed on a square at the top of the front fork extends backwards over
each wheel to serve as a protection of the clothes from mud and from
the friction of the wheel. The front axle may be boxed in the middle,
or it may be dispensed with altogether by strengthening the middle
fork ff, which connects the fore and hind parts of the carriage so as
to stay the wheels sufficiently. In this case the wheels ride over
obstacles more easily and with less shocks, and the middle seat b, b, can
then be lowered as much as may be desired. PP are two grooved
drums or pulleys, either plain or toothed, round which passes an endless
chain, cord, or band 2, 2, a guide pulley being employed to cause the
chain or band to act better upon the upper surface of the pulley. The
upper pulleys are provided with crank handles, by means of which they
are actuated and drive the lower drums or pulleys, which are fixed to
the driving wheels or their axles. 8, s, is a plank or shelf upon which
luggage may be strapped. The grip of the feet upon the foot cranks may
be aided by means of semicircular metal clips (see Figure 4) fastened
to the boot by means of straps, pieces of wood being placed between
the clips and the boots if the reach of the leg requires lengthening.
A modification of this arrangement suitable for laborers and others,
and designed to carry several persons and their implements or luac

page_text: is shown in plan view at Figure 5, and side elevation at Figure 6. There
are two wheels a, a, in front about 4 feet high and 3 feet 9 inches
between the centres, and one wheel b, b, behind, over which a man rides
working foot cranks and steering us in the preceding case. The middle
fork c, c, in this case passes down in frout so as to support a wooden
platform d, d, about S inches from the ground resting on the bent
axle e, c, of the front wheels. In the front of this platform is a small
supplementary wheel to prevent it from tilting forwards. In that part
of the fork c which passes from the collar (in which the hind wheel
spindlo turns) is a slot or sliding joint at g, by which the carriage may
be lengthened or shortened at pleasure. A cone drum or pulley h, h, of
two powers is fixed on the nave in the inside of each of the front wheels,
and another, i, to correspond is mounted in front. A guide pulley may
also be used as at r in Figure 2. If desired the front drums i, i, are turned
by winch handles h, k, assisted by treadles 1, 1, (so as to get the benefit
of the weight) by two men standing on the platform d, d, on which
latter the luggage also is placed. Another man sits on the seat m, m,
behind, whilst a fourth, as before stated, sits on the saddle over the hind
wheel, works with his feet and steers as the driving wheels run on a
loose axle; it can also be steered by running them separately. In this
way a constant change of muscular action is provided (as in the last
design) for the winch or levers. Such a carriage adapted to railways (or
tramways) would be of great value to carry workmen, or relief in cases
of accidents as it would travel at immense speed.
Figure 7 is a plan view, and Figure 8 a side elevation showing the
application of my improved principle to the ordinary bicyle. n, a, is
the front fork on a square, near the top of which is fitted the wheel
guard b, b; c, c, is the curved bar of iron or steel supporting the
saddle d, d, on easy springs, and connecting the hinder wheel (past
which it is forked) to the socket e, through which the round part or
spindle of the front fork a passes. It is worked by means of foot cranks
either with or without the help of hand levers or drums. f.f. is the
curved bar for supporting the foot rest, which with the break for the
feet is of the same construction as that described with reference to
the first-named arrangement, and is an important feature in this case, as
the machine can bo steered by the feet whilst going down hill, or when
the hand power is being used. The front fork a may be perpendicular
or inclined obliquely forwards. It is also contemplated to use (for

page_text: learners) a double wheel behind having one central nave or boss and two
sets of spokes or tires to enable the machine to stand.
Figure 9 is a plan view, and Figure 10 à section, showing the
adaptation of my Invention to turn a screw or paddle wheels on a small
boat or vessel for canals, rivers, crecks, &c. by means of toothed or other
pulleys of different sizes, which are turned by means of winch handles
assisted by foot treadles, as described with reference to Figures 5 and 6.
The Drawing is for paddles, but experiments have decided the screw
to be preferable.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"Improvements in the Construction and Working of Velocipedes for
Use on Land or Water, Parts of which Improvements are also applicable
to Wheeled Vehicles of every Description," together with the manner in
which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, the
general construction and arrangements of the several modifications of
velocipedes for land and water as herein-before described and repre-
sented on the annexed Drawing, or any other mere modification or
imitation thereof constructed and operating in substantially the same
or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clarke, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
THOMAS CLARKE, (L.3.)