Improvements relating to Brakes, or in the Means for Operating same or other Parts of Cycles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 12th June, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 11th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 17th Apr., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Brakes, or in the Means for Operating
same or other Parts of Cycles.
1, WILLIAM GILBERT of 31, Lady Margaret Road, Kentish Town, London,
N.W. Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
This invention relates to brakes or in the means for operating same or other
parts of cycles and has for its object to not only provide reliable and ready means
of applying said brake or operating other parts in a cycle such as operating
differential gear etc. but also having the additional advantage of being invisible
(or practically so) and has for a further object to dispense with the unsightly and
awkward brake levers of the well-known character at present commonly in use on
bicycles such brake levers or the like levers on the handle bar often being a
source of annoyance and interfering with the comfort of the rider as well as having
other drawbacks well known to cyclists particularly bicycle riders.
For the sake of example I will now describe my present invention as applied to
an ordinary safety bicycle of the well-known type at present in use but it will be
obvious that I do not confine myself to this type of machine alone as my present
invention may be used on any other bicycle tricycle or velocipede to which same
may be applicable either for operating a brake or for operating the differential
gear or for any other purpose or purposes to which same may be applicable.
According to my present invention I so arrange and mount one of the handles
that same is capable of rotation or partial rotation upon or on the handle bar and
this handle is connected to a flexible shafting or angle-coupling of any suitable
character which is arranged and mounted inside the tubular handle bar such
flexible shafting or angle coupling terminating just over or near the head or
steering post which latter like the handle bar is also hollow as is well known and
inside this tubular steering post a rod or connection passes down to the brake
block the upper end of this rod or connection being pivoted or otherwise suitably
connected to a crank pin or other suitable connection on the last-named end of the
flexible shaft or angle-coupling while the lower end of this rod or connection is
suitably connected to the brake block (any suitable means for adjustment of the
brake block on this connection being interposed or provided as desired) said brake
block being mounted between the forks directly under the steering post or same
may be mounted in any other suitable position-suitable connections being of
course provided from the aforesaid descending rod or connection down the hollow
steering post.
Or instead of operating the brake motion may be imparted to differential gear
or any other desired part or parts of a cycle by suitable connections from the
aforesaid descending rod or connection in the hollow steering post to the said part
or parts to be operated.
Or the second handle may be similarly or equivalently arranged to operate a
second and independent connection or set of connections so that one handle can be
rotated to put on the brake alone and the other handle rotated when it is desired
to change the differential gear etc.
For instance my present invention may be carried out as follows:-
The end of the handle bar is slotted and a short length of tube (over or on

page_text: which the handle is formed or mounted) is slid over said end of the handle bar so
as to be free to revolve thereon and a pin stud or screw is passed through said
short length of tube and through the slot in the handle bar into the interior of the
latter where it screws into or otherwise engages the flexible shafting or angle
coupling inside said handle bar and acts as a crank by which to revolve the said
flexible shafting or angle coupling which latter for the sake of brevity I shall
hereinafter refer to as the "flexible shafting" and then a rubber cap or any other
suitable material may be used or arranged to form the actual handle the surface of
which is grasped by the hand of the rider-such handle being advantageously of
such a character as to afford a good grip to the rider.
The other end of said flexible shafting may be formed with a solid face or disc
arranged or fixed thereto in any suitable manner on which latter a pin or equivalent
is formed or mounted at a suitable distance from the centre or axis of said flexible
shafting to act as a crank or crank pin to operate the descending rod or connection
leading from said crank pin to the brake block (or other part to be operated) a
suitable spring being provided at any suitable point or points to normally keep
the parts pressed in one direction i.e. in the case of a brake to normally keep the
brake "off."
A suitable shoulder may be formed on the aforesaid disc or solid end on the
flexible shaft to act as a bearing or fit in or against a corresponding shoulder or
bearing arranged or mounted in the handle bar."
A suitable opening in the handle bar must of course be provided for the
aforesaid descending rod or connection to pass through either to the interior of
the steering post or to the exterior of the steering post as may be desired.
Dated this 19th date of June 1806
Improvements relating to Brakes, or in the Means for Operating
same or other Parts of Cycles.
I, WILLIAM GILBERT of 31, Lady Margaret Road, Kentish Town, London,
N.W. Commercial Traveller, 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 brakes or in the means for operating same or other
parts of cycles and has for its object to not only provide reliable and ready means
of applying said brake or operating any other parts in a cycle such as operating
differential gear etc. but also having the additional advantage of being invisible
(or practically so) and has for a further object to dispense with the unsightly and
awkward brake levers of the well-known character at present commonly in use on
bicycles such brake levers or the like levers on the handle-bar often being a
source of annoyance and interfering with the comfort of the rider as well as
having other drawbacks well known to cyclists particularly bicycle riders.
For the sake of example I will now describe my present invention as applied to
an ordinary safety bicycle of the well-known type at present in use but it will be
obvious that I do not confine myself to this type of machine alone as my present
invention may be used on any other bicycle tricycle or velocipede to which same
may be applicable either for operating a brake or for operating the differential
gear or for any other purpose or purposes to which same may be applicable.

page_text: According to my present invention I so arrange and mount one of the handles that
Fame is capable of rotation or partial rotation upon or on the handle-bar and this handle
is connected to a flexible shafting or angle-coupling of any suitable character which
is arranged and mounted inside the tubular handle bar such flexible shafting or
angle coupling terminating just over or near the head or steering post which latter
like the handle bar is also hollow as is well-known and inside this tubular steering
post a rod or connection passes down to the brake block the upper end of this rod
or connection being pivotted or otherwise suitably connected to a crank pin or
other suitable connection on the last-named end of the flexible shaft or angle-
coupling while the lower end of this rod or connection is suitably connected to the
brake block (any suitable means for adjustment of the brake block on this
connection being interposed or provided as desired) said brake block being
mounted between the forks directly under the steering post or same may be
mounted in any other suitable position-suitable connections being of course
provided from the aforesaid descending rod or connection down the hollow steering
post.
Or instead of operating the brake motion may be imparted to differential gear
or any other desired part or parts of a cycle by suitable connections from the
aforesaid descending rod or connection in the hollow steering post to the said part
or parts to be operated.
Or the second handle may be similarly or equivalently arranged to operate a
second and independent connection or set of connections so that one handle can
be rotated to put on the brake alone and the other handle rotated when it is desired
to change the differential gear etc.
For instance my present invention may be carried out as hereinafter described
with reference to the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a side view of a bicycle with the brake fitted and operated according
to my present invention.
Fig. 2 is a front end view of the handle-bars head and fork-crown, with front
wheel removed-to show the brake.
Fig. 3 is a plan partly in section of the handle-bars and steering head-on an
enlarged scale.
Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 3-partly vertical section on line 1-1 Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view (on an enlarged scale i.e. full size) through the
handle on line 2-2 Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrow 3.
Fig. 6 is a local view of the end of the handle bar (full size) showing the slot
therein through which the brake operating mechanism in the handle-bar is connected
to the handle by which latter the brake is operated.
The handle A is a fixture while the handle a is the handle by which the brake
is operated according to my present invention these handles being mounted on the
handle-bars b bx.
The end of the handle bar b is slotted at 61 and a short length of tube a¹ (over
or on which the handle a is formed or mounted) is slid over said end of the handle
bar 6 so as to be free to revolve thereon and a pin stud or screw c is passed
through said short length of tube a 1 and through the slot b' in the handle bar b
into the interior of the latter where it screws into a block d on-or otherwise
engages-the flexible shafting or angle coupling c inside said handle-bar and acts
as a crank by which to revolve the said flexible shafting or angle coupling e
(which latter for the sake of brevity I shall hereinafter refer to as the
"flexible shafting" e) and then a rubber cap felt, cork, or any other suitable
material may be used or arranged to form the actual handle a the surface of which
is grasped by the hand of the rider-such handle a being advantageously of such
a character as to afford a good grip to the rider.
This flexible shafting e may be of any suitable construction advantageously a
closely wound spiral steel rod as shown the spirals of which may touch one
another or nearly so.
This flexible shafting e may closely fit the interior wall of the handle-bar tube b

page_text: or may be less in diameter than the internal diameter of the said tube 6 for instance
'as shown in the drawings and the opposite end of this flexible shafting (which
terminates just over or near the head or steering post i) has a dise or circular head
piece farranged or fixed thereto in any suitable manner on which latter a pin or
stud g or equivalent is formed or mounted at a suitable distance from the centre or
axis of said flexible shafting to act as a crank or crank pin to operate the descending
rod or connection h leading from said crank pin g (through the guide plate ; the
latter fixed in the lower part of the head i or advantageously in the fork-crown k
as shown in Fig. 4) to the brake block m or other part to be operated--a suitable
spring being provided at any suitable point or points such as the spring n confined
between the shoulder A' fixed on the rod A and the guide plate j to normally keep
the parts pressed in one direction i.e. in the case of a brake to normally keep the
brake "off." A suitable shoulder may be formed on the aforesaid disc or solid
end on the flexible shaft e to act as a bearing or to fit in or against a corre
sponding shoulder or bearing arranged or mounted in the handle-bar b or against
the end of the latter.
A suitable opening in the handle-bar must of course be provided for the afore-
said descending rod or connection h to pass through to the interior of the steering
post or to the exterior of the steering post i if desired.
The said flexible shafting e may be connected up in any other desired and suitable
manner to the handle a so as to be revolved thereby and also the other end of
said flexible shafting e may be connected up to the vertically descending rod / or
equivalent in any other desired and suitable manner so as to raise and lower same
when said shafting is revolved. Also the brake block m may be mounted in any
other suitable manner or position suitable connections being of course provided
from the aforesaid descending rod or connection A in the hollow steering post i.
The operation is as follows:-
On revolving the handle a on the handle-bar b thereby the flexible shafting e is
correspondingly revolved and thereby the crank pin g is thrown downwards a corre-
sponding distance and consequently forces down the brake block m (by means of
the rod ) against the tyre z of the wheel and this puts on the brake-the latter
being thus applied by direct thrust from the crank pin g through the connecting
rod against the action of the spring n which has a tendency to take off the
brake and hold same off when the handle a is released or revolved in the opposite
direction.
It will thus be seen that only a small amount of movement is necessary to be
imparted to the handle a in order to apply the brake the whole of the operating
mechanism being practically invisible.
Or instead of operating the brake, motion may be imparted to differential speed
gear or other part or parts of a cycle by suitable connections from the aforesaid
descending rud' or crank pin g to the said part or parts to be operated.
Or the second handle A may be similarly or equivalently arranged to operate
a second and independent shafting (not shown) such as e so that one handle can be
rotated to put on the brake alone and the other handle rotated when it is desired
to change the differential speed gear etc.
An obvious modification or application of my present invention would be in
using this Hexible shafting to pull up a rod or connection such as à (instead of
forcing same down as described) that is to say the crank pin g would normally be
at the lowest point and by revolving the flexible shafting e thereby the crank pin g
would be raised and would thus pull up the rod or connection such as h and this
upward motion could be utilised for applying the brake for instance in applying
the brake upwardly, to the underside of the rim of the wheel that is for putting on
what are known as "rim brakes "-two said rods h being provided one.to descend
below one side of the rim and the other rod to the other side of the rim of the
wheel or a single rod such as g may be forked at its lower end or attached to a fork
the two ends of which latter would carry or apply the rim brake blocks but
I make no claim separately herein to such rim, brake, blocks but only to

page_text: the means of operating such rim brake blocks according to my present invention
as aforesaid,
Figs. 7 and 8 show another means of-or modification in-connecting up the
flexible shafting e to the rod h and thereby imparting motion to the latter from
the former,
Fig. 7 being a local vertical cross section through the top of the steering
post or head i and longitudinal vertical section through the adjacent handle-bars,
and
Fig. 8 being a sectional view at right angles to Fig. 7 i.e. looking in the direction
of the arrow 8.
The flexible shafting e bas formed or fixed thereon a gear wheel (i.e. a toothed
wheel) r which gears with another toothed wheel or pinion which latter turns on
the pin or axis mounted in the head or steering post i.
This pinion e besides gearing with said toothed wheel also gears with the
rack-bar or teeth t fixed to or formed on the descending rod which latter is thus
raised or lowered (i.e. forced up or down) to apply the brake etc. and take off
same as before this means of operating the brake etc. (as illustrated in Figs. 7
and 8) having this advantage that the rod h can thereby be lowered to any desired
extent i.e. the extent to which said rod can be forced down is not in any way
limited to half a revolution of the flexible shafting e (as in the arrangement shown
in Figs. 3 and 4) its movement only being limited by the length of the rack t
subject to which as many revolutions of the shafting e can be made as desired
and the brake thus slowly applied with great power or quickly applied as desired.
Instead of the gear wheel operating the rack t through only one intermediate
wheel or pinion such as s it may operate through two or more such intermediate
wheels or through a train of wheels.
I am aware that the rotation of the handle of a cycle has been utilised to
operate the brake but this has been effected by tension (viz.: by pulling wires or
cords or chains) whereas according to my invention the power is transmitted
from the handle (when the latter is revolved) by torsion and my said invention
gives many advantages.
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 :-
1. The combination with a curved and tubular handle-bar such as b or the like
for cycles of a flexible shafting such as e arranged inside said tube means to
connect one end of said flexible shafting to a handle by which to revolve said
shafting and means connected to the other end of said shafting to operate the brake
or other part of such vehicles substantially in the manner and for the purposes
hereinbefore described.
2. The improved means for operating the brake or other part of a cyclc
constructed combined and arranged to act substantially in the manner and
for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings hereunto
annexed.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.