Improvements in Wheels for Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Vehicles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 29th Jan., 18.2-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Bicycles, Tricycles, and other
Vehicles.
We, ROBERT JEWELL of 181 Queen Victoria Street in the City of London,
Gentleman, and ARTHUR JOSEPH VICKERS of No. 12 Putney Hill, Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of wheels for bicycles,
tricycles and other vehicles whereby the spokes of the wheel are so constructed
as to form an elastic connection between the metal tyre and the nave or boss,
whereby the shocks or jolts to which the wheel tyres are subjected in riding over
uneven ground are in great measure prevented from being transmitted to the
seat of the rider or to the body of the vehicle.
For this purpose, according to the construction which we prefer to employ,
instead of making the spokes of tightly stretched wires as heretofore, we make
them of steel bands all having a slight curvature in their length, such curvature
lying by preference in the plane of the wheel, so that each spoke constitutes an
arched spring blade, which, after being straightened out, will resume its curved
shape again.
Thus when the nave of the wheel is loaded with the weight of the rider, it will
sink into a more or less eccentric position relatively to the tyre, until the upper-
most spoke or spokes for the time being is or are stretched straight, or nearly so,
all the other spokes in the upper half of the wheel being also stretched to a certain
degree, while all those in the lower half will be bent to an increased curvature.
On the wheel tyre coming in contact with an obstacle on the road, the result will
be that the boss, not being directly impeded by the obstruction, will shift forward
to a certain extent, the spokes at the rear side of the wheel being thereby
straightened out to a greater degree, while those on the front side assume an
increased curvature. By this means a certain clastic action is afforded between
the boss of the wheel and its tyre which will prevent the shock imparted to the
latter by the obstruction being imparted to the boss, except in a very reduced
degree.
In order to impart to the spokes the requisite stiffness to resist the lateral dis-
placement of the boss relatively to the plane of the tyre, they are made with a
more or less flat cross section, such as a flat segment of a circle, or a flat
triangle, or a flat rectangle, with or without one or more stiffening ribs thereon,
or it may be of a crescent or U shape, and there may either be two sets of such
spokes, inclining from either side of the boss towards the plane of the tyre, as in
ordinary wheels, or there may be in addition, a middle set of spokes in the plane
of the tyre, and these sets may be tied across by transverse pieces at one or more
points of their length, or again, there may be only a single set of spokes in the
plane of the tyre, made of steel bands tapering from a comparatively large width
at the boss to a small width at the tyre. For the sake of lightness such tapering
spokes may have a portion of their surface stamped out.
According to another arrangement we construct the spokes of wire as heretofore,
but with one or more portions thereof bent into helical shape so as to constitute
a spring which will be more or less extended on the upper side of the wheel and
more or less compressed on the lower side.
Dated this 00th day of Anril 1801
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Bicycles, Tricycles, and other
Vehicles.
We, ROBERT JEWELL of 181 Queen Victoria Street in the City of London,
Gentleman, and ARTHUR JOSEPH VICKERS of No. 12 Putney Hill, Surrey,
Gentleman 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 an improved construction of wheels for bicycles,
tricycles and other vehicles whereby the spokes of the wheel are so constructed
as to form an elastic connection between the metal tyre and the nave or boss,
whereby the shocks or jolts to which the wheel tyres are subjected in riding over
uneven ground are in great measure prevented from being transmitted to the seat
of the rider or to the body of the vehicle.
For this purpose instead of making the spokes of tightly stretched wires as
heretofore, we make them of steel rods or bands all having a slight curvature in
their length, such curvature lying in the plane of the wheel, so that each spoke
constitutes an arched spring blade, which, after being straightened out, will resume
its curved shape again.
Thus when the nave of the wheel is loaded with the weight of the rider, it will
sink into a more or less eccentric position relatively to the tyre, until the upper-
most spoke or spokes for the time being is or are stretched straight, or nearly so,
all the other spokes in the upper half of the wheel being also stretched to a
certain degree, while all those in the lower half will be bent to an increased
curvature. On the wheel tyre coming in contact with an obstacle on the road,
the result will be that the boss, not being directly impeded by the obstruction,
will shift forward to a certain extent, the spokes at the rear side of the wheel
being thereby straightened out to a greater degree, while those on the front side
assume an increased curvature. By this means a certain elastic action is afforded
between the boss of the wheel and its tyre which will prevent the shock imparted
to the latter by the obstruction being imparted to the boss except in a very
reduced degree.
In order to impart to the spokes the requisite stiffness to resist the lateral
displacement of the boss relatively to the plane of the tyre, they are made with a
more or less flat cross section, such as a flat segment of a circle, or a flat triangle,
or a flat rectangle, with or without one or more stiffening ribs thereon, or it may
be of a crescent or V-shape, and there may either be two sets of such spokes
inclining from either side of the boss towards the plane of the tyre, as in ordinary
wheels, or there may be in addition, a middle set of spokes in the plane of the
tyre, and these sets may be tied across by transverse pieces at one or more points
of their length, or again, there may be only a single set of spokes in the plane
of the tyre, made of steel bands tapering from a comparatively large width at the
boss to a small width at the tyre. For the sake of lightness such tapering spokes
may have a portion of their surface stamped out.
On the accompanying drawing is shewn a bicycle wheel constructed according
to the before described invention.
Fig. 1 shews a side elevation of the wheel when unloaded, Fig. 2 shews an
elevation of the same when loaded. Fig. 3 shews a cross section; Figs. 4 to 9
shew details to an enlarged scale.
The spokes A of the wheel are formed of steel having a permanent curvature
such as indicated, the curvature being greater or less according to. the strength of
the spokes and degree of elasticity that may be required.
The cross section of such spokes may be variously modified, by preference they
are made of the T section shewn at A Fig. 4, they may however be triangular

page_text: segment shaped, trough shaped, or even cylindrical, elliptic, or rectangular, as
at A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 Aº. When the axle of the wheel so constructed is loaded with
the weight of the rider, the upper spokes will be straightened out more or less
while the lower ones will receive a correspondingly increased curvature, thus the
load will be suspended from the tyre of the wheel with a certain amount of spring
action, that will greatly lessen the shocks when riding over uneven ground. It
is preferred that the strength of the spring spokes shall be such that when loaded,
the upper ones shall still retain a slight curvature. The spokes are by preference
fixed to the nave and to the tyre as shewn in the enlarged part front view and
part section of the nave at Figs. 5 and 6 and the part elevation and cross section
of the tyre at Figs. 7 and 8.
The extreme inner end of the spoke A is bent sharply to a right angle to form
a head A and the end of the spoke is fitted into a groove in the face of the nave
disc B such groove having a configuration corresponding to the section of the
spoke, as shewn at Fig. 9 and the spoke is secured in that position by ribs C¹ on
a plate C which fits against the disc B and is secured to the latter by a second
plate D which is secured to B either by screw bolts passing through both parts,
or by screwing D on to the nave as shewn at Fig. 6. The upper ends of the
spokes have a screw thread formed on them, and they are secured to the hollow
metal tyre E by means of internal and external screw nuts F as shewn, the tyre
being made with flat surfaces at the requisite angle for the nuts to bear against
as shewn. Access is gained to the inner nuts through holes at E. The
above described mode of securing the spokes forms the subject of an application
for Letters Patent dated the 28th January 1892 No. 1733.
Various arrangements may be adopted for preventing lateral displacement of
the nave relatively to the tyre in consequence of the yielding nature of the spokes;
thus the spokes can be stiffened laterally by tying them across at one or more
points, as at I Fig. 10 or they may be made of considerable width in a lateral
direction, or instead of two oppositely inclined spokes, there may be a single broad
tapering spoke, as at A7 Fig. 11, but by preference I employ for this purpose in
combination with the elastic spokes, an arrangement of stay spokes described in
the Specification to the before mentioned application filed on the 28th January 1892
No. 1733, but which for the sake of completeness I will also describe here. It
consists of a series of pairs of strong straight stay spokes (either of a circular,
Tor other section, the inner ends of which are formed with heads G¹ and fit
into larger grooves in the plates B and C, as shewn at Figs. 5 and 9, while the
upper ends are screwed into a forked piece H.
This forked piece embraces a flange E² formed on the inner circumference of
the tyre, to which the fork is connected by a pin H' passing through a slot E³ in
the flange E², such slot being of sufficient depth to prevent the pin H' from
touching the outer end thereof when the nave has been displaced relatively to the
tyre in the vertical plane of the latter so as to bring the pin of the uppermost
spoke G to bear against the inner end of its slot, and being also of such a width
as to leave some lateral play between its sides and the pin H.
Thus it will be seen that while the stays G effectually prevent any lateral
shifting of the nave relatively to the tyre, they in no way interfere with the before
described elastic action of the spokes. The flange E² may be perforated
ornamentally or otherwise between the points where the stays are attached, or
instead of a continuous flange, lugs may be fixed to the tyre at such points.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1-Constructing bicycle, tricycle and similar wheels with spokes having an are
shaped curvature in the plane of the wheel, whereby the boss or nave of the
wheel has imparted to it a certain amount of elastic action relatively to the tyre,
substantially as described.

page_text: 2-In combination with the curved spokes referred to in the preceding claim,
the use of transverse ties such as I Fig. 10 for imparting lateral stiffness to the
spokes.
3-Constructing the curved spokes referred to in the first claim as broad blades
tapering in width to the outer circumference, substantially as described with
reference to Fig. 11 of the drawings.
Dated this 29th day of January 1809
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.