Improvements in the Construction of Crank-shaft Hangers for Bicycles and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1896-Accepted, 25th July, 1896
[Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM SECHER, Society for Savings Building,
Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Patent Attorney.]
Improvements in the Construction of Crank-shaft Hangers for
Bicycles and the like.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detail, one mode
of carrying out the invention; such specific mode being but one of various ways in
which the principle of the invention may be used.
In said annexed drawings,
Figure I represents a plan view of the stamped and drawn blank for the crank
shaft hanger; Fig. II, a longitudinal section of such blank;
Fig. 111, an end view of the bent blank before welding;
Fig. IV, a transverse section of the welded hanger before the fins of the weld
are removed, and
Fig. V, a perspective view of the finished hanger.
In carrying out my invention, I take a flat piece of sheet steel and stamp and
draw it in a suitable press and between suitable dies, to have two nipples, a, for
the limbs of the rear fork, and a nipple, a', for the forward brace, project from the
body A, of the blank. Two halves, a", of the nipple for the seat upright, are
formed at the end edges of the body of the blank. After the blank has thus been
stamped and drawn, it is curved by means of suitable dies to assume a cylindrical
form for the shaft bearing, with the nipples radially projecting. The longitudinal
edges of the two nipple halves a", meet and fit together, so as to form a tubular
nipple. The meeting edges of the blank may be united by brazing; but I prefer
to unite them by electric welding, whereby an integral hanger is formed, as the
joint cannot be seen after the resulting fins are removed. The bent blank, such as
illustrated in Fig. III, is placed between the jaws of an electrical welding machine,
and the contacts of the electric terminals of the machine are placed directly at the
edges of the blank, whereupon the current is turned on and the heated edges
forced together by the jaws of the machine. Water is applied to the joint while
welding, the moisture increasing the conductivity at that point and preventing
short-circuiting of the current around the body portion of the hanger, whereby the
heating of the edges to be joined would be prevented. After the weld has been
made, the fins, b, formed at the joint, and appearing in Fig. IV of the drawings,
are removed by cutting, grinding or filing, and the hanger is finished, as illustrated
in Fig. V.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The method of forming crank shaft hangers for bicycles from a flat piece of
sheet metal, substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: 2. An improved crankshaft hauger for bicycles, consisting of a piece of sheet
metal stamped and drawn to form tubular nipples and nipple halves at the end
edges of the blank, said blank being bent to form the hanger and having its meeting
edges united by fusing metal, substantially as set forth.
Dated: this 24th day of Juno; A.D: 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.