Year: 1896

page_text: It is evident that the sprocket-wheel or the chain herein before described, may
be used independently of each other, but when combined together forms a most
efficient bicycle gearing. The lubricant may be otherwise confined or held in the
sprocket-wheel, and other modifications in detail may be resorted to without
departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.
The lubricant may be held in the connecting bolts or pins B themselves, if
desired, and the blocks or links of the chain may be provided with screw-threads
into which the lubricant may be placed, so that as the pins, which are unthreaded,
move therein, the lubricant will be applied to all parts thereof. It is also obvious
that the system of lubricating sprockets and chains may be used on other devices
than bicycles.
These should consider as clearly within the scope of my invention and
covered by the claims therefor.
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. A sprocket-wheel provided with a lubricating substance held thereupon;
substantially as described.
2. A sprocket-wheel having a lubricant held in the teeth thereof, substantially
as described.
3. A sprocket-wheel having a lubricant held in the teeth thereof and in the
space between the teeth; substantially as described.
4. A sprocket-wheel having a lubricant held in an annular space at the
periphery of said wheel; substantially as described.
5. A sprocket-wheel having a lubricant held in an annular space at the
periphery of said wheel, and extending also into the teeth thereof; substantially
as described.
6. A sprocket-wheel having the metal at its periphery bent to form the teeth
and an annular socket combined with a lubricant compressed into said socket and
extending into the teeth; substantially as described.
7. A sprocket-chain having the lubricant held in the links thereof adjacent to
the connecting pins; substantially as described.
8. A sprocket-chain composed of links, connecting pins and a lubricant com-
pressed in recesses in the links adjacent to and bearing upon said pins; substantially
as described.
9. The combination with a sprocket-wheel having a 1bricant confined in a
socket about the periphery thereof, of a sprocket-cbaia having a lubricant
confined in sockets in its links and bearings against the pins connecting said
links; substantially as described.
10. A sprocket-chain composed of links and connecting pins having a lubricant
compressed in recesses in said pins adjacent to and bearing upon said links;
substantially as described.
Uated this 11th day of August 1896
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 19th Sept., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Sprocket-wheels and Chains.
I, PERRY GRIMSHAW GARDNER of the Town of Bound Brook, State of New
Jersey, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 sprocket-wheels and chains.
More especially my invention relates to such sprocket-wheels and chains as are
used in bicycles and other like wheels.
Heretofore sprocket-wheels and chains used in such vehicles have required oiling
or other lubrication at intervals to prevent the undue friction of parts.
In this application the lubricant is permanently lodged in chambers constituting
one integral portion of the structure the lubrication of the parts is therefore
practically perpetual or constant and an element of the structure.
In order to more fully describe my invention, the accompanying drawings in
which like letters refer to like parts in each, will be used in reference.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sprocket-wheel and portion of a chain, with
portions broken away to better show the interior construction;
Figure 2 is an edge view of Figure 1 with portions broken away.
Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of a portion of the sprocket-wheel;
and
Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of a portion of the chain.
In carrying out my invention, I do not alter in any manner the shape or form of
the sprocket-wheel, or chain.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which the details are designated
by letters:
A designates the links of the chain, which may be of any well known or
approved form of construction, and B are the pins or bolts connecting the over-
lapping ends of the links, and on which the said links move as upon pivots in the
ordinary manner. C is a compressed lubricant of any suitable nature, it may be
wax, lead, graphite, soapstone, mica, or any compositions in use for such purpose,
and it may be retained in the links in any suitable manner. At the left in
Figure 4 I have shown this lubricant as inserted and retained in openings or
sockets in the link and extending from the outer periphery thereof in the
direction of the length of the chain, so that the lubricant bears against the pin
while at the right in Figure 4 I have shown the link as formed with chambers or
sockets, preferably dovetailed in which the lubricant is compressed and held, the
same being arranged to bear against the pin, so as to form a perpetual lubricator
therefor. Other ways however, of retaining the lubricant in place may be
provided.
Dis the sprocket-wheel which may be of any desired form of construction, in
this instance being shown as of that form in which the teeth d are formed by the
bend of the metal, of which the wheel is formed, as illustrated best in Figures 2
and 3. This forms a key-way or groove d', and into this key-way is compressed
the lubricant E, which may be of any suitable character, and which is held therein
not only in the spaces in the depressions between the teeth, but also in the groove
or socket or recess formed in the teeth themselves, so that a lubricant is provided
along the entire face of the sprocket-wheel. This, as will be seen from Figure 1,
forms a continual, perpetual self-lubricator for the chain.