An Improved Motor-car for Propelling Vehicles adapted to Travel on Ordinary Roads.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1897-Accepted, 2nd June, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LA SOCIETE MIARI GIUSTI & Co., of Padua, in the
Kingdom of Italy.]
An Improved Motor-car for Propelling Vehicles adapted to Travel
on Ordinary Roads.
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:-
According to this invention the motor which is designed to propel any
vehicle adapted for travelling upon ordinary roads is mounted on a separate car
or truck coupled to the rear of the vehicle to be propelled, so as to push or drive
the same in front of it. In cases where the motor car has one wheel only, the
arrangement for coupling it to the vehicle is such as to enable it to follow such
vehicle whilst pushing the same before it over the curves and gradients of the
road, without its frame being bent or twisted; while at the same time the said
motor-car will not be liable to be upset unless the vehicle it propels is itself over-
turned. In cases where the car moves on two wheels mounted on the same axle,
it is coupled to the vehicle by means of a universal joint enabling it to turn in all
directions about a fixed centre or pivot.
In the most frequently occurring instance of a motor being applied to a vehicle
of very light construction, such as a velocipede of any type or description (e.g. a
bicycle, tricycle or the like), the improved propelling car should be a single-
wheeled one and receive motion in any convenient manner from the motor secured
upon the car itself.
Figurès 1 and 2 are diagrammatic representations-viz. an elevation and a plan
respectively of a propelling car as applied to an ordinary safety bicycle; Figure 3
being a detail view on a larger scale. The frame of the car or truck ede should
vary in shape to accommodate the type and arrangement of the motor used, which
should be secured thereon in the lowest possible position, so as to ensure its
equilibrium and minimise the damage that might be occasioned by the possible
overturning of the car. From each arm of the lower fork of the bicycle frame
there are suspended steel tubes abg which support a very short transverse tube
carrying a pivot s s about which the propelling car is adapted to turn or be steered
in the desired direction (Figures 1 and 3). The said pivot ss is embraced or held
by a sleeve, retained in place by a nut r which also serves to secure the frame c de
in position. This sleeve carries the trunnions or journals tv whereon the car is
capable of swinging in its plane of motion, though not of being overturned, unless
the bicycle is also overturned at the same time.
Whilst the two vehicles are moving in a straight line, it is not essential that
the motor-car wheel and the wheels of the bicycle should be in the same vertical
plane, it being only necessary,-in order that all the wheels may retain their
vertical position, that the axis of the pivot ss should coincide with the inter-
section of the vertical symmetrical plane of the bicycle frame with the vertical

page_text: plane passing through the centre of gravity of the motor car and through the
point of contact of such car with the ground. The trace of this last-mentioned
plane is indicated at AB, Figure 2.
It is most essential that the driver (or the cyclist, in the example shown) may,
by using his hands, both make and break the connection between the vehicle
driven and the motor, as well as control the speed of the latter, without letting go
the handle bar or steering contrivance. This object is attained by the provision
of either hydraulic, pneumatic or vacuum motion-transmitting gear, placed within
easy reach of the driver or rider who manipulates the handle-bar; which arrange-
ment enables the complicated counter-shafting which would be necessary were
the motion to be transmitted by means of rigid parts,, to be dispensed with, whilst
leaving the front wheel of the bicycle free to turn relatively to the rear-wheel,
and ensuring the same freedom of motion to the latter in relation to the motor-car.
The pneumatic operating device generally to be adopted consists of an india-rubber
ball which, by means of two suitably constructed valves is made to operate after
the style of an air pump. Figure 7 shows the suction valve and the force-valve
of our general type of novel pneumatic arrangement, both valves being placed
together on the same tube. Each valve is formed of a short length of stout india
rubber tube b, near one extremity of which there are provided one or two oblique
cuts that do not entirely penetrate into the tube. The force valve has one such
cut only, while the suction valve has two. The portions of the tubes b which
are not cut act as a hinge and the orifices situated at their ends open whenever
the pressure prevailing within the tubes exceeds the external pressure, and close
in the reverse case. It will be understood that by applying the india-rubber ball
to the tube z and alternately pressing it in the hand, air will be drawn in by the
tube 2, from without, while in the tube 22 the air will be forced back. The air
thus compressed is conveyed to the " receiving" device through a tube of small
diameter,, which may be partly metal, but should be constructed of india rubber
or other flexible material in those parts upon which the facility for steering the
front wheel of the cycle or the motor-car depends.
Figures 4 and 5 represent, by way of example only, a receiving device, such as
we propose to employ in most cases, the main part of which consists of a flexible
membrane or diaphragm.
It
M is a metal capsule or cover; s, a metal plate; m a sheet of india rubber; n; a
canvas lining; tt, a rod which compels the centre of the diaphragm to move in a
straight line; h is a metal disc or washer soldered or welded onto the rod t t.
will be understood that when compressed air is admitted through the tube q of
the cylindrical piece or sleeve B, Figure 4,-p being kept closed,--or conversely,
when compressed air is admitted through p and q remains closed, this will inflate
the diaphragm m, which, with the assistance of the nut vand discs s and h, will move
to the left the rod tt the whole portion of which to the right of h is of square
section. The rod tt, in thus moving to the left, operates either a friction clutch
making and breaking connection between the vehicle and the motor or the motor
regulator valve or both the valve and the clutch, such clutch or valve being con-
nected to the rod tt in any convenient manner.
Another form of receiving apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 6, where g is a tightly
fitting piston; r the piston rod; a counter rod of square section adapted to enter
a cylindrical sheath BB. By injecting air under pressure through a, g is raised,
when, acting through the medium of the rod r, it will operate the motor regulator
valve connected therewith.
At one point of the tubing which leads from the transmitter to the receiver,-
which point should be situated in the vicinity of the handle bar or steering device,
within easy reach of the driver's (or rider's) hand, there is provided a valve which
the driver is thus enabled to open at will in order to allow the compressed air to
escape, when a spring will draw the motor slide-valve back to its initial position.
The extent of displacement of such slide valve may be adjusted at will by some
arrangement which will only allow it to perform a complete movement as a result

page_text: of a number of successive compressions of the indiarubber ball; which number of
compressions is in all cases known to the rider or driver beforehand. The same
checking effect upon the motor slide-valve-causing its movement to be only
partial may be produced by opening several times in succession, and only for a
very short time in each case, the escape valve provided in the tubing which leads
from the transmitter to the receiver.
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 correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:→
1. A motor-car for propelling vehicles on ordinary roads, adapted to be coupled
to the rear of the vehicle to be propelled, so that it may follow the course or direc-
tion of such vehicle whatever it may be, and will not be liable to be upset unless
the vehicle itself be overturned.
2. A single-wheel car as shown in Fig. 1, applicable to a bicycle, to which it is
connected by a frame which receives the motor, enabling the motor car wheel
to turn in any required direction in relation to the vehicle, as well as to turn in its
own plane of motion.
3. For the purpose of operating either the regulator-valve of the motor erected
on the motor car, or a friction clutch making and breaking connection between the
vehicle driven and the motor or both the valve and the clutch, a hydraulic,
pneumatic or vacuum transmitting apparatus enabling the driver or rider to
manipulate the regulator valve without removing his hands from the steering
device of the vehicle.
4. In pneumatic transmission apparatus such as is referred to in the preceding
claim, a transmitting device characterized by valves formed of short lengths of
flexible tubes with oblique partial perforations or cuts, the non-perforated portion
acting as a hinge, while the orifice provided near the end of the tube opens when-
ever the internal pressure exceeds the pressure prevailing outside, and closes in the
reverse case.
Dated this 2nd dox of Tune 1807