IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIVING CHAIN FOR VELOCIPEDES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1886

page_text: I, WILLIAM DEAKIN of St. George's Place, Great Hampton Row Birmingham in
the County of Warwick, Machinest, do hereby declare the nature of said inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIVING CHAIN FOR VELOCIPEDES AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
My invention relates to ball and cone bearing chain, for driving velocipedes and
for other purposes, in which ball or cone bearing surfaces are employed or interposed
between the moving parts, in order to reduce frictional contact and wear of the
wearing parts.
By constructing chain with spherical or cone bearing surfaces, the links move
and perform their duties, with great freedom, on communicating motion from one
point to another on the travelling of a chain.
I will describe my invention in connection with that class of chain in which
parallel links are coupled or connected together by cross pins, while the links
themselves are divided by rectangular intervening spaces, and around the said cross
pins which connect the said parallel links together, antifriction rollers work, which
said rollers form the end of the spaces enclosed by the side links; and my said
improvements consist principally in supporting and suspending these rollers upon
antifriction bearings which admit of lateral adjustment, in order to bring the chain
up to pitch on the wearing of the parts.
The side links of the chain consist of long links with bossed or circular ends,
and the side links which make up the chain, are composed of inside and outside
links;
that is, the side links which form the intermediate links, come inside, or
enclose a less space than the alternate links, which come upon the outside, or upon
the ends of the inside links.
The inside link consists of a link with bossed or circular ends; the inside faces
of which bossed parts, have three or other number of sunken recesses, which con-
stitute seats wherein balls or spheres are placed-The anti-friction roller which
comes between the inside faces of the bossed ends, is conically bushed or recessed at
its two opposite sides, which conically bushed recesses form bearing surfaces wherein
the spheres situated on the inside faces of the links, work and bear.
The circular or enlarged ends of the outside links have bosses or raised parts upon
their faces, which take into like circular recesses on the outside faces of the enlarge-
ments of the inside links.

page_text: An axial screw pin passes through the ends of the outside and inside links upon
one side, through the axis of the roller, and through the end of the inside link upon
the other side, and then screwing into the end of the outside link of the last named
side, which cross pin is affixed by a lock nut taking upon the protruding terminal
end. So that tho anti friction rollers which form the ends to the adjacent links,
work upon spherical or ball surfaces which ball surfaces interpose or come between
the inside faces of the inner links of the one part, and the conical bushed ends on
the outside ends of the rollers with an adjustable cross pin passing through the
ends of the links and the roller between them.
To bring the chain up to pitch, on the parts becoming worn, by the friction of
the contact surfaces, remove the lock nut from the one side and rotate the
hexagonal or other head on the other side, so as to make the wormed end of the
pin advance a little further through the screwed eye of the link, thereby producing
lateral adjustment, by bringing the faces and other parts of the links closer
together, or closer up to the rolling surfaces.
The number of balls I propose putting between the sides of the links and the
roller, is three, but this entirely depends upon the character of chain to be formed.
Instead of the two ends of the link, as in the inner link being provided with
bossed ends with countersunk recesses in the sides for the balls to work in, one
side only may be employed, while the other end is simply a link end.
By so forming the sides of the link, the intervening spaces enclosed, remain
the same.
Or instead of having recesses wherein the balls seat themselves on the inside
faces of the links, continuous or annular recesses may be substituted therefor.
These annual recesses correspond and come opposite the recesses or countersinks in
the sides of each roller, with spheres interposed between them.
The bossed sides or ends of the inside links may be coned or made hemispherical
on their inside faces, which coned or hemispherical parts take into like bushed
recesses or seats formed within the opposite sides of the roller; that is, the roller
is sunken on both sides with coned or curved recesses wherein like standing out
parts on the ends of the links seat themselves; and which said parts are adjusted
laterally when worn, by a screw ended pin which connects together the side links
and roller as previously described.
The outside links may also be coned at their ends, which fit into conical like
seats formed on the outside ends of the inside links.
This last named arrangement is simply a mechanical equivalent of a ball surface
herein described, the lateral adjustment for the bringing of the parts to their proper
pitch being the same.
WILLIAM DEAKIN.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birminghain,
Agent to the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Driving Chain for Velocipedes and for other
Purposes.
I, WILLIAM DEAKIN of St. George's Place, Great Hampton Row, Birmingham
in the County of Warwick, Machinest do hereby declare the nature of said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIVING CHAIN FOR VELOCIPEDES AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to ball and cone bearing chain, for driving velocipedes, and
for other purposes, in which ball or cone bearing surfaces are employed or interposed
between the moving parts in order to reduce frictional contact and wear of the
wearing parts.
By constructing chain with spherical or cone bearing surfaces, the links move
and perform their duties with great freedom, on communicating motion from one
point to another on the travelling of a chain.
I will describe my invention in connection with that class of chain in which
parallel links are coupled or connected together by cross pins, while the links
themselves are divided by rectangular intervening spaces, and around the said
cross pins which connect the parallel links together, antifriction rollers work,
which said rollers form the end of the spaces enclosed by the side links; and my
said improvements consist principally in supporting and suspending these rollers
upon antifriction bearings which admit of lateral adjustment, in order to bring the
chain up to pitch on the wearing of the parts.
The side links of the chain consist of long links with bossed or circular ends,
and the side links which make up the chain are composed of inside and outside
links; that is, the side links which form the intermediate links, come inside, or
enclose a less space than the alternate links, which come upon the outside, or upon
the ends of the inside links.
The inside link consists of a link with bossed or circular ends; the inside faces
of which bossed parts, have three or other number of sunken recesses, which con-
stitute seats wherein balls or spheres are placed. The antifriction roller which
comes between the inside faces of the bossed ends, is conically bushed or recessed
at its two opposite sides, which conically bushed recesses form bearing surfaces
wherein the spheres situated on the inside faces of the links work, and bear.
The circular or enlarged ends of the outside links have bosses or raised parts
upon their faces, which take into like circular recesses on the outside faces of the
enlargements of the inside links.
An axial screw pin passes through the ends of the outside and inside links upon
one side, through the axis of the roller, and through the end of the inside link
upon the other side, and then screwing into the end of the outside link of the last
named side, which cross pin is affixed by a lock nut taking upon the protruding
terminal end. So that the antifriction rollers which form the ends to the adjacent
links, work upon spherical or ball surfaces, which ball surfaces interpose or come
between the inside faces of the inner links of the one part, and the conical bushed

page_text: ends on the outside ends of the rollers with an adjustable cross pin passing through
the ends of the links and the roller between them.
To bring the chain up to pitch on the parts becoming worn, by the friction of
the contact surfaces, remove the lock nut from the one side and rotate the
hexagonal or other head on the other side, so as to make the wormed end of the
pin advance a little further through the screwed eye of the link, thereby producing
lateral adjustment, by bringing the faces and other parts of the links closer together,
or closer up to the rolling surfaces.
The number of balls I purpose putting between the sides of the links and
the roller are three, but this entirely depends upon the character of chain to be
formed.
Instead of the two ends of the link, as in the inner link being provided with
bossed ends with countersunk recesses in the sides for the balls to work in, one
side only may be employed, while the other end is simply a link end.
By so forming the sides of the link, the intervening spaces enclosed, remain
the same.
Or instead of having recesses wherein the balls seat themselves on the inside
faces of the links, continuous or annular recesses may be substituted therefor.
These annual recesses correspond and come opposite the recesses or countersinks in
the sides of each roller, with spheres interposed between them.
.
The bossed sides or ends of the inside links may be coned or made hemispherical
on their inside faces, which coned or hemispherical parts take into like bushed
recesses or seats formed within the opposite sides of the roller; that is, the roller
is sunken on both sides with coned or curved recesses wherein like standing out
parts on the ends of the links seat themselves; and which said parts are adjusted
laterally when worn, by a screw ended pin which connects together the side links
and roller as previously described.
The outside links may also be coned at their ends which fit into conical like
seats formed on the outside ends of the inside links.
This last named arrangement simply a mechanical equivalent of a ball surface
herein-described, the lateral adjustment for the bringing of the parts to their
proper pitch being the same.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings
the manner in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 shows in plan, and figure 2 an edge view a chain provided with ball
bearing surfaces, and constructed according to my invention. Figure 3 is a
horizontal section upon the dotted lines A B, but upon an enlarged scale; while
figure 4 represents details of the parts separately upon the same scale as figure 3.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in figures 1 to 4 of
the accompanying Drawings.
a a are parallel alternate links, and b b are parallel intermediate links coupled
together by cross pins c around which antifriction rollers d work, and between the
inside faces 6* of the ends b³ of the inner links b, and the conical bushed recesses d³,
sunken within the opposite sides of the rollers d, antifriction balls or spheres e are
interposed and work. The ends of the alternate links a are provided on their
inside faces with bossed or circular ends a' which fit into and work within like
shallow recesses b', sunken within the outside ends of the intermediate links b;
and further, the inside faces 6 of the said link b, have hemispherical sunken
holes 6, wherein the spheres e seat themselves and work.
The axial screw pin c passes through the plain holes a³ 66 of the ends of the
links on one side, then through the axial hole of the roller, and through the plain
holes 6 of the other intermediate link, and finally the wormed end c³ screwing into
the screwed hole a' of the outside link of the last named side, and which said cross
pin is affixed by a lock nut f.
By the end of the screw pin c screwing into one of the outside links, lateral
adjustment on wear can be secured, by simply removing the lock nut, and rotating
the screw pin,

page_text: Instead of the bosses or raised parts being upon the inside ends of the outside
links, they may be upon the outside ends of the inside links, and working within
like recesses sunken in the inside faces of the said outside links; that is to say,
the parts are reversed.
By constructing chain links with bosses or raised parts at their ends, working
within like recesses in adjacent links as described, great strength is imparted to the
chain, as nearly the whole of the strain is removed from the axial pin.
The recesses b* formed within the ends of the faces of the inside links are not
absolutely necessary, as the spheres or balls may roll upon the plain faces instead
of in recesses.
To bring the chain up to pitch on the parts becoming worn by the friction of
the contact surfaces, remove the lock nut from the one side, and rotate the wormed
end on the other side, so as to make the wormed end of the pin advance a little
further through the screwed eye of the link, thereby producing lateral adjustment
by bringing the faces of the links and other parts of the chain closer together, or
closer up to the rolling surfaces.
Figure 5 represents in plan, and figure 6 in side elevation a chain constructed
according to my invention, and provided with cone bearing surfaces. Figure 7 is
a horizontal section upon a larger scale, and figure 8 represents the side links and
parts separately, upon the same scale as figure 7.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in figures 5,6,7 and 8
of the drawings.
a a are parallel alternate links, having upon their inside ends, coned bosses or
projections a, which take into, or seat themselves within like coned recesses or
countersinks 6' on the outside ends of the intermediate links b b, and which said
intermediate links bb have upon their inside ends cylindrical coned bosses or
raised parts b³, which work and seat themselves within like bushed recesses or
seats d², formed or sunken within the opposite sides of rollers d, and which said
parts are adjusted laterally when worn, by the screwed ends c³, of screw pins c
worming within the screwed hole a³ of one of the outside alternate links a, while
the holes a of the other outside links a and the holes 6 of the inside links b are
plain.
To effect the necessary lateral adjustment for bringing the chain up to pitch, on
the parts becoming worn by friction of the contact surfaces, it is only necessary to
remove the lock nut f from the one side, and then rotate the fixed, hexagonal or
other shaped head on the other side, so as to make the wormed end of the pin o
advance further through the screwed eye 6 of the link b, which thereby produces
lateral adjustment by the bringing together of the faces and other parts.
Figure 9 represents in plan, and figure 10 in side elevation a modification of the
last form of my invention, in which cone bearing surfaces are the essential features.
Figure 11 represents the same upon an enlarged scale.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in figures 9, 10 and 11
of the Drawings.
a a are alternate links provided with sleeve inside coned ends a' a' which fit
and work within like coned recesses or countersinks 6 6 formed or sunken within
the opposite sides and ends of intermediate divided block links b, which take the
place of the roller in the preceding arrangements-c is a screw pin, whose screwed
end c² worms into the screwed end a³ of one of the side links a, exactly in the
same manner as before described, with respect to a roller chain; and further, the
lateral adjustment is produced as before described, by advancing the pin more or
less, so as to bring the parts together.
Figure 12 represents another form of chain with coned bearing surfaces.
a a are alternate links, with the coned ends a² taking upon like coned
shoulders 62 of alternate links b which are in form somewhat resembling the
letter H.
Figure 13 represents another form of block chain with the he and she coned
parts reversed to those represented in figure 11.

page_text: .
Figure 14 represents another arrangement of link, with the rollers he coned,
instead of being she coned as in figure 7-This is done by simply countersinking
on two opposite sides, the ends of the alternate links, and wherein the said counter-
sinks like coned bosses or sleeves work, both on the ends of the rollers, and on the
inside ends of the alternate links.
Figure 15 represents a modification in which hemispherical or part hemispherical
bearing surfaces are employed instead of coned.
I wish it to be understood that single link chains may be constructed upon the
same principle as herein-described, by making the alternate links with box like
coned recesses at their ends, wherein like coned projections on the inside ends of
intermediate links work, and which are connected together by short screw studs,
with their wormed ends taking into the solids of one or other of the links.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
First. Ball bearing chain, interposing between the opposite sides of the rollers,
and the inside faces of the ends of chain links, anti-friction balls or spheres, which
work upon the sides of the adjacent parts, so as to admit of lateral adjustment for
bringing the chain up to pitch on the parts becoming worn.
Secondly. Restoring the pitch of a chain, by making the axial screw pins which
connect together the intermediate and alternate links, screw into one of the outside
links, thereby producing lateral adjustment on the wearing of the parts.
Thirdly. A ball chain consisting of alternate and intermediate links, coupled
together by screw pins, whose wormed ends, screw into the ends of one of the
outside links, while the shanks pass through plain holes in the other side and
intermediate links and roller; and between the ends of the inside faces of the said
inner or intermediate links, and recessed opposite sides of the roller, anti-friction
balls or spheres are interposed and work, and adjustment secured by the screwing
up of the screw pin, after the removal of the lock nut, substantially as described
and set forth in figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly. Connecting or coupling together the ends of chain links, by making
or forming upon the one, bosses or raised parts a' which fit into shallow box like
recesses 6, sunken within the adjacent ends of an adjoining link, substantially
as and for the purpose herein described and set forth in figures 1 and 4 both
inclusive.
Fifthly. In a lateral adjusting cone bearing chain, providing the ends of chain
links with cone projections or bosses, or cone projections or bosses with liko cone
Bunken recesses, which work laterally one within or upon the other, and with the
coned projections or bosses of the inside links, working within like coned recesses
sunken within the opposite sides of the rollers. The coupling together of the links
with the rollers between them, and the adjustment of the parts on wear, (in order
to restore the chain to its normal pitch) being effected by a screw pin, whose
wormed end screws into one of the outside links, thereby throwing the wear and
pressure of the work upon the cone bearing surfaces, instead of upon the con-
necting cross pins, thus leaving the rollers perfectly free to rotate, substantially
as described and illustrated in figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Sixthly. Forming upon the ends of chain links coned or hemi-spherical bosses
which fit and work within like coned or hemi-spherical seats or recesses formed or
sunken within the ends of adjacent links, substantially as described and illustrated
in figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 15 of the accompanying Drawings.
Seventhly.-Making the coned ends of chain links work within coned recesses
formed in opposite sides of block links, and also making block links of the kind
described in halves or in two parts, substantially as described and illustrated in
figure 11.

page_text: Eighthly. Sinking within the bossed ends of chain links, coned depressions,
which fit and work upon like coned shoulders of intermediate links, substantially
as described and illustrated in figures 12 and 13.
Lastly. Making the intermediate links of laterally adjusting cone chain,
countersunk upon the two opposite sides, and wherein the coned bosses on the
ends of the outside links and coned shoulders on the ends of the roller work,
substantially as described in figure 14.
D1 L