other Machines of a similar kind.
Year: 1885

page_text: other Machines of a similar kind.
I THOMAS ROBINSON of Lansdowne Terrace Stoney, Stanton Road Coventry
in the County of Warwick Silkman do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for A MOTION FOR PRODUCING "AUTOMATIC STEERING IN TRICYCLES AND OTHER
MACHINES OF A SIMILAR KIND to be as follows:-
"
My invention is intended to be applied to such machines as are constructed upon
what is known as the "Bicycle Steering" arrangement.
It consists of three separate parts, namely
1st. An inner screw fixed on the steering rod.
2nd. A central tube having in the inside a thread to correspond with the inner
screw and on the outside another thread of the same pitch but cut to run in the
contrary direction.
3rd. An outer case having in the inside a screw to correspond with the outside
thread of No. 2.
This is fixed to the outside tube through which the steering rod passes.
The screws may have any number of threads but must be all alike in pitch
which must be suitable for the amount of motion required.
Each of these parts has at one end a projecting collar and when they are placed
one within the other the three collars come together at one end.
If now the inner screw be turned in one direction it will rise alone leaving the
other two; but, if it is turned, in a contrary direction it will also rise bringing
with it the central tube which rises on the thread in the outer case, thus producing
a rising motion whichever way the inner screw is turned.
This construction causes the three parts when operated upon by a spring or the
weight of the rider to close upon each other till the three collars are in contact
when a point of rest or dead point is obtained, which will steer the machine to run
in a given line till the inner screw is again moved.
Dated this 21st day of November 1885.

page_text: other Machines of a similar kind.
I THOMAS ROBINSON, Lansdowne Terrace, Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry,
Silkman, 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 improved means for ensuring the automatic return of
the steering wheel of velocipedes, from its adjusted or acting position to its normal
position.
Many attempts have been made, with more or less success, to provide for the
automatic return of the steering wheel to its normal position, but the contrivances
adopted have been liable to rapid wear, from exposure of their acting surfaces to
dust and road grit.
To avoid this inconvenience, and to ensure that the weight of the frame shall, so
soon as the steering handle is released from the pressure of the hands of the rider,
bring back the steering wheel into line, I provide the arrangement shown in the
accompanying drawings, where Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a
tricycle fitted with my improved steering mechanism;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the mechanism, drawn on an enlarged scale, the
parts being in their normal position; and
Fig. 3 is a section of the same parts,—the steering mechanism being in the acting
position.
In Fig. 1, A is the tricycle frame, B the travelling wheels, C the steering wheel,
D the forked steering rod, and E the steering handle.-F is a screw-cut tube made
fast to the steering rod D, and into this screw-cut tube, which is double threaded,
takes a corresponding screw formed on one end of a tube G fitted loosely to the
steering rod.
The opposite or upper end of this tube G is similarly formed into a double
threaded screw, but having a reverse direction to that of the screw on the lower
end of the tube.-Taking into this upper screw is a correspondingly screw-cut
tube H, which fits loosely onto the steering rod, and is made fast in a tubular
socket formed on the forward end of the tricycle frame A, as shown best in the
detached view Fig. 4.
As the parts F, G, and H interlock, and the weight of the frame A is always
pressing upon them, it will be manifest that the steering wheel C will have no
tendency to move out of line when meeting any roughness in the surface of the
road. If, however, the steering handle is turned either to the right or to the left,
the steering wheel will answer readily thereto, the inclined surface of the screwed
table F in the one case sliding under. the inclined screwed surfaces of the lower
end of the tube G, and the inclined surfaces on the upper end of the tube G sliding,
in the other case, under the screwed surfaces of the tube H.-Whether, therefore,
the handle is turned to the right or to the left, the frame A will be raised, and so
soon as the pressure of the rider's hands is taken off the steering handle, the
pressure of the frame A, through its screwed tube H, will force back the steering
wheel into its normal position.

page_text: In order to protect this steering mechanism from dust and road grit, I make the
tubular socket of the frame A of a sufficient length to cover in the parts F, G,
and H, as shown in the drawings; thus, the inclined contact surfaces of the
mechanism, which must be well lubricated will have no tendency to clog up with
dust and grit.
In order to maintain the parallelism of the steering wheel (when in its normal
position) with the travelling wheels, I provide an axial adjustment for the screwed
tube H. To this end, the binding screws which connect that tube with the socket
of the frame A, I pass through horizontal slots made in the tubular socket, and
these slots I cover with suitably shaped collars to prevent access to dust or grit.
By slackening these screws, I am enabled to adjust the tube H to its required
position, and in this position it will be secured by tightening up the screws.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The combination of the interlocking screwed parts F, G, and H, with the veloci-
pede frame and steering rod, for transmitting an axial motion to the steering rod,
in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.