US367105A - Two-wheeled vehicle - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

H. G. M. HOWARD.

TWO WH'EELED YEHIGLE.

Patented July 26, 1887.

\A/i'hzesses, I22 mentor.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY e. M. HOWARD, or KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN.

TWO-WHEELED VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letter 5 Patent NO. 367,105, dated July 26, 1887.

Application filed November 2, 1886. Serial No. 2ll,77l. (No model.)

ral-spring'hangers as a means of suspending the body or seat-bars from the thills.

The object of the invention is to produce a spiral spring hanger so constructed and associated with the thills and body or seat-bars that the spring will be partially compressed from both ends toward its center when in its normal condition, whereby less spring-steel is required and less spring action is attained in a double-acting spring of this class, the utility of which is explained below. Other objects and the utility and construction are below set forth.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation with one wheel removed; Fig. 2, lettered details of Fig.

'thills; a, the seat-bars or body jointedly attached at the forward end to the thills; A, the wheel, and D the seat, all substantially as heretofore in this class'of vehicles.

Of course the vehicle on both sides. is like the side hene shown. So far as the position of the suspending-hangers is concerned, they are attached pivotally or jointedly to the thills at one end and to the body at the other end at the points substantially as heretofore.

So far as I know, the spring-hangers before employed have either expanded under the weight of the rider or compressed from one end only; but I am aware that lapped bars bearing a doubleacting spiral spring have been used in other relations-such, for instance, as

sustaining a vehicle-tongue; but I have especially adapted the spring-hanger here shown for its particular use in the new combination of parts, which appears in the following de- 5 tails of construction.

The free ends ofthe hairpin-shaped rods u a are secured to caps or cups ff, with theloop end of the lower bar pointing downward and attached to the body 0, and the loop end of 5: the upper bar pointing upward and attached to the thill or crossbar, the parallel bars of the rods '16 passed vertically and loosely through holes in the cups f.

The loop end of the bars to are swelled a little laterally, forming shoulders. The length of the bars from these shoulders to their free ends controls the length of the hanger in its normal condition, Fig. 3. The design is that the spring a, Fig. 4, shall be slightly compressed from each end when placing it between the cups f, thus making a stiffer spring with comparatively lighter steel.

Fig. 5, in which the rods u are broken and thecup fand two spirals of the spring a appear in section, illustrates the end of the spring in the cup, and also plainly shows the rods passing through the cup f and the free end of one attached thereto.

Another important object in forming stops to fix the position of the cups and employing a spring which has to be compressed to occupy the space between the cups, is thatif the same spring were not compressed when in its normal condition it would yield too readily and too far when the rider mounts the seat, thus allowing the body to swing unduly downward, or else the body would be sustained unduly highabove the axle, and in either case the swing of the body would be too great. This could partially be obviated by employing heavier springs; but as steel is sold by the pound, economy is a vital point in this direc tion to manufacturers ofsuch vehicles. It will be observed that the stops or shoulders which the cups contact are a little removed from the loop end of the rods, and at the terminus of or near to the straight portion of the bars. Were it not for these stops, the springs bytheir pressure against the cups would force the latter in a wedging manner in the bow of the rods, so that the holes in the cups would lCO cramp against the inside of the bow part of the rod, or else the cup would contact with the hook to which the bow was hung, in either case preventing a proper and free action of the parts.

Vhen the body 0 is borne down by the weight of the rider, the rods a draw their respective cups f toward each other, thus eompressing both ends of the springalike, as above stated, Fig. 2. Of course when the body rises the spring expands alike at both ends as the cups are forced apart farther by the rods, which lap past each other. Such hangers having this action of the spring a are desirable in carts designed to carry either one or two persons, as the elasticity and delicacy of action are multiplied, fora lightweight person, with a spring heavy enough to sustain two persons. There is a more equal strain on the spring. A shorter spring may be employed, and one important feature is that less continuous length of the hanger-rods is exposed when the spring is compressed than there would be were the spring compressed from one end only. Thus the rods are less liable to become bent out of shape.

At t is shown a double hook attached to and pendent from the thill; or, if preferred, this hook may be attached to and project upward from the seat-bar c. The eye end or bow of the rod u is hooked over one of the hooks. It will be observed that one of the hooks is nearer the thill than the other and on a different Vertical plane. By this means the body may be raised or lowered, and the angle of the hanger changed to adjust for heavy and light persons. By changing the angle of the hanger the leverage of the seat-bars on their forward fnlerums and on the springs is changed.

There are many desirable features in the peculiar spring-hanger here shown which I have not set forth, and which an actual use of the cart would alone make clear, especially in driving over rough roads.

Having thus described my invention, the i|nprovemcnts which I claim are The combination of thedouble-actingspringhangers, the seat-bars, the t-hills, and the adjust-inghooks, the hooks thereof being on differcnt horizontal and vertical planes, whereby the leverage of the seat-bars on their forward fulcrum and on the springs is changed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony of the foregoingI have hereunto subseribed my name in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY G. M. HO\VARD.

Witnesses:

JAS. BUTLER, AUGUST Jiicon PFEIFER.

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