US535145A - Crown-piece for front forks of bicycles - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

R. PERKINS. cEowN PIEGE FORl FRONT FoRKs oF BIoYcLEsf NO. 535,1455.

Patented' Mari 5, 1895.A

I I I 1 l 1 1 I Urvrman frarns nfraivr Garros@ ROBERT PERKINS, OF ROCKAVVAY, NEVV J ERSEY.

CROWN-PIECE FOR FRONT FORKS OF BHCYCLES.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 535,145, dated March 5, 1895..

Application filed September 12, 1894. Serial No. 522,786. (Na model.)

To wZZwhom ,it may concern- Be it known that I, ROBERT PERKINS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Rockaway, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Crown-Pieces for Front Forks of Bicycles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXa-ct description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. A

My invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of bicycles, and provides animproved form of crown or yoke for connecting the front steering bar to the twin forks in which the front wheel finds its bearing, as more fully set forth hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings:-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crown piece made in accordance with my invention and illustrating portions of the parts of the frame which it connects or secures together. Fig. 2 is a sectional clevation of the same, on the line 2-2, Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, on the line 3--3, Fig. 2. i

The object of my invention is to provide a crown plate or yoke in which the top wall and all the vertical walls are constructed integral of one single piece of sheet metal drawn into the desired shapeproducing amaximum rigidity in all the parts, the vertical walls forming pockets or orifices for the reception of the steering bar centrally and for the reception of the two lower fork tubes in the respectiver ends, are continuous throughoutand continuous and integral with the top plate. An auxiliary lower plate having a contour co-incident with the contour of the outer lines of the lower edge of the vertical walls of the crown plate thus formed is brazed upon the lower edge inclosin g the lower parts otherwise open. A solid crown or yoke of great rigidity and strength is thus formed from a single sheet of metal with the addition of the lower brazed plate, and, besides accomplishing the merits thus above referred to, the cost of production of the crown is materially reduced in comparison with the cost of efficient constructions heretofore known.

In carrying out my invention I draw or stamp up from a disk of steel, the main or body portion, A, of the crown piece, which comprises a top plate, a, provided with a central opening, a', for the reception of the steering bar, S, and a continuous vertical wall or flange, az, which, with the top plate, is so bent at its opposite ends as to form end poekets, ag, for the reception of the fork tubes, F, which fork tubes carry at their lower ends bearings for the front wheel. This main body portion, A, is in form of an inverted cup having enlarged bowls at the ends and center of acontour of the character more clearly shown in Fig. 3, and in order to close its lower open mouth, and to close the lower end of the tube or steering bar, S, I provide an auxiliary plate, D, having a contour similar to that of the plate, A, its opposite ends, however, being provided with openings, b, for the passage of the upper ends of the fork tubes.

In the manufacture of the crown plate the sheet metal is cut in the desired lines and the plate then drawn by machinery constructed for the purpose to the shape shown in Fig. 1, all the vertical walls which form the surrounding, or partially surrounding, inclosing and binding walls of the pockets for the two lower forks and for the steering bar are thus continuous and integral also With the top plate. After the crown plate has thus been drawn and formed the central opening, a', for the steering bar is then punched in the top plate, the walls of this opening` being coinci- 'dent vertically with'the inner walls` of the semi-circular portion of the central pocket for the reception of the steering bar. The inner diameter of the several pockets or orifices thus formed for the reception of the lower forks and the steering bar respectively is approximately coincident with the diameters of the said parts adaptcd to be fitted within them, so that when placed in position the inner walls of the respective pockets bind firmly upon the outer walls of the said intruded parts respectively.

In assembling the parts, the lower plate, B, is first slipped over the ends of the fork tubes, F, and the fork tubes are then inserted in the opposite end pockets, as, of the crown piece proper. The lower plate, B, is then drawn up until it completely closes the lower open mouth of the crown piece and forms an inclosed box preventing dirt and dust from accumulating.

The steering bar, S, is then in- IOS serted in the central opening, ag, of the crown piece and the whole is then brazed together so as to form a solid structure.

The crown piece above described possesses great strength; is of simple and cheap construction and simplifies the assembling and securing together of the parts which it unites.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to Secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A crown piece or yoke having three vertically disposed pockets, comprising a body portion formed of sheet metal the vertical walls forming the three pockets being stam ped or drawn from the material of the main body forming two end pockets and a central pocket, said walls being Continuous throughout and integral with the top portion, substantially as described.

2. A crown piece or yoke having three vertically disposed pockets, comprising a body portion formed of sheet metal the vertical walls forming thethreepockets being stamped or drawn from the material of the main body forming two end pockets and a central pocket, said walls being Continuous throughout and integral with the top portion and a bottom plate Secured to the lower edges of the vertical walls of a contour coincident to the contour of the lower lines of said vertical walls, substantially as described.

3. A crown piece comprising a main or body portion formed of a disk of metal so drawn or stamped as to form a central opening for the steering bar and opposite end pockets for the fork arms in combination with a bottom disk or plate adapted to close the open, lower mouth of the body portion of the crown piece, substantially as described.

4. A crown piece comprising a main or body portion, A, formed of asingle disk of steel so drawn or stamped as to form a top plate, a, a Continuous side wall or flange, dg, integral with the plate and end pockets, a, for the recepton of the fork tubes, in com bination with a lower disk or plate, B, of the same Contour as the plate, a, said lower disk or plate having at its opposite ends openings for the passage of the fork tubes, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have heren-nto set my hand this 10th day of September, 1894.

FREDK. HAYNEs, IRENE B. DEOKER.

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