US579351A - Velocipede - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 4 Sheets Sheet 3.

I. W. RUBEL & E. W. NAYLOR.

VELOGIPEDE.

No. 579,351. Patented Mar. 23, 1897.

F yi (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

I. W. RUBEL & E. W. NAYLOR.

VELOGIPEDE.

No. 579,361 Patented Mar. 23. 1897.

r INVE 0R5: WITNESSES: 4&4

lUNrTEn STATEs PATENT UEETEE.

IRA w. RUBEL, OF NEw YORK, N. Y. AND EENEsr w. NAYLOR, OF BOUND BROOK, EW JERSEY.

'VELOCIPEDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,351, dated March 23, 1897. Application filed December 23, 1895. Serial No. 573,030. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, IRA W. RUBEL, of the city, county, and State of New York, and ERNEST W. NAYLOR, a resident of Bound Brook, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Velocipedes, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to foot-power propel ling mechanism for vclocipedes in which the power is transmitted by means of a fluid medium of liquid, air, or gas; and the objects of our invention are to provide a means of transmission which is readily susceptible of change of leverage between the driving and driven parts to any desired ratio without interchangin g any parts; also, to dispense with a drivingchain or gearing and reduce friction; also, to

enable a number of persons on a tandem bicycle or other vehicie carrying more than one rider to contribute manual propelling power with motions independent of one another; also, to allow the pedals to rest while the ma- 2 5 chine is in motion; also, to provide an effective fluid-brake, and also to attain other advantages which will hereinafter appear; and in order to enable others skilled in the art to which our invention appertains to understand and use the same we will proceed to describe the details of its construction, explain its operation, and subsequently point out in the appended claims its novel characteristics.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

3 5 in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bicycle, showing our invention applied thereto; Fig. 1, a detail View in section at y 'y,

Fig. 1; Fig. 2, an enlarged horizontal section on the line as m, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical section on the line y y, Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a vertical section on the line .2 2, Fig. 5; Fig. 5, an enlarged detail view as seen looking rearward 5 from the vertical plane of section m 00, Fig.

1; and Fig. 6, an enlarged detail view showing the brake-valve in section. Fig. 7 is a side elevation illustrating our invention ap plied to a tandem bicycle.

Our invention may be applied to any species of velocipede or other vehicle, and we have herein illustrated it as applied to a reardriven bicycle. The usual construction of frame A is herein represented, the same co1nprising the tubular center brace B, the upper 5 5 and lower braces C and D, respectively, also tubular, the steering-head E, the rear upper brace F, and the rear lower brace G.

H is the usual steering-fork, provided with a handle-bar I. The usual steering-wheel J and traction-wheel K are illustrated, and the essential parts of our invention for transmitting power from the vibrating pedals 1 2 to the traction-wheel K consist as follows: The pedal-arms 1'2 are pivoted at 3 to the frame A on the rear lower brace thereof, and above the pedals and mounted at each side of the saddle-post B there are two pump-cylinders 4i 5, and the plungers 6 7 of these cylinders are connected by means of connecting-rods 8 9 to the pedal-arms at 10 10. The plungers 6 7 are mechanically connected to reciprocate in opposite directions simultaneously by means of vibrating arms 11 11, pivoted on the center brace B, as seen in Fig. 5.

Motor-cylinders 12 13 are mounted on the rear lower brace G upon opposite sides of the traction-wheel K, and the plungers 14: 15 of these motor-cylinders are connected to cranks 10 17 on opposite ends of the shaft 18, to which the traction-wheel K is secured. The shaft 18 is journaled in ball-bearings 19, Figs. 2 and 3, and inside or between the said bearings and the hub 20 of the wheel K there are eccentrics 21 and 22 on each side of 8 5 said hub, and these eccentrics are connected by means of their. rods 23 24 and rock-arms 25 25 and valve-rods 26 2G to operate slidevalves 27 27 in casings 28 28, which distribute the actuating-pressure in a proper manner to operate the motors 12 13 so as .to drive the machine in a forward direction.

30 30 are the induction-ports of the motors, and 31 31 are the eduction ports thereof.

The pumps 4 5 are provided with check- 5 valves 32 and 33, respectively, at their induction-ports 34 34 and eduction-ports 35 35, and the eduction-port 35 of each pump connects with the induction-port 30 of both motors through tubes 36 36 and the cross- 10o tube 50.

The tubular members 13 G D of the frame A comprise a reservoir which may be partly filled with liquid or filled with gas or opened to the atmospheric air. A cap 37 is provided to the reservoir for filling purposes when Water or oil is used as the fluid medium, or said cap may be left open in case air is used.

The eduction-ports 31 31 of the motors are connected with the reservoir B C D by tubes 38 3S, and the induction-ports 34 34 of the pumps connect with the said reservoir through tubes 39 39.

The eduction-tubes of the motors join into one and are intercepted with a valve 40 at their entrance into the reservoir at 41, and said valve,which is shown in detail in Fig. 6, consists of a spindle 42, seated so as to open toward the reservoir, and the same is operated by rods 51 52, connected to the brakelever 53 on the handlebar I. The valve 40 is normally open, and application of the hand to the lever 53 will close said valve, or partially close the same, at the will of the rider, accordingly throttling the exhaust of the motors,and therefore acting as a brake-valve.

The cranks 1G 17 are provided with slots 43 43, and the crank-pins 44 44 are provided with clamping-nuts 45 45, Fig. 2, whereby they are rendered adjustable at different radial distances from the axis of the shaft 18, and the stroke of the motor-plungers is determined thereby. Thus the leverage of transmission or ratio between the volume displaced by the plungers of the pump-cylinders and the motor-cylinders may be readily adjusted without removing and interchanging parts.

The pump-cylinders 4 5 are of larger size than the motor-cylinders 12 1-3, whereby the traction-wheel K may be made to make more than one revolution at each stroke of the pedals.

In the application of the invention to a tandem or other vehicle carrying a plurality of riders a pair of pumps 4 5 4 5 are provided to be operated independently by each person, and every pump connects at its delivery side with the valve-chests 28 28, as by pipes (30 and 36. The suction side of each pump in Fig. 7 connects wit-l1 the hollow frame or reservoir A by pipes 34, as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 1.

In operation each pedalstroke of the rider will actuate the motors a plurality of strokes, or more than one stroke, according to the proportionate volumes displaced by the plungers of the pumps and the plungers of the motors. The length of stroke of the pedals may be varied at the convenience of the rider, as also the lineal speed of each stroke, and the frequency of the same maybe varied, thus avoiding the necessary cadence of pedal-stroke, as in chain or gear propulsion, and saving fatigue by the variety of motions afforded.

In a tandem each rider may depress his pedal when he pleases independent of the others,contributing his share of the manual power according to his strength, and the necessity of all'the riders following the same movements and rates of movement as heretofore in chain or gear propulsion is dispensed with. Our invention may be similarly applied to other than tandem wheeled vehicles, allowin g all the riders to contribute independently to the propelling power.

The pedals may be brought to rest without interfering with the motion of the machine, so that the feet can remain on the pedals in coasting, or in a tandem one rider may rest while another is pedaling. In such case the fluid is drawn freely through the pu mp-valves by one stroke of the motor-plunger and discharged in to the reservoir at each return stroke of said plunger, the same playing freely in its cylinder.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a rear-driven bicycle, the combination of two reciprocating pumps having their cylinders mounted upon opposite sides of the center brace and substantially parallel therewith, vibrating foot-pedals pivoted to the frame and connected with the plungers of said pumps, a transverse vibrating arm centrally pivoted on said frame and connected with said plungers to reciprocate them alternately, two reciprocating motors having their cylinders mounted on the rear lower brace upon opposite sides of the traction-wheel, and cranks upon the shaft of the traction-wheel connected with the plungers of said motors.

2. In a velocipede or other vehicle adapted to carry a plurality of riders, the combination of a traction-wheel, a motor, and a plurality of pairs of reciprocating compression-pumps having plungers connected with vibrating pedals, the plungers of each said pair being connected together by vibrating arms giving alternate motion, said pairs of pumps being adapted to be operated independently by different riders, and each pump delivering to said motor.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 4th day of December, A. D. 1895.

IRA W. RUBEL. ERNEST XV. NAYLOR. lVitn esses:

HENRY F. PARKER, K. M. TUCKER.

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