US579664A

US579664A - Robert e

Info

Publication number: US579664A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1897-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 1914-03-30

Description

(No Model() R. E. MGOON-LEY.

STEERING ATTAGHMBNT POR BIGYGLES.

No. 579.664. Patented Mar. 30, 1897` l r I 'HE NONI? P "S CO PHGYU Ln H( A "UNGTN D C ROBERT E. MCCONLEY, OFVHITCOMB, VISCONSIN.

lSTEERING ATTACHMENT FOR BICYCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,664, dated March 30, 1897'.

Application filed March 20,1896. Serial No. 584,136. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. McCoNLnY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Whitcomb, in the county of Shawano andy State of Visconsin, have invented a new and useful Steering Attachment for Bicycles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bicycles, and particularly to the steering mechanism thereof, the said invention having for its object to provide means whereby the steering-wheel, or rather the stem of the steering-wheel fork, may be locked or held for holding the front or steering wheel in alinement with the rear wheel, thus causing the machine to travel in a straight line and preventing the liability of the same to be twisted by coming in contact with some obstacle and thereby throwing the rider.

The invention also facilitates the pushing of the machine while walking with the aid of one hand only, leaving t-he other hand free.

To this end the invention consists in certain novel features and details of construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and finally embodied in the claim hereto appended.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sufficient portion of a safety-bicycle to illustrate the application of the improvement thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail perspective View of theimproved steering apparatus.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the several gures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated therein an ordinary safetybicycle, the frame of which comprises the usual head-tube l, the upper horizontal bar 2, handle-bar 3, and the handle-bar stem 4.

For the purpose of carrying out the present invention a disk-shaped lock-plate 5 is secured fast upon the upper end of the headtube l, the center of said plate, however, being open, so that the handle-bar stem may be introduced through the head-tube of the machine. Mounted fast on the stem 4 is a clip 6 in the form of a collar surrounding said stem and provided with laterallypro jecting perforated ears 7. Beneath the clip 6 is located a sliding annular lock-plate 8, and this plate is supported by means of rods or stems 9, which attach rigidly at their lower endsl to the plate 8 and extend thence upward through the perforated ears 7 of the clip 6. The upper extremities of the rods or stems 9 are headed or hooked, as shown, and spiral springs 10 are interposed between such headed upper ends of the rods or stems and the lateral ears 7 said springs being disposed around the rods or stems 9 and exerting their tension to uphold the upper plate 8 normally out of contact with the lower plate 5 on the head-tube, thus allowing the stem 4 to turn with perfect freedom.

1l designates a lever of elbow form fulcrumed at its elbow on the stem 4, the said lever being constructed in such manner that it will straddle the said stem, so as to bring the short arms 12 thereof upon opposite sides of the same. As above stated, the upper plate 8 is normally upheld by the springs l0. The said plate may, however, be depressed by vibratin g the lever ll in such man ner that the short arms thereof will act against the upper sides of the upper plate and force the same downward. The lever 1l is preferably made in the form of a loop, so that it may embrace the stem 4 when vibrated upward, so as not to be in the way of the rider. When the lever ll is vibrated downward, the ends of the short arms pass beyond a line drawn longitudinally of the stem and through the fulcrum of the lever, and said short arms are prevented from rocking upward on the other side of such line by reason of the lever coming in contact with and being stopped bythe upper horizontal bar 2 of the machine-frame, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l. Under this adjustment the plates are held in locked engagement and will be so held until the lever is again vibrated in a reverse direction. Both of the lock-plates are provided upon their adjacent working surfaces with interlocking corrugations,whereby they are adapted to engage each other positively when forced together by the means above described.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the rider while in the saddle may readily lock the steering-wheel in longitudinal alinement with the driving-wheel, thus causing the machine to travel in a straight TOO line, and he may as readily unlock the same When necessary. The improvement is especially valuable when the rider dismounts and pushes the machine ahead of hiin up steep inclines or along a rough section of the road Where he cannot conveniently ride. This he may accomplish With one hand, leaving the other hand free.

It will be apparent that chan ges in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is In a bicycle, a plate secured fast to the head-tube of the machine, in combination with an opposing plate slidingly mounted on the stem of the steering apparatus, a clip fast ROBERT E. MCUONLEY.

Witnesses:

WM. G. I'IEINs, CEAS. Hams.