US635028A

US635028A - Spring-frame bicycle.

Info

Publication number: US635028A
Application number: US69972498A
Authority: US
Inventors: William Barton Spencer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1898-12-19
Filing date: 1898-12-19
Publication date: 1899-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1916-10-17

Description

Patented Dot. I7, i899.

W. B. SPENER.

@autres dramas.

PATENT erica.

\VILLIAM BARTON SPENCER, OF OI'IIOAGO,` ILLINOIS.

SPRING-FRAME eicYoLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,028, dated. October-17, 1899.

Application iled December 19, 1898. Serial No. 699,724. (No model.)

T0 all whom t rita/y concern.-

. Be it known that I, WILLIAM BARTON SPEN- CER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Spring-Frame Bicycle, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to spring-frame bicycles ofthe class disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 608,235, issued to me August 2, 1598; and the object in View is to reorganize and simplify the parts so as to bring the spring-cushion devices at pointsabove the axle and locate them away from the wheel-hubiu elevated positions where theyare notdisposed to become wet and muddy by the rotation of the wheel, and they are more convenient to the operator in-adjusting and removing the spring loops or bands.

With these ends in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described .and claimed. e

To enable others to understand the invention, I have illustrated the same in theaccompanying d rawings,forminga part of this speciiication, and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of abicycle-l'rame embodying myimprovements. Fig. 2 is an elevation at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the improvements applied to the steeringfork, and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modilied form of the frame. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of the guide-block.

Like numerals of reference denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying In yin vention into practice I employa frame-plate 10, which may be connected either to the front or steering fork oi' a bicycle, as shown by Fig. 4, or to a portion of the frame adjacent to the rear-wheel hub, as in Figs. 1 and 5. In Fig. 1 the backstay 12 and the rear fork 13 of theframe are joined to the plate 10 in any substantial way; butthis backstay and the rear fork maybe made continuous one with the other, as represented by Fig. 5. I prefer to employ metallic tubing Which is D-shaped in cross-section, so that the frameplate may be united firmly to the iiat sides of the tubing; but it is obvious that-tubingcircular iu cross-se-ction may be employed.

As disclosed by my prior patent, the frameplate is provided with vertical parallel bars 111 within the arched or circular outline of said .plate 10, and these vertical bars form a guideway, adapted to slidably receive one end of the axle. rlhe frame-plate iu my present invention is made with a vertical arm or branch 16,Whicl1 constitutes anintegral part of said frameplate and extends upwardly therefrom a suitable distance above the guideway 15` At its upper extremity the vertical arm or branch lo is provided with two pairs of arms 17 18, which are rigid or fast with said branch 16.k One pair ot' arms 17 extend from one side 'of the brauch 16, while the other pair oi" arms 1S project from the opposite side of the branch 16, and'each pair of arms has its members spaced a suitable distance from one another to lie on opposite sides of a vertical guide-stem, presently described.

The wheel-hub 19 is fitted in the usual way on the axle 20, the ends of which pass through and are fit1 ed slidably in the vertical. guide way of the frame-plate. The vertical guidestem 21 is arranged between the frame-plate 10 and the wheel-hub, and at its lower end this guidestem is enlarged to form the annular boss or collar 22. The boss or collar of the guide-stem is clamped firmly in place against the adjusiing-cone of the wheel-h ub y by devices mounted on the axle and that serve to guideor direct the vertical play of the frame-plate in its movement with relation to the wheel-axle, and said guide device is constructed for ready application to or removal from the axle and the frame-plate. The guide is in the form of a block 23, nearly circular in form and with iiattened faces 24 on opposite sides thereof, and this guide-block has an annular groove 25, the continuity of which is interrupted or broken by the i'lat faces 24:. The guide-block between its liattened faces 24C is slightly less in diameter than the width H With a central opening 26, adapted to receive the axle, and one face of the block is adapted to bear-against the eye-formed end 22'of the 'ICO- guide-stem 21. A washer 28 is fitted on the axle to bear against the outside of the guideblock, and against said washer 28 is screwed the axle-nut 29, that is fastened to the axle.

The guide-blocl may be fitted to the axle and introduced into the slot of the frameplate by turning the block toa position Where the attened edges thereof will slip into the slot of the frame-plate, and then the block is partly turned on the axle to bring the grooved edges thereof into engagement with the edges of the slotted frame-plate. The washer 28 is now applied and the nut 29 screwed home to clamp the washer, the guide-block, and the stem firmly in place against the cone of the Wheel-hub; but as the frame-plate is confined within the grooved guide-block said frameplate may move freely in a vertical direction. The upper end of the vertical branch 16 of the frame-plate is formed or provided between its pairs of arms with a clip orloop 3l, which slidably embraces the vertical guide-stem 21, and this stem passes through the clip or eye 3l, so that the cross-arms 32 on said stem lie above the pairs of arms 17 18 on the branch 16 of the frame-plate. The cross-arm 32 is in a Vertical plane between the pairs of arms 17 18 on opposite sides of the frame-plate branch, and a series of elastic bands 33 have their looped ends tted around one pair of arms I7 and rest upon one end of the crossarm 32. Another series of elastic bands 34: rest upon the opposite end of the cross-arm 32, and the looped ends of these bands 34 are fitted on the cross-arms 18 of the frame-plate. The elastic bands serve to yieldingly sustain the frame-plate in properrelation to the axle of the wheel-hub, but the frame-plate is free to move vertically within certain limits and to distend the elastic bands so as to cushion the jar and vibration on the machine-frame. It will be noted that the branch of the frame-.plate and the vertical stem have the cross-arms disposed at a suitable elevation above the horizontal plane of the wheel-axle, and the cushion-springs are thus raised above the ground to bring them to a position Where they are not liable to receive accumulations of mud and dirt and also enable the operator to gain access to the springs with greaterconvenience and facilityin adjusting the springs to vary the tension thereof or to replace the springs with new bands.

Changes may be made in the form and proportion of some of the parts, while their essential features are retained and the spirit of the invention embodied. Hence I do not desire to be limited to the precise formof all the parts as shown, reserving the right to vary therefrom.

Having thus described the invention7 what I claim is 1. In a spring-frame bicycle, the combination with a frame-plate having a vertical guideway, of a bearing-block provided with the arc-shaped grooved faces and, the straight side faces which intersect with said arc-shaped faces and interrupt the continuity of the grooves therein, the width of the block between the straight faces being less than the space in the guideway, and said block being adjustable in and removable from said guideway, a Wheel-axle fitted to said bearing-block, means for clamping the axle and block to gether, and resilient suspending devices, substantially as described.

2. Ina spring-frame bicycle, the combination of a frame-plate having a guideway and an upwardly-extending arm or branch, 16, provided at its upper end with a guide or clip, a bearing-block fitted in said guideway of the frame-plate to slide freely therein, an axle clamped to said block, a wheel-hub, a vertical stem passing through the guide or clip and providedat its lower end-with an eye or boss which is fitted on the axle and is clamped between the bearing-block and the cone of said wheel-hub, arms on the upper ends of the frame-plate branch and the vertical stem, and resilient devices connecting said arms, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM BARTON SPENCER.

Witnesses:

H. G. LLOYD, J. T. RICHARDS.