US609722A - Bicycle - Google Patents

Description

Patented Aug. 23, I898. R. P. AMBLER.

BICYCLE.

(Application filed June 1, 1897.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES,

PAT NT Fries.

BICYCLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,722, dated August 23, 1898.

Application filed June 1, 1897. Serial No. 638,955. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUssELL P. AMBLER, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of De Funiak Springs, in the county of Walton and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Propelling Bicycles; andl do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same on line 2 2. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the supplemental lever, and Fig. 4 is a detail view showing another form of the supplemental lever.

This invention has relation to driving-gear for bicycles and other foot-propelled vehicles; and it is designed to provide means of this character whereby both the upward and downward movements of the feet are utilized and effectively applied to the driving-wheel.

With this object in view the invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, all as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanyingdrawings, the letter A designates the rear or driving wheel of a bicycle, which carries the usual small sprocket-wheel B.

C is the large sprocket-wheel; D, the crankshaft, which carries said wheel, and E is the connecting drive-chain.

F F designate the crank-arms, which are rigidly affixed to the shaft D, and which are placed at the usual angle of one hundred and eighty degrees to each other. To the extreme end portion of each arm is pivoted a lever G of the first order, the fulcrum h for which is a pin or stud carried by the intermediate portion of a second lever H. This lever H is of curvilinear form, and its lower end is pivoted at h to an arm I of the frame, which depends from the hub or bearing for the crank-shaft. This arm extends downwardly in line or nearly in line with the front edge of the wheel 0 to a point usually about four inches below said wheel, Where it is bent laterally to afford a bearing for the fulcrum of said lever H. The free end portion or forward arm of the lever G carries a pedal K, and the corresponding arm of the leverH is provided on its under side with a pad L, which is lo cated over and a shortdistance above the pedal and is fitted to the upper-forward portion of the foot.

The arrangement of parts is the same at both sides of the bicycle, with the exception that, as above noted, the two cranks extend in opposite directions.

The levers H have a twofold purpose: First, they afford movable fulcra, upon which the levers G may act as they are depressed, and, second, they also operate as levers of the second order, with their fulcra at the lower end of the arm I, whereby each may be operated to impel the adjacent crank rearward during the time the lever G at the same side is being lifted to its working position, as will now be described;

In operation one of the levers G, being in working position, is depressed by the foot,

and this depression by means of the movable fulcrum causes the adjacent crank, and of course the shaft D and wheel 0, to rotate, the crank being moved through one-half or more of the circle which it describes. At the same time the opposite lever G is brought into working position by the turning of the opposite crank, and being depressed in turn completes the revolution of the shaft. While each of said levers is in turn being lifted to working position, the foot at that side may be engaged with the pad of the adjacent le ver H to exert a lifting action thereon, and thereby assist the other foot, which is making its downward movement.

In this manner both the upward and downward movements of the feet are utilized and made effective, instead of the downward movements only, as is the case with the ordinary crank driving-gear.

The levers G are, of course, sufiicient to produce a complete rotation of the cranks; but it will be found in practice that the use of the supplementary levers H will greatly facilitate the action and will result in a considerable increase in speed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a bicycle or other foot-propelled vehicle, the combination with the crank-shaft thereof and the pedal -levers connected to said shaft, of supplemental levers pivoted to the frame and also to said pedal-levers and having their free end portions lying above and adjacent to the pedals of the pedal-levers, whereby they may be operated by the feet upon the upward movement thereof, substantially as specified.

2. In a bicycle or other foot-propelled vehicle, the combination with a crank-shaft having oppositelyextending cranks at its ends, of foot-levers, one of which is pivoted RUSSELL P. AMBLER.

V Witnesses:

L. W. PLANK, W. O. EDDY.

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