US660261A - Body for bicycle-saddles. - Google Patents

Description

N0. 660,261. Paten ted out. 23, I900.. A. F. MEIJSSELBACH & w. MEISSELBACH, 1n. BODY FOR BICYCLE SADDLES.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST F. MEISSELBACH AND WILLIAM MEISSELBACH, JR., OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

BODY FOR B lCYCLE-SADDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 660,261, dated October 23, 1900.

Application filed October 26, 1899- Serial No. 734,821; (N0 modem I To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, AUGUST F. MEISSEL- BAOH and WILLIAM MEIssELBAoH, J12, citizens of the United States, residingat 325 Thirteenth aven ue-,Newark,county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bodies for Bicycle-Saddles, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accom l0 panying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to furnish a means of securing a leather covering upon the body of a bicycle-saddle more quickly and economically than by means of sewing or clamping devices. Heretofore the leather covering has commonly been riveted to a flange at the margin of the saddle-body; but in some cases a leather facing has been placed upon the under side of a body, 'to the edge of which the covering could be sewed, or a leather strip has been secured to the under side of the body, near the margin, for the same purpose. been secured to the under side of the body by a series of outwardly-projecting prongs formed within the margin of the body and adapted to grip the extreme edge of such leather strip. In such construction the leather strip is a separate piece from the cover of the body and is stitched thereto at the edge,

While in our-construction we wholly avoid the stitching of the leather and are enabled to form the leather covering in a single piece and secure it upon the sheet-metal body in a single operation by forming the extreme edge of the body with prongs adapted to piece Y the margin of the leather covering and to clench upon the outer side of the same. To efiect this result, the prongs are spaced apart so as to pierce the leather at intervals and made sufficiently slender to pierce the leather when merely pressed upon the same and of suflicient length to be bent'after the prongs are passed through the leather, so that they may look the leather securely and stretch it tightly over the body. stretched over the body and applied to the prongs, the prongs are pressed through the leather and bent simultaneously, so as to bend the leather abruptly over the edge of the body and turn it inwardly. By forming a depend- Such leather strip has sometimes I When the leather is.

ing flange upon the edge of the body the By the present invention we avoid the labor of sewing and riveting and secure a perfectlyslnooth edge upon the saddle, which is not liable to wear the clothes of the rider. We prefer to form the edge of the body with an integral depending flange, as such construction stiffens the sheet-metal body and carries the junction of the leather and the body out of sight, and this construction is illustrated in the annexed drawings.

To attach the leather covering,it is stretched over the top surface of such body with or without an intermediate padding, and its margin is forced upon the prongs and the latter bent toward the under side of the body to lock the leather thereon. Such attachment of the leather can be performed in a single brief operation by suitable tool's.

Where a saddle is formed with a depression in the middle, the body may be formed with a corresponding slot or aperture and the leather secured around the margin of such aperture by similar prongs.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the under side of a body with prongs upon its periphery. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section upon the center of such body. Fig. 3- represents the blank to form such body by flanging the the body by such prongs the body is held inverted, as shown in Fig. 2, with the leather the body, as shown in Fig. 4, thus stretching the leather firmly upon the body and locking it securely thereto. Three of the prongs are shown bent inwardly in Figs. 1 and 2 to,

illustrate their change of position when securing the leather. By suitable mechanism all of the prongs may be clenched at once, and the leather covering may thus be secured with great rapidity and trifling expense.

The leather is bent abruptly over the edge of the sheet-metal body by the pinching of the prongs, and as the edge of the leather and prongs are turned inwardly beneath the saddle-body the edge of the saddle is entirely free from projections or roughnesses, which would operate to wear the clothes of the rider. The edge of the saddle thus presents a better finish than Where the leather is sewed or riveted upon the body and is less likely to injure the riders clothing when in use. With this construction the leather does not require holes to be formed in its margin before it is applied to the prongs, but the prongs themselves serve to pierce holes in the leather, which holes are applied directly to and are engaged by the said prongs, whereby the leather is tightly stretched by the prongs as they are bent inwardly.

The body is shown with aperture 05 in the middle and prongs c projecting inwardly from such apertures in Figs. 1 and 3. Such prongs are used to secure the edges of the leather around the margin of such aperture when the saddle is formed with a depression in the middle.

The construction described is very simple, as the prongs are formed upon the sheetmetal body in a single operation by suitable dies, and the leather is also secured upon the body by such prongs with the utmost expedition by suitable tools.

We are aware that prongs have been formed upon the edge of a sheet-metal plate and fitted beneath the body of a bicycle-saddle to grip the edges of a leather covering when turned inwardly beneath the body; but such construction differs from ours in not requiring the prongs to be spaced apart and made of suitable length and taper, so as to penetrate the leather when the latter is forced thereon and to clench over the leather for looking it to the saddle.

Our construction wholly avoids the use of an additional plate to secure the leather upon the body and operates by penetrating the leather instead of gripping, clamping, or sewing the same. We do not claim a serrated plate, broadly, in a bicycle-saddle, but a one-piece body formed of sheet metal and having pointed tapering prongs around the edge engaged directly with the leather to lock the same to the body.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is 1. A bicycle-saddle having a sheet-metal body with a continuous series of integral prongs formed upon its extrelneedge, a flexible covering in one piece having holes applied directly to the said prongs, the edge of the flexible covering bent abruptly over the edge of the body and the prongs bent inwardly to retain the edge of the flexible covering in such position, whereby the flexible covering is secured upon the body without any seam or projections at the edge of the body.

2. A bicycle-saddle having a sheet-metal body with a depending flange around its margin, a leather covering in one piece having its margin bent inwardly and upwardly from the edge of such flange forming asmooth unbroken leather periphery upon the saddle, a seriesof integral prongs upon the body turned inwardly from the edge of the body and having their points bent upwardly to retain the leather, and the leather having its extreme edge pierced by such prongs to hold the edge of the leather upon the inner side .of such flange.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUST F. MEISSELBAOII. WILLIAM MEISSELBAOH, JR.

Witnesses:

DANIEL A. Bnaenssnn, THOMAS S. CRANE.

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