GB493505A - Improvements in struts for cycles and similar vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

493,505. Cycle supports. RYLANDER, A. J. E. May 26, 1938, Nos. 15800, 15801, and 15802. Convention dates, May 28, 1937, July 13, 1937, and Feb. 16, 1938. [Class 136 (i)] In a cycle support of the type comprising a rod or strut adapted to be turned down into engagement with the ground and to be raised automatically into an upright position by spring action when released, the support is provided with a retaining or locking device to hold it in operative position; the locking-- device may be automatically actuated, or may be controlled by hand or foot, and may be such that the support can be locked in different angular positions according to the inclination of the ground. In the form shown in Figs. 1-4, the strut 24 is provided with a horizontal arm 22 journalled in bearings formed by end plates or flanges 18, 20 on a plate 10, which is secured to the chain-stay 16 by screws 12 and a back plate 14. A torsion spring 26 in the arm 22 is secured by pins 28, 30 respectively to the arm 22 and to a cap 34 secured to the end plate 18, so as normally to hold the strut in the raised position shown in Fig. 1. The end plate 20 is formed with a toothed sector 36 adapted to be engaged by a tooth 38 secured to the strut 24, as by a removable clamp 52, 56, whereby the strut 24 is held in the lowered operative position at the required inclination. When the strut 24 is disengaged from the ground by moving the cycle from a tilted to a vertical position, the arm 22 of the strut drops into the lower part of an elongated bearing opening 50 in the end plate 20, thus disengaging the tooth 38 from the sector 36, and allowing the spring 26 to swing the strut into the raised position. In a modification, a blade spring tends to move the arm 22 into the lower part of the opening 50. In a further modification, a reaction component of the spring 26 is utilized to press the arm 22 into the lower part of the opening 50, either automatically or by external manipulation under the control of a setting-lever. In another modification, the tooth on the strut is disengaged from the toothed sector by endwise movement of the horizontal arm 22 by a hand or foot operated bell-crank lever, which may be locked in position by a thumbscrew.