The missing step in the evolution of the bicycle

[neptune]

The safety bicycle had to await the invention of the drive chain, or at least the invention of cost effective ways to manufacture drive chains. The predecessor of the chain drive in the wider world was of course the drive belt. Flat belt drives had been used in industry for a long while before the invention of safety bicycles. Leather belts of round cross section had been used to drive treadle operated lathes and sewing machines.

Belt drives were used on early motorcycles, well into the 1920s. I am amazed that no records seem to exist for early bicycles using a belt drive. Belts have their limitations, and of course chains work better, but it still surprises me that there wasn`t an inventor somewhere who tried a belt. I know that there are bicycles that used a toothed drive belt, but that type of belt is a relatively modern idea.

 

[Gringo]

Without putting much effort in, I've just pulled this from wiki.

A belt drive for a bicycle was patented April 8, 1890 by Charles D Rice, Patent # 425,390. No evidence has been found that it was ever used.

 

[flecc]

I don't think belts were ever actually used on safety bicycles or tricycles. Even Starley's Coventry tricycle which predated 1870 used a chain from about then. Previous machines usually used rod and crank drives, sometimes with treadles or rocking arm pedals, or ratchet and pinion systems.

Maybe belt slippage in the wet was a problem.
.

 

[Blew it]

Additional to flecc's reply

It appears the success of the safety bicycle was entirely dependent upon the availability of the chain, both of which were developed in the same year. From various searches it seems belt drives never figured in the evolutionary jump from the direct drive penny farthing to the reduction geared safety bicycle. I would not be surprised if somebody with time on their hands could find the exception, after all, "there's always one"

"This venture proved to be unsuccessful so 2 years later, in 1879, he bought for £300 a small business in Salford, Lancashire, employing perhaps half-a-dozen people and making rough chains for textile machinery. That same year J.K.Starley of Coventry brought out the "safety bicycle" but the only chain that was available was the textile pin chain. This wore out far too quickly and in 1880 Hans Renold designed and patented the bush roller chain which help make the "safety bicycle" a complete success. Hans Renold was in fact one of the fathers of the Cycle Industry. Due to Hans Renold's invention the future of the bicycle was assured."

http://www.renold.com/Company/CompanyInformation/History_of_Renold_continued.asp

 

[Wicky]

Fascinating biography of Hans Renold a very decent man - thanks for posting it

Following his death his son Charles Renold gave a talk to the employees at the Burnage factory where he said the following:

"My father was a great man and I have often pondered over the secret of his character and achievements. No simple formula can explain any man but looking back on him I think that the keynote of his whole life was a passion for good work. He enjoyed money when it came, but commercial success was of quite secondary interest. What drove him on was the joy of creation – of doing something just as well as he knew how. "Good enough" was a sentiment that was quite unknown to him. It might well have been written of him, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."His relations with other people were based on this same deep instinct. He valued and respected people according to the quality of their work whatever it was, and the degree of their devotion to it. That also was at the root of his relations with his employees. He had no particular theories of social conditions or relationships. His respect went out to the good workman. He collected good workmen around him, and the mutual respect between good workmen knows no social distinctions. His care for working conditions and good wages arose from the same feeling. "The labourer is worthy of his hire," and the good workman deserves good conditions.

After his passion for good workmanship perhaps his most striking quality was his capacity for remaining young in mind and spirit. In the course of his business life he saw profound changes, but he encountered each with enthusiasm and confidence. No one ever heard him complain that the world was going to the dogs because things were no longer as they used to be. He believed in the fundamental goodness of his fellowmen and I think that he felt that all change was growth and must somehow be good.

Unlike many self-made men, he was content to allow those whom he had trained to take over the reigns from his hands well before the end of his life.

Now that we have said goodbye to him he would have wished to be remembered as a lover of good work and of good workmen, who died at the age of 90, still young in spirit.

 

[neptune]

Belt slippage in the wet could have been a problem, but in my opinion a small one, Early motorcycles used belt drive, including the "Trusty Triumph" model use by the British Army in France during the first World War. Whilst chain is quite superior, belts are simpler and cheaper, so That it why I am surprised that they did not see some service in early bicycles. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that in spite of chains being well established at the time, early motorcycles used belts. Perhaps it was because chains gave a "harsher" transmission with early engines, prior to the invention of transmission shock absorbers.

 

[jhruk]

There's a mention of early belt drives in this book (page 131):

Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History By Tony Hadland

Achibald Sharp's explanation sounds reasonable – the slower the belt speed the higher the tension required.

 

[neptune]

A very interesting article,jhruk

 

[flecc]

Perhaps it was because chains gave a "harsher" transmission with early engines, prior to the invention of transmission shock absorbers.

That's very likely to be a factor, especially since motorcycle engines were almost always single cylinder which are most likely to transmit harsh rhythmic shocks to the transmission.
.

 

[mike killay]

I have an old book 'Motorcycle Cavalcade by 'Ixion'.
Chain drive for motor cycles was around quite early, but as Flecc points out, they gave a harsh ride and wore out quickly. The belt, particularly the rubber and canvas ones gave a smooth ride, were far cheaper, but slipped badly in the wet. For a while though, there were no obvious advantages to chain drive until engines became more powerful, cushioned drives were developed and air cooling of the engines improved. Cars of the time had gearboxes and solid drives, mainly via propeller shafts, but they were water-cooled and could stand flogging up steep hills in a low gear.
The book is a fascinating read because our electric bikes seem to mirror the problems of those pioneers, namely hill climbing, where to put the engine on the frame etc.
At least we do not have poor starting problems!

 

[neptune]

Mike I too have that book. As I have no doubt you know, Ixion was a writer on motorcycle matters for many decades. Shrewd comments on the parallel between early motor cycle development and e bikes. With motorbikes, a consensus was eventually reached on what bits to put where. I suspect it will be the same with ebikes.

It would seem that we owe a huge debt to Renold, the secret hero in the world of bikes and motorbikes. You have to respect the guy, not just for his engineering genius, but how he got the best out of his workers by treating them like human beings.

If nothing else, perhaps this thread teaches us to respect our chains. Well over a hundred separate parts, each one manufactured to close tolerances, working together in perfect harmony. For what you get, they are megga cheap too. Hats off to Hans Renold.