A 1900 advertisement used to promote the Quadrant Chainless in the British Colonies.
1902 Quadrant Lady’s Chainless
23″ Frame
26″ Wheels
Quadrant freewheel & back-pedalling band brake
Bowden front rim brake
The Quadrant Gent’s Chainless is quite a rare machine, though I’ve owned a few over the years. This is my first Quadrant Lady’s Chainless. It’s an older restoration in excellent condition all round. I took it for a spin and it’s pleasant enough to ride, though I wouldn’t fancy steep gradients on it.
I’m not absolutely sure of its age. The 1903 catalogue illustration (below) shows a rod-operated front rim brake, while the 1901 catalogue illustrates a plunger front brake. The Bowden cable-operated front rim brake is a 1900-1902 fitting, and was one of the first rim brakes to be used. They were expensive because of the fees paid to Bowden for their use and, by 1904, rod brakes had been invented and almost immediately became the industry standard.
The band brake rear and Bowden front rim brake set up is extremely efficient …this, of course, is what was used on motor bicycles of the era.
1901 QUADRANT CATALOGUE EXTRACTS
LLOYD’S CROSS ROLLER GEAR
Founded in 1883, the Quadrant Cycle Co was renowned for quality of workmanship and was one of the world’s leading manufacturer of tricycles. They introduced many patents for new innovations in both tricycles and bicycles.
Lloyd’s cross roller gear was patented by Walter J Lloyd and William Priest in 1897. Unlike the bevel gear system used in France (Acatene) and America (Colonel Pope of Columbia Cycles bought the French patent), the Lloyd Cross Roller uses spin rollers throughout the drive system.
Though Quadrant promoted the Chainless bicycle in Great Britain, chainless bicycles failed to catch on here. The primary marketing issue was that normal British chain-driven bicycles were built to such a high standard – the best in the world – that there was not really any need to buy a bicycle using an alternative system of propulsion.
For a cycle manufacturer, a shaft-driven bicycle required a major investment not only in its production but also in its marketing, and Quadrant’s experience with the Chainless, the earlier spring frame (patented 1891) and the new Quadrant Motor Bicycle proved to be the company’s downfall: they went into liquidation in 1907.
Few Quadrant Chainless machines survive. Because of their novelty and interesting design, the model has become an essential exhibit for the country’s top museums: the Science Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, Hull Street Life Museum and Oxford Bus Museum each have a Quadrant Gent’s Chainless on display. There are a few surviving Quadrant Lady’s Chainless models, but this is the first I’ve seen.
Below you can see Walter J Lloyd, the inventor of Lloyd’s Cross Roller gear, being driven by William Priest Junior in a 1904 Quadrant Tri-car. They were both directors of Quadrant Cycle Co.
QUADRANT PATENT BACK-PEDALLING BAND BRAKE
BOWDEN FRONT RIM BRAKE
(E.M. BOWDEN’S PATENTS SYNDICATE Ltd)
BOWDEN’S BRAKE: After Starley’s famous design of the Safety Bicycle, and Dunlop’s marketing (not invention) of the pneumatic tyre, E.M. Bowden Patents Syndicate Ltd was responsible for one of the most important innovations in the history of cycling (and motorcycling) – the first effective rear brake kit. It was introduced soon after the freewheeel hub (1898) made an efficient brake necessary on bicycles and was immediately adopted (or adapted) across the British cycle trade.
The Bowden mechanism was invented by Irishman Ernest Monnington Bowden (1860 to April 3, 1904) of 35 Bedford Place, London, W.C.The first patent was granted in 1896 (English Patent 25,325 and U.S. Pat. No. 609,570), and the invention was reported in the Automotor Journal of 1897 where Bowden’s address was given as 9 Fopstone Rd, Earls Court. The principal element of this was a flexible tube (made from hard wound wire and fixed at each end) containing a length of fine wire rope that could slide within the tube, directly transmitting pulling, pushing or turning movements on the wire rope from one end to the other without the need of pulleys or flexible joints. The cable was particularly intended for use in conjunction with bicycle brakes, although it had the potential for other applications. The Bowden Brake was launched amidst a flurry of enthusiasm in the cycle press in 1896. It consisted of a stirrup, pulled up by the cable from a handlebar mounted lever, with rubber pads acting against the rear wheel rim. At this date bicycles were fixed wheel, additional braking being offered by a ‘plunger’ brake pressing on the front tyre. The Bowden offered extra braking power still, and was novel enough to appeal to riders who scorned the plunger arrangement, which was heavy and potentially damaging to the (expensive) pneumatic tyre. The problem for Bowden was his failure to develop effective distribution networks and the brake was often incorrectly, or inappropriately fitted, resulting in a good number of complaints being aired in the press. Its most effective application was on those machines fitted with Westwood rims which offered flat bearing surfaces for the brake pads.
The potential of the Bowden cable and associated brake was not to be fully realised until the freewheel sprocket became a standard feature of bicycles, over the period 1899-1901, and increasing numbers of applications were found for it, such as gear change mechanisms. It is reported that “on 12th January 1900 E. M. Bowden granted a licence to The Raleigh Cycle Company of Nottingham”, whose directors were Frank Bowden and Edward Harlow. At this signing they became members of ‘E. M. Bowden’s Patent Syndicate Limited’. The syndicate included, among others, R. H. Lea & Graham I. Francis of Lea & Francis Ltd, and William Riley of the Riley Cycle Company. The Raleigh company were soon offering the Bowden Brake as an accessory, and were quick to incorporate the cable into handlebar mounted Sturmey-Archer (in which they had a major interest) gear changes. Undoubtedly this is why E. Bowden and F. Bowden are sometimes confused today.
1902 QUADRANT CHAINLESS: LADY’S v GENT’S
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