Sterling Elliott - Inventions

Inventions

Mr. Elliott’s first well-known invention was the non-turning front axle and self-equalizing brake system he incorporated on his four-wheel quadricycle when he discovered that the wheels on the bike squealed when turning. That is when he realized that you couldn’t just connect the front wheels of a normal pair of bicycles with a tie rod, that somehow the inside wheel must turn at a slower speed than the one on the outside if you were to prevent that squeal. With this in mind, Mr. Elliott went home and into his pantry that was between the kitchen and the dining room, there he fastened a piece of string between the inside surfaces of each door. Then, whether swung to the right or the left, the doors remained parallel and swung exactly the same. Next he shortened the string so that the doors were at an angle, their hinges being further apart than their front edges. Standing in the pantry he pushed the left hand door toward the kitchen and noted that only a small amount of movement in this direction produced considerably more movement to the right hand door. After again closing the doors he pushed the right hand door a small distance into the dining room and noticed that the kitchen door opened again wider than it had before. It didn’t take long for him to convert that principle to his quadricycle. It took an imaginative bicycle manufacturer to come up with the steering solution, so simple, that it has remained to this day the basic system of front wheel steering implemented in automobiles worldwide.

Although this patent expired in 1907, the records show that a number of early automobile manufacturers paid royalties to Elliott for this invention. Among these were the Duryea, Haynes, and Stanley

Elliott’s Quadricycle (Velocipede), for which he received United States Patent No. 442,663 on December 16, 1890, featured the non-turning front axle, the unequal turning of the front wheels, a differential rear axle, independent vertical action of all four wheels, and self-equalizing brakes. Many of Sterlings inventions, including the quadricycle, can be found in the Elliott Museum which was founded by his only son, Harmon Elliott.