Be glad this isn't your bike pump:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=OlQXAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=29577
***
The earliest gonfleur that I've found so far:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=7XBrAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=1611535
"AIB BOTTLE FOB CYCLES GEQBGES LACQTTIT"
* * ** **
versus
"AIR BOTTLE FOR CYCLES GEORGES LACQUIT"
hints at the scanning problems in the patent database that led to this
startling title:
"POWEB-TBATTSHITTIETG DEVICE ALEBED CARLSON"
Actually, Alfred Carlson's power-transmitting device was not as
bat-[censored] crazy as the Patent Office database scanner claims.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=Ox5SAAAAEBAJ&dq=1493601&jtp=1
That kind of scanning error reminds me why I gave up on optical
character recognition--it took me longer to correct my scans than to
type them from scratch. I quit when I discovered the hitherto unknown
Vivaldi concertos "Thb Fowr SEa~Lions" in my database.
***
"BICYCLE-PUIVIP AYANE B. SMITH" is DeWayne B. Smith's foot-pedal
bicycle-pump, which has a curious mechanism:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=dsx1AAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=634961
The internal spring pushes the pump back up. Presumably a modern
version would use a clipless pedal attachment.
***
Early hand pumps were even more awkward than modern ones. Here's a
helpful attachment that let the rider brace the pump against the rim
and a spoke:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=buRCAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=595547
***
What kind of tire pressure did our great-grandfathers use?
In a 1900 patent, Uzziel P. Smith (suprisingly not a mis-scan) wrote:
"In an ordinary bicycle-tire, where the air-pressure rarely exceeds
thirty pounds to the square inch . . ."
http://www.google.com/patents?id=Q9pfAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=659557
In 1895, A.B. Shaw expected up to 50 psi for his bicycle tire:
" . . . when inflated with an air-pressure which is ordinarily fifty
pounds to the inch . . ."
http://www.google.com/patents?id=pp9GAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=551408
Shaw may have needed the higher pressure to make his odd self-sealing
tire work.
The bicycle boom naturalllly led to coin-operated air-pumps for
bicycles, so we can look there for some pressures.
The simplest coin-pumps made you pay to work the pump yourself:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=lNN1AAAAEBAJ&dq=636782&jtp=1
http://www.google.com/patents?id=IMB1AAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=631802
http://www.google.com/patents?id=y6NYAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA22&dq=605696#PPA22,M1
No pressure gauges were included--you just pumped until you were tired
or satisfied.
Here's a motorized coin-operated bicycle air-pump with a rare gauge
that reads all the way up to 30 psi:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=_gVDAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=595639
Tires nearly two inches wides with walls thicker than radiator hoses
made such low pressures reasonable on rough roads.
Fancy gauges reading in pounds-per-square-inch were less popular on
coin-operated air-pumps than simple clock-face gauges:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=utF1AAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=636308
"Maybe riders as heavy as Chalo need to pump their tires up to XII to
avoid impact punctures, but lighter riders should use only VII to IX
to avoid a harsh ride."
***
The real problem for coin-operated pump inventors was how to limit the
pump to inflating one tire. Coin-operated parking racks led to one
solution:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=y6NYAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA22&dq=605696
http://www.google.com/patents?id=YsZFAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=626268
The coin-pumps above simply trapped your tire. You could get all the
air you wanted until you unlocked the tire.
Here are two examples of the numerous coin-operated bicycle-racks:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=598uAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=622405#PPP1,M1
http://www.google.com/patents?id=mXFeAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=608185
***
It's time to show some real frame pumps. You and I don't use frame
pumps, any more than our chains stretch, and calling those things
"frame pumps" is blasphemy.
Faced with a similarly-sized theological nit to pick, Ambrose Bierce
wrote in an editorial, "We intend to build a church and rent pews to
refute this heresy. It has spread its blight over the religious world
about as long as we can be expected to stand it."
The following are frame pumps. We don't own any frame pumps.
This is arguably a frame pump, with the handlebar serving as the pump
handle, but it's an awkward external design:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=AKtUAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=510036
A true down-tube frame-pump:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=RsBWAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA29&dq=558837
A true handlebar-stem frame-pump:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=cnlsAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=590732
The true seat-tube frame-pump in various forms:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=W2FeAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA19&dq=658867
http://www.google.com/patents?id=M3lMAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=554084
http://www.google.com/patents?id=GtBpAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=589711
http://www.google.com/patents?id=nsN1AAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=632696
http://www.google.com/patents?id=JmtsAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA7&dq=664936
***
In the same vein, you and I don't own an automatic tire pump, a
strange device that was popular, at least among inventors.
Two methods were used to inflate your tire as you rode. With the
simplest version, your tire rolled around, flattened slightly, and
gave the pump a little nudge to re-inflate your leaky tire,
automatically stopping when the right pressure is reached.
This is the external kind of contact-patch pump:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=DJhJAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=598748
http://www.google.com/patents?id=4qJRAAAAEBAJ&dq=556552
http://www.google.com/patents?id=kzBWAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=604625
Less embarrassing (but equally silly) were contact-patch pumps hidden
inside the tire itself:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=snJgAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=535505
http://www.google.com/patents?id=EstrAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=540519
http://www.google.com/patents?id=xjhdAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=561628
http://www.google.com/patents?id=nBNIAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=598108
The other kind of automatic pump was much more elaborate, being geared
to the hub:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=IE5BAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=571001
Or run by a crank to the hub:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=sCpYAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA39&dq=559418
http://www.google.com/patents?id=nBNIAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=598108
Getting nightmarish:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=598uAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=622405
Cheers,
Carl Fogel