| Show ASTRIDE THE WHEEL I The Latest Improvements of Interest In-terest to Wheelmen LAND AND WATER TEICYCLE Tho Pneumatic Tyre Tho Social Tricycle The Railroad Bicycle and the Une Wheeled Gig NEW YORK Nov 5 1S90 Special correspondence cor-respondence of TiE HERALD When one looks at the modern bicycle and contrasts itwith tho first of the species one finds a system of evolution almost as startling as that elaborated in the theory of Mr Darwin Imagine for an instant the first wheel known in the early part ot this century as the dandy horse This consisted of two wooden wheels tired with iron and connected con-nected by a stiff bar of wood on which was fixed an apology fora seat On this the ridor balanced himself and depended upon striding and pushing for his motive power Messers Goy the wellknown English firm have a wellpreserved specimen of this machine which traveling wheelmen in Europe may find of interest Contrast it with the air bicycle exhibited at Saratoga Sara-toga this year on which a man rode ten miles at an altitude of 1COD feet and who shall say the age of miracles is past Putting aside the curious history of the bicycle there are innovations and improve W4 w 1I PNEOMATIO BICYCLE ments in use today which are both interesting inter-esting and instructive The most recent of these is the pneumatic safety now on exhibition in the city of New York At first glance it would appear to be an ordinary ordi-nary safety fitted with a pair of heavy cumbersome wheels but when looked at closely its virtues or to be precise the virtues vir-tues claimed for it are quite apparent Its peculiarity lies in the rims of the wheels These instead of being the usual concave metal rims fitted with a tire of hard rubber rub-ber are made in a crescent shape into which is fitted a tire made of especially designed de-signed twoandanalfinch hollow rubber tubing In the centre of each tire a small valve plug is fitted and when the wheel is required for use a small air pump inflates the tire through this plug on the same nrinciple as that employed with a football When the wheel is not in use the air is let out and the tire hangs loose Of course the idea is to lessen the concussion in riding rid-ing A wellknown rider told ma that the jar from illpaved or rough roads is reduced to a minimum by the pneumatic tire and that as a hillclimber it renders the new wheel almost perfect There appears to be no danger of the tire being cut or spiked as the machine has been ridden without injury in-jury over ten miles of roughlycut stones The serious question about it is how long will the tires last Although the machine is new to our wheelmen it was shown publicly pub-licly in England last summer and claims a record of two miles in 220 L5 The price is a trifle higher than that of an ordinary machine being one hundred and forty dollars dol-lars Another novelty of the season is a social so-cial so called because it can at will be made to accommodate two riders or one and the two are seated side by side This machine is an ordinary tricycle which has one large driving wheel at the left of the rider and on the right two small wheels one behind the other which form the steering steer-ing apparatus and being connected by a stout bar also support the main axle on which the wheel is placed This arrangement forms the single tricycle cycle To transform it into the social another large driving wheel fitted with axle seat and pedals is fastened by a neat arrangement to the stout bar of the steer inggeer and the single becomes a double consisting of two large outside driving wheels with the steering wheels between the two riders well out of the way of skirts I is a very easy running machine but it requires a good deal of room One of the curious inventions of the year is the landandwater tricycle of George 4 4 4Iftrf J gi LAND AND WATER TRICYCLE Pinkert Saxony The first machine resembling re-sembling this type appeared about ten years ago and was made only for use on the water and not on land It was invented by a German living at Brussels named I Kuman and on July 28 1882 an Englishman English-man named Terry rode it across the Eng lish channel from Dover to Calais the journey occupying about eight hours the distance covered being on an air line about twenty miles The now Pinkert machine is however a decided improvement upon the old idea and is constructed so as to travel on land or water as desired without change of gear With it a rider can start at Central park ride down Broadway to the Battery and continue his journey across the surface of the baj to Staten Island Is-land The tricycle consists of a frontsteer ing wheel which is made of thin steel plates and is sixteen inches wide at the axle forming a lensshaped airtight vessel of great buoyancy The edge of this is provided pro-vided with a concave metal rim and a rub her tire lor running on land The two large propelling wheels are composed of a circular tube 9 f steel plate forming a airtight air-tight ring about four feet in diameter connected con-nected with the nave of the axle by means of steel spokes and fitted with paddles each side of its outer circumference I looks like the paddle wheel of a ferry boat having a solid core running through the centreof the wheel t Vvhiqh the paddles are attached instead of to tho side rims as in a ferryboat wheel Outside the airtight air-tight core and attached to it by steel ro sis s-is an ordinary concave eta bicycle rim fitted with a hard rubber ire This 18 for road purposes and 1tS clamed thatit also acts purposes fi ntliemachine 1 is in the water proventitife leeway and i I facilitating steerage In all other respects the tricycle is an ordinary one having the seat over the axle between the two weeels which are rather wide apart This machine has been tried in tho publics pub-lics baths at Munich where a speed of six miles an hour was attained the labor of working the paddles not being considered greater than that required to produce the same speed on land and it was found possible pos-sible when going at full speed to turn tho machine completely round in a space equal to the width of an ordinary carriage road With a weight of three hundred pounds on the seat the wheels only sank to a depth of seven inches and the chances of an upset are said to be very small For some years past the London newspapers news-papers have employed tricycles fitted with a basket for papers the whole being painted a glaring red for advertising purposes pur-poses to distribute extra or evening editions edi-tions We have scarcely como to that yet but when we take up this method of distribution dis-tribution the invention of 11 M Slattery of For Wayne Indiana will come in useful I is a tricycle driven by electricity Tho tricycle is an ordinary one propelled by a motor which in turn is operated upon by a storage battery disposed in the centre of the machine under the seat the motor being affixed at the rear of the battery case The motor has a capacity of about onehalf horse power In starting the current is turned upon the motor and by a clutch anA an-A RAILWAY BICYCLE rangement in the axle the tricycle is gradually grad-ually started A lever guides the machine and a handle turns off the current and stops it immediately The cost of running it is about five cents an hour and itis not improbable im-probable that the invention may be utilized I by tourists wishing to travel pleasantly through the country without incurring the labor of driving the machine by loot power A smooth level rod ia the desideratum of all wheelmen and a perfect road is the ely sium of their dreanis This probably inspired in-spired some ingenious devotee of the wheel to turn his attention to the long glistening line of rails composing tho network of iron that covers our great country like a cobweb cob-web wellknown Michigan man has invented a bicycle to run upon a railroad track and claims to have a record of three miles in two minutes on a slight down grade The bicycle is an ordinary one except as regards re-gards the metal rim of the wheel This instead of being concave is square so that the wheels run upon the track exactly similar sim-ilar to the way in which sliding door runs upon a raised metal track Inside this square rim is placed a heavy tire of rubber to lessen concussion The machine is lifted on the track upon which both wheels fit with flanges overhanging either side and starting it in the usual way the rider springs into place and he goes over a road that may be said to be well nigh nerfect The wheels cannot well leave the track if ordinary care is taken by the rider and the only danger lies In meeting a switch or afro a-fro These are calculated to change the railroad bicycle into a flying machine In Europe the employment of bicycles or rather velocipedes grafted on a bicycle system has received attention at the hands of the military authorities and a gigantic machine to carry eight men seated in Indian In-dian file one behind the other with commissariat com-missariat and ambulance necessaries was tried this year along the Brighton road So far as the test went it was an exceedingly exceed-ingly satisfactory one The distance was covered in good time and the men arrived in good condition but what the ultimate outcome may be it is impossible to say The item however is of importance as showing the daily increasing value and adaptability of the bicycle principle and so is worthy of being placed on record Tho bicycle tram running at Coney Island on a single track is now a recognized and 4d r DANDY nonsn fairly well known fact and its enthusiastic inventor and demonstrator is sparing no pains or expense to convince people that in this system lies the solution of the rapid transit problem It will be curious if it should prove to be so Among Ihe novel adaptations of the bicycle bi-cycle principle to existing conveyances is the bicycle buggy of J3r Thurmond of Atlanta At-lanta This worthy disciple of Esculapius has quite original notions regarding equipments equip-ments for the road and has for several years been using a set of harness consisting consist-ing only of a wooden collar with traces attached at-tached A string runs from the collar to the driver and if the horse is likely to run away a pull at the string causes the collar to fall apart and the festive steed ian i-an do all his running by himself while I the occupants of the buggy remain in safety Having perfected this he proceeded to simplify his buggy He took the wheels off and had the top or cover made station fal l 4 I 1 ONK WHEELED GIG ary like that of a breadwagon Then he had a large sixtyinch bicycle wheel built which he fitted to the back of his buggy by means of a stout iron fork running forward for-ward from the hub of the wheel in a downward curve and supporting the seat so the body of the bug y is nicely balanced between the horsein front and tho single large velocipede wheel at the back This however is eclipsed by the Englishman who during the past season has been giving ing exhibitions of his bicycle stilts Those consist of a pairof stilts raising the walker five foot Irom the ground At the bottom i fitted a species of roller skate having two rubbertired wirespoked wheels about six inches in diameter one being placed in front of the other like a bicycle bi-cycle Ho has learned the trick of balanc ine himself on them and with a kind of skating motion runs first on one pair of wheels and then the other getting over the ground at a tremendous rate of speed WILL P POND T |
