766 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



WHAT KEEPS THE BICYCLER UPRIGHT?* 



By CHAELES B. WARRING, Ph. D. 



THERE is something weird, almost uncanny, in the noiseless 

 rush of the 'cyclist, as he comes into view, passes by, and disap- 

 pears. Pedestrians and carriages are left behind. He yields only 

 to the locomotive and to birds. The apparent ease and security 

 of his movement excite our wonder. We have seen rope-walk- 

 ers, and most of us have tried to walk on the top rail of a fence, 

 and have a vivid recollection of the incessant tossing of arms and 

 legs to keep our balance, and the assistance we got from a long 

 stick or a stone held in our hands. But the 'cyclist gets no help. 

 His legs move only in the tread of the wheel, and his hands rest 

 quietly on the ends of the cross-bar of his machine. The rope- 

 walker keeps every muscle tense, and every limb in motion or 

 ready to move. No wonder, when a tourist on his bicycle spins 

 for the first time through a village here, or among the nomads 

 of Asia, he is followed by a gaping crowd, till his machine car- 

 ries him out of their sight. 



We involuntarily ask, How is it possible for one supported on 

 so narrow a base to keep his seat so securely and, seemingly, so 

 without effort ? 



For an answer to this question I have searched somewhat 

 widely, and, while I have found articles enough on or about the 

 bicycle, and what has been done by its riders, I have found 

 none that offered a reasonable theory for its explanation. This 

 is my apology for presenting the present paper. In it I shall 

 state the theories which have been offered, the reasons why they 

 are unsatisfactory, and then give what appears to me the true 

 rationale of the machine. 



The only paper I found that claimed to explain the bicycle was 

 one by Mr. C. Vernon Boys, entitled The Bicycle and its The- 

 ory. It was delivered before a meeting of mechanical engineers, 

 and is reported at great length in Nature, vol. xxix, page 478. 

 Here, thought I, is something valuable and convincing. But, on 

 examination, I found that, out of several pages of closely printed 

 matter, the Theory occupied possibly a dozen lines. All the rest 

 was about the bicycle and what had been done on it, but not 

 another word about its theory. We are told that Mr. Boys ex- 

 hibited a top in action, and requested his audience to notice its 

 remarkable stability. Then he said that the stability of the bi- 

 cycle was due to the same principle, but made no attempt to show 

 any connection between them. The top revolves on its axis, and 



* A paper read before the Vassar Brothers' Institute. 



