;' '' '" 



straddle the 

 ora* * rtdgt, 

 extort u 



1 this 

 this difll. 



. beta* molded In anatomical conformity 

 tlTKorpart-of the humanely. 



umorr iMraoTBD KADDLK. 



: 



rest upon a perforated base, in 

 a circulation of air through the horn of 

 and as cool a seat as possible un.l.-r 

 The pads of these saddles 



After the chain gearing the prominent feature 

 of the modern bicycle is it* tire. The present 

 pneumaHp tire wa ju*t coming into use as an 

 experiment in 1890, and in 1891 it had started 

 fa/rlv on its way. The pneumatic tin- is the 

 result of experiment* to obviate the jar to which 

 the rider was subjected, which sometimes had 

 seriously injurious effect* in case of long rides. 

 Many phyridans even advised against the riding 

 of the bicvclr. if thin vibration could not be d.-ne 

 away with. |*rticuUrly in bicycles for ladies. 

 It was admitted that the principal cause of fa- 

 tigue after a bicycle ride was this jar or vibra- 

 tion experienced during the journey. The ear- 

 lie* effort to meet t hi* difficulty was spent up-.n 

 the fork to the forewheel axle. Coiled springs 

 fltted to the bottoms of these forks in the 

 es at the exhibition held in Indo t , in 

 Other steel springs were placed in th. 

 r poet, to prevent the vibration of the 



The moot snccessful of the devices 

 tried wa* a pring fork on which the two front 

 e carved. 



ThU was very springy, gv- 

 heel 



Mid greatly reducing the vibration. 

 be* authorities were beginning to s 

 pilot to get at this vibration and 



forks wer 



ing a comparatively pleasant motion to the w 



n. Hut the 

 see that the 

 minimize it 



* at the point of contact of the I 

 th* ground, and this led to the search for a new 

 tire that should be more springy than the solid 

 rubber one* alreadv in use. lp to 1890 t 

 dinanr sin of a solid rubber was f 



took, Vmt hollow rubber tires as large as 1* inch 

 were alreadv making their appearance. The 

 pneumatic tire. Hke many great invention*, was 

 at first looked upon a* a clumsy, stupid th 

 tttUe or m> practical valoe. It wasastou 

 ber tube 8 inches hi diameter, fitted on t 

 of a bicycle and inflated with air. It was an 



. ronti II, and th.- lir-t wheels th:it were 

 e.jinpiH'd with it hud to make, so their detractors 

 sid, treooenl excursions to Dublin. Th< 



tires hud to In- inflated with com- 

 lllllSli I air. which wa> in it-df a ^n-Ht inconvrn- 

 lence; but the chief diflkmlty was in th'ir likc- 

 .ilf-'d to injury from contact with all sorts of 

 hitln-rto in, . ; iich. f.r 



instance, as hit-* of broken littles ami sharp 

 stones. The rulln-r of which tin- tires w:i- i-nm- 

 posed was porous, and this added an<t her dilli- 

 culty, for the air gradoally liltcn-d thmujrh the 

 tiny' holes and the tire had to IK? refilled fn-m 

 tinii- to time. This was done with a small pump 

 constructed for the |ur|Kse. Hut 10011 it was 

 found that the newly equipped machines were 

 much faster than tin" old style and withal went, 

 with a smoothness of movcniput hitherto almost 

 unhoped for. The breaking of the n-ci.pls IM- 

 pin anew with the invention of the pneumatic 

 tire for bicycles, for a Safety thus equipp. 

 as superior to the ..Id style a^ the first - 

 had been to the < >rdinary. Tin' pneumatic tire 

 began to be looked upon a- the nucleus ,,f ;t 

 graml idea. Marly in isjcj the pnciimiitic was 

 an accomplished fact; it had come into \<>^iii-, 

 and soon no bicycle was complete without it. 

 In the last months of 1K2 there was as little 

 use for an ordinary solid tire on a Safety bicycle 

 as there was sale for an < >nlinary, hi^-and-lit tie- 

 wheel bicycle of a few years before. At this 

 time Ordinary bicycles, such as had been sold 

 for $150 to $300, were a dnitf at $10. 



A perfect pneumatic tire is the harnessing of 

 compressed air by such means and in such a man- 

 ner as will least affect its perfect resiliency and 

 at the same time maintain that rigid Connection 

 between the rim of the wheel and the surf ace 

 over which it travels, without which the ; 

 can not be transmitted without loss and the 

 highest working efficiency attained. The met h< >d 

 of constructing such a tire is briefly as follows : 



1 >.n a pure gum tube are wound spirally '3 

 layers of thread, each thread imlH-dded in rub- 

 ber and out of contact with its neighbors, the 



2 layers separated from each other by a wall of 

 pure rubber and wound at an angle of 45 to 

 each other. A seamless, endless, spirally laid 



thus made, meeting all the required con- 

 ditions and giving a tire uneaualed in strength, 

 speed, and durability, in combination with, and 

 at no expense to resiliency. The most difficult 

 of the many problems connected with the bi- 

 cycle is the construction of the pneumatic- 

 tuN- tire. There are over 100 threads spiral- 

 ly wound in an ideal tire; they extend the 

 whole length of the tire. and. as they are im- 

 bedded in an elastic body, any Inequality in ten- 

 sion adjusts itself. The threads Brail be non- 

 fling and laid at a tangent to the rim of 

 the wheel for speed and power, and they must be 

 free to move over each other without friction 

 for perfect resiliency. Resiliency in 

 fin.d as the pronerty of returning to the origi- 

 nal shape with the same force that was used in 

 depressing it. Hy this property the momentum 

 lost by a rider in striking a stone is given out 

 again as the obstacle is passed. It has been 

 found that easy riding or absence of vibration 

 is obtained in the greatest degree by such con- 

 struction as admits of the tread of the tiro 



