Motoring on Roller-Skates 



II' \vc had wliL'cls on our fec-t, some- 

 thing like the wings on Mercury's 

 heels, would we "get there" much 

 more quickly? Walking is admittedly 

 an energ\-consuming method of loco- 

 motion. A man's legs weigh fort\' 

 or fifty pounds apiece, and the sheer 

 labor of shifting them one ahead of 

 the other means a considerable expcn- 



d^^*t£ Cono 



LUB/ttCATINO 





CASOllN£ 

 TANfi 



Fig. 1. The driving agency is a small 

 gasoline engine in the rear of each skate 



diture of energy. Placing the same 

 weight on the respective pedals of a 

 bicycle will convey a man much farther. 

 Wheeled locomotion has time and again 

 demonstrated itself to be the most 

 efficient method of getting over the 

 ground. 



This leads up to the subject of roller- 

 skates. Why is it they are not more in 

 use? A man on skates can propel him- 

 self half a block with a stroke or two. 

 Is there any reason wh>- their use should 

 be confined to children? Is it the dignii>- 

 of the thing? .Assuredly Americans 

 never stop for dignity if a new con- 

 tri\ance will get them where the\' want 

 to go laster than has before been possible. 



Scores of different kinds of roller- 

 skates have been in\ented. All the in- 

 ventors appear to be striving toward an 

 unattainable ideal, and each approaches 

 the problem from a different angle. 

 The ordinary four-wheeled skate such 

 as children use is too tame for most 

 inventors. The>- would make the vehicle 



self-propeling, appareniU- believing that 

 therein lies the secret of the ultimate 

 roller-skate. 



The easiest way to make a skate 

 propel itself is to put something on it 

 to do the propcling. In some forms the 

 dri\iiig agency is a small gasoline engine; 

 mounted at the rear. (Figs, i and 7.) 

 The machines have shaft or chain-drive 

 and are complete as to detail, some of 

 them resembling miniature Ford auto- 

 mol)iles. They even have a gasoline 

 tank under the instep and heel-part of 

 the skate, the heel-brace being shaped 

 somewhat like a miniature automobile 

 -seat. The great difficulty with the 

 gasoline engines which must be employed 

 is that the cylinders are so small. It is 

 hard to get an explosive mixture into 



Fig. 2. A sort of pantograph-motion causes 

 the rear wheel of this skate to revolve 



them and to discharge the burnt gases. 

 Consequently the engines are inoperative 

 three-fourths of the time. Other self- 

 [iropeled skates have been made along 

 similar lines, but driven by an electric 

 motor. These have, on the whole, been 

 more successful. 



The second general t>pe is also self- 

 propeling, but utilizes the weight of the 

 rider in some way to supply the drixing 

 agency. The methods of doing this are 

 legion. Most of them depend on the 

 fact that a man raises his foot in taking 

 a step forward. In swinging his weight 

 onto this foot he exerts downward pres- 

 sure on his heel. The skate shown in 



569 



