March 10, 1882.] 



KNO\VLEDGE 



397 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



Pi, A I N mf ORJED -EXACTrf DESCRIBED 



-_-j 



LONDON: FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1882. 



COXTEKTS OF No. 19. 



PAGV 



Tricycles in 1882. By JohnBroiniing 397 

 The «reat Prramid". By tho Editor 398 

 Photographv for Amateure. By A. 



Brothere.'F.E.A.S 400 



The Crystal Palace Electrical Eihi- 



bition. Fiflh yolice 401 



Our Ancestors.— II. The Celts. By 



Grsnt .\llcn 402 



Notes on Rowing. By an old Club 



Captain 403 



The Sp«^/.i/or'» Comet 404 



Newton's Views as to a Menacing 



Comet. Bt a. C. Ranrard 4<M 



IntelligenL-e in Cats .'. 405 



Wood-Gas -105 



P16S 



For >^eit Week 405 



Meteorological Reports 405 



Omissions and Corrections 405 



Zodiacal Map 406 



CoBBBspO!rDSxcB : — Vegetarianism 

 — Intelligence in theDo^ — Elec- 

 trical Images — Darwinism — 

 Arranged Squares — Ghosts — Tele- 

 phone, Ac 407-409 



Qneries 410 



Replies to Queries 410 



,\n9wers to Correspondents 411 



Our Mathematical Column 413 



Our Chess Column 415 



Our Whist Column 416 



TRICYCLES IN 1882. 



By John Beownisg 



(Vice-President ot the Tricycle Association). 



ABOUT five years since the first modern tricycle was 

 built on the lines of the spider bicycle. This new 

 build, known as the Lever Coventry, was regarded with 

 amused curiosity by the general public, and with utter 

 contempt by most bicyclists ; yet it ^^'anted only a strap- 

 brake — that is, a band working on a drum — to make it a 

 thoroughly safe and efficient tricycle. 



Soon after this, Starley, the Stephenson of the tricycle, 

 who contrived the Lever Coventry, produced the Salvo. 

 This machine had a rotary motion obtained by means of 

 cranks, as in the bicycle, which was communicated by 

 means of a chain to the driving wheels. 



But the great peculiarity of the Salvo was that both 

 wheels were driven so long as the machine was moving in 

 a straight line, while either wheel was free to stand still, 

 or even run backwards, when the machine was turning. 

 There are now at least 150 tricycles, or rather machines 

 known by that number of different names, but these are 

 principally of three or four types, and all those belonging 

 to the largest and possibly the best type, are modifications, 

 sometimes only in name, of the " Salvo." 



Less than two and a half years ago the two principal 

 tricycle clubs of the metropolis, the London and the Finchley, 

 arranged a fifty-mile ride for the Tricycle Championship. 

 . This was ridden over the liilliest road out of London 

 in four hours fourteen minutes. The rider, Mr. Lacy 

 Hillier, is the amateur champion of the bicycle and 

 tricycle. The machine he rode is known as the Humber, 

 and it was brought out for tliis ride. Looked at sideways, 

 it has the appearance of a bicycle ; but it may be described 

 as a bicycle with two front wheels. The rider sits on a 

 saddle between them, and steers by means of a cross-bar 

 which turns them both. This is probably still the fastest 

 tricycle, but it requires some practice to ride it at all 

 well. It is not a good luggage carrier, it will not turn 

 easily or in a small circle, and it requires careful riding, 

 particularly down hill. For these reasons it is not so 



generally adopted as its good qualities deserve it 

 should be. 



About twenty or thirty novel tricycles have been intro- 

 duced this year. Of these about a dozen possess great 

 originality, and three or four considerable merit. The 

 llucker, the National Arms Company's National Trl \ c'.., 

 tlio Improved Omnicycle, the Improved Devon, the New 

 Kotary Coventry, and tho Monarch, are, in my opinion, 

 the best machines, the Slonarch being the mo.'^t original 

 brought out this season. The whole of the machines I 

 have named, with the exception of the Cmentry, are 

 double-drivers. Of these the Ruckcr and the Monarch 

 have the small steering wheel behind, and thus are per- 

 fectly open in front. I do not say that such machines 

 are by any means less liable to accidents than those 

 which have the steering wheel in front, but if accidents 

 should occur, they are not likely to have such serious results, 

 as the rider may jump out or fall out of the machine with- 

 out falling on to or being caught by the steering gear 

 or front wheel. 



About two years since, most of the tricycles which were 

 driven by means of a chain were geared-up — that is, the 

 driving wheels were made to go round faster than the 

 pedals. In some letters I then wrote to the Cyclist, I 

 asserted that this was a mistake. Now, most of the best 

 riders agree that tricycles should be geared down — that is, . 

 the pedals should go round faster than the wheels. In 

 such an arrangement, of course, power is gained and speed 

 is lost. When the gearing down is carried to a great extent, 

 the pedals make two revolutions for one revolution of the 

 driving-wheels. A macliine so geared can be ridden up a 

 steep hill easier than a bicycle. The chain is a source 

 of trouble in a tricycle, though it has been improved of 

 late. It is liable to stretch and so slip over the cogs, and 

 I believe, occasionally it has brought a machine to a dead 

 standstill for an instant, by not passing round with the 

 cogs freely. The result of this has been that the rider has 

 been thrown out of the machine. Some tricycles have two 

 chains — one to each of the driving-wheels ; these, with the 

 exception of the Monarch, are the only true double-drivers, 

 and are the best for mounting hills. The machines which 

 profess to be double-drivers, through the inter- mediation of 

 what is called a balance action, are double-drivers only so 

 long as the resistance to both wheels is the same. As soon 

 as one wheel experiences more resistance than the other, it 

 ceases to drive, just when its driving power is the most 

 wanted to overcome an oljstruction. 



Probably the best size for the driving-wheels of a tricycle 

 is from iS in. to 50 in. diameter. If smaller than this they 

 rise with difficulty over any small inequalities in a rough 

 road. If larger, unless very stoutly made, they are weak, 

 and if strong they make the machine unnecessarily 

 heavy. The weight of tricycles with from 48 in. to 50 in. 

 wheels varies from 75 lb. to 120 lb., but very few are 

 less than from 95 lb. to 98 lb. This weight is more than it 

 should be for machines intended for riders weighing from 8 

 to 10 stone. 



^Manufacturers ought to make machines of difierent 

 degrees of strength and weight. At present, all machines 

 are, as a rule, strong enough to carry a man who weighs 

 16 stone. There are, however, two new machines this season 

 which are excellent in this respect. The National Tricycle 

 Co.'s machine weighs only 701b., and the Monarch only 

 631b. Until the Humber Tricycle was produced, tricycles 

 were of very inferior workmanship to bicycles ; but that 

 machine, the Cheylesmore, the Coventry Rotary, and the 

 Premier are now of first-rate excellence. 



Generally speaking, the worst points of a tricycle, both 

 as regards contrivance and workmanship, are the pedals, and 



