290 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[May 18, 1883. 



business, so long we shall hoar of the decline and sickness 

 of our commerce, though the volume of our exports and 

 imports may bo quite satisfactory. It is surely important 

 that men's minds should bo clear in this respect. 



As I have repeatedly stated, it would bo most unwise to 

 dogmatise or to prophesy where the operation of causes is 

 so covered and obscured by countless modifying circum- 

 stances, Viut it is none the less right to trace them and 

 bring them into light as far as it is po.ssible. 



George J. Goschen. 



ON A TOY TRICYCLE. 

 By John Browning, 



Chairman and Treasurer of the London Tricycle Club. 



I TRUST the readers of Kxowledge will not suppose 

 from the heading of this article that I am about to 

 indict on them a description of one of the children's 

 tricycles which are to be seen standing outside toyshops. 

 Yet these toys are remarkable in their way : they contain 

 nearly every fault which can be included in such a limited 

 compass, such as bad workmanship and materials, weak- 

 ness where strength is required, and weight and strength 

 where they are unnecessary. 



But it is still more remarkable to see what a plucky boy 

 or girl can accomplish on one of these compounds of 

 mechanical blunders, actually mounting inclines which 

 would tax a moderately good tricyclist on a fairly good 

 machine. 



I have, however, to tell of a tricycle of quite another kind ; 

 one in which the workmanship almost equals that of a good 

 philosophical instrument, and the materials are of the very 

 best, being of steel niokelised and gun-metal, and in which 

 it would be difficult to reduce the weight of any part by 

 a single ounce without unduly weakening the machine ; 

 and yet this tricycle was spoken of by those who ought to 

 have known better as a toy ! 



The circumstances which led up to this machine being 

 built will, I think, prove interesting to all who care for 

 the history of the tricycle and desire its further improve- 

 ment. 



Soon after Starley invented the Lever Coventry Tricycle, 

 I called at the London warehouse of the manufacturers 

 and asked for as light a machine as they could make me. 

 They showed me some machines, the driving-wheels of which 

 were 54 inches in diameter, and the weight not, I have 

 reason to believe, less than from 1 1 5 lb. to 1 20 lb. They 

 told me the machine could not be made to weigh less. I 

 suggested that if they would make the driving-wheel 45 

 inches, the whole machine might be made smaller in pro- 

 portion and to weigh considerably less. They assured me 

 that a smaller wheel would not pass over the obstacles 

 often met with on ordinary roads, that the speed of the 

 machine would be greatly reduced, and that the machines 

 with the largest wheels went the easiest up hills ! I told 

 them that this was against all the principles of mechanics. 

 The reply I received was that they did not care about the 

 principles of mechanics ; they had tried the experiment of 

 riding up hills, both on small and large wheels, and they 

 were ijuoting practical results. 



As I was then unknown in the tricycling world, I 

 could not persuade them to do anything for me different 

 to their stock machines. An agent with whom 1 had 

 some influence got the same firm soon after to make me a 

 machine with a 50-in. driving-wheel. The weight of this 

 machine — which, it must be recollected, had only one large 



wheel — was 97 lb. The standard dimensions of these 

 makers are now machines with driving-wheel 48 iBches 

 diameter, weighing not much more than 75 lb. 



At the commencement of the next season I saw Starley, 

 who then showed me his new machine, which he had 

 christened the " Salvo-tiuadricycle," the same excellent, 

 all-round machine which is now known as the " Salvo." 

 This machine weighed about 112 lb. I admired the 

 ingenuity of his now universally-adopted double-driving 

 arrangement, and told him that the machine was very 

 suitable for a man weighing from IG to 18 stone. I added, 

 that if he would make such a machine to weigh 56 lb., 

 it would suit lue exactly. He said he could not reduce 

 the weight, and I declined to have one. This machine had 

 50-in. driving-wheels. The next season he brought out a 

 lady's " Salvo," with driving-wheels 4G inches in diameter, 

 and said to he much lighter. One of these machines I 

 bought, and it proved to weigh 96 lb. The wheels were 

 geared down to 38 inches, and my pace was faster on it 

 than on the Lever and Coventry by about twenty per 

 cent, at least. 



Since then I have ridden sometimes as many as four or 

 five machines in a single day, through the kindness of 

 members of my club, and I have generally owned several 

 tricycles myself varying greatly in construction. 



As a result of my experience, I prefer a rear-steerer, 

 with ratchets for easy riding or touring, particularly when 

 carrying luggage or photographic apparatus, provided the 

 niac/dne be so made as to be safe tvlien running doien 

 hill. 



I havealways advocated ridingatabout the rateof six miles 

 an hour, using but little, if any, more exertion than would 

 be necessary to walk at half that pace. At this speed any 

 person, with a little practice, can ride from 35 to 50 

 miles in a day without fatigue. But at the end of last 

 season I determined to have one machine on which I could 

 travel at the highest rate of speed I could well attain. To 

 do this, I knew that, being light, and not physically strong, 

 I must get the lightest machine possilile. On considering 

 the whole of the machines known to me, I found that 

 Humber, Marriott, & Cooper had reduced the size of the 

 dri\dng-wheels of their Humber Tricycle to 42 inches, and 

 the weight to about 65 lb. 



I asked them to make me a machine with 3S-in. driving- 

 wheels, and to keep every part of the machine down to the 

 lightest possible weight. This troublesome commission 

 they readily undertook, and carried out. The machine 

 was completed and exhibited at the Albert Hall in February 

 last. The weight proved to be 52] lb. — only a few pounds 

 more than the weight of a roadster bicycle. Because of its 

 small size, it was spoken of as the " Toy ; " but I am now 

 able to state with confidence that it does not merit that 

 name. I have ridden it through 300 miles of exceptionally 

 hiUy country, over many rough roads ; and although the 

 38-in. wheels are geared to run as 50 in., I have ridden up 

 every hill on it that I could ride on other machines geared 

 down to 40 in., and my pace is at least one mile per 

 hour faster than on any machine I have previously 

 ridden. 



When I can get one of the new two-speed gearings 

 adapted to this machine, so that it can be made to run for 

 hill riding at about 35 in., and for the level and down- 

 hill at about 55 in., it will be for fast riding all I can 

 desire. 



Candour compels me to add that it requires most careful 

 handling, particularly when riding at night-time. But 

 those who are not nervous, and who will take time to learn 

 to ride this class of machine, will find themselves well 

 rewarded for their pains. 



