218 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Sept. 12, 1884. 



chair, in front of and below the driver, who pedals behind 

 him. 



In a trial which recently took place of the Coventry 

 Chair, an untrained workman, with a sitter weighing 

 between eleven and twelve stone in the chair, drove from 

 Coventry to Birmingliam, and back — a distance of thirty- 

 five miles — in four and three quarter hours, including 

 stoppages amounting to thirty-five minutes ; the riding time 

 was thus only four hours and ten minutes — a pace of 

 between eiyht and nine miles per hour. 



I expect very soon to see some Coventry Chairs in our 

 sea-sifie watering-places, and wish the ingenious and spirited 

 inventors success. 



I cannot resist the opportunity of pointing out how this 

 machine proves the accuracy of one of my so-called theories 

 that a large amount of weight may be thrown upon the 

 front steering-wheel of a tricycle with advantage. 



THE NEW QUADRANT. 



Messrs. Lloyd Bros, have kindly shown me a new front- 

 steering Quadrant tricycle, of which I think highly. The 

 machine is very light, weighing only .50 lb. with a brake. 

 It has 40-in. driving-wheels, and a 2G-in. frout-steering- 

 wheel. Of course, this laige steering-wheel lias only been 

 rendered possible by the use of the ingenious Quadrant 

 system of steering. The makers have had the courage to 

 throw the weight of the rider on to the steering-wheel and 

 in front of the driving-wheels, and so to dispense with the 

 weight and inconvenience of back-stays to prevent the 

 machine from capsizing backwards. I say they have 

 adopted the correct plan in making a machiue which can- 

 not in this particularly dangerous manner be capsized, 

 because I have known of two bad accidents occurring to 

 my own friends, owing to these back stays, which were to 

 prevent accidents, themselves giving way. 



The driving-wheels of this Quadrant are only 40-in. 

 diameter, and it is spoken of by those who have tried it 

 as an exceedingly fast machine. I confess I feel greatly 

 interested in its success, as it embodies every important 

 point in its construction which I have for some time been 



urging on manufacturers, viz., small driving-wheels, large 

 front-steering-wheel, and the weight of the rider thrown 

 well upon it. Its success would prove, in a machine which 

 can be purchased in the open market, that the advantages 

 of small wheels are not, as has been so frequently asserted, 

 confined to the Humber type of tricycle. 



1 should exceedingly like to test this new Quadrant 

 well, but the only machine I could get at present is one 

 without a brake, geared to 60-in. Now a .jO-in is the very 

 highest gearing I can ride with advantage in a one-speed 

 machine, and I should, therefore, be only trying myself, 

 and not the machine, if I were to take it, as I should do, 

 over a hilly line of country, as I consider this the true 

 method of testing a tricycle. 



I anticipate that this will prove the fastest of the front- 

 steeiiiig machines, as well as one of the safest. 



THE CLUB TANDEM. 



The Coventry Machinists' Company have introduced yet 

 another new Tandem. This machine is a good front- 

 steering tricycle, with a movable backbone attached by a 

 joint behind in the centre of the axle. This carries a 

 small wheel and a saddle for a second sitter. The front 

 rider steers, but the machine can be arranged so that 

 either rider can steer, and either rider can now apply the 

 brake. 



The riders do not sit so close together as on many- 

 Tandems. 



By removing three small bolts the Club Tandem can be 

 converted into an excellent front-steering machine for a 

 single rider. 



I have had no experience in riding this machine, though 

 I have been on one, but I do not see how it can fail to 

 perform well. 



THE INTERNATIONAL HEALTH 

 EXHIBITION. 



XV.— WATER AND WATER-SUPPLIES— (coM^inwd). 



Type VI.—" Chamberland's " Filter.— Amongst the 

 interesting group of exhibits in the French Court, under 

 the direction of the distinguished professor of the Ecole 

 Normale, of Paris, there are a few examples of this type of 

 filter open to inspection. It has been specially designed 

 for laboratory work, and consists of a hollow cylinder 

 closed at one end, made out of biscuit china ; probably a 

 hydrous silicate of alumina and lime passed through a 

 preliminary or biscuit furnace. The water is forced to 

 percolate through the walls of this comparatively dense 

 material, and, in doing so, becomes divested of even the 

 minutest aerms, such as Bacilli, ic. ; and, so thoroughly 

 does it accomplish its work, that M. Pasteur has relied 

 upon it for water in his experiments upon the culture of 

 the lower forms of life. 



Type VII.— Maignen's "Patent Filtre Eapide." We 



