Oct. 10, 1881] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



301 



moment we liave fouud an inward motion in the parts of 

 the moon, or one jiroduced by foreign causes, here is enough 

 for the new birth of its inhabitants, and a sutliciint and 

 necessary fund for their subsistence. This will fuinish us 

 with corn, fruit, water, and what else we please, I mean 

 accordiug to the custom or manner of the moon, which I 

 do not pretend to know, and all proportioned to the wants 

 and uses of the inhabitants, with whom I pretend to be as 

 little acquainted." 



" That is to say," replied the Marchioness, " you know 

 all is very well, without knowing how it is so, which is 

 a great deal of ignorance founded upon a very little know- 

 ledge. However, I comfort myself that you have given 

 the moon her inhabitants iigain, and have wrapped her in 

 an air of her own, without which a planet would seem but 

 very naked." 



" 'Tis these two different airs, madam, that hinder the 

 communication of the two jilanets : if it was only flying, as 

 I told you yesterday, who knows but we might improve it 

 to perfection, though I confess there is but little hopes of 

 it ? The great distance between the moon and the earth 

 is a difficulty not easy to be surmounted ; yet were the 

 distance but inconsiderable, and the two planets almost 

 contiguous, it would be still impossible to pass from the air 

 of the one into the air of the other. The water is the air 

 of fishes ; they never pass into the air of the birds, nor the 

 bii'ds into the air of the fish ; and yet 'tis not the distance 

 that hinders them, but both are imprisoned by the air they 

 breathe in. We tind our air consists of thicker and grosser 

 vapours than the air of the moon; so that one of her in- 

 habitants arriving at the confines of our world, as soon as 

 he enters our air will inevitably drown himself, and we 

 shall see him fall dead on the earth. 

 (To be continued.) 



TRICYCLES IN 1884. 



By John Browning, 



Chairman of the London Tricycle Clvb. 

 A NEW TWO-SPEED GEARING. 



HIRST, of West Croydon, the well-known maker of 

 specially-light tricycles, has just perfected yet 

 another Two-speed Gearing. This arrangement, proposed 

 in the first place, I believe, by Mr. Rich, seems to be as 

 simple in plan and efficient in action as such a contrivance 

 can well be made. It is like several other arrangements 

 intended for a similar purpose, — to a certain extent, a 

 modification of the well-known sun-and-planet action. 



When the machine is geared to travel at speed, a small- 

 toothed wheel is locked in the centre of the lower chain- 

 wheel, and the whole of the parts work together without 

 extra friction. When it is desired to drive with more 

 power, but, of course, at a lower speed, a slight turn of a 

 spade-handle unlocks the toothed wheel, and a movement 

 forward shifts the chain-wheel, so that a hollow toothed 

 ring inside the chain-wheel engages into the teeth of the 

 small central cog-wheel previously referred to. In this 

 condition the chain-wheel is driven through the inter- 

 mediation of the cogs, and I may say at once that it 

 performs well. 



Before saying this I have had opportunities of testing 

 the contrivance severely, as I have had it applied to my 

 small Sociable made by Hirst, which is one of the most 

 perfect machines I would ever wish to ride. I have tried 

 a machine belonging to the maker, and Mr. Grace has 

 kindly placed the first machine of the kind, which was 

 made specially for him, at my disposal. My own machine 



was geared exceptionally low, and the maker's rather un- 

 usually high. Mr. Grace's machine was geared to 39 in. 

 for power and 52 in. for speed, a combination exactly 

 suited to my requirements. 'This machine is a front-steerer 

 with 40-in. driving wheels, having ^in. rubber tires, and a 

 20in. steering-wheel with 1-in. rubljer tires. The machine 

 weighs 82 lb., but it was weighted with touring requisites 

 so as to weigh about 90 lb. 



I started with this machine, and rode thirteen miles, of 

 which about ten or eleven miles were up-hill ; then I rode 

 it with the high-speed gearing up a long and tolerably 

 steep hill, and immediately, without resting, changed to 

 the power gear, and rode it up another hill still longer and 

 steeper. 



Under all circumstances, both the machine and the gear- 

 ing arrangement acted admirably. I could not suggest 

 any alteration in them which would be likely to improve 

 them. 



My own small Sociable, the first Cobweb made, I have 

 ridden 150 miles, accompanied by my wife, with the new 

 gearing on it, and this has behaved just as well. 



One ride we took from Reigate to Worthing, and on to 

 Littlebampton, in one day, and the next went on to 

 Arundel and Chichester. 'The last stage of this ride, about 

 eleven miles, includes, I should think, eight miles of short, 

 rather steep hills. Just before we reached Arundel it had 

 been raining hard for several hours, so that the roads were 

 very heavy, and we had a strong wind against us ; yet we 

 rode the eleven miles in one hour and three quarters with 

 only one dismount, and walked less than a quarter of a mile. 

 Had the machine not been provided with this excellent 

 hill-gearing, we must have dismounted nearer a dozen 

 times and walked through the mud for several miles. 



There is, I regret to see, a strong disposition on the part 

 of many writers to undervalue the usefulness of two-speed 

 gearings. It is, I think, unfortunate, as it acts against the 

 spread of tricycling that nearly all the articles written on 

 the subject are written by athletes who have for years 

 ridden bicycles and tricycles, and who can, by the aid of 

 strong muscles and incessant practice, drive nearly any 

 machine along at the rate of from ten to twelve miles an 

 hour. From such a rider I received a letter a few days 

 since, in which he says : — " How dtfierently we are con- 

 stituted ; most of us, when we have a two-speed gearing, 

 never think of using it ; we prefer using a little more 

 muscle, and making progress to show with it." 



Of course, this is a hint that all other riders should do 

 the same. The advice is very like the Dutchman's direc- 

 tion, "You must go along the road as far as you can, and 

 then you must go a little further." 



For the pace to be satisfactory, a high-gearing must be 

 used, say from 5-1 to 57. Let the rider of a machine so 

 geared come on to very rough or muddy roads, or against a 

 high wind, and he must either walk or submit to slavery. 

 But if the machine has two-speeds, with a lower-gearing to 

 fall back upon, then the high gearing has not this drawback 

 to contend against. 



About a fortnight ago I rode 631- miles on my two-speed 

 Rucker in 6 h. 57 m., over a right-away road, and left ofi' 

 fresher than I began. I did not dismount for any hill in 

 the whole distance. I was accompanied by my friend Mr. 

 Arthur Salmon, who took the time and checked the distance 

 with maps, road-books, and a cyclometer. I feel certain 

 this ride would have been impossible for me without a 

 two-speed gearing. Seven miles an hour is as much as I 

 care to ride for a distance of fifty or sixty miles on an 

 ordinary machine ; the pace of over nine miles an hour was 

 only achieved entirely by the use of the double gearing. 



When racing on a prepared path, two-speed gearings are, 



