Dec. 19, 1684.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



507 



limited scale, the necessary labour for the remrival of 

 refuse would not be increased ; in fact, if judiciously 

 applied, there is in reality naught to preveiit its decrease. 

 Tiien, sgain, the utilisation of house-refuse wovild add to 

 the local funds and afford provision for similar exiensions 

 city-wards. In the meantime, preventive measures, such 

 as those now being carried out, would at first be negatively 

 advanced through tlw suppression of the outflow from 

 growiug neighbourhood-, and aftf rwaids positively aided hy 

 the natural growth of the reform, until the whole system 

 has been completed, and London, like Manchester, would 

 be sewageless. 



In our next communication we shall give an outline of 

 the principles upon which outhouses, in conforuiity wiih 

 the requirements of the earth and ash systems, ought to be 

 constructed, and show how they may add most materially to 

 a domestic economy of the highest possible standard. 



THE TRICYCLE IN 1884. 



By John Browning, 



Chairman of the London Tricycle Club. 

 V L G AN I Z E D RUBBER TYRES. 



THE possibility of tricycling on our, in many districts, 

 imperfect roads depends on the application of vul- 

 canized rubber as tyres for the wheels. 



Dr. Richardson has stated that the most important 

 consideration in tricycling is the reduction to the utmost 

 of vibration. There is no method of doing tliis known to 

 me so simple and efficacious as the adoption of large 

 vulcanized rubber tyres. 



Everything that tends to the reduction of the size of 

 the tyres is likely, therefore, to prove injurious to tri- 

 cyclists, and to the spread of tricycling. 



A short time since I saw a statement in a cycling paper 

 that vulcanized rubber tyres of large diameter are prejudi- 

 cial to the speed of tricycles. In proof of this statement, 

 some particulars were given of an experiment made by 

 the elder Starley, from which it appears that he rode two 

 tricycles of similar make, one having large tyres and the 

 other small, down the same hill, and that the machine 

 with small tyres ran the quicker of the two. 



I would not lightly impugn the accuracy of any result 

 arrived at by Starley ; but he was, of course, not infallible. 

 For instance, in his well-known machine, the Salvo, which 

 was the progenitor of all front-steering, double-driving 

 tricycles, he used a small front-steering wheel, and placed 

 it as close as possible to the driver. It has been abun- 

 dantly proved by those who have experimented in this 

 direction, that by using a large front wheel and throwing 

 it one foot, or even more, fiirther forward, that vibration 

 is much decreased, and the going of the machine improved. 



Unfortunately, the makers, who are aware of this fact, 

 cannot make their machines on the improved plan, for fear 

 the public should decline to purchase them, as they raise 

 what they consider the fatal objection " that a machine 

 with a larger front-steering wheel thrown further forward 

 does not look so nice ! " 



Probably a similar reason will prevent larger vulcanized 

 rubber tires from being used, though anyone who tries 

 them will fiud they possess great advantages. 



Paradoxical as it may seem, they are more advantageous 

 on light machines than on heavy ones, for the machine may 

 be made much lighter in the frame if the wheels are pro- 

 vided with large rubber tyres. 



The Surrey Machinists Company were the first to tike 

 advantage of this, and by making their Invincible machines 



on this jilan they have reduced their weight from one- 

 quarter to one-third, without impairing their durability. 

 For instance, when they first introduced their Invincible 

 Sociable, the lowest weight of any front steering Sociable in 

 the market was from about 140 to 150 lb., and this with 

 -J-iuch rubber tyres, while the weight of the Invincible 

 Sociable witli one-inch rubber tj'res did not exceed 100 Ih. 



Mr. Smith, the manager of the company, told me nearly 

 two years since that he had had considerable experience iu 

 riding machines with large rubber tyres, and that, the 

 weight being equal, he considered machines with large 

 rubber tyres the fastest. This is also Mr. Grace's con- 

 clusion, and it is mine. 



Now, it is easy to make the weight of two such machines 

 equal, because what is added to the weight of the wheels 

 may easily be taken out of the frame. 



The machine of Mr. Grace's, which I recently described 

 as being one of the fastest machines I have ever ridden, 

 has rubber tyres Jths diameter on the driving-wheels, and 

 1 in. on the fr^nt wheel. 



My experience is that small tyres are the fastest on very 

 good roads, but on rough roads the large tyres have a great 

 advantage. But it is just on rough roads, where the 

 machines run heavy, that we long to be eased of some of 

 the work, and should, consequently, prefer the large tyres. 

 I think it will be geneially agreed that it is a good machine 

 which goes well en a rough road. 



But, besides this excellent quality of travelling easily 

 under the most unfavourable conditions, large rubber tyres 

 possess many other important advaLtages. 



They do not come off the rims of the wheels nearly so 

 frequently as small tyres do. 



They increase the durability of the machine. 



They reduce, most materially, the vibration to the rider, 

 and they wear infinitely longer. 



I speak within bounds when I say that a tyre one inch 

 iu diameter will last twenty times as long as a tyre half 

 an inch in diameter with the same work. 



A great number of the readers of Knowlkdge are 

 tricyclists, and I shall feel much indebted to them if they 

 will write stating how far their experience agrees with my 

 own on these points. 



The Electkic-Lightixg Act. — The suggestion made by the 

 President of the Board of Trade to the deputation which 

 recently waited upon him, that clauses should be submitted to the 

 Board of Trade embodying the desired modifications of the Electric 

 Lighting Act and Provisional Orders, is to be acted upon, and a 

 committee consisting of representatives of the various electric 

 lighting interests is being constituted to draw up such clauses. 



Some rich mineral discoveries in the Illawarra district. New 

 South Wales, have just been reported by Mr. Hardy, mining engi- 

 neer, who has been prospecting for coal in the Calderwood Moun- 

 tains, about tlu-ee miles and a half from Dapto. The prospectors 

 have found no less than five seams of first-class coal, which range 

 from 4 ft. to 17 ft., together with an excellent sha'e seam. The 

 coal and kerosene shale will, it is estimated, last upwards of 200 

 years. Besides the above-mentioned, Mr. Hardy has discovered 

 a large seam of ironstone about 20 ft. in thickness. 



A Loro chorus of complaint is at present going up of the physiea 

 and mental injury and disquietude inflicted on dwellers near rail- 

 way stations by the incessant shrieking of the engine-whistles. So 

 far' as we know, however, no one has so far pointed out the even 

 more serious evil, that whistling by the drivers of locomotives has 

 become so common as to have practically ceased to be regarded as 

 any indication of danger. No one who has ever visited powder- 

 mills can fail to have been struck with the fact that all conversa- 

 tion is carried on there in so low a tone as to approximate almost to 

 a whisper. A shout or a loud call is but too well understood to 

 mean imminent peril; and all whose ears it reaches at once look 

 out for their own safety. If a cognate principle were only acted 

 on in the daily routine of railways, the life of many of their most 

 valuable servants might be annuallv saved. 



