5t 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Jan. 16, 1885. 



often be traced the source of illness. An inside soil-pipe 

 is also liable to be a patchwork of anything handy, with 

 its joints stuti'ed with putty, the external part of the pipe 

 U then covered with paper, or painted, and very soon 

 requires the regular visits of the plumber to stop leakage 

 and the escape of unwholesome gase.s. We have to be 

 very thankful, however, that our British workman is not 

 " up to the dodges " of his American brother in furnishing 

 modern improvements, ventilators, ic, which are in reality 

 but diverticula into walls, and apparent continuations aloft 

 in dummy terminals. 



"CARRYING" TRICYCLES. 



By John Browsinc:. 



Chairman of the London Tiicyclc Chih. 

 THE " DESrATCH." 



THE use of the tricycle as a carriage for transporting 

 light goods and delivering them in towns is rapidly 



The Despatch Tricycle. 



A great impetus will be given to the use of the machine 

 for this purpose by the introduction of the " Dispatch " 

 tricycle by Messrs. Starley i Sutton, of Coventry. This 

 machine is par excellence the carrying tricycle. It seems 

 to me to fulfil every possible requirement of safety, speed, 

 and facility for rapid delivery. The back of the machine 

 being quite open and free, the rider can mount and dis- 

 mount in.stantly without stopping the machine. In start- 

 ing the rider can push it for a few yards, and, getting up a 

 momentum, quietly put his foot on the crank, which, by 

 revolving, will lift hiai easily into the saddle, or, if he 

 prefers doing so, he can mount by means of a step. 



When heavily loaded, the machine can be pushed by 

 both hands up a steep hill. 



In dismounting, the rider can slide quickly ofi" the saddle 

 or dismount from the step, in either case without leaving 

 his hold of the handles, thus retaining a perfect command 

 over the machine, in case of danger or necessity, even if 

 the machine be travelling at the rate of twelve miles an 

 iwir. 



Tbe machine is fitted with two band-brakes. These will 

 stop the machine in a few yards when running down a 

 steep hill, or lock it when standing. 



The driving-wheels of the " Despatch " are forty inches, 

 geared down to about thirty-six inches, for the sake of ob- 

 taining power and ease in driving. 



As will be seen from the engraving,'the machine is a front- 

 steerer, and the front steering-wheel is half the size of the 

 driving-wheels, and is between three and four feet in 

 advance of the driver. The weight carried in the basket is 

 iuidway between the three wheels, and therefore vibration 

 is reduced to a minimum. 



A small, light machine, made on this plan, would be 

 admirably adapted for carrying a full-sized set of photo- 

 graphic a]iparatus to take large pictures. 



I wish the enterprising and ingenious makers of the 

 " Despatch " would bring out a small-wheeled front-steering 

 tricycle on the same lines, with 3G-in. driving-wheels driven 

 by ratchets, thus giving the combined advantages of 

 double driving with free pedals, the machine to be geared 

 from .5.5 to GU in. to suit the requirements of the rider. Of 

 cour.se, the rider would sit further forward, and the front 

 steering-wheel would be brought further back than in the 

 "Despatch." 



Such a machine would be light, fast, and strong, and it 

 could be made cheaply if manufactured in numbers ; but 

 if any of my readers should order a single machine built 

 on such a plan at a low price, I must assure them that they 

 cannot expect to get it ; for although, if made in numbers, 

 the machine could be sold at £20, a single machine, if 

 made of the best materials and workmanship, could not be 

 sold much under .£30. 



I must take this opportunity of saying, also, that my 

 readers must not expect to obtain all the advantages of 

 the numerous contrivances I have described, praised, or 

 recommended combined in one machine, because while they 

 may have been highly beneficial in the particular tricycles 

 on which I have tested them, yet they would, in many 

 instances, be incompatible with each other. 



Technical Edccatiox ix London. — A complete "ladder of 

 endowments" in the matter of technical education has just been 

 set up In* the Trnstees of the Mitchell City of London Cliarity for 

 the advantage of boys resident or employed in the City. There 

 are first of all twelve scholarships to the Cowper-street Middle- 

 class School ; holders of these scholarships are then eligible at the 

 end of the school course for further, although, of course, fewer, 

 " Mitchell Scholai-ships " at the Finsbnry Technical College ; and 

 from there the fittest may proceed again with " Mitchell Scholar- 

 ships," to what will be the Technical University, in Eshibition- 

 road. The scholarships at the Cowper-street Schools are to be 

 competed for this month, and particulars may be obtained from 

 Dr. Worwell, the head-master. 



The crew of the American slfip Alert, from New York to 

 Shanghai, with 40,000 cases of oil, which was burned on Nor. l-l, 

 about 5C0 niles north of the Equator, were rescued by the French 

 steamship Comic D^Ku, from Havre to Pernambuco, and have been 

 landed at New York. During a squall the vessel was struck by 

 lightning, which shattered the fore royal mast, but apparently did 

 ni;) other damage. Half-an-hour afterwards smoke was discovered 

 issuing from the fore hatch. After other efforts to quench the fire 

 had failed, the hatches were battened down, but were quickly blown 

 out by a terrific explosion. The ship was iinally abandoned, but 

 the boats remained close by, and the crew were rescued next morn- 

 ing by the steamship, attracted fifty miles away by the light of the 

 burning vessel. 



The Standard's New York correspondent says: — A resumi oi 

 the commmercial statistics of 1884 gives the following interesting 

 particulars : — The number of business failures in the States was 

 10,008, the largest ever known, and 1,781 over those of 1883. The 

 liabilities of these bankrupts amounted to 226,000,000 of dollars, 

 which was 54,000,000 dols. over 1883. On the New York Stock 

 Exchange the total sales transferred the ownership of shares 

 valued at 96,000,000 of dollars — about the same sum as in 18S3 ; 

 in 18S2 the sales were 113,720,665 dols. The Clearing House 

 Exchanges dealt with a value of 32, 157,732,582 dols. ; in 1883 the 

 amount was 38,908,978,968 dols. The cotton sales were 21,062,500 

 of bales; in 1883, 25,034,700 bales. The value of the staple pro- 

 ducts of the country have declined in the same way as Stocks, 

 except cotton ; wool, 33 to 41 last year, against 21 to 23 to-day j 

 pig-iron, 20^ to21i dols. per ton last year, agaiust IS to 18^ to- 

 day ; steel rails, 33 to 35 then, against 28 now ; wheat, llOJ then, 

 against 84} to 85} now ; corn, 65s in 1884, against 52 in 1883 ; pork 

 1475 a year ago, against 12 dols. to-day. The number of immi- 

 grants who arrived at the Castle Garden depot, New York, in 1S84 

 was 388,207, against 320,700 in 1883. The annual statistics of 

 the city of New York show a surprising increase in the number of 

 suicides, namclv, 226 against 161 in 1883. 



