86 



KNOVv^LEDGE - 



[Jan. 30, 1885. 



Whilst we were cliscu^fcing the ath system for the treat- 

 ment and removal of excreta, we noted that the one diffi- 

 culty of any magnitude in the way of that method was its 

 inadequacy in dealing effectively with house slops. We 

 have since learned that the energies of Mr. J. Conyers 

 Morell have been directed most successfully to the solu- 

 tion of this problem, and that he has overcome all ob- 

 stacles by the adaptation of an apparatus to his ashcloset 

 which can henceforward get rid of bedroom slops in such a 

 way as to pass them on purified and quite haimless to the 

 sewer. Our future illustrations will include a detailed 

 sketch of all the usiful and (tfective appliances in this 

 dej artment. 



HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A 



TRICYCLE. 



By Johx Browning. 



Chairman of tltc Loiidoyi Tricycle Cluh. 

 LUBRICANTS AND KUST - PREVENTIVES. 



WHEN you have got a good machine it is worth while 

 to take care of it. Experience has taught me 

 that there are very few, indeed, who know how to do this. 



The most important point in preserving a machine is 

 constant lubrication with an efficient hibricant. 



Before we can determine what is the best lubricant, we 

 must understand the principle of lubrication. Friction 

 increases with velocity, but not with pressure, unless the 

 pressure is so great that the lubricant is squeezed out. 

 From this it follows that the thicker the lubricant the 

 better it will act and the longer it will last. But pasty 

 lubricants have this disadvantage, that they remain in the 

 bearings, carrying with them particles of grit and abraded 

 metal ; while with a somewhat thinner lubricant these run 

 out, and when a fresh charge of the lubricant is applied, 

 they are washed out. 



Vaseline is an excellent lubricator, but it is too thick, 

 and when used alcne it does not cleanse the bearings. The 

 best way of using it is to add to it just sufficient good 

 paraffin to make it run easily cut of an oil-can. This com- 

 pound acts admirably, and never hardens ; the only objec- 

 tion I have to make to it is the smell of the paraffin, which 

 is vtry distasteful. 



Oliveoil may be used as a lubricant, but it is too thin, 



and after a time it hardens, forming a glutinous substance 



inside the bearings, and a horny substance outside the 



bearings, which can ouly be removed easily by using 



aroffin. 



Pure fperrn-oil is an exoeUent lubricant, because of its 

 viscidity, but it is almost useless to recommend its adoption 

 on account of the great difficulty of obtaining it free from 

 adulteration. 



By far the best oil to be obtained commercially is that 

 known as Avila Tringham's Paiby Oil. This is rather 

 thick, and has a pleasant smell. It is free from mineral 

 oil, and it never hardens even on the outside of bearings. 

 I have left a machine untouched through the whole winter, 

 after freely oiling the bearing.^, and in the spring I was 

 able easily to wipe away the oil which had exuded from 

 the bearings with a piece of cotton waste. I have never 

 found any other oil that I could purchase in bottle stand 

 this test. 



Most of the lubricating oils sold specially for the use of 

 bicyclists or tricyclists consist of a vegetable oil, such as 

 olive-oil or colton-oil, mixed with a mineral oil — paraffin. 

 They have all the same faults : they are too thin, and so 

 run out of the bearings too quickly ; and the mineral oil 



evaporates, and the vegetable oil hardens, as I have 

 described. 



If you wish to keep your machine in very perfect con- 

 dition, it is a good plan to clean it yourself. Gardeners, 

 coachmen, or other servants soon injure alight machine from 

 want of knowledge of its construction and how to handle it. 

 A tricycle can be cleaned most readily with oil. This in- 

 stantly softens mud, and allows it to be removed without 

 rubbing, and it does not carry the gr'it into the different 

 bearings as water does. 



I have found some of the cheap lubricating oils sold, irr 

 bottles holding about a pint, for a shilling, excellent for 

 this purpose. It is, of course, rather an expensive mode of 

 oleaning a tricycle, but it takes ruuch less oil for this purpose 

 than would be supposed. The rims of the wheels must, 

 however, be cleaned with water, because oil softens and 

 actually dissolves both the rubber tyres and also the cement 

 with which they are attached to the rims. 



Next in importance to lubricants are rust-preventers. 

 Vaseline, applied with a hog-hair brush or piece of rag tc- 

 either bright steel parts or nickelrsed work, is a great pro- 

 tection against rust; but Whittle's "Cycleum" is much 

 better. Vaseline is easily rubbed off, and dust clings to it. 

 Cycleum dries almost like a varnish, and so is free from both 

 these oVijections. Even a thin ccat of Cycleum, which has 

 been nearly rubbed off, is a gr-eat protection, for a machine 

 in this condition may be covered with rain and mud, and 

 left to get dry without fear of its rusting. The chain may 

 be protected by coating it with paraffin and blacklead, 

 applied with a brush. I generally add a -little vaseline 

 myself, so as to get more body into the compound ; 

 though it has the disadvantage of holding dust. I consider 

 it necessary to add vaseline if yoir give the chain only one 

 application, but two or three applications of the paraffiri 

 and black-lead only will produce a coat of black-lead 

 which will not hold dust, but will act as a lubricant arrd 

 rust-preventer. Tringham's Tricycline, which is probably 

 composed of paraffin-wax and plumbago, or fine black- 

 lead, is better than the compounds I have named. It 

 requires to be warmed before it is applied, but one appli- 

 cation produces a fine hard coat which is a perfect rust- 

 preventer, and an excellent lubricant. Either this com- 

 pound or vaseline are excellent for the gear-boxes of double- 

 driving motions, or two-speed gearings. 



All the articles I have referred to above I have used 

 many times ; but many of them my friend Mr. Grace 

 has experimented with, making the compounds himself, 

 and combining them in varioirs proportions. All the 

 results he has carefully arrived at he has kindly i)laced at 

 my disposal, for which I am greatly indebted to him. 



WOODEN MAGNETS TO CURE 

 DISEASE. 



ACUmOUS example of the force of imaginatrorr is 

 reported from Philadelphia. Dr. George C. Harlan, 

 srrrgeon to the Wills Ophthalmic Hospital in that city, in 

 the current number of the Medical Xiirs, reports a cur'ious 

 case, showing the great influence of the mind upon the 

 body, and the beneficial cflects of a wooden magnet upon 

 both. A young Philadelphia woman, Lizzie D. by name, 

 applied at the Polyclinic, Thirteenth and Locust streets, 

 for relief from a disease of the tonsils. She was treated 

 by ])r. Solis Cohen. Her disorder was attended with 

 hysteria, and, like all hysterical people, the idea of being 

 doctored filled her with delight. Shortly after her 

 initiation, the nervous symptoms became more and 



