260 



Popular Science Monthly 



And Now Comes the Front- Wheel 

 Drive Motor-Cycle 



AMONG the many new forms of lo- 

 comotion which are continuahy 

 starthng the pubhc appears the front- 

 wheel drive motor bicycle. This novel 



This front-wheel drive motor-cycle will 

 run one hundred miles on one gallon of 

 gasoline 



machine is equipped with a device very 

 similar to the motor wheel to be seen 

 on the street. 



The motor wheel in this case is actu- 

 ally the front wheel of the bicycle, and 

 it is claimed by the makers that it em- 

 bodies the correct principle of pulling 

 the load instead of pushing it. This 

 method of construction permits of a di- 

 rect transmission of power, the usual 

 chain, belt or shaft drives being elim- 

 inated. The front wheel bears the 

 weight of the motor, while the weight of 

 the rider is borne by the rear wheel. 



The motor is a single cylinder, four- 

 cycle, and air cooled. It is said that it 

 will drive the machine at a speed of 

 twenty-five miles an hour for a distance 

 of one hundred miles on one gallon of 

 gasoline. 



Three-Wheeled 'Rickishas for Asia 



A CONSIGNMENT of five hundred 

 jinrickishas has been shipped to 

 Calcutta, India, for distribution through- 

 out the Orient, with the intention of 

 eventually displacing the two-wheeled 

 'rickishas now in use in Asiatic coun- 

 tries. The two-wheeled 'rickishas have 

 a great disadvantage in the unpleasant 



way they often tip out the passenger 

 when the coolie drops the handles to the 

 ground. The new 'rickisha eliminates 

 this disagreeable feature, and it pos- 

 sesses an added advantage, because of 

 having pedals, in keeping the feet of the 

 coolie from the ground. Wet pavements 

 and muddy roads have been the cause of 

 many deaths among the jinrickisha coolie 

 population of Asia ever since that vehicle 

 was first introduced by an enterprising 

 American missionary in the lands where 

 the 'rickisha reigns. 



Some of the new jinrickishas are 

 provided with storage batteries and an 

 electric motor, but the majority of them 

 are driven by foot pedals. The gearing 

 is comparatively low, to adapt the new 

 'rickisha for hill climbing. 



Another consignment of five hundred 

 of the vehicles will be shipped as soon 

 as the American factory, where they 

 are made, can turn them out. They are 

 destined for India, China, Philippine 

 Islands, Java, and the Straits Settle- 

 ments. 



A Makeshift Polarity Indicator 



TWO lengths of soldering wire at- 

 tached to the two wires of a direct 

 current circuit and suspended in a weak 

 solution of sulphuric acid will serve as 

 an emergency polarity indicator. After 

 the wires have been in the solution for 

 several seconds, one of them will be- 

 come covered with a brown layer, in- 

 dicating that the wire is connected to 

 the positive side of the circuit. The 

 brown layer is lead peroxide. 



Tricycle jinrickishas are now used in 

 the Orient, thanks to American salesmen 



