The cycle trade is one which has been developed with great rapidity
within the last ten years, and, like all new industries, has called
forth a considerable amount of ingenuity and skill on the part of those
engaged in it. We cannot help thinking, however, that much of this
ingenuity has been misplaced, and that instead of striving after new
forms involving considerable complication and weight, it would have
been better and more profitable if manufacturers had moderated their
aspirations, and aimed at greater simplicity of design; for it must
be remembered that cyclists are, as a rule, without the slightest
mechanical knowledge, while the machines themselves are subject to very
hard usage and considerable wear and tear in traveling over the
ordinary roads in this country. We refer, of course, more especially to
tricycles, which in one form or another are fast taking the place of
bicycles, and which promise to assume an important position in every
day locomotion. Hitherto one of the chief objections to the use of the
tricycle has been the great difficulty experienced in climbing hills, a
very slight ascent being sufficient to tax the powers of the rider to
such an extent as to induce if not compel him in most instances to
dismount and wheel his machine along by hand until more favorable ground
is reached. To obviate this inconvenience many makers have introduced
some arrangement of gearing speeds of two powers giving the necessary
variation for traveling up hill and on the level. We noticed, however,
one machine at the exhibition which seemed to give all that could be
desired without any gearing or chains at all. This was a direct action
tricycle shown by the National Cycle Company, of Coventry, in which the
pressure from the foot is made to bear directly upon the main axle, and
so transmitted without loss to the driving wheels on each side, the
position of the rider being arranged so that just sufficient load is
allowed to fall on the back wheel as to obtain certainty in steerage.
The weight of this machine is much less than when gearing is used, and
the friction is also considerably reduced, trials with the dynamometer
having shown that on a level, smooth road, a pull of 1 lb. readily
moved it, while with a rider in the seat 4 lb. was sufficient. On this
tricycle any ordinary hill can, it is stated, be ascended with great
ease, and as a proof of its power it was exhibited at the Stanley show
climbing over a piece of wood 8 in. high, without any momentum whatever.
We understand that at the works at Coventry a flight of stairs has been
erected, and that no difficulty is experienced in ascending them on one
of these machines.--_The Engineer_.
* * * * *