Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-01-29
THE VELOCIPEDE.

been invented, and upon the whole II iB
worthy to succeed baseball in the atiec-
tons of the young men of the country.
There are almost as many styles of veloCi
pedes as of four-wheeled carriages, and
they will multiply rapidly. We under
stand that there are nearly fifty patterns
on exhibition at the Patent Office. The
only vclocipedes worth talking about are
the two.whecled ones. There are three
| and four wheeled machines, but of course
| there is more friction to overcome in run
ming three or four wheels than in running
| two wheels, and there Is no trouble in ar
ranging for the application of the whole
| strength of u strong man to the two
| wheeled machine
Those who favor the three or four
wheeled vclocipedos, do 80 upon the theory
that they will stand up better But the
two wheeled machine will stand up we'll
enough as soon rs you learn TO manage It.
When we consider that the machine will
not stand for moment by itself, and that
the disposition TO tumble will be increased
by seating a man upon 1t, this seems to be
an improbable proposition. The secrets,
that the machine is kept up by the shifting
| of the foremost wheel, the other wheel
having nothing to do but follow and sup
| port the rider and receive the pressure Of
| the break. The trick of riding the velOci-
| pedc is In guiding it, If the rider under.
takes to sustain himself by swaying his
body so ~ to keep the center of gravity
over the support of wheels, he will newt
ably fall. Tho rider must put the ma
| chine in motion as he mounts It, That Is
| done in tho act of mounting by plac
| ing first one foot and then the
other upon the pcdals-a pretty nice opc.
ration. At the instant of mounting the
p a Nr l,.,h IA l,,h l,,
been aptly called the enhancing pole"
and rs the machine ia swayed by the pres
sure on the pedals, the front wheel must
be shifted to correspond to the irregular.
ity i'll the application of power and the
movements of the person Let IL be un-
dCrstood that as the machine goes on, if
the weight is too much to the right or left,
the guide must be used To bring the wheels
directly under the point where the weight
must be sustained. The arms and legs are
soon taught to work we'll together, and
the rider directs the machine with sure
and easy touch, and can avoid any object
| in the way with wonderful Cnlcrity and
accuracy. There must be nerve enough,
however not to hesitate. With hesitation
comes crash. Velocipede riding and
driving-it is both-is, for the beginner,
! very hard work. The strain comes upon
the arms and hands, owing to the con.
st mt necessity of guiding. The legs have
an nasy time. nothing more to do than
wher, walking, but the arms and hands
/ have the important duties to discharge
| and in learning the vcloCipede exercise il
! is the rule that the hands are blistcred
and the arms painfully wrcnChed. With
experience comes confidence and Compar-
ativc case, but we suspect that vclocpede
riding will be found, rs agcncral thing, to
be violent exercise. The temptation is
upon the vcloCipcde TO 70 iast--to speed
/ the machine to its utmost, and every jar
! of the wheels must be felt in the arms
/ which have to preserve the balance
1 The first lesson with the machine
/ is to take it by the handle and walk be-
side II, pushing it along and guiding il,
One learns in this way how quickly and
entirely the machine answers To the handle
how easily and instantly it may be
whirled this way or that. The lesson Is
To bestride the machine and move II
along, touching the toes tO the floor.
Hence beginners should not have the
largest velocipedes Impelling the ma
chine by touching the toes to the floor,
the guide or handle comes in play, and
presently is seen To serve 10 keep up the
machine, which, however, has as many
tricks as n fractions horse The novice, to
prevent himself from falling, is certain to
turn the wheel too far, and then he
sprawls upon the floor, or runs into the
wall. A good plan is to get the machine
on an incline, and ms it runs down try to
sustain it by the guiding wheel
The mystery of managing the wheel
once mustered, the rest is easy. When
some practice in handling the machine
has been had, and its movements have be.
come familiar, the effort is made To use
the feet ON the pedals II is best TO try at
first with but one foot. Those who at.
tempt to apply both feet at once will be
many times disappointed. Now comes
the hardest of the work, The walls of We
loCpede schools are SCARED and battered
with many blows, and the inclination,
when one is trying to be able TO mako the
thing go, to rush for the nearest pillar and
strike 1t with great force, is an amusing
! popularity.
The veloCipode once understood be
comes surprisingly smiablo. An expert
will ride ON one sideways, plying the
pedals with either foot, and win direct the
machine with one hand, whirl here and
there cutting circles like a swallow, aud
describing figure cights with the swiftncss
of champion skater Half dozen eN-
| pCrtS together will race aud cross each
others tracks and accomplish great va,
| riety of oCceptriCities without coming in
contact; but two novices practicing in a
room one hundred feet square, would IRE.
| Quently rush headlopg together The dan,
| ger of serious hurts is, however, not great,
even for beginners II is not lar 10 the
! ground or the floor, and during the first
| lessons great speed is not attained. A
| point of danger is in getting the feet
caught between the pedals and the wheel,
and sometimes in falling, persons have
been hurt by striking upon the end OF the
| handle. Ii the front wheel Is, from any
cause, turned suddenly at right angles TO
| the other the machine will tumble, and
| the rider, IL awkward ar exhausted, is
| liable 10 fall upon the handle, We have
| heard of one severe accident OF this kind
| in New York. Ii has been said, In dCserib-
| ing the velocipedcs used in Paris, that q
| gentleman could trundle one of them along
the street as easily as he could carry cane
This is a mistake. 1t is rather more
troublesome to get along with the yeloci'
pede than with wheelbarrow
Velocipedes can not be run over our
| boulder payements, or across such cutters
as we have in our streets, Therefore,
there need not be apprehenSiops that they
viii be q means Of locomotion about this
city They can be used on Nicholson
pavements, and on smooth turnpikes or
| dirt Ioaos, in the absence of mud II Is
difficult to ride them up hill, With severe
exertion they can be driven grade of one
| foot in nineteen; but one foot in twenty.
| five is enough TO overcome, While the
| beginner needs low machine-one with
a thiFiy-three inch front wheel, or saddle
| placed low-this is according TO the pat.
tern-the expert wishes 20 sit high and
well over the pedals. The speed 1t which
| yelOeipedes move, of course, varies as
widely as the speed of horses. Under
favorable conditions, il Is thought twenty
miles am hour can be made. BUTT would
be doing pretty well 60 accomplish from
ten 10 fifteen miles an hour on good
turnpike.