The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-02-11
The YeIOcipede.

ADVANCING civilization strives to econ
omize time by annihilating distance.
Therefore the telegraph, the railway and
the standing French prize for inventors
in the science and art Of flying. ooh
had | wings like dove" is praye- not
limited to the spiritually weary. Rail-
ways do not always have stations where
we want to go, and wings, some scientists
think, will not help Us until our fore
arms are developed into natural pinions
So we must adopt the next very best de-
vice. Next faster than slow pedestrianism
is to make one'a self burden for beasts
Therefore camel aided Mahomet's
Hegira, Bucephalus carried Alexander,
the Centaurs were born on horseback,
Gen. Taylor rode Whitley" and Henry
Ward Beecher was conteut with slow
"Old Charlie" he saw and bought
VelOcipede, the Latin or French "swift
foot "
1.-THE velocipede I" Who, after allsthe
talk and all the newspaper paragraps, has
not heard OF the new inanimate horse:
who has not desired to know more, and
yet how few have seen genuine speci-
men The steed has almost crazed France,
and now the mania, after exciting our
English cousins, has fairly invaded Yam
keedom.
One earnest of the ultimate success of
the invention is the persistency Of those
who attempt to introduce it. An entirely
impracticable idea would never have been
revived after its first hint, early in this
century, by Mons. Drais of Mannheim,
France. An outline of his machine is
given among the illustrations in the last
edition of Webster's Unabridged Diction-
ary. 1t had no cranks, but was propelled
by a succession of pushes on the ground
by the feet of its rider. That embryo
velocipede soon passed out of sight A
caricature representing one struggling
with locomotive, which, by the way,
was then ridiculed, is now seen in a Paris
library.
In 1880 another Frenchman, Mons.
Dreuse, Postmaster General of France,
made improvements, constructed num-
Der and mounted some of his country
postmen who rode triumphantly for a year
or two. Early in 1868 several Paris and
Mannheim factories began to supply veloci-
pedes.which soon found their way all over
France. That country is entirely favora-
BILE TO their use, because of the asphalt
roads which are smooth as floor. We
are not able to precisely illustrate the
varieties of the French velocipede or their
American reproductions.
An American has, however, produced a
machine which, while it has marked i'm
provements, preserves the general French
outline.
There are two wheels, the front one
three feet, and the rear, two feet and one
half high. The front wheel is Immediately
forward Ofthe other. The connecting reach
has extending upwards therefrom stiff,
springs upon which is affixed saddle like
sea. with bearings for the vertical arbor of
a forked standard, the lower end of which
has bearings for the short axle of the for
ward wheel. The person using the veloci-
pede seats himself astride Of the seat with
his feet upon cranks provided on the ex-
tremities of the forward axle, and grasps
with his hands cross handle furnished at
the top of the arbor above indicated. Skill
fully balancing the apparatus he turns
the forward wheel by the action of his
feet on the cranks, and at the same time
guides it in the desired direction by turn.
ing the arbor's handles. The wheels may
be of any size. Some front wheels are
two and one half feet high, and others are
four, or even five, feet The rear wheel
is generally smaller than the other.
Two or three days practice will enable
one to ride with encouraging prospects.
The familiar example of spinning top,
or rolling hoop, viii suggest the prin-
ciple of equilibrium. Upsets at first are
frequent. but The confidence of the skater
soon rewards the perseyering.
On perfectly smooth roads tho yslacis