The Progress., 1893-07-01

also, the passengers make their ascent and
their acquaintance with the mysteries of
the wheel on the iustallmcut plan, by slow
degrees. You Will see that in the process
of taking on passengers providing there
are people enough to fill all the cars, as
there generally are) the wheel must make
one entire revolution. BY this time the
occupants of the coaches have become
somewhat accustomed To their novel stu
alton. They have ceased TO think of pos
sible danger and are occupied with the
beauty of the panorama which lies far be
low them.
Now comes the most interesting feature
of the trip. The wheel is set i'm molten at
n more rapid pace, though still not very
fast, and is not stopped until complete
revolution has been made. IL is an indie
scribable sensation, that of revolving
through such vast orbit in bird cage,
that T swinging in circle far out over
the plaisance in one direction, then turn
ing in the other direction. and still higher,
and finally beginning the descent from
such n great hight. People wonder what
would happen if the pinions which hold
the cars through their roofs should break,
or refuse to revolvc They wonder how
they would get down if the machinery
should break and the engineer be unable
to further revolve the wheel, thus leav-
ing them dangling in mid air. While
they are thinking of these things the
movement ceases, then starts up again,
and finally it becomes their turn to step
out on the wooden platform and down
again to mother earth
| have no desire to advertise the wheel
when tell you trip upon it is worth TAX
ing. You cannot advertise the wheel, any
way, any more than you can advertise the
fair, or the Atlantic ocean. They are all
too big. They are their own advertise
ment. The novel sensation, the oppor-
tunity to study great engineering work.
the beauty of the scene presented from the
great altitude, all combine to make the
trip on this structure fully worth the time
and the cost.
As yet there is not the slightest reason
to fear the safety of the machine The
steel towers which support the vast bicycle
wheel are bedded and bolted into thirty
feet of concrete. They are calculated to
support five times the weight and the
wind pressure produced by "a tornado of "A
hundred and fifty miles an hour. Motion
is impaired to the mass by means of huge
cogs in which n Ink belt fits. If ANYTHING
should break and it be desirable to stop
the machinery there is powerful brake
operated by compressed air. The axle
which runs from the top of one tower to
the other, 40 feet in the air, is the greatest
steel forging ever made, being 32 inches i'm
diameter and 45 feet long, weighing fifty
six tons. How Ferris ever got il up there
is mystery to me, but he did it. The
cars are so attached to the wheel it is .
said, that il is impossible for one of them
to fall, and equally impossible for them TO .
fail to turn so as to preserve the center of .
gravity.
What is the principle, the chief princi-
pie, on which the wheel is cOnstructedp IL
Is that of bicycle wheel, as | have said.
except that this wheel does not rest upon
the surface but depends from the steel
axle. The lower half of the wheel simply
hangs from the mighty axle, and this
lower half supports the upper half by
means of the steel framework of its two
rims. That is the whole thing in a nut
shell. The wheel, though apparently
rigid in its construction, has Just enough
elasticity to make this method of support
possible, and yet not enough elasticity to
produce any appreciable trembling or slip
ping effect.
Now the Worlds fair directors are glad
they changed their minds and decided to
recognize this genius. Not only have they
thereby secured the greatest sensation of
the fair, but without dollar of outlay on
their part have made certain of an enor-
nous revenue. The exposition gets one
half the earnings of the wheel, and it is
the total receipt. will average
something like $4,000 day during the
Of the summer. The cost of the
wheel, complete, was about s25O,OO0. En-
gineer Ferris is likely to reap rich re-
ward for his boldness and enterprise.
ROBERT GRAVES