The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-09-10
MAKING A BICYCLE.
AN INTRICATE AND COSTLY
PROCESS.
Five Hundred Parts in a Wheel.

apt to think that it is the strength
of the component parts that enables
you to do this. The strength of the
parts is one element, the putting OF
them together is far more impor-
tant element, and one that requires
the greatest skill.
The price of wheel in every in
stance represents the amount Of
skilled labor in it's construction.
The materials themselves cost but
little. Probably $15 to $50 will rep
resent the cost Of material. The
rest is labor. So when you buy q
high grade wheel you buy the best
that Intelligent artisanship can pro-
duce. There are but few, Or possibly
dozen, high-grade wheels made. The
cheaper grades are legion.
The various parts Of the bicycle
must be absolutely perfect and capa-
bic of standing exactly their proper
tion of the whole strain. They must
be adjusted with the nicely Of a
watch in order to get the most out Of
them. There are 500 parts in a bicy-
Gle, counting each spoke separately
and the $50 and odd miniature steel
balls in the bearings. The rivets Of
the chain, the links, nuts and bolts
number 13S separate pieces. The old
saying of a chain being only as strong
as it's weakest link holds good in the
bicycle The chain is naturally a
most important feature, ranking in
Importance with the tire and the
rims.
The frame and most of the metal
parts of bicycle Of the high grade
are made of Swedish steel, on which,
of course, Uncle Sam collects a good,
generous tariff. There is an English
steel which is also good, but the
Swedish has the call. Both are made
by secret process. This steel is inn
ported in the form of tubing, and is
cut into parts of various lengths,
which are brazed together to make
the frame. The brazing is all-im-
portant to the rigidity of the frame.
Without rigidity wheel would never
stand cross country riding. The
bracing is done under enormous heat,
and the testing is repeated again and
again.
In bicycle factory, spokes, rims,
sprockets, frames, ETC., are all tested
before they are adjudged to be ready
taug faf gse sUr4HRc HRch cthreai 81 A thsss parts sns
out to a nicely. The testing machine,
can exert tension or compression
of from few ounces up to 1905
pounds. When the full power is
turned on its great Jaws can tear
apart solid bar of steel as easily as
a child peels q banana.
Each spoke has to stand so many
pounds, the frame must do the same,
the rim, the chain, the sprockets'
hub, the front fork, pedals, cranks,
handle bar and even the ball bear
ings must show that they are abso-
lutely right. The coasting ability
of bicycle depends upon the true
character of the bearings. 10 show
how finely they are measured it will
only be necessary to say that in the
largest factories there is a machine
which makes all the parts "true" !"
down to one-tenth thousandth of an
inch. This is getting bicycling down
to a fine point, but the race for pre-
cedence among the big makers is
fierce, and seemingly out OF keeping
with the general hilarity OF the sport.
An interesting thing about {! high
grade bicycle is what is known in me-
chanics as the safety factor. Thus
in the great high pressure modern
guns the safety factor is twenty, or
in other words, the gun is made
twenty times stronger than the strain
to be put upon it. Ordinarily guns
have a safety facto: OF ten; boilers OF
six, bridges of five. and other me
chanical products about four! The
bicycle of the old style weighed sixty
pounds; the high grade machine OF
to-day weighs eighteen pounds, and
the safety factor has been reduced to
only l.23. ..- :.
This extraordinarily low safety fac
tor is in Difference to the demand for
lightness, which just now is being
carried to an extreme Another
year the tendency will be to make
fewer light machines. The figure
1.25 above means that if any par1 of
the wheel is .jmperfect to the extent
of one quarter of. its. calculated
strength, the machine may: be Grip
pied suddenly and: the rider may
have bad fall.
Itis doubtful if more than one or
two manufacturers. make the entire
wheel. Some Of them claim that
they do. however. The fact is that
the tires, the wood rims, the chains
and the saddles, and also the lanterns
are in most instances: made. by spe-
cialists. This cannot well be other.
wise, because the four lirst mentioned
require special knowled edst, being
really the most Important elements
of all good wheels -; There are any
number OF tires, but:a greatly less
number OF rims. The wood rim IS
one of the great discoveries. The
wood is. preferably white ash or hick-
ory. Some firms use three or four
pieces, glued and pressed together
ANIMATED is the trade word--and
then curved. The connecting ends
are fastened in various ways. 1t has
been found that wood rims have more
resiliency-that is. power of.resistinS
shock-than have steel rims. It took
wears to find this out. Now there is
talk of paper rims. But whether
made of steel, wood or paper, no r1sn
ever made is able to- withstand cot-
lision if it is struck under speed. -"