Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-21
BICYCLE BUILT FOR NINE.
Destined to Annihilate Space and
Time Alike.

| "nonaplet," or the bicycle built for
| nine. which is the latest novelty i'll the
| cycling world. Manned by nine
"scorchers,' this machine is said to be
| capable of covering Il mile in twenty
| seconds. or twelve seconds better than
| the best railroad record for the dis
lance. This is also faster than the fast
est horse and faster than any bird.
| Three miles minute, The brain
! whrls at the thought. 1t is even
| claimed that the ''nonaplet' can beat
twenty seconds if it We're possible to
| secure Il crew of riders who could sit
| on the wheel during such n dizzy flight,
| or il it could be esta blished that respira-
| ton would be possible ut such speed.
| But it is well-known that the New York
| Central engineer who ran the mile in
| thirty-twO seconds had no difficulty in
| the matter of respiration. This new
flying machine. like many other Won
| ders is Il California creation. The in
| ventOr is Alfred Thompson. The. ma
| chine is built of aluminium and weighs
$50 pounds. 1t has 30-inch wheel, and
its gear will be 22J.
Herein lies the secret of its phenOm-
email speed. A quad" or bicycle for
four manned by the Delmas-Smith-
JOnes-Davis team, made a mile in one
minute and thirty-five seconds even, or
| One-half second faster than the horse
Salvador, the holder of the worlds rec
| ord for the mile made at Monmouth
Park Aug. %. 1890.
The best mile ever made on Il bicycle
was by Edwards of California last
spring. On that occasion he was paced
by the quad team above named. The
object of pacing" Il cyclist with tam
dem or quad is to break the wind for
| the racer. He follows closely in the
vacuum thus created, and thus has the
advantage Of suction as we'll as alb
| Sence of wind resistance. The time
1 :35-made by the "quad" is thus bet
| ter really than that made by Edwards.
This quad was geared at ninety.
| AS the speed increases with the gear
| ing it will not be difficult matter to
calculate the normal speed of a ma
chine geared at 2225 to be Il mile in 80
seconds. From that point the skill and
| speed of the riders must enter into the
calculation.
In order TO understand the possibil-
ties of this wonderful machine it is nee
essary to know what is meant by the
| term bicycle gear The gear Of
safety having wheels twenty-eight
| inches in diameter is arrived at by
dividing the number of teeth in the
| large sprOcket by the number of teeth
| in the small SprOckct, which is on the
| hub of the rear wheel. and multiply
ing tile quOtient by the diameter of the
| wheel. For instance, Is teeth of large
| sprOckeD divided by teeth of small
sprOckeO equals 2A; this multiplied by
| % diameter of wheel equals 81, the
diameter in inches of an imaginary
| wheel, each revolution of the pedal of
| which would cover 4 lateral distance of
| 16.4S feet.
| The circumference of Il wheel of So
inch gear is 1892 inches: the circum-
| ference of the circle described by the
foot on an S-inch crank is JO.26 inches
For each inch Travelled by the foot there
is Il progression of the wheel of 3.04
inches. Were the crank G1a inches the
progression would be 4.S4 inches. The
| apparent gain by the long crank in
power is therefore nullified by the
, greater motion.
The principle of dynamics is well
] known. A bicycle is road engine
| driven by human power and comes I'M
der the same laws as the locomotive.
| Freight engines have low gears in the
sense that the cranks are comparative
ly near the rims of the driving wheels,
| while express locomotives have Il short
stroke. or what would represent high
gear in a bicycle.
BY comparison it will be noticed that
| if an ordinary 2S-inch wheel CT G3 gear
covers 16R feet with each revolution
Of the pedal Il wheel geared to 1S9
would with each revolution of the
pedal cover three times the distance, or
| 1917 feet 1t would be impossible for
less than nine ordinary men to furnish
the short stroke or high gear power
Necessary to maintain the 30 gear.
A World reporter has interviewed
number Of experts In bicycle construc-
ton, and they agree that there is moth
ing impossible i'm the claims of the
builder of the California ''nOnaplet."
Bicycle machinery is as capable of de-
velopment as that of locomotives.
The fastest railroad mile on record
was made by the Empire Express on
the New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad May II. 1899, in run
of one mile from Crittenden west. This
mile was made in 81 seconds, and was
at the rate of 1121a miles an hour. This
was done with locomotive '999," after
wards exhibited at the Worlds Fair.
The engineer was Charles Hogan
Since John s. Johnson, by wheeling
mile in 1 80 %, beat the great Sal
vatOr's record of 1854, no less than
five professionals have beaten the
horse, yet no horse has beaten Salvador
And now four men on quad beat Sal
| yatOr'S time making their own mace