The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-10
BICYCLE BUILT FOR NINE.
A California wonder which VIII
Cover "a Mile in 20 Seconds.

From the New York World.
I Time is now 10 be annihilated by the
/ ''Nonaplet." or the bicycle built for nine
which is the latest novelty in the cycling
world. Manned by nine ''scorchers." this
machine is said to be capable OF covering
a mile in twenty seconds. OF twelve sec
| onds better than the best railroad record
for the distance. This is also faster than
| the fastest horse and faster than any
| bird
] Three miles a minute! The brain whirls
az the thought II is even claimed that
/ me ncnaplet can beat twenty seconds,
/ II II were possible TO secure crew OF rid
/ ers who could sit on the wheel during such
a ulAAy nlghJ. or II IL could be established
| that respiration would he possible at such
a speed. But IL is well known that the
/ New York Central engineer who ran i
/ mile IN thirty-two seconds had no diff
I Guilty IN the matter Of respiration. This
/ new nylng machine. like many other Won
GERS, Is a california creation The inven-
| tor IS Aired Thompson. The machine Is
/ putt OF aluminium, and weighs but $50
| pounds. II has a thirty-inch wheel and
/ IT'S gears VIII be 225
Herein lies the secret Of its phenomenal
| speed. quad" or bicycle for four.
| manned by the Delmas-Smith-Jones-D
| IS team, made a mile IN one minute and
/ thlrty-fve seconds even. or one-half sec
| ond faster than the horse Salvador the
| holder OF the worlds record for the mile
/ made at Monmouth Park, Aug. IS 1890
| The best mile ever made on a bicycle
| was by Edwards of California last spring
/ on that occasion he was paced by the
quad team above named. The object
| OF pacing a cyclist with a tandem 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 absence of wind resistance.
| The time ;35-made by the quad" is
| thus better really than that made by Ed
/ wards.
This quad" was geared at 90 As the
| speed increases with the gearing. It viii
! NOT he "a aTefnT Lot
/ normal speed Of a machine geared at
/ 225 to be mile in 3S seconds. From that
| point the skill and speed Of the riders must
enter into the calculation
In order 10 understand the possibilities
| OF this wonderful machine, 1t is necessary
| to know what is meant by the term obi
/ cycle gear" The gear Of a safety having
/ wheels twenty-eisht inches in diameter is
/ arrived at by dividing the number of teeth
| in the large Sprockct by the number of
| teeth in the small sprocket, which is on
| the hub OF the rear wheel and multiplying
| the quotient by the diameter of the wheel.
| For Instance, Is teeth of large sprockeO
! divided by Uoeth Of small sprockeO
| equals "a; this multiplied by q (diame-
| ter of wheel equals So, the diameter in
| inches OF an imaginary wheel, each rev.
| olutOn of the pedal of which would cover
a lateral distance of 1919 feet
! The circumference of IA wheel of 63-inch
! gear is 1872 inches; the circumference Of
! the circle described by the foot on an s.
inch crank is 50.26 inches. For each inch
| Travelled by the foot there is a progression
! of the wheel of 3.9i inches. Were the crank
6ls inches the progression would be ASA
! inches. The power Is therefore nullihed
! by the greater foot motion.
| The principle Of dynamics is well known
! A bicycle IS a road engine driven by hui
| man power and comes under the same
| laws as the locomotive. Freight engines
| have low gears, in the sense that the
| cranks are comparatively near the rims of
the driving wheels. while express locomo-
! tivcs have a short stroke, or what would
! represent high gear in a bicycle.
| BY comparison y will be noticed that
! If an ordinary 2S-inch wheel of CD gear
| covers l6i2 feet, with each revolution Of
| the pedal. q wheel geared to 1888 would
| with each revolution Of the pedal cover
| three times the distance or 1917 feet II
| would be impossible for less than nine
| ordinary men to furnish the short stroke
| or high gear power necessary TO maintain
! the 225 gear.
A World reporter has interviewed a
number of experts in bicycle construction
and they agree that there Is nothing i'm
possible in the claims of the builder Of the
| California "nonaplet." Bicycle machinery
is as capable OF development 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 H., 1888. In a run Of one mile from
in 30 seconds. and was at the rate Of ii2lk
miles an hour. This was done with loco
motive 1893" afterwards exhibited at the
worlds fair. The engineer was Charles
Hogan.
Since John s. johnson, by wheeling a
mile in :35 2-5, beat the great Salvatore
record of 1861, no less than FIVE profess
SIGNALS have beaten the horse, yet no horse
has beaten Salvador. And now four men on
a quad beat Salvatore time, making their
own pace, that is wheeling with all the
| disadvantages of wind. There is differ
once IN the Glass record, as given in the
Worlds Almanac of 1895, Of over % seconds
between the paced and unpaced bicycle.
A claim that IT is safe Is not advanced
for this bicycle that is to make the race
horse seem a snail. The men who will
I ride IT win actually take their lives IN
their hands. In proof OF this are the ac-
| counts of the Selmar-Smith-Jo Jones' Wis
quad team performance in California.
The Wheel of New York. says that when
the team made their best time half a
second better than the fast horse after
making their mile they could not stop the
machine At the awful speed they dared
not attempt to back-pedal, for fear Of be-
ing hurled from the seat and dashed ia
pieces. and the machine ran several miles
! along the straight. level road. When the
riders alighted from their perileus posi-
| lions their faces were banched the hue
Of death. so great had been the nervous
srain and the fear of an ACCIDENTAL
ways imminent-which would pitch them
TO destruction. All four of the strong
skillful wheelmen were so FRUSTRATED that
| they did not attemDt to ride for weeks