The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-11-29
THE NONAPLET.
An Aluminium Bicycle Built for Nine Men
That WITH BE n Scorch r.

That WITH BE n scorch r.
The ''nonaplet," a bicycle built for
nine, is the latest apparently success
full creation of Alfred Thompson, a
California inventor. 1t is claimed for
this new monster that. manned by a
crew of athlets accustomed to it's use,
the truly phenomenal time of a mile
In 20 seconds can be made on the ma
chine. This would be at the rate of
three miles a minute and at a flight IL
seconds faster than the fastest mile
ever made. Charles Hogan, a New
York Central engineer. having driven
his engine a mile In 32 seconds. This
new flying machine. II THE term may
be used. is built of aluminium and
weighs only $50 pounds. 1t has a 30
inch wheel and will be geared up to
225.
Herein lies the secret of its phenome-
nal speed. A quad" or bicycle for
four, manned by the Delmas-Smith-
Jones-Davis team. made a mile in l
minute and 80 seconds even, or one
half second faster than the horse SAL
vator. the holder of the worlds record
for the mile made at Monmouth Park
Aug. 2S. 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 we'll
as the absence of wind resistance. The
time-1:35-made by the quad" is
thus better really than that made by
Edwards.
This quad was geared at 60 AS
the speed increases with the gearing 1T
will not be a difficult matter to calcu-
late the normal speed of a machine
geared at 225 to be a mile in 3S seconds.
From that point the skill and speed of
the riders must enter into the calcula-
ton.
In order TO understand the possibili-
ties of this wonderful machine II Is
necessary to know what is meant by
the term bicycle gear" The gear OF
a safety having wheels 2S inches in
diameter Is arrived at by dividing the
number of teeth in the large sprocket
by the number of teeth in the small
sprocket. which is on the hub of the
rear wheel, and multiplying the quo
tient by the diameter of the wheel. For
Instance. Is Cteeth OF large sprockeD
divided by Cteeth of small sprockeD
equals "a; this multiplied by 2s diam
eter of wheel equals SO. the diameter
in inches of an imaginary wheel. each
revolution OF the pedal of which would
cover a lateral distance OF l6.4S feet.
The circumference of a wheel of g.
inch gear is 1892 inches: the circum-
ference 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
394 inches Were the crank 61s inches
the progression would be Asa inches.
The apparent gain by the long crank
in power is therefore nullified by the
greater foot motion.
BY comparison IL Will be noticed that
II an ordinary 2S-inch wheel of 63 gear
covers 16ih feet with each revolution of
the pedal, a wheel geared to lS9 would
with each revolution of the pedal cover
three times the distance. 49ia feet II
would be impossible for less than nine
ordinary men TO furnish the short
stroke or high power necessary to
maintain the 225 gear.
A claim that Il Is safe Is not ad-
vanced for this bicycle. but that Is TO
make the race horse seem a snail. The
men who will ride h will actually take
their lives In their hands. In proof of
this are the accounts OF the Selmar-
Smith-Jones-Davls quad team per
Torrance 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 max
ing their mile they could not stop their
machine. A. the awful speed they
| dared not attempt 10 back-pedal. for
| fear OF being hurled from the seat and
| dashed 90 pieces. and the machine ran
| several macs along the straight level