Evening star., 1896-06-11
WHY THE WHEELS GO ROUND.
The Mcchnn meal Principles Used in
PrOpclHnG q bicycle.


From Cycle Manufacturers and Dealers Review.
Scientifically a wheel is "a perpetual
lever of the third ORDER" being endless
each part OF the type OF rim becomes a
new lever as it touches the ground. Ii Is
called the third order" in mechanioa al law,
because the power comes between the load,
which is thereby lifted. not priced, and the
fulcrum.
A wheel. in short. utiizes the fact that
ball, on a fiat, hard surface. moves
easier and with less friction tnan any
other form of solid matter in motion. But
ball gives universal rolling. that is, in
any direction. Straight ahead travelling is
not required. therefore the whee. is form
ed By cutting slice out of the center OF
the ball-at it's greatest diameter, and in
order TO keep this slice upright a stick
is put through its center. This gives US a
wheel and axle complete. With a true
sphere or ball the center of gravity re-
mains unchanged. 50 long as the surface
it rolls upon remains level, and the power
required to set it in motion is that required
to disturb its equilibrium. wheel may
be light or heavy, but a very slight impac t
will set it i'll motion, and the motion Will
last until the euuiliDri I'M is restored. To
go further, we have demonstrated that a
wheel is slice from the center Of a ball,
we cut a slice from the center of wheel
upright at its greatest diameter. Presum-
ing the original source was ball 2S me hes
size, and the second cut gives us a per-
pendicular pole
For the sake of argument. we will as
sumo the first slice was > inches wide, and
the second the same; we have an upright
lever, riches by 2s inches high Uhe slight
ly rounded ends may be ignored, as they
do not affect the question in any way.
We have the upright lever and, as it
stands alone, Il touch Will throw it over,
and it lies fiat. But. in ball. or wheel,
This lever. perpendicular pCle, exists in
all rections, and a touch upon the entire
dali or spncre) mass throws it over in the
direction impaired by the force, but, being
endless, it RECEIVERS itself as soon as the
force has died out. Applied sideways to a
wheel it is the same TO the pole stand
ing alone. ii falls fiat. because there is no
runnins-on to absorb it into power, as is
the case with the forward motion applied
to wheel. This, then, is the secret of
power aid speed.
The first atom Of motion applied TO a
wheel is 20 throw over the center perpen-
dicular poIe-Deing part OF the wheel il can
not fall-nor can the wheel, and, as the fric-
ton Of the ground contact prevents it
twisting ro.nd on its axle, it rolls forward,
and therefore advances. Here, then, is the
secret of all speed and power, and the only
limit TO the former is the volume of the
latter. Before the wheel can recover from
its first shock. il has time to expend
its energy. more is applied: in fact. there
is a continuous knocking ever of that per-
q,
which mas never before been used in con-
nection with this subject, nor have We
ever seen or heard this exact explanation,
aid the wheel moves fa&ter and faster
hence it takes, OF draws, all attached to 1t
at an increased pacein other words, the
cycle or vehicle Is drawn along.
To discover the exact amount of friction
is Eow more difficult than ever With
smooth iron tires a nard road a wagon
weighing $40 pounds will require one-thir-
tietn Of its weight for propulsion, plus S
per cent added for internal friction, say
81 pounds In all: with ball bearings this
friction is materially reduced, and with
pneumatic tires to a sill greater degree SO
that IL. with the same bearings, pneu-
matics reduce haulage by 80 per cent, or
even more, and II only 3 per cent is re-
qured by haulage, there must be some
thing wrong in the scientific calculations
The ma tier requires long, careful and cost
.ly experiments to exactly determine the
relative forces employed and their distri-
button. Eight per cent is much too high
for internal friction:" even with plain
not to be more than per cent or per
cent. ard per cent to Per cent with ball
bearings; whereas per cent of the load
seems too small an estimate for haulage
alone. or else pneumatic tires on vehicles
could not possibly effect the saving they
undoubtedly do. The subject is most
interesting one, and would prove a good
safety valve to let of the superfluous
knowledge possessed by some Of our me-
ehanfcal and pneumatic experta