The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-15
NEW BICYCLE
is CHAINLESS
10 lie Turned Out by a Big
Corporation.
IT IS CALLED A BEVEL GEAR
According TO Mechanics, the Chain
and SprOcket Is u Poor Method Of
Transmitting POwer..New Bevel
Gear Is Not FrictiOniess and That
Is Against It-.Dircct Power Is
Needed.

"A change i'm cycle construction almost
as radical and revolutionary as the
safety and pneumatic tire is about to be
made. The rumor ahoat for several
days past that one of the Oldest. largest
ana most conservative bicycle building
concerns in the country was to be the
parent OF the innovation has created Il
profound sensation among riders gem
orally and cycle manufacturers par
ticularly. says the New York Journal.
The rumor is true and the company
will put out chainless bicycle next
year. and two of the models for 1897, one
for men and one for women. will be
operated by bevel gears instead of the
usual chain and sprocket. This is done
by the company without apparent fear
of loss Of its own conservatism and
means much for the future of an inno-
walton so radical as to be really reVo-
lutionary.
Mechanical engineers outside of the
bicycle trade have long recognized the
fact that a chain and sprocket are the
oretically the poorest method of trans
mitting power and have wondered that
further advancement has not been
made by those who devote their ingenu
ity to bicycle perfection in the line of
obviating the waste of power occurring
through this sort of gearing. Riders
have realized it emphatically through
their trouble with chains stretching and
breaking. rusting from dampness. clog
ging with dust and clinking and whiz-
Zing annoyingly
INVENTORS PERPLENED.
Inventors have worked to solve the
problem and. indeed. u few bicycles
We're made on this plan some years
since by small concern. They did
not. however. seem to meet with favor.
The company making them got into
financial difficulty, and every one sup
posed that the chainless idea had been
dropped.
The company has been for some time
placing orders for gear cutting machin-
cry and has secured ground patents
covering chainless construction.
Several of its experimental machines
have been running about Hartford for
a considerable time. AS the new gears
did not differ in outward appearance
from the bevel gears already in use and
were concealed In gear cases they at
tracted no attention. and they did not
betray the secret. 1t is said that one
of the gears has been run $4,000 miles
without wear or adjustment, ana that
several of the more recently construct
ed ones have been tested over 1000
miles of the toughest road without mis-
nap and without sign of wear on the
gears or need of adjustment. Indeed,
the record Of many chainless machines
are said to show no breakage of gears
or appreciable wear. even when the dis
tanre covered has been upward Of 3D.
OOO miles.
The great difficulties to b- conquered
i'm the perfection of the chainlcss bi-
cycl- were the cutting Of accurate beNel
gears in quantity and securing ball
bearings that would withstand the
strain that came from the radically dif-
frrnnt method of transmitting the
bower. The old chainless machine ran
hard uD hin, not becalIs" there was in
creased friction in the gears, for II has
been proven that the friction is less, but
because the ball bearings were not
properly constructed. But the cutting of
the gear proved the chief difficulty. kN-
cept in the very finest experimental ma
chinery II theoretically perfect bcNcl
gear has heretofore been unknown to
met hancS.
DIRECT POWER NEEDED