The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-14

chanical engineer, % years old, living at
299 Eustis street, ROXbury.
The affair is a particularly sad one, as
the trial in which he met his death was
the cOnsummatiOn OF an idea which had
cost him years of study and hard labor.
The machine on which he was riding had
been tried and altered as defects were
found. over and over again, and he mad
Just succeeded in getting il 20 suit himself.
AS far as can be learned, il was success
in every way, as II was worked up TO
great speed this morning without show
ing any of the straining or twisting which
has always been the trouble with bicycles
operated in any other manner than by foot
power. The mile which he did in 2:lO 1-l5
represents only a fraction of the speed
which could be attained by the machine,
as the track is so small that he was una
BILE 10 let ii out at anywhere near its full
power, and on the turns shut off the power
entirely and cOasted around until he came
into the straight again 1t is the opinion
of many good judges of pace who watched
the trial this morning that in the straight,
where he was abb to speed up pretty well
he was going at a speed of nearly mile a
minute, and that he could have attained
quite that on a straightway course.
There was no one at the track this morn
ing who was familiar enough with the ma
chine to give a detailed description of it,
but 1t Is apparently of about three or four
horse power. The fireboX. boiler. and water
tank are all contained in an oak box about
three feet high two feet long, and ten or
eleven inches wide, placed inside of the
frame of an Old-style Columbia bicycle,
with the bottom about eight inches from
the ground and the top a little above the
top of the frame, the whole machine
weighing in the neighborhood of 200 to $50
pounds. The application of the power is
on the right side of the machine, and is
much the same as that in use on marine
engines, except that the piston works in
a horizontal direction instead of running
in a bearing, is free, with the eccentric rod
applying to the free end, the other end, of
course, being fixed to the rear wheel.
1t might be thought that this would
give a good deal of twist If the power were
applied very hard, but this apparently is
not so, for in spite of the rough handling
which the machine had this morning all
this part of IL was in perfect condition,
although on the other side, where it had
fallen, 1t was a good deal smashed up.
Both the piston rod and the eccentric rod
run through several guides, which were
attached to the lower side of the frame of
the bicycle, so that the whole is firm and
compact. The throttle is on the outside
of the machine, just above the cylinder,
so that if the cord connecting with the
handle bar, by which it is usually opera
ted fails to work, it can be shut off by a
direct application. The machine is a coal
burner, and has a funnel projecting back
ward almost on a straight line, so that
the smoke is thrown out behind the rid
er. The running of the machine works
an automatic pump, which is provided
with a cutoff, which operates when the
boiler is full. 1t has also a draught regu-
| lator by which the fire can be blown up to
almost any hight. The machine usually
carries 40 pounds of steam, but the pres
sure could be run up to $50.