The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-12

mittees aecomplishes much in general
way. But e. cannot work out the need
ed reform alone. 1t needs the co-opera-
ton and individual endeayor Of local or
ganizations thFoughout the United
States. Each bicycle club can help If
its members are willing 10 put their
shoulders to the wheel.
.
In the development of bicycle aceesso-
ries the brake has come IN recently for
a large share of attenl ion. The Gus
tomary front wheel brake, with its awk-
ward lever and other drawbacks, has
been in use so long that riders generally
have become satisfied with 1t to a Ger
lain extent. Last year~several devices
were introduced to attach brake to the
rear wheel, or to engage 1t in the chain
They all had disadvantages to a more
or less marked extent. This fall several
bicycle makers announce That they VIII
supply automatic rear-wheel brakes
with their bicycles for 1898 They act
on the hub of the rear wheel ana are
governed by the pedals That is to say
the action of back pedaling brings the
brake .into play and brings the wheel to
a STOP It's a progressive step, but Is
far from filling the bill. In nine cases
out of ten a cyclists needs his brake
most when he is coasting. In such in
stances the automatic brakes referred
to would be- useless, as the presumption
is that the pedals would. be revolving
so rapidly that the rider could not ca. oh
them to put the brake in play. There
fore, the average tourist, whose bicycle
is fitted with one of the new automatic
brakes will want one of the old-fash-
Toned front wheel brakes as well. What
is really wanted is reliable brake that
can be operated independently of the
pedals and act on he rear wheel.
esf5# 5Efu .
Tho PrnolxIvr bridge trustees have
called a meeting to confer with the L. A.
w. and other organizations, regarding
an exclusive cycle path over the Dig
span.
"A Massachusetts, manufacturer, who
claims to have struck something in
llhe line of sprocloe.t dlss gn which
keeps the chat frse from dirt, is
giving am interesting window ex-
hib.tion in his New York store. BY means
of a registering machine he shows that
the draft with THE new device is much
less while mud and grit ane being ennov-
elled on the chain than With The ordinary
sprocqsets under the 1amlsi conditions.
He does NOT work in llta same way Or
get THE same results ais Prof. Carpenter
of Cornell University, New York. who
proved thtstJ with a ch-ffn ks2t pe;fs'-itly
clean the loss of trsctren Through fric-
'ticn Is emily l per cent, while with a
chain having the average. amount of
dirt co'lec ed through exp sure, the frfc-
Eionul loss is from 10 to 40 per cent. Bevel
gears enclosed, show less fricticn than
dirty chain, according to the professor,
but more THAN 1.-THE clean chain.
The experiments of Pref. Carpenter
have had much Ito do with the conversion
of cycle makers to The idea of adopting
the enclosed chain model and the facts
airs interesting for all riders to ponder.
Thsy certainly seem to demonstrate the
wisdom of adopl ing gear cas- 8 for chladn
wheels, and the prejudlces of riders are
faSa1 disappearing. Gear CAGE invention
has been exceed ngly pr9tific Ia this coun-
try since the Anne ican gear-cat7e made
ITS first appearance at the Chicago show
l3sIt january.
improvements have besm made rapidly
and tcda'v America IS f5ir ahead of Eng
land in this line, as IL is IN the mat er
of rims and Spokes. Several manufac-
tuners are still Importing Engli.h cares,
but the riders in this locality seem TO
pass them by in favor of The American
make
The English case Is made to project
from mud ami the metal joints DO not
shut olIt fine dui It as do The rubber bound
joints off the Anlsricam article. 1t is only
necessary ito call to mind he rubber tube
cci.lnectfen with "a gas burner in order to
realize tfh5t rubber is THE only substance
capable of forming "a perfectly tight c7n-
nsctior.
Relative no the claims eff riders who
seek to establish for themselves the rec
ord of 81 mile in oTls minute, a New York
city manufacturer has czi,cu.ated tkat to
ride a mile in ONE minute, man would
have ito make three revolutions of his
feet in one second With a, 112 g;ar
With 1874 gear. two and a half revolu-
tians per second would BE- acquired while
with two revolutions per second "a gear of
1853 is necessary. Michael, when riding
a mile i'm two minutes with LOG gear,
makes 1 100 revolutions a sec md with
his fesit. IF man could move his fest
at a rate of ors and a. half revolutions
a second, for 60 seconds he would re-
quire "a gear of 224 i'm order to cover
mills in that time. lis this possible?