The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-06-05
ELECTROMAGNETIC BICYCLE.
The Inventor Says 1t Will Draw All
Nearby Wheels to II.

The latest and admittedly the most
eccentric of bicycle ideas is now being
given practical form in Stuttgart by
Franz Steuben, an inventor whose &C.
centricity has caused his neighbors to
heretofore make sport of him. This
strange idea is an electromagnetic BIZ
cycle, which, Steuben claims, viii be
possessed of magnetic power sufficient
to draw to itself any other bicycle with
in radius of fifteen feet.
This bicycle freak is machine with
a highly charged magnetic frame In
stead of the usual hollow steel tubing
of which the ordinary bicycle is consti-
tuted, this electrical frame will be made
OF soft iron, closely wound with fine
copper wire. Attached to the back of
the frame, short distance from the
bottom will be a small, very powerful
dynamo. Two wires, electric feeders,
connect the dynamo with the copper
wound frame. The dynamo is located
over what in the ordinary machine is
the small sprocket Wheel attached to
the rear axle. Instead of this sprock-
ct wheel, however there will be a large
cog wheel firmly attached to the axle.
Just at the left of the big cog wheel
- "a oAhciAOI WHICH,, WHICH, dClS dS q IliS-
dunn for the sprocket chain to pass
over. AS the rider causes the pedals
of the machine to revolve the sprocket
chain communicates motion to the main
cog wheel. This causes the smaller
wheel to revolve and this in turn, by
meeting the cogs of the dynamo, puts
the delicate machinery within into
operation and thus generates the cleo
tricity
you see" said Steuben to the writ
er, the faster the sprocket wheel re-
wolves the greater will be the amount
of electricity generated. This cleo
tricity, passing from the dynamo
through the two feed wires, is carried
to the wires which are wound around
the soft iron framework of the machine
This connects the frame and the bicy-
Gle with the powerful electro magnet,
and its drawing power of attractive
ness will be felt by any piece of steel
within a radius of fifteen feet. 1 in
tend, in order to guard the rider of the
machine thus magnetized from any ac-
cident through electrical shock, to in
sulate the saddle, handle bars and ped
ais
The nature of the electrical attrac-
ton will be such that its effect on 9TH
er wheels will not injure them nor pre-
vent the riders thereof keeping their
seats easily. All that it will be nee
essary to do is for those mounted on
the wheels drawn toward the irresist-
ible force to refrain from trying to be-
come immovable objects
If the rider of the electromagnetic
wheel should take a SDip down TTptar
den Linden, for instance with the cleo
trical current glancing out on all sides
with full force, he would be followed
by procession of machines as eagerly
as the children once followed the Pied
Piper of Hamlin long years ago. Steu-
ben claims that the electrical attrac-
ton of his machine will not be of suf-
ficient strength to cause other machines
to collide with him, provided he exer-
cises that skill of which any wheelman
should be possessed. 1t is always the
| case when a piece of steel is drawn to
magnet that the contact of the two
is sharp, but Steuben claims to have
mastered a principle which will enable
him to so construct his machine as to
avoid this danger.
The inventor claims that within the
next month he will furnish a practical
demonstration that his invention is not
chimerical affair.-New York Herald