Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-10-15
FROM 4 PUNC1URE.
1T GAVE AN INVENTIVE GENIUS A
VALUABLE POINTER.
The Coming Wheel VIII have Pns u.
mnttc Hubs instead of Atr Tires
4 rraCiIca; Test was Eminentiy
SatfsfactOry-SOme DESCRIPTION of
the Devtce and the severe Tests TO
which Ia has been Subjected.

which Ii has been subjected.
y young inventor by the name OF
Harry \. Collins, residing ut South
Bethlahem, Pa, has devised a bicycle
on an entirely new theory. Pneumat-
ic tires have been abandoned and
pneumatic hubs have taken the " air"
part of the invention. The tires are
solid.
1t was puncture that gave Mr.. Col
lins this idea. He was long way from
home. just us it is every persons luck
to be when puncture takes place, and
he had no end of trouble to get his
wheel into town.
why not said he to himself as he
was putterlng over the refractory tire,
" build bicycle with 4 pneumatic
hub and solid tire? Couldn't the
principle of pneumatics be applied so
that the machine would work rs sue
cessfully as it does now with a solid
hub and inflated tire ,"
Then his hands became willing slaves
to his mind, and he began work on his
scheme. Some laughed at him, and
sometimes he laughed at himself, but
he would not give it up. Now and
then little incidents happened that led
him to believe that he was on the right
road to success.
The wheel has finally been build, the
patents have been secured. and the
young inventor has been overwhelmed
with orders that he cannot fill. In
fact, he has no factory, no company,
rs the darkey said "no nuthin'." He
has given the wheel trial, however,
before n large number of invited guests,
and he has proved to their satisfaction
that he has built it we'll. He exhibit
ed the bicycle in an open lot, and gave
1t the hardest kind of usage, and it
came out of the ordeal unscathed.
A professional instructor of riding
was asked to seat himself on the ma
chine, and when Mr.. Collins told him
to pitch in and take a steeplechase over
every log, every ditch, every hole, every
obstruction IN the place.
" Nay" said the professor, mot on
your handle-bar. / don't want to
scorch to my grave"
"But I'll back the wheel against
your funeral" said Mr.. Collins. So the
the instructor consented to ride. The
spectators, men whose words cannot be
doubted, say that one of the bitches
crossed half a dozen times by the in
structor was twenty-one inches deep.
Three times in succession he rode over
a log eight inches in diameter. He
rode over ash piles and rocks, and in
other ways amused himself and the
crowd.
As a final test, Mr.. Collins invited
anybody present to mount the wheel
and ride it full tilt against brick wall.
He was willing to back the machine
against injury, but nobody was willing
to take chances of splitting open his
head by going over the handle-bar.
The pneumatic tire, if it may be
called such, is in the hub of the wheel.
The wheel tire, as before stated, is SOL
i'd. The latter tire is not cemented to
the rim, but it is sliced on the inside
so that it fits snugly in grooves cut into
the wood. Once on, it stays till it is
worn out. The wooden rim is made of
three kinds of wood in three sections.
The spokes are of a material that
can be bent and twisted, and are so
strung to the rim that the weight is on
four at a time. That is an innovation.
Around the axle of the wheel, pro-
tected by steel thimbles so that there
is no wear On the rubber, is q pneu-
matte tube, blown up the same as
pneumatic tires. This tube is encased
in nickel-steel frame, to which the
spokes are attached.
The frame, hanging on these intiat-
ed hubs, causes the rider to rock easily
rs though he were sitting in n swing.
There is consequently the least posi-
bic vibration, jarring and jolting. In
running up against a ditch the pressure
of the frame forward is against this in
fiated tube in both hubs, so that it sim
ply springs and swings,ias it were, in
stead of jolting, which is the reason
it does not throw the rider over the
handle-bars.
The pneumatic tube in the hub is so
well protected that there is absolutely
no wear on it, hence it cannot come
out of order, and will last about three
years. No plugs nor repair kit are
necessary with this bicycle, and for
that reason Gen. NJ lies, of the United
States army, is said to have ordered
ten of these bicycles made with which
to experiment.
THE highest waterfall in the world
is Cholock Cascade, at Yosemite, Cal,
which is 1854 feet high, or just half a
mile.
For the quarter ending Sept. 30
failures were fewer than for any quar-
ter in % years.