Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-28
polished are taken to the assembling
MAKING HUBS.

The steel hub comes from the drop force II
a solid piece, forged roughly to shape, bu
not bored out. a series of lathes shapes thu
hub and bores II for the spindle and a ganE
drill, which bores eight spoke holes at once
fits 1t for receiving the spokes. The hui
comes to meet the rim and spokes in the
assembling room all fitted up with ball bear
ings and boys slip the wire spokes through
the holes In the flanges so dexterously thai
1t is difficult to follow each spoke. When
loaded with spokes the hub Is slipped oveI
the spindle Of the gig or four-armed frame
used for fitting the hub, spokes and rim to.
gether, and the rim Is laid on the four arms.
AS the spokes lie loose in the rim the lad
who is building UP the wheel picks up one
between his thumb and finger. bends II
slightly. so as to slip 1t into the hole. and
when it Genes through on the outside he
screws on the nipple which Is afterward
screwed "home'' to tighten the spoke. The
spokes are set In on a tangent, so that the
strain may not come on the wire trans
versely, otherwise 1T would be apt to break
off either at the hub or rim.
The wire of which the spokes are made Is
not stiff and hard, but is rather soft, for the
steel is tough and able to Withstand great
tensional strains. When all of the spokes
have been set in the rim and brought to
some degree of tightness the wheel is carried
to the man who "trues' 1t.
TRUING H WHEEL.
The rack" before the workman carries a
spindle or axle which is perfectly true. The
hub OF the wheel is also perfectly true, so
that the workman knows that the hui will
revolve squarely and evenly on this test
spindle. It's another thing, however, with
the rim. The spokes are put in without
regard to absolute uniformity, and naturally
the rim is out of true. A mark or gauge
Is set near the edge Of the rim and the
wneei is revolved. III the rim were square
and true to the hub and spindle IL would
pass this mark without wabbling, but 1t al
ways wabbles because some of the spokes
are tighter than others.
This fault Is corrected by the workman.
1t is then taken to a grinding machine, where
the projecting ends of the spokes are ground
down even. The wheel is now ready to re-
ceive the pneumatic tire.
To the man who has worried over a pune
tured tire twenty miles from home the put
ting on OF the pneumatic tires in the shop
seems little short of the miraculous. The
valve stem of the inner tube is slipped
through the hole; the outer tube and the
inner tube seem to slide around the tire in
a second; the air hose is placed over the
valve; a little valve is opened and in a
second the tire is as hard and solid as
slXty-hve pounds of air to the square inch
can make it, for the tires are inflated with
stored compressed air. Air at a pressure OF
sixty-fve pounds to the inch is regarded
as a severe test not alone for the tires but
for the wooden rims as well. If the tire
does not leak or burst and the rim does
not split the workman places the finished
wheel in the pile and 1t goes to the room
where the entire bicycle is put together.
Although wooden rims are in the great ma
Jority the steel rim is by no means a back
number. They are made in the works from
nat steel. which is curved and at the same
time shaped to the cross section of the tire
by passing 1t cold through rolls. The tire
Is welded into an endless ring over natural
gas with a lux and is then smodthed down,
bored for the spokes and finished.
BALL BEARINGS.
In the room where the wheel is built up
sits a man who does nothing all day but