The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-23
MECHANISM OF THE NEW cHA1NLEss.

MECHANISM OF THE NEW CHAINLESS.
rop, there is a class of persons who ex-
haust a sport for time and change, but
they return to it later. ANY pastime is
exhausted in the city as it is not in the
country Urban riders throw themselves
into a new thing with everest and expert
ence reaction. They do not drop it alto
gether, but they do not have the enthu-
siasn of their neophyte days. They go out
for short ride and pick the finest stretch
of asphalt or the neatest bit of road. The
fall is the best season and it is getting so
that many skip the heated term and leave
their best riding to be done then. think
the time is coming when the height of the
riding season will be in Septembe Der and
October and when those months will con-
stitute a busy selling season. The bulk of
the wheeling being done now is in the
outlying districts. Country riders, when
they begin, learn to take the roads as they
come, and they are not SO whimsical as
city riders. They continue steadily along
without giving much thought to road con-
ditions. In towns of from 5000 to 80, 900
inhabitants all over the country the rid
ing is continuous until snow flies, and the
number Of oyclers is on the increase all
the time.
A new ohainless has made its appear
ance. The driving mechanism consists of
internal gears meshing with small spur
gears on hub of rear wheel. These in
ternal gears have ball bearing external
which runs in a casing made fast to the
main frame, and in the bearing there is a
ball retainer or dividing ring, which con-
tains IS balls and is made in this form to
lessen friction. The pedal cranks are COM
pound cranks in an eccentric movement.
The pedals on their downward motion have
a long leverage, and experts who have rid
den this wheel claim that at ia gear it
rides as easy as the ordinary chain wheel
of 90. The wheel makes a handsome ap-
pearance, and the inventors claim it can
be made as cheaply as any first class bicy
Gle on the market.
The statement Of DIR. S. @. Stanton,
who is in charge of the examination of re-
cruits for the regular army in Chicago, to
the effect that bicycle scorchers are unfit
physically for army service, has caused
sensation in the ranks of the humpbacked
brigade who ride their wheels for speed
only. He says he has made the severest
tests in his examinations in determining
that point and has arrived at the conclu-
sion only after exhaustive examination
He states that many men have been re-
jected because of "bicycle heart, - as he
calls it, induced by excessive strain in rid
ing the wheel The persistent scorcher,
he hnds has q tendency to enlarge the
heart and thus interfere with it's action
Chainless bicycles are now being made
that weigh only % pounds, and it is not
unlikely that they may be made even
lighter, although there is little demand
for road machine weighing less than
this. Another point that marks the march
of progress in connection with the new
type of machines is that it is now being
fitted with higher gears than at first. 1t
was thought by many that it was unsafe
to put on chainless wheels a higher gear
than 70 because of the strain on the frame,
ICrh ernp hor-
standing the theories on their impractical
bility. Whether or not the lighter frames
will remain rigid under the use of high
gears is a question for the future to deter
mine.
Already this year it has occurred that
records made one day have been smashed
badly on the following day. To do this
requires speed on the part of the rider and
plenty of good pace. The value of pace is
more appreciated now than ever before,
and as this is an essential thing in the
hunt for victory in match races, and also
in the smashing Of records, the cracks for
this style of racing manage to kesp men
regularly employed, whose sole duEy is to
furnish pace for match events
A new device imparts to the steering
head tendency to always return to the
normal or straight ahead position after
the wheel has been swung to one side by
means of the handle bars. This is effected
without the use of any spring, and the plan
on its face appears to be mechanically
sound. When by means of the bars the
steering head is turned either Intentional
" or accidentally, the head is raised very
slightly by means Of ball rings with hemi-
spherical recesses tor the balls, which rings
are fixed within the head so that the balls
travel up an inclined plane when the head
is swung in either direction. The instant
the handle bars are released the balls run
down the plane, turning with them the
set of rings and the head until again the
socket at normal level is reached and the
head is straight. The balls are, of course,
distinct from those in the regular bear
lngs. For those who find it impossible to
ride hands off, and who are almost afraid
to remove either hand from the bars long
enough to bang at a mosquito or WELD a
han kerchief something of this kind.