The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-30
REVERSING A CYCLOMETER.
NOV TO TURN ONE REGISTERING $500
NILES BACH TO ZERO.

II the doctor had been less particular man.
not 80 fearful OF his honesty being impugned
and had not been OF tho kind that refuse to
d look back after laying hand to the plough his
cook would not be now engaged to the grocery
7 clerk and the doctor would he held in higher
/ esteem by his own family and by his coach
| mans. The doctor himself says it is all be-
| cause cycometers are not made with a spring.
! SO that they can be set back to the starting
point like the split second hand OF a stop watch.
! The doctor lives in the upper section of
! Brooklyn, and Is quite wheel rider. Owing
TO family affairs he did not get out early this
| spring. as usual, and it was only recently that
he concluded to begin his seasons riding. He
had his wheel overhauled. and felt that he was
all ready except that his cyolometer had
registry OF 5000 miles on 1t. which was run up
last year by the combined riding Of him
! self and a nephew. The doctor thought
| that IL he started of with that much
showing on his cyclometer his friends.
seeing it, would know that he had not ridden
| 80 far this year. and might. without asking for
| any explanation. reach the conclusion that he
| was trying to mierepresent his mileage. Be-
| sides. he would want to know how far he did
ride this season. without having to do bit OF
subtraction in fractions every time. He quick
! ly came to the conclusion that he wanted that
| cyclometer back to zero.
| II was Oil OEulndIy lttlt lndJ
| showed the tenths OF each mile in red figures
at the right -hand side and was capable OF
registering 10000 miles. II 1t was run up to
| the ten thousand mark 1t would OF it's own ac-
| cord start at zero again. The doctor found
| that by spinning the wheel back the rec
| ord went down. and decided that this was the
! best way to accomplish his purpose. as only
$500 miles would have to be taken off. while it
would have to be spun $500 miles in order to
reset itself.
The doctor often had heard about m en- cheat
| ing in their mileage record by sitting down
| and spinning their wheels so as to run up the
| figures on the cyclometer. and to be honest he
| sat down to spin that last year record away.
| The doctor started to spin the wheel with his
| finger. but he had run the cyclometer back
| only two miles when he concluded it would be
| better to remove it from tho wheel and turn it
| on his finger. so that the points would have
more contact and move faster. He played with
| 1t about another miles worth and then carried
it in his pocket to the stable His coachman's
little boy was set at work rubbing It on his
| trousers leg He was kept faithfully at work
in the interests OF his fathers employer until
| his mother discovered that he was wearing a
i hole In his trousers leg and had run the pesky
| little machine down only As miles.
| The doctor was more determined than ever
h b pises again e b and eesp asking
took the Instrument instr and turned It diiaenty
for about twenty minutes and then announced
to 1852. The doctor took the cyclometer back
with tired expression and handed it to a
After making about 200 turns on the little
spokes and noticing that she had sent the
discovercd that she had something else to do
than sta t6s in to 90
piete revolutions Of the The little Ave pointed
wheel on the eyclometer to register one tenth OF
nile or l4o reE9lutons to NILE 70 The
70 wipe out this record It would require 440.-
72o complete, turns Of the. little star. At the
at that rate IL would take him 122 hours aud
out the record. or more than Twelve days lays
working ten hours a day: He began to
so a. toS turn the e ss wEee aseT
fellow surgeon suggested giving IT to boy and
Esp hodne a Pos the ei
The building was 200 feet long, and nasmuch
e.. S soH %ou he e sp h fSs aoeo eeSS
| figure out how many trips this would
reaprs The The caeuatOps he had made
and besides he Was afraid the treatment would
suggested that the cyclometer be fastened in a
fcverss position on 70 the wheel OF the ambu-
WIPE out the oGno1!o"Hs a%res' E T%s w s%Hd
! probably have been done. but for the fact that
no one could devise plan for attaching the in
:, The physicians and others at the hospital were
firing OF the tq n, by ths tine and the doctor be
solved more firmly than ever to set that cyclom-
eter back to zero # only to learn INST how
mental calculations and decided that after all
4 would be better 70 return the cyclomoter to
more than sixty revolutions minute could be
made He Put the indicator back in its place
Tie front, wheel and counting the reyoIut tts
! He quickly discovered that while holding il in
Mhee s Of the the
spinning wheel with its every, revolution
touched only one Of the points of the star, and
| 1t took five revolutions OF the cycle wheel to
complete n turn. and seventy wheel revolutions
70 register tenth of mile. or 700 to n mile.
feet OF ground that his 2S-nch wheel covered
every ting it turned around he found il to be
| that he could spin the wheel 50 as to register
mile in five minutes. At this rate i would
3.14S miles as, it would turning 1t by hand He
was dismayed at this discovery and real lied
Mileage by hand as hy ee 3a
He let the matter rest for day and then a
bs n h 20 ne
one he could make mileage raniily What hurt T
the most was that the friends whose advice he
wipe out meSss but assnmed that he Was as
telling it simply ,, to hide his intentions
by. this time that it would have been
better to buy new cyclometer, for 81.
| He had to buy the coachman's boy a
new pair Of trousers. and had neglected
! his notion. He had gone too farto turn back.
! however, so he bought the extra trippers and
| fastened them to the spokes in such way that
the cyccometer ngures recede., tenth Of, a
| mile with every ten turns Of the wheel. He
then put It in the kitchen for the cook toTork
! on during her leisure time. His wife modS oh
| jections to this plan. because 1t WAS taking too
much Of the cook time from her work.
| He finally arranged with the grocer's clerk to
| go to the house and attend to sp inning the
wheel evenings inter he was through with his
| work In the course OF two weeks tho cook
gave notice" that she was to be married to
| the clerk and would leave in September. This
| lost the doctor. some O. his wiie's respect but
| as the mischief was already done. the grocery
clerk was allowed to call for n week longer and
| snin ont the mileage along with his courtship.
| The wife Of the doctor could not stand i.
though. and he took the Job out Of the hands
eter '' reeistering AZ niles lie took 9" il
down 10 the hospital to show what had been
story. asked fer the wonderful milo recorder
Iv"-prongcd wheel Of the cycom eter against ST" a
| nil Of hall hat in