The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-06
REVERSING A CYCLIC
HOW TO TURN ONE REGISTERING
5000 MILES BACK TO
ZERO
MATTER OF PERPLEx1TY

w AASh NaUSSO 1fOU0Ie Until
Engineer Solved the Problem nv
Placing the Teeth of the O'clock,
Against SOfne BeIiing-It's Easy
When You Know How.
If the doctor had been a less particu,
lar man, not so fearful of his honesty
being impugned, and had not been of the
kind that refuse to look back after lay
ing hand to the plough, his cook would
not be now engaged to the grocery
clerk and the doctor would be held in
higher esteem by his own family and
by his coachmans. The doctor himself
says it is all because cyclometers 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, says
the N. Y. Sun.
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 il
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 cyclometer had
registry of 5000 miles on it, which was
run up last year by the combined riding
of himself and a nephew The doctor
thought that if he started off with that
much showing on his cycIometer his
friends, seeing it, would know that he
had not ridden so far this year, and
might, without asking for any expIana-
ton, reach the conclusion that he was
trying to misrepresent his mileage. Be-
sides, he would want to know how far
he did ride this season, without having
to do a bit of subtraction in fractions
every time. He quickly came to the
conclusion that he wanted that cyclone,
ter back to zero.
1t was an ordinary little indicator that
showed the tenths of each mile in red
f1gEges at the right-hand side and was
capable of registering 10000 miles If it
was run up to the 10000 mark it would
of its own accord start at zero again
The doctor found that by spinning the
wheel backward the record went down.
and decided that this was the best way
to accomplish his purpose, as only 5000
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 men
cheating in their mileage record by sit
ting down and spinning their wheels so
as to run up the figures on the cyclone
ter and to be honest he sat down to
spin the wheel with his finger, but he
had run the cyclometer back only two
miles when he concluded that it would be
better to remove it from the wheel and
turn II on his finger, so that the points
would have more contact and move fast
er. He played with it about another
miles worth and then carried 1t in his
pocket to the stable. His coachman's
Httle boy was set at work rubbing 1t on
his trousers leg. He was kept faithfully
at work in the interests of his fathers
employer until his mother discovered
that ne was wearing a hole in his trous-
ers leg and had run the pesky little
machine down only forty-ive miles.
Inc doctor was more determined than
ever to get that cyclometer back to zero.
ne put II in his pocket again and began
asking advice of his friends at the hos
pltaL An attendant took the instrument
and turned it diligently for about twenty
minutes and then announced Triumphant
~ that he had run it up from 315O to
bI5Z. The doctor took the cvclometer
back with tired expression and handed
II TO a nurse who wanted to show what
Di0, coulu 40. Alter making about 200
turns on the little spokes and noticing
that she had sent the record down less
IMAM mile and a half she discov-
eIed that she had something else TO do.
Inc doctor then started in to do some
hgurlng. He found that it took Just four
teen complete revolutions of the little
nVe-polnted wheel on the cyclometer tn
register one-tenth of a mile, or lac rev.
oIutons to mile. The cyclometer was
fir10a .
out this record would require 440, 100 com
plete turns of the little star. At the most
ne could not turn 1t more than about sly
" times in a minute, so he calculated
ana at that rate it would take him 1919
hours and twenty-five minutes of steady
Application to wipe out the record. or
more than twelve days WORKING ton
hours day. He began to wonder If there
was not some quick way to go at if 81
as 10 turn the wheel a little faster
IelIoW surgeon suggested giving If to n
DoE and letting him run ND and down
outside Of the hospital, holding the points
against the wall. The building was 200
ieet long, and inasmuch as it could NOT
pe loId no" many times one of the points
would slip, the doctor could not ffeure oI,+
now many trips this would require The
OCCUPATIONS he had made prevented him
from accepting this suggestion He did
not want to hire the boy by the week
hHu' besides, he was afraid the treatment
would wear away the points. An amb,-
lance surgeon suggested that tho oI,-
cloneter be fastened in a reverse nositiop
on TO the wheel of the ambulance which
travelling rapidly, would soon wine o,,t
the obnoxious figures. This would nrohl
aDiY hve been done, but for the fact that
no one could devise a plan for attachine
the instrument 4i4e
ne physicians and others at the hos
pltaI We're firing of the fun bv this time
ana the doctor began to feel bit foolish
DuI III MS heart he resolved more firmly
thah ever to set that cyclometer back to
zero, II only to learn just how rnucb
trouble it would take. He made 80
mental calculations and decided that a ta~
al! it would be better to return H. ~
clometer to the wheel where. he tbo,ob+
good many more than sixty revolutions
minute could be made. He nut the in
olcator back at its place on the hicvcI,
anu set about spinning the front wheel
ana counting the revolutions. He ol1icl-
~ discovered that, while holding If in bIs
mana he could make a complete +,,r, 80
IA We llttIe nVe-pointed wheel with hie fn
ser the spinning wheel with its a,zar
reVolutlon touched only one of the noin+s
OF the star, and it took five revoI1,tin,lS
OF the cycle wheel to complete a t1,rr
ana seventy wheel revolutions IN raoie+a5,
a tenth OF mile, or 700 to q mile 60
putlne this against the seven and a boip
teet OF ground that his twenty-eigbt frct
wheel covered every time It tnrned
around, he found 1t to be correct. He az
perlmented further and learned that he
could SPIN the wheel so as to register o
mile IN nve minutes. At this rate it would