Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-02-27

Doble really introduced the pneumatic
sulky on the Circuit, having obtained
it for Nancy Hanks and loaned it to
Geers
Trainers and drivers were quick 10
see the advantages of the new vehicle,
though nearly all Of them at first over-
estimated the Importance OF the bali
bearing axles and undervalued the
pneumatic tires. With important en-
gagements to be met by their horses
every week at this season, herculean
efforts We're made to get the new
wheels and attachments quickly, and
the mechanic who could furnish them
and fit them could literally get his own
price for the work
| In an incredibly short time ;tseyery
ur-to-date trainer on the circuits, East
AMI West had A bike AT Detroit
there was only one on the track, yet
at Buffalo. two weeks later. whole
fields of trotters were drawing the new
tangled vehicles, and within a month
the high wheel sulky was a thing of
the past in the Grand Circuit.
Never was a revolution more quick
and complete. Makers were left with
let' s,c '''CNhS VI ililcSt Olu SlyIt WIN Ofi
their hands, which they could not sell
at any price. The high wheels had
suddenly become worthless, and the
shafts axles and frames could be util-
lied only by fitting them with the
pneumatic attachment.
For a year or two these made over
sulkies We're practically the only kind
seen. They We're heavy, but they We're
rigid and free from vibration. and
Monroe Salisbury, the greatest horse.
man of his day, used to say they were
just as fast as the lighter ones built
later. Nancy Hanks. when she trotted
in 2.04, drew one of these converted
sulkies the weight of which was prob
ably greater than that of the high
wheel sulky drawn by Maud S.
While the pneumatic sullxy found
instant favor among drivers, it had a
narrow escape from early suppression
by the constituted authorities of the
trotting turf. At Cincinnati, on Au-
gust 8. 1892. the judges of the meeting,
one of whom was the president of the
National Trotting Association, prohib-
tied the driver of Madge Hatton from
using a pneumatic sulky and compelled
him to hook his mare to a high wheel
vehicle of the regulation pattern
Fortunately, this precedent was not
followed elsewhere until the users of
pneumatics had become so numerous
as to control the situation.
When the sull1y builders got to work
on the new problem which had so sud-
denly confronted them they gradually
evolved Il framework admirably suited
to the requirements of the small
Wheels Pneumatic tires having re-
duced vibration to minimum point,
the WOOD parts We're made lighter and
the net work of steel bracing became
finer than ever Aluminium and steel
tubing entered into the construction
quite extensively, and sulkies We're
built which weighed less than twenty
five pounds on the scales. This was
the type drawn by Alix. -2.03&; The
Abbot, 2.03A: Cresceus, 2.02A and
Star Pointer, 1884.
The chief advantage of the pneu-
matte is its freedom from vibration
and its tendency to hug the ground and
follow the horse on the turns. By tilt
ing the shafts up at an angle the driver
gets his weight back of the axle there
by improving the draught. and he low
ers the seat until he is down behind
his horse, where atmospheric resis-
lance is reduced to a minimum
No satisfactory tests have ever been
made to determine how much faster
pneumatic sulky is than an old style
high wheel vehicle. Opinions differ,
but the majority of horsemen estimate
that from three to five seconds inn
provement in the record can be at
tributed to the bike"