CHAPTER XXIV.
HOBBIES.
The cycle hobbyist is one of the quaint characters of the fraternity, and he exists in profusion; turns up at all the meets, and always makes his ubiquitous presence felt.
Only make a wheel big enough, a lever long enough, or a spring strong enough, and he has you foul.
Some of them have pet schemes of storing compressed air in the tubes; others, more practical, make vague hints at a mile a minute with their electrical or steam motors; while others of these embryo inventors would outdo the now notorious Keely with their wonders; and the only surprise is that they would stop to fix the thing to a cycle, when a most diverting amusement could be found in starting the earth around backward or in drawing the poles straight up and thereby making an eternal spring.
Such fundamental principles as that a short lever hung in the middle is just as powerful as a long one hung in the same way; that two turns of a small wheel rolls over as much ground as one turn of another twice the size; that there is no more power in a spring than you put into it, and many other like principles, all seem to be forgotten in the general rush to be the first to make a mile a minute on a dirt road.
Truly we inhabit a wonderful sphere; only just make gravity pull sideways, and we would have no further use for locomotives. Somehow or other, however, the contrary old gravity continues to haul everything just its own way, and that is just the way we do notcare to go, either now or in the distant future. Certainly all would-be perpetual-motion makers must feel that something satanic is working against them in this unceasing pull of gravity in the wrong direction.
But to revert to our cycle hobbyist in particular. A friend of the writer’s, a prominent man, intelligent in all other things, once proposed to pull all the Chicago street-cars by having a man in each, continually winding a spring, said spring to drive the car; and he knit his brow in half offence at the suggestion that there would be less danger of the wheels slipping if the spring-worker would get out and pull by the front platform.
No one can readily believe how common such ideas as the above spring method are till they scour the patent-office records, or talk to the cycle hobbyist. Intelligent men often remark “how powerful” a certain machine must be “with that long lever,” when the lever is hung to be worked from the short end; and how often we have heard them condemn the thirty-inch safeties as being slow, on account of the small wheel. Even to cycle-riders not aspiring to the high degree of hobbyists it was a matter of surprise, when the old Kangaroo came out, that it pushed harder when geared to the sixty than others geared to fifty.
“Big wheel, big speed,” seems to be indelibly written in the mind of the cycle hobbyist; but we will forgive him all such little inconsistencies if he will only let us continue to believe that there is no innate power in a gear wheel.
I once knew a successful manufacturer who geared up a sausage-cutter to double speed, and then down again to the same, and he believes to this day that it runs easier on account of these four gear wheels. I have often thought that the cycling fraternity would not have cared much whether it did or not, if he had only made it large enough to take in a few cycle hobbyists.
“Pull a bicycle from the rim,” and you have poweronly equalled by the pinch-bar. Did anybody notice the half-page advertisement of a prominent English maker a few years ago, of the tricycle that pulled from the rim (probably not endorsed by the said maker, it being merely contract work for an outsider)? and have any of our American readers ever seen the old bone-shaker wheel with the cross-bar on the hub? (See cut.) For years they were used in England with the benighted idea, in the minds of many, that they thereby gained in power. One of these wheels of eight-day size is suspended in front of a building in Coventry (or was a few years ago), used as a sign. This wheel “pulls by the rim,” at least so I was quite often informed, not always by reputable English makers, but by riders, who mostly see these great principles (?) first.
Old bone-shaker wheel.
Old bone-shaker wheel.
The error appertaining to all such ideas is generally the result of confusing external with internal forces. We must have the hub of a wheel connected to the rim in some substantial manner, so that both will revolve rigidly together; further than this the manner of connecting them can matter but little so far as transmission of power is concerned. All that is necessaryis that the hub shall not revolve within the rim independently and thereby cause a lack of firmness.
Another sample of the hobbyistic idea is promulgated in the following fromThe Cyclistin a recent issue.
“A NEW BRAKE.“Mr. ——, of ——, has patented a good idea. On the other side of the forks from the regulation plunger he introduces another spoon connected with the front under the arch of the fork, provision being made for the mud-guard. On moving the lever, both brakes act in unison, thus duplicating the resistance with the same power required to work the brake in its single form.”
“A NEW BRAKE.
“Mr. ——, of ——, has patented a good idea. On the other side of the forks from the regulation plunger he introduces another spoon connected with the front under the arch of the fork, provision being made for the mud-guard. On moving the lever, both brakes act in unison, thus duplicating the resistance with the same power required to work the brake in its single form.”
If it takes a certain pressure to hold the first brake down, and none to hold the second, why not put on two seconds and no first, and thus have a good brake power without any pressure at all?
Since penning the above I have heard further of the new brake in question, and have been tempted to cancel the paragraph, since injustice might be done to an honest inventor; but on second thought concluded to retain it as an example of careless statement, knowing that others were misled by the same. Had the inventor simply remarked that he had made use of his momentum, transmitted through the rim of the wheel, and acting to wedge one of the brakes against the head or the other brake, whereby to increase the brake, or some such explanation, everybody would have acquiesced in it as a reasonable possibility, even if they had not the slightest idea of what the inventor was talking about. It is a satisfaction to know that it is becoming a little dangerous, in the cycle art, to make a statement that savors of getting something for nothing.
A prominent American maker, whose wares now stand high in our market, must have been a hobbyist once too, when he climbed the steps into an English bicycle factory on his lever tricycle. Probably he has reformed, as I hear of no step-climbing now.
Only within a few days I have had an offer to inspecta machine that the inventor assumes will make a mile a minute. “No other machine was ever made to work by hand and foot,” says the same inventor. He also assures me that wire wheels are a mistake, and that the old wooden ones are just as good and cheaper. This machine has an ingenious device by which to lock the front wheel of a bicycle, to save the trouble of holding the handle-bars “when you don’t want to steer.” This much I believe the inventor may be right about. A machine, properly made, run by hand and foot, might make short distances very rapidly, since the entire energy of the man could be quickly used up; but whether such a machine would be of marketable value is a question.
Quite recently a new “hickory wheel” man of more formidable caliber has entered the lists, and again we are called back to bone-shaker days. Well! after the beetle (rear-driver) has been so fondly embraced, let us be prepared for anything that may come. We have dropped down from the cat to the kitten, and can now get out through a pretty small hole if hard pressed; so for the present we will hold the hickory wheel on probation.
A gentleman at Coventry, a few years ago, conceived, and spent a small fortune upon, a plan for overcoming the dead centre in crank tricycles; his method was quite simple: he only had to turn an angle on the crank at the outer extremity like a letter L, so that when the straight or radial part, represented by the stem of the L with the axle through the upper end, stood vertical, the pedal, which is supposed to be attached to the tip of the horizontal extension, would have passed some two inches beyond the dead-centre point.
This same inventor had an enormous steel spring ensconced beneath the seat of his machine, which he wound with his hands as he went along. Whenever the proprietor of the establishment where these experimentswere being conducted ran short of work he invariably proposed to the inventor to “go out and try the tricycle.”
The writer was a moderate hobbyist himself once, and has perhaps not yet entirely recovered from the spell. Below find a letter written some time ago, while the delusion was still upon him.
“AN AMERICAN HOBBYIST.“Trials and Tribulations of an American Abroad—How Pet Theories are received in the Bicycling Centre of the World.“Editor Springfield Wheelmen’s Gazette:“Some friend has kindly sent me a copy of theGazette, and I make haste to remit you the amount of subscription.“I will not assume that the bicycling papers of the country of which I am now a guest are not good. In fact, to do so would libel my host; I simply say that, being an American, I like American papers.“In the letter I first wrote, of which this is in main a copy, I asserted that the papers here were too much taken up by race-course news, but even since then I have received a copy of an English periodical which I find is not open to the objection given; hence I will still speak cautiously, lest I do not know all yet.“I have no penchant for the race-course; in fact, I never ran but one race, and then I was left so far behind that I have never been interested in racing news since. In one respect my race was a success, for I was loudly cheered by the crowd opposite the starting-point, for by some fortunate error they got the idea that I had been handicapped half a lap, that being about my distance in the rear at the end of the first round. Since that time I have confined myself exclusively to touring, with which object my brother and I came to England this spring.“I have been admitted to membership in the Cyclists’ Touring Club, and must say it is a grand institution, and the official organ thereof is a valuable journal.“If you and your readers will permit me to speak of my object in making a centre at Coventry without denouncing it as merely a scheme whereby to benefit in a free advertisement, I would say that I have taken the liberty—almost a criminal one it seems here—of having ahobbyrelating to an ‘ideal bicycle.’ This is from atourist’sstand-point; not that of a racer, or it would have been all right.“My hobby consists in the following hobbies in detail: 1. A bicycle with a large front wheel, because it rides smoother and steers easier than any other. 2. A bicycle in which you are directly over the work and do not have to reach out to do it, or lean over the handle-bar to get your centre of gravity over it. I should think the ‘Grasshopper’ good in this respect. 3. A bicycle in which the legs areat reston all down grade, or when work is unnecessary,à la Star. 4. A bicycle with a treadle motion, as I think power is more economically applied by the same. (This is largely theory, so far.) 5. A bicycle with no dead centre at any time, as I think it is a continual impediment in up-hill or rough roads (also theory). 6. A bicycle where one foot going down lifts the other positively, as in a crank; to lift by springs I consider bad. 7. A bicycle safer from headers than the common large wheel machines, say about comparable with the ‘Grasshopper.’ I do not aspire to the security of the small wheelers, nor do I like the other known safety devices (probably prejudice). 8. (Ordinary bicyclers’ pride suggests No. 8.) A bicycle as neat and trim in appearance as the common large wheel crank-machine without octopus-clawed walking beams, gear wheels, or chains swinging through the air in full view at long range. 9. A bicycle that brakes from the hind wheel, as there is less danger of headers. 10. A bicycle with some good sort of safety handle-bar that will be open to no objections found in those now used. This is to prevent injury in case of a header, and also to store the bicycle in less space.“You will infer, of course, that I had a plan for combining these hobbies; hence my trip to Coventry with a view to having such a machine made for my own use. When I arrived here and called on some of the bicycle manufacturers and made my purpose known, I cannot say that I was quite so well received as your correspondent C.; in fact, a Yankee inventor does not seem to be such desirable property in Coventry as a foreign agent, and yet I doubt not that a real genius of the former sort might do them much more good. Now, I think I was entitled to the reception of such a character for at least the few minutes it would have taken to expose the error, but there seems to be a sort of suspicious dread of a Yankee inventor, which is all wrong and against their interest. The greatest fault I have to find is in the manner in which they insist that I could not possibly know anything about the bicycle business, or have a right to a hobby and waste some money on it if I wanted to.“The bad weather has detained us here much longer than we thought to stay, but we do not regret it, as it is the best centre in England from which to make short tours. The attractions of this ancient city are innumerable, and the proximity of Kenilworth, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon need only be mentioned to make Coventry all I assert.“You will pardon me if I say that my new machine is all and more than I expected; but a word to all hobbyists before I close:Have you a hobby? If so, then ‘bend low and with bated breath I will a secret tale unfold.’“Have your hobby, nourish it, talk and write about it, and make everybody believe you can fly; don’t let anybody down you, get in the last kick at every man who won’t think just as you do, but just as you are going to put it in practice, stop! slip quietly to your escritoire, get out your book, go straight to the bank, and have it accurately footed up; if there is a fat balance, and you are unmarried, with no other care on your mind, and nothing to do for seven years, then go in, and God speed to you.“If the above conditions fail you, go straight home, kiss your wife, and baby if you have any, and thank Providence that you are saved from the lunatic asylum and your family from poverty and want.“R. P. S.“Coventry, England, June 11, 1885.”
“AN AMERICAN HOBBYIST.
“Trials and Tribulations of an American Abroad—How Pet Theories are received in the Bicycling Centre of the World.
“Editor Springfield Wheelmen’s Gazette:
“Some friend has kindly sent me a copy of theGazette, and I make haste to remit you the amount of subscription.
“I will not assume that the bicycling papers of the country of which I am now a guest are not good. In fact, to do so would libel my host; I simply say that, being an American, I like American papers.
“In the letter I first wrote, of which this is in main a copy, I asserted that the papers here were too much taken up by race-course news, but even since then I have received a copy of an English periodical which I find is not open to the objection given; hence I will still speak cautiously, lest I do not know all yet.
“I have no penchant for the race-course; in fact, I never ran but one race, and then I was left so far behind that I have never been interested in racing news since. In one respect my race was a success, for I was loudly cheered by the crowd opposite the starting-point, for by some fortunate error they got the idea that I had been handicapped half a lap, that being about my distance in the rear at the end of the first round. Since that time I have confined myself exclusively to touring, with which object my brother and I came to England this spring.
“I have been admitted to membership in the Cyclists’ Touring Club, and must say it is a grand institution, and the official organ thereof is a valuable journal.
“If you and your readers will permit me to speak of my object in making a centre at Coventry without denouncing it as merely a scheme whereby to benefit in a free advertisement, I would say that I have taken the liberty—almost a criminal one it seems here—of having ahobbyrelating to an ‘ideal bicycle.’ This is from atourist’sstand-point; not that of a racer, or it would have been all right.
“My hobby consists in the following hobbies in detail: 1. A bicycle with a large front wheel, because it rides smoother and steers easier than any other. 2. A bicycle in which you are directly over the work and do not have to reach out to do it, or lean over the handle-bar to get your centre of gravity over it. I should think the ‘Grasshopper’ good in this respect. 3. A bicycle in which the legs areat reston all down grade, or when work is unnecessary,à la Star. 4. A bicycle with a treadle motion, as I think power is more economically applied by the same. (This is largely theory, so far.) 5. A bicycle with no dead centre at any time, as I think it is a continual impediment in up-hill or rough roads (also theory). 6. A bicycle where one foot going down lifts the other positively, as in a crank; to lift by springs I consider bad. 7. A bicycle safer from headers than the common large wheel machines, say about comparable with the ‘Grasshopper.’ I do not aspire to the security of the small wheelers, nor do I like the other known safety devices (probably prejudice). 8. (Ordinary bicyclers’ pride suggests No. 8.) A bicycle as neat and trim in appearance as the common large wheel crank-machine without octopus-clawed walking beams, gear wheels, or chains swinging through the air in full view at long range. 9. A bicycle that brakes from the hind wheel, as there is less danger of headers. 10. A bicycle with some good sort of safety handle-bar that will be open to no objections found in those now used. This is to prevent injury in case of a header, and also to store the bicycle in less space.
“You will infer, of course, that I had a plan for combining these hobbies; hence my trip to Coventry with a view to having such a machine made for my own use. When I arrived here and called on some of the bicycle manufacturers and made my purpose known, I cannot say that I was quite so well received as your correspondent C.; in fact, a Yankee inventor does not seem to be such desirable property in Coventry as a foreign agent, and yet I doubt not that a real genius of the former sort might do them much more good. Now, I think I was entitled to the reception of such a character for at least the few minutes it would have taken to expose the error, but there seems to be a sort of suspicious dread of a Yankee inventor, which is all wrong and against their interest. The greatest fault I have to find is in the manner in which they insist that I could not possibly know anything about the bicycle business, or have a right to a hobby and waste some money on it if I wanted to.
“The bad weather has detained us here much longer than we thought to stay, but we do not regret it, as it is the best centre in England from which to make short tours. The attractions of this ancient city are innumerable, and the proximity of Kenilworth, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon need only be mentioned to make Coventry all I assert.
“You will pardon me if I say that my new machine is all and more than I expected; but a word to all hobbyists before I close:Have you a hobby? If so, then ‘bend low and with bated breath I will a secret tale unfold.’
“Have your hobby, nourish it, talk and write about it, and make everybody believe you can fly; don’t let anybody down you, get in the last kick at every man who won’t think just as you do, but just as you are going to put it in practice, stop! slip quietly to your escritoire, get out your book, go straight to the bank, and have it accurately footed up; if there is a fat balance, and you are unmarried, with no other care on your mind, and nothing to do for seven years, then go in, and God speed to you.
“If the above conditions fail you, go straight home, kiss your wife, and baby if you have any, and thank Providence that you are saved from the lunatic asylum and your family from poverty and want.
“R. P. S.
“Coventry, England, June 11, 1885.”