HEMMING’S UNICYCLE, OR “FLYING YANKEE VELOCIPEDE.”
The single-wheeled velocipede has at length received a palpable body, and “a local habitation and a name.”
Richard C. Hemming of New Haven, Conn., invented the machine herewith represented, two years ago; but has only recently brought it into the market and applied it to practical purposes. The main wheel has a double rim, or has two concentric rims, the inner face of the inner one having a projecting lip for keeping the friction rollers and the friction driver in place; each of these being correspondingly grooved on their peripheries. The frame on which the rider sits, sustains these friction wheels in double parallel arms, on the front one of which is mounted a double pulley, with belts passing to small pulleys on the axis of the driving wheel. This double wheel is driven, as seen, by cranks turned by the hands. The friction of the lower wheel on the surface of the inner rim of the main wheel, is the immediate means of propulsion. A small binding wheel, seen between the rider’s legs, serves to keep the bands or belts tight. The steering is effected either by inclining the body to one side or the other, or by the foot impinging on the ground, the stirrups being hung low for this purpose. By throwing the weight on these stirrups, the binding wheel may be brought more powerfully down on the belts. Over the rider’s head is an awning, and there is also a shield in front of his body to keep the clothes from being soiled by mud and wet. When going forward, the driving wheel is kept slightly forward of the centre of gravity by the position of the rider. By this means the power exerted is comparatively small. Every turn of the crank is equivalent to a rotation of the great wheel.
Mr. Hemming says that this machine can be manufactured for fifty dollars, of a weight of only thirty pounds; that it will ascend steep grades, and that it can be driven on the roads with but little exertion, at the rate of twenty or even twenty-five miles an hour. This wheel is of a diameter of from six to eight feet.
Mr. Hemming’s boy of thirteen has one five feet in diameter, the first manufactured, crude in construction, and heavier than necessary, which he propels at the rate of a mile in three minutes.
A mechanic of Dubuque, Iowa, has invented a one-wheeled machine, which he calls a velocycle or velocyde. This velocipede is not ridden upon, but transports its rider into the position of “walkist.” It is a large wheel or double wheel, made a unit by a light rim of five feet one inch in diameter. The operator steps upon the rim and commences to ascend an endless ladder. It being movable, of course he does not ascend but sets the wheel in motion. The inventor claims that the effort is not greater than the force of muscle required in ordinary locomotion, and that by his arrangement of pulleys, each step gives a complete revolution of the wheel and is equivalent to a stride of eighteen feet. He claims that it will ascend steep grades, will run at the rate of twenty miles an hour, will not weigh over twenty pounds, and that it can be manufactured for $40.
The single wheeled velocipede was perhaps predicted in Ezekiel i. 15-21. A gentleman in Pittsburg, Pa., claims to have invented one, which can be propelled by the combined force of five men, who occupy comfortable seats in the automatic horse. This wheel is ten feet in diameter, and the inventor thinks it can be driven at the rate of twenty miles an hour.
A New York mechanic has devised a monocycle or single machine, which consists of a wheel eight feet in diameter, with a tire six inches wide, or two narrow tires on its outer edges, with two sets of spokes connecting with a double centre, which fills the place of a hub, the two sides of which are two feet and a half apart. The operator is in the middle, and propels the wheel by an apparatus, in which both his weight and his muscles are brought into play.
We present an engraving of an English one-wheeled velocipede. The feet are placed on short stilts, connected with the cranks, one on either side of the rim, while the rider sits upon a steel spring saddle over the whole wheel. The inventor modestly limits the diameter of the wheel to twelve feet, and the number of revolutions to fifty per minute. Twenty-five miles per hour is the speed expected to be reached. The riders of this machine, without the ability to overcome the laws of gravity, would be very likely to get broken bones and noses. It is not likely to come into general use.
Captain Du Boisson, a Frenchman and captain of Prince Napoleon’s yacht, “Jerome Napoleon,” has invented a velocipede which runs upon water with great facility. It is composed of two parallel tubes of cast iron, cigar-shaped, connected by iron cross-pieces. In the centre is a propelling wheel, covered by a house or drum, on the top of which the person using the vessel sits comfortably in a sort of saddle, with stirrups. By means of these stirrups and a hand crank upon each side, he gives the wheel its motion, precisely as it is given to a velocipede on shore. The novel craft is easily propelled at the rate of six miles an hour.
A gentleman of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has invented and uses an Ice Velocipede, which he propels with astonishing rapidity. The frame of this velocipede is built like those which are commonly used in this city. It has but one wheel, steered with a bar as in the land machine, but armed with sharp points to prevent its slipping. Instead of the wheel behind are two sharp runners, like those attached to the ice boats.
A Steam Velocipede has also been invented, from which great speed is expected. The cylinders and their attachments to the two driving wheels are not shown. They are placed vertically in front of the boiler, between it and the seat, and connect with cranks on the shaft of the driving wheels. The engraving shows the position of the boiler relatively to the other parts of the machine. The engine is a direct acting compound engine of two cylinders, each cylinder two and a half inches diameter, and five inches stroke. The steering gear consists of an endless chain over a grooved wheel on the engine shaft, and passing over a corresponding wheel fixed between the forked shaft just over the front. The latter grooved wheel is a wide one, and over it passes another chain. This latter chain works round the boss of the front wheel. This arrangement gives power to the front wheel, so that in turning a corner, this wheel takes a wider sweep than the two driving wheels, which go first. In travelling on a straight road (backwards) the machine is turned to either side by turning the steering wheel to the opposite side. The boiler is a vertical one, with four tubes, one and a half inches internal diameter, hanging down by the side of the fire-box. The fire-grate is cast with four holes in it to receive the bottom ends of the tubes so as to hold them firmly. Height of boiler, two feet six inches; height of fire-box, fifteen inches; diameter of fire-box, eleven inches; diameter of boiler, fourteen inches. The fire-box and tubes are copper, pressure two hundred pounds; but twenty-five pounds of steam will be equal to a velocipede propelled by the feet.
Philadelphia has recently produced a velocipede of an entirely new style. There are but two wheels, the seat sitting quite low between them. The novelty consists in a cog attached to the guiding-post, by means of which the rear wheel is made to follow directly in the track of the forward wheel. No matter how short the turn, both wheels make it at the same time, and the seat always remains parallel with the driving wheel. In other machines there is no guide to the rear wheel, and consequently the machine cannot be turned so readily when a collision is threatened. The new machine, which is called the “Keystone,” in honor of its native State, is substantially built, and so far as it has been tested in the riding school, is pronounced a success.
There is an ingenious gentleman in Cincinnati, who is at work constructing a velocipede to be propelled by a spring, on the principle of a watch. After winding it up, he calculates that it will move two miles before it will require winding.
A gentleman in Albany has arranged a velocipede to run on railroad tracks. The wheels have flanges to them, so that they cannot leave the rails. The flanges are so arranged as to be removed when occasion requires, so as to make the machine available on ordinary roads. The inventor claims fifty miles an hour.
An expert velocipedestrian in the West, has had rubber tires put upon the wheels of his vehicle; and finds by their use, he can ride in winter over snow and ice without slipping, and that in summer he is much relieved of the jar from roughnesses of roads.
The vast majority of the new velocipedes of which we hear daily, prove total failures on trial. Most of their inventors proceed upon abstract principles, and fall into absurdities, from which previous practical knowledge would have saved them.
