The appearance of the crank-axle wheel in the cut suggests that the wheel is provided with pins of a generally round shape rather than with any such V-tooth as in the Sager device now shown on the Monarch. Application was filed by Fitzgerald and Clement in December last for an English patent on a device somewhat resembling the Quadrant. The crank axle clearly shows a central gear wheel, with regular crown-wheel teeth; and although the cuts in the specification are difficult to make out, the text describes a roller-toothed pinion on the forward end of the shaft, a crown-wheel toothed pinion on the rear end, and a wheel hub provided with roller teeth. The teeth thus described would not act precisely like those which appear to be on the Quadrant.
Mr. J. H. Harell of this city has produced a specimen which is apparently identical with the Quadrant, except that in the former the driving is applied to the back side of the wheel hub, as on the [Spalding Chainless], while on the Quadrant the position of the driving parts is as on the [Columbia]. The pins which engage the rollers are rounded off and slightly tapered, resembling the shape of the bullet in ordinary fixed ammunition; but in the lack of more precise information as to the form of the pins on the Quadrant it is not certain that Mr. Harell has made any improvement.
GEARED ORDINARY—1892.
CHAPTER III.
CHAINLESS vs. CHAIN.
The possible changes in the future of cycling involve the shape of the cycle as well as the mode of driving it. Indeed, the mode of applying the power has influenced the shape of the structure more than the shape of the structure has influenced the mode of driving. At present, rear-driving has the field; will front-driving ever return? Possibly. As bearing on this possibility, it may not be amiss to briefly describe some of the most important attempts to make a safe and practical bicycle (in nearly every instance out of the front-driver), without trying to follow exact chronological order.