An English firm has for several years had upon the market a machine which, from its external appearance, is all springs; the inventor thereof deserves greater credit than the success of the venture has awarded him. If in the early samples put upon the market the parts had not been so frail and the appearance so exceedingly homely, he might have fared better.
Several premature freaks of advancement in this matter of springs have occurred, but the general progress has been quite logical. First, we had the saddle provided with a very feeble amount of elasticity, then an increased amount, until makers vied with each other in producing the best spring for the old Ordinary; then we had the spring connection between the front fork and backbone in the Safety, confining the shock to the forward half of the machine; and then came the spring fork isolating the entire system except the front wheel from the shock. So far the inventions have been practical and are in use. Next we have a worthy, but I fear impractical, inventor, who proposes springs between two outer rims of the wheel or substantially at the ends of the spokes, thereby confining the concussion to one rim of the front wheel in the manner shown in cut. (See English spring rim.)
This appeared to be the ultimatum, but a shrewd American inventor has “gone him one better” and proposes to confine the shock and vertical thrust to a mere part of the rim. This invention was patented in the United States in 1889, and, if practical, would simply cause the wheel to roll over the obstruction almost as a man would step over in walking,—an ideal state of affairs, to be sure! Such a wheel would not only aid man in his transmigration over smooth roads, as claimed for the solid wheel in the fore part of this book, but would be available on the cross-ties of the poorly-ballasted railroad; and let the wheel be but tall enough, and he may yet go over that old-time impediment to cross-country locomotion, the rail fence, as unwittingly as though it had not been there at all.
English spring rim.
American patent flexible rim.
One of the grandest ideas in the way of anti-vibration is suggested by the following from the American Athlete:
“An inventor of Belfast, Ireland, has made what he calls a ‘Pneumatic Safety,’ the tires of which are two inches in diameter, and of hollow rubber, so that they contain air, which vastly increases their elasticity. The result is most favorably regarded by Irish wheelmen, and at the recent races at Belfast a rider on a ‘Pneumatic’ won all the four first prizes, the hollow rubber being described as phenomenally successful on the rough grass track.”
If the liability of cutting and collapsing were not so apparent in this device, I would be inclined to think it would have a great future.