Chapter 3

Time will not allow me to say more of these machines, or to attack the subject of steam, electric, or magic tricycles, which I had hoped to do. With steam and electricity we are well acquainted; by magic tricycles, I mean those driven by a motor which, without any expense, will drive one twenty miles an hour, up or down hill, with perfect safety. Highway regulations, and certain reasons not well understood, have at present prevented these contrivances from making a revolution.

There remains one machine which must be considered separately, for it cannot be classed with any other. This is the Otto bicycle. My opinion of this machine is so pronounced that I do not care to state it fully. I shall merely give the reasons why I prefer it to anything else, and in so doing I shall be taking the first step in the discussion, in which it will be interesting to hear from riders of other machines the reasons for their preference.

In the first place, the evils of a third or little wheel, the cause of trouble in all tricycles, are avoided. There is none of the vibration which makes all other machines almost unbearable to Ottoists, vibration which tricyclists have learnt to consider a necessary accompaniment of cycling, but which has, no doubt, been diminished by the use of the spring support of the front steering Humber. It would be presumptuous in me to make any remarks on the effect of this vibration on the human system; we shall all be anxious to hear what our Chairman has to say on this point. By having only two wheels, we have only two tracks, so that we can travel at a fair speed along those places in the country called roads, which consist of alternate lines of ruts and stones, where a three-track machine could not be driven, and where, from the quantity of loose limestone in the ruts, a little wheel of a two-track tricycle would be likely to suffer. By having no little wheel, we can ride in dirty weather without having the rest of our machine pelted with mud, so that cleaning takes less time than it does with anything else. As I have already remarked, the small wheel is the culprit which makes the bicycle and tricycle drive so heavily on a soft road. The ease with which the Otto can therefore be run through the mud astonishes every one. Having no little wheel, we can obtain the full advantage of the high 56 inch wheel, which almost every one prefers. As I have ridden all combinations, from a 50 inch geared up to 60 inch, to a 60 inch geared level, I can speak from experience of the increased comfort to be derived from these large wheels, though for speed only they do not compare with the smaller and lighter wheels geared up. A further point gained by the use of two wheels only is the fact that the whole weight of machine and rider is on the driving-wheel, as it is also on the steering-wheel, so that by no possibility can the wheels be made to slip in the driving, or to fail in steering from want of pressure upon them.

The most important consequence, however, is the absence of any fixed frame. In all machines, bicycles and tricycles, with the usual fixed frame, a position is found for the saddle which is, on the whole, most suitable. For some particular gradient it will be perfect; on a steeper gradient the treadles will be further in advance, but with a steeper gradient the rider should be more over the front of the treadles. To get his weight further to the front, he has to double up in the middle, and assume a position in which he cannot possibly work to advantage. The swinging frame of the Otto carries the treadles, of necessity, further back, so that the Ottoist, when working at his hardest, is still upright, with his hands in the line between his shoulders, and his feet and his arms straight, so that he can hold himself down, and employ his strength in a perfectly natural position. On going down a slope, the fixed frame of a bicycle or tricycle leans forward, and places the rider in such a position that extra weight is thrown on his arms and his shoulders, whereas the swing frame of the Otto goes back, and the rider of necessity assumes that position in which his arms are relieved of all strain. In so far as the general position taken by the automatic Otto frame is concerned, nearly the same effect can be obtained by using the swing frame of the Devon tricycle, which can be shifted and locked in any position which the rider wishes, or by the sliding saddle, which can be slid backward or forward and locked so as to place the rider in one of three positions. Though the rider can by these devices assume nearly that position with respect to the treadles which is most advantageous, he cannot obtain that curious fore and aft oscillation made use of by the Ottoist in climbing hills, which, as the model on the table shows, enables him to get past the dead points without even moving, and which, therefore, makes the Otto by far the best hill-climbing machine there is, if account is taken of the high speeding with which all Ottoists ride. This is a proposition which none who knows the machine will question for one moment.

The freedom of motion resulting from the swing of the frame of the Otto gives a pleasurable sensation, which those who have only experienced the constrained motion of a three-wheeler cannot even understand.

The very peculiar method of driving and steering, which seems so puzzling to the novice, especially if he is a good rider of other machines--for in that case he is far worse off than one who has never ridden anything--give the rider, when he is familiar with them, a control over the machine which is still surprising to me. In the first place, the machine will run along straight, backward or forward, so long as the handles are let alone. This automatic straight running is a luxury, for until a deviation has to be made, the steering handles need not be touched, and the rider may, if sufficiently confident, travel with his arms folded or his hands in his pockets. The rigid connection between the cranks and the wheels does away with all the backlash, which is so unpleasant with chain or toothed wheel gearing. There is no differential gear or clutch, but the machine possesses the advantage of the clutch over the differential gear when meeting with unequal resistance on a straight course, for each wheel must travel at the same speed; but, in turning a corner, instead of driving the inner wheel only, which is done by the clutch or both wheels equally, which is the case with differential gear, each wheel is driven, but the outer one more than the inner. At high speeds, the steering of the Otto has this advantage, that whereas, with a given action on a tricyle, the same deviation will be effected in the same _space_ at high as at low speeds, the same action on the Otto will, at high speeds, produce the same deviation in the same _time_ as it does at low speeds; and so instead of becoming more sensitive at high speeds, as is the case with the tricyle, the steering of the Otto remains the same. This is because the steering of the tricycle depends on a kinematical, that of the Otto on a dynamical principle.

In another respect, no machine can approach the Otto; at almost any speed the rider can, if there is reason, instantly dismount, by which action he puts on the brakes, and the machine will save him from falling, stopping with him almost instantly. As is well known, we can move backward and forward, we can twist around and around in our own width, or can ride over bricks with impunity.

One objection to the machine is the difficulty of learning, which is considerable, but which presents no danger. This difficulty has been much exaggerated, for before the present powerful brake was applied it did require considerable skill to ride it down a steep hill. The way to do this must still be learnt, but it is now comparatively easy. For going down steep hills, the front steering tricycle is without a rival; I do not know what other machine will do this better than the Otto. Lastly, the foot straps, which would be a great advantage on any machine, if only they were safe, are not--though none but riders will believe it--in any way a source of danger on the Otto. Having ridden this machine for close upon 10,000 miles, I can speak with more authority on this point than can those who are not able to sit upon it for a moment.

The only disadvantage which the machine presents is the fact that it is impossible to remove the feet from the pedals while running, without dismounting; but though they must at all times follow the pedals, the Ottoist is not, as is generally thought, working when descending a hill.

The enthusiastic terms in which every one who has mastered the peculiarities of the Otto speaks of it would be considered as evidence in its favor, if we were not all considered by other cyclists to be in various stages of lunacy.

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THE CANAL IRON WORKS, LONDON.

Some interest is awakened in engineering circles in London, just now, by the approaching close of the old engineering works so well known as the "Canal Ironworks," at the entrance to the Isle of Dogs, London, E. This notable establishment stands second in priority in London--that of Messrs. Maudslay, Sons & Field being the oldest--for the manufacture of marine engines. It was founded by the late Messrs. Seawards, above sixty years ago. Here was originated Seaward's hoisting "sheers" with the traveling back leg, a modern example of which, 100 feet high, in iron, stands on the wharf. An interesting tool, also, is the large vertical boring machine for largest size cylinders; Seaward spent £5,000 upon this, and it is certainly an admirable tool. There is also the large vertical slotting machine, with a stroke up to 5 feet 2 inches, a wonderfully powerful and compact machine. The extensive collection of screwing tackle is, perhaps, unsurpassed, and extends up to 8 inches diameter. There is a peculiar erecting shop roof, which will still repay examination.

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MARINONI'S ROTARY PRINTING PRESS.

The greatest progress that has been made in recent years in the art of printing is in the invention of the high speed press provided with continuous paper.

Three French constructors, Messrs. Marinoni, Alauzet, and Derriey, have brought this kind of apparatus to such a degree of perfection that the majority of foreign journals having a large circulation buy their presses in France. We reproduce in Fig. 1 a perspective view of the Marinoni press, and in Fig. 2 a diagram showing the parts of the same. In order to give a complete description of it, we cannot do better than to reproduce the very interesting study that has been made of it by Mr. Monet, a civil engineer.

The roller, J (Fig. 2), is placed in the machine in the state in which it is received from the paper manufactory. The paper unwinds, runs over the rollers, e and e', which serve only for tautening it, and then passes between the two cylinders, A and B. The cylinder, A, carries the form, and B carries the blanket, and the paper thus receives its first impression. It afterward passes between the cylinders, A' and B', and receives an impression on the other side, the cylinder, A', carrying the form, and B' the blanket. Being now printed on both sides, it passes between the cylinders, KK', which cut it off and allow the sheet to slide between the cords of the rollers. These latter lead the sheets over the rollers, g h, on which they wind, one over the other, when the rollers, a a', are in the position shown by unbroken lines in the cut.

The part of the machine that holds the rollers, g h, and the different cords that wind over them, is the _accumulator_, and it is in this part of the press that the sheets accumulate, one over the other, to any number desired.

The size of the rollers, g h, and their distance apart are so regulated that when the sheet reaches the accumulator, it falls exactly on those that have preceded it. When the proper number of sheets is in the accumulator (4 or 5 being the number most employed for afterward facilitating the separation into packets on the receiving table), the two small rollers, a a', advance over the rack, N, and the sheets, instead of continuing to roll over into the accumulator, fall on the rack and are deposited by it upon the receiving table, O.

The rack having fallen twenty times, and deposited five sheets each time, or one hundred in all, the table moves in such a way as to prevent the sheets subsequently deposited from getting mixed with them. When the rack has fallen twenty times, the table returns to its initial position.

The distributing rollers, D, come in contact with the inking rollers, I, once during each revolution of the printing cylinders, and are mounted on racking levers provided with regulating screws that permit of easily regulating the amount of ink taken up. The supports of the inking rollers are movable and can be made to approach or recede from the distributing rollers, so as to still further vary the amount of ink taken up by them.

The distributing rollers supply the ink to a roller, E, of large diameter, which, having a backward and forward motion, begins to distribute the ink and to transmit it to a second roller, F, of the same diameter. This latter then spreads it over a metallic cylinder, G, which is of the same diameter as the printing cylinders, and against which revolve three distributing rollers, H, that have a backward and forward motion.

Between the cylindrical inking table, G, and the type cylinder, there are situated inking cylinders, T, of large diameter, that constantly take up ink from the inking table and distribute it over the types.

The machine here described, when designed for printing large sized journals, has cylinders whose circumference corresponds to the size of paper for two widths of pages, and whose length is sufficient to allow it to receive two forms. Each cylinder, then, carries four forms, or eight in all, and prints two complete copies at each revolution.

The large sheet cut off by the cylinders, K K', contains, then, two copies; and this sheet, on passing under the roller, f is again cut in two by a disk which separates it in a direction perpendicular to the cylinders.

To this press there may be added a mechanical folder of Mr. Marinoni's invention, capable of folding a journal five times.--_Annales Industrielles_.

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CHENOT'S ECONOMIC FILTER PRESS.

Mr. E. Chenot, who is occupied in the manufacture of wine from dry grapes, has been led to devise a new style of filter, which by reason of its mode of action and its construction, he calls the "Economic Filter Press."

The apparatus, which is shown in the accompanying cut, consists of flat bags whose mouth may be at the top, as usual, or at the side. Through this orifice there is introduced a flat piece of wood or metal, which, like the bag, has an aperture through the center. The whole is suspended from a distributing pipe that is fixed at one end to the frame and is free at the other. This pipe is slotted beneath, and the pieces of wood or metal contain, opposite the slot, a number of small apertures that put the distributer in communication with the interior of the bags. Between these latter there are placed wire cloth frames which hold them in position and facilitate the flow of the filtered liquid. The cut shows the filter provided with a portion of its bags and frames. When all the frames are in place they are locked by causing the movable plate to move forward by means of two screws connected with an endless chain and actuated by a hand wheel. The pressure of this plate closes up the bags hermetically. Then, the feed cock being opened, the liquid flows into all the bags, deposits therein what it holds in suspension, and the clarified product flows to the inclined bottom of the filter and from thence to the exterior.

The apparatus may be supplied either through an upper reservoir, a juice elevator, or a pump. The discharge is proportional to the square root of the pressure. When the bags are full of residuum, the feed cock is closed, the filter is unscrewed, and the bags and frames are taken out. With fresh bags and the same frames, it is possible to at once set the apparatus in operation again.

Before the filter is taken apart, the residuum may be exhausted by washing it either with water or steam, or by pressure. To effect the operation by pressure, the pieces of wood or metal are removed, the mouths are closed by making a fold in the top of the bags, and the latter are then put back into the apparatus or into an ordinary press and submitted to another squeezing.

To render the maneuvering of it easier, the apparatus has been given a horizontal position.--_Revue Industrielle_.

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[American Engineer]

STEEL CHAINS WITHOUT WELDING.

We take the following description, together with the illustrations, of a method and machine for making steel chain without welding, from our valued contemporary, _Le Genie Civil_, of Paris:

When we regard an ordinary oval-linked chain endwise, it presents itself in the form of a metal cross, and it was this that gave the cue to M. Oury, of the Government Arsenals, to construct chain without welding. By a series of matrices and punches, etc., he contrives, with small loss of metal, to model a chain out of cross-shaped steel bar.

Steel is the better material for such usage, from its homogeneity, both as to composition and strength.

Referring to the plate below, Figs. 1 to 10 explain the successive steps from the bar to the finished chain.

Fig. 1 shows in plan and section the steel bar, whose length may be some 40 feet, and which would make a chain say 50 feet long. The shape of the bar presents no difficulties in the way of rolling.

Figs. 2 and 3 give, in side elevations of the two faces and sections, the first rough form of the links. These first begin to take the exterior shape with the rounding of the angles.

The operations following, represented by Figs. 4 and 5, is the piercing of the center of the links, which can later be furnished with a stay for such chains as require special strength. The point now is to detach the links, which is accomplished by oblique piercings, as shown in Fig. 6. In the operation represented by Fig. 7, the oval shape is imparted to the link, and the operation finishes as shown in Fig. 8.

Actually, the links are circular and separate. This separation is retarded as much as possible, for it is plain that it is easier to operate a rigid bar than a chain, above all when the operation necessitates its being pushed forward.

By means of a good system of heating, analogous to that employed on the large parts entering into ship construction, it is hoped to perform a major part of the operations, of which we have given but an idea, at a single heat.

These operations require work on both faces alternately--this presents no difficulties; but what appears to us most difficult to realize is _continuous work_, the bar passing through several machines which successively impress upon it the steps of progress toward the finished chain. If the machines are end on to each other in a direct line, there will necessarily be a fixed place for each tool; the rough cut chain must accurately reach the point where another tool is ready to continue the modeling. This appears to us practically impossible, the more so as the elongation which the bar takes at each stamp varies with its initial diameter.

What is more admissible is that with one heat and in the same machine an operation could be performed on the two faces perpendicularly. The bar could then be taken from one furnace and put in another immediately, to pass at once to another machine to again undergo the operations following. The work could then be done rapidly, submitting the bar to several heats.

A few words on the tools as they exist.

The most important principle to note, and on which the different machines employed are designed, is this: The punches or matrices acting on the chain at its different points of progress are put in motion by spiral springs worked by means of tappets or cams distributed over the circumference of a cylinder, having a rotary movement imparted to it by pulleys and belts.

The figures on our plate show with sufficient clearness the working of one of these machines. It will be seen that the bar traverses through and through the machine for stamping, and that it can be disengaged for a reheating before passing to subsequent operations.

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The bog peat of Mexico is now being used on a considerable scale as fuel for locomotives, stationary engines, smelting purposes, smiths' fires, and househould use. The peat is mixed with a proper proportion of bitumen, and is said not only to burn freely, and without smoke in much quantity, but to give a higher dynamic equivalent of heat than the same amount of wood.

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THE BITTER SUBSTANCE OF HOPS.

[Footnote: _The Brewers' Guardian_, from the _Zeit. f. d. gesammte Brauwesen_.]

By DR. H. BUNGENER.

Little that is definite is known of the substance or substances to which the hop owes its bitterness. Lermer has succeeded, it is true, in separating from hops a crystallized colorless substance, insoluble in water, an alkaline solution of which has a marked bitter flavor, and which easily changes on exposure to the air, assuming a resinous form. According to Lermer, the formula of this substance is C_{32}H_{50}O_{7}; it possesses the properties of a weak acid and forms a characteristic copper salt, which is soluble in ether. This hop bitter is, however, produced from the hop by a very roundabout process, by treatment of the extract with alkalies; it is not therefore regarded by many as present in this form in the hop, and they hold that it is only produced by the action of the alkalies. On the other hand, however, Etti, by a complicated extracting process, but without using an alkali, succeeded in producing a bitter substance from hops, which is, however, soluble in water.

Several experiments convinced me that there really existed in hops a crystallizable substance, insoluble in water, the alcoholic and alkaline solution of which had a bitter flavor, in short, which possessed all the properties of Lermer's hop bitter acid. Petroleum ether is the best practical solvent in use for its isolation, as it does not dissolve the majority of the remaining constituents of the hop, especially the hop-resin, which they contain in considerable quantity. Still, the extraction of hop-bitter acid from hops is a troublesome and thankless job, the petroleum ether taking up certain substances which add greatly to the difficulty of purifying the crystals. On the other hand, we can readily and quickly attain our object, if we employ for our original material fresh lupuline from unsulphured hops.

The following process has furnished me the best results: