Part 2

The speed attained by the swifter kind of velocipede on the roads, averages from twelve to thirteen miles an hour. On a smooth, level floor, such a speed can be maintained with but little effort on almost any machine. It is safe to say that a good velocipede rider can travel a hundred miles as quickly as an ordinary horse with an ordinary load. Of course, the more a person rides, the easier it becomes, and the less the fatigue.

In impelling a velocipede, the limbs are not constantly in motion; for on level ground, when the impetus is at the average rate, or when the machine is descending an incline, the feet may be removed from the pedals, and the legs be placed on the bar, fixed in front of the machine for that purpose. A slight impulsion to the vehicle from time to time suffices to keep up the speed. When a rider encounters a formidable hill, he can dismount and lead his bicycle by the hand. He can do this with almost the same ease that he can carry an ordinary walking-stick. A hill, to be insurmountable, has to be, however, of more than average steepness. Though Massachusetts is proverbially hilly, there is no ascent between Boston and Worcester, a distance of thirty miles, that cannot be ridden over with the bicycle. The best speed thus far attained on the road is a mile in a few seconds over three minutes. A gentleman in New Jersey, a few weeks since, travelled fifty miles in four hours and a half. A gentleman residing in 22d Street, New York, goes down town to his business on his velocipede in twelve minutes. Adepts abroad find no difficulty whatever in accomplishing fully fifty miles in five hours, without once alighting from their vehicles. A few months ago, a couple of amateurs, making a tour through a part of France, challenged each other as to which could perform the greatest distance in four and twenty hours. One accomplished eighty-seven miles, the other one hundred and twenty-three. A party of nine quitted Rouen early in the morning on their velocipedes, and arrived in Paris in time for dinner the same evening; having performed the distance of eighty-five miles, exclusive of stoppages, and at a rate of speed averaging between ten and twelve miles an hour. An English gentleman travelled the distance from London to Bristol, one hundred and thirty-five miles, between the hours of three o’clock, P. M., one day, and ten A. M. the next, stopping some hours in Reading.

In Paris, the Americans carry off the prizes for slow as well as fast riding. The slow riding is much the more difficult. It is much easier for the rider to keep his equilibrium while riding swiftly.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once published an article in the “Atlantic Monthly,” entitled “The Human Wheel; its Spokes and Felloes;” in which he treated the act of walking as analagous to the movement of a wheel: the legs being the spokes and the feet the felloes. Had he postponed his humorous and instructive essay a year or two, he would have found himself behind the age.

It is perhaps not generally known to what an extent the bicycle mania prevails, and how rapidly the idea has germinated, budded, and bloomed, not only throughout our own country, but in various parts of the world. In New York some ten thousand pupils are ready to graduate from the schools and appear upon the roads. In Boston there will soon be nearly as many more; while Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco count their experts by the hundred and their novices by the thousand. We hear of the bicycle in the far West and in Texas. We read that New Orleans proposes to purchase velocipedes for its fire companies, and hear of a velocipede military company in Louisville. We play velocipede music, and in our walks velocipede “Livery Stables” and “Velocipedes to Let,” greet our eyes. The shop-windows on our fashionable thoroughfares display Velocipede Hats, Velocipede Gloves, and Velocipede Shoes.

The machines have become so numerous on the sidewalks of Providence, New Bedford, and other New England towns, that the stunned authorities contemplated prohibiting their use, as a nuisance. The various merits of various machines are discussed on the street corners with as much zeal as were ever the diversified merits of horse-flesh; and experts are to be heard talking of these new substitutes for legs as jockeys are wont to talk of the wind, strength, bottom, gait, and “go” of Eclipses, Dexters, and Ethan Allens.

In France, fashion writers and fashion leaders rack their brains for the contrivance of velocipede costumes; velocipede clubs are formed; velocipede championships contested for at velocipede tournaments. There are not less than ten thousand machines running in the streets of Paris. They are used by postmen, government employees, students, messengers, and peddlers; and shopmen send their clerks about on machines covered with flashy advertisements. All velocipedes there are required to carry lanterns in the evening, and though we have no such regulations here, young gentlemen may be seen almost every night, in our cities, riding their velocipedes with head-lights attached.

In Paris they can be seen driving at break-neck speed along the narrow stone parapet beside the Seine, and even down the hundred steps of the Trocadéro, their riders all the time indulging in gymnastic feats that would seem to invite certain destruction. At Rome, gentlemen practice the bicycle in the court-yards, and are seen riding on the Piazza de Spagna. Country trips are taken upon them in Japan, and they are no longer a novelty in the streets of the larger Chinese cities.

PATENTS AND THE RIGHTS OF MANUFACTURERS.

Early in last winter, a great rivalry began to develop itself in the business of manufacturing velocipedes; and the demand became so large, as to lead the principal carriage-makers of the country into making it an important branch of their business. At that time it was generally understood that any manufacturer was at liberty to make the two-wheeled velocipede, in any way he deemed most profitable.

When the _furore_ first manifested itself, Mr. Calvin Witty of Broadway, New York, saw it would be a “big thing,” and very quietly went to work to find out in what way the business of making the machine could be controlled. He ascertained, by careful investigation, that a patent had been recorded, covering the principal features of the bicycle, now in such popular use. He sought out the owners of the patent, found them in moderate circumstances, eager to turn to account rights which had heretofore been of but little avail, and purchased of them for a comparatively small sum. He now claims to hold the right to the exclusive use of the two-wheeled velocipede, with treadle and guiding arms. This patent, however, does not cover the idea of making a two-wheeled machine, or of applying a propelling power.

As soon as Mr. Witty had completed his arrangements, he ascertained the names of parties engaged in manufacturing velocipedes throughout the country, and the majority of them were the astonished recipients of the following notification:--

“No. 638 Broadway, N. Y., _Feb. 3d, 1869_.

“You are hereby notified, that Letter Patent No. 59,915, granted Nov. 20th, 1866, secures a velocipede with the two wheels, treadle, and guiding arms; and that the velocipede you are manufacturing is an infringement upon said patent. The present is to require you to cease the further manufacture of said velocipede, and to settle with me for all past infringements of the rights under said patent.

(Signed) “CALVIN WITTY.”

The following is a copy of the record of the patent, registered at the Patent Office in Washington:--

“Patent No. 59,915. Pierre Lallement, Paris, France, assignor to himself and James Carroll, New Haven, Conn. Velocipede. Nov. 20th, 1866.

“The fore wheel is axled in the jaws of a depending bar which is riveted in the frame, and turned by a horizontal lever bar. This wheel is revolved by a treadle crank. Claim: The combination and arrangement of the two wheels, provided with the treadles and the guiding arms, so as to operate substantially, and for the purpose, herein set forth.”

Some manufacturers were nonplused by Mr. Witty’s warning, and stopped their work entirely. Others paid no attention to the demand, considering the royalty required worthy of a trial; for if it could be proved that a similarly constructed velocipede had been introduced into the country before the date of application, the inventor being an alien, the patent would be void; or it would be rendered null also, if the patentee had neglected to put into market and continue the sale of the invention, within eighteen months after the date of patent. Others still, including most of the carriage-makers and machinists of note in the country, who had gone into this business, took pains to have legal advice upon the subject. A meeting was finally held by them; and the result was a determination to purchase State and city rights, for the use of his patent, of Mr. Witty.

We give the names of the prominent firms and parties who have received licenses for the manufacture and sale of velocipedes, under Patent No. 59,915:--

Wm. P. Sargent & Co., and John P. Whittier, Boston, Mass., Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, excepting the cities of New Bedford, Taunton, Fall River, and Fair Haven, Mass.; Kimball Bros., Boston, for the State of Maine; Wood Bros., Connecticut, excepting one shop right; Pickering & Davis, New York City, one shop right; Mercer & Monod, New York City, one shop right; C. Merrill and Sons, Brooklyn, one shop right. G. L. Brownell, New Bedford, Mass., New Bedford exclusive; G. C. Elliott, Providence, R. I., Rhode Island exclusive. J. M. Quimby, Newark, N. J., New Jersey exclusive.

Mr. Witty now has his hands full of business; employs three clerks to write for him constantly, and has fallen upon a mine of wealth, if he succeeds in maintaining the validity of his claim. He charges the manufacturers ten dollars apiece, royalty, for every machine turned out. If a maker, however, obtains a license to manufacture less than a hundred, he pays fifteen dollars royalty; if under twenty, twenty-five dollars apiece.

Sargent and Whittier, of Boston, and many others of the manufacturers, who have purchased State and town rights, have sent out within their limits circulars similar to those of Mr. Witty, but with the following N. B. attached:--

“Those using the two-wheeled velocipedes, not manufactured under a license, and not having the proper stamp, are also liable for infringement upon said letter patent.”

We present an engraving taken from the Patent Office Reports, showing the Lallement patent of 1866. In this _veloce_ the cranks, F, are points of great interest, as the claim is for the combination of these treadle cranks with the two wheels A and B, reach C, guiding arms D, and the fork in which the front wheel is hung. We attribute the unpopularity of the old dandy-horse to its lack of these cranks, while the great success of the modern _veloce_ is due to the crank application. In this _veloce_ it will be noticed that the reach, C, extends over the rear wheel, and a V brace on each side of the wheel connects the axle to the reach. With this style of reach or frame, it was found very difficult to construct a _veloce_ sufficiently steady to run with any degree of satisfaction.

There is still another New York patentee, Stephen W. Smith, who claims that the so-called French Velocipede is an American invention, perfected in this country, and introduced into France by patent, and personally by himself; and that the idea was stolen from him by the French manufacturers. He obtained his patent in 1862, for a “cantering propeller” for children, or hobby-horse mounted on wheels; and considers his patent to include the combinations used upon all velocipedes, and threatens to prosecute infringements.

This patent has lately been reissued for the purpose of widening the claims and to attempt to cover the whole ground occupied by the patent bicycle of M. Lallement. The reissued claim is as follows:--

“1st claim, in combination with a saddle-seat for the rider, the employment and use of a cranked axle, arms, and foot-rest, so arranged that the power applied by the feet of the rider shall give motion to the vehicle, substantially as described and specified.

“2. The combination of the following elements, namely, a saddle-seat for the rider, a cranked axle, for propelling the vehicle by power applied by the feet of the rider, and a steering mechanism so constructed that the direction of travel of the vehicle may be governed by the rider, substantially as described and specified.

“3. The universal joint, in combination with the fulcrum of the vehicle, and the steering wheel, constructed and operating substantially as, and for, the purposes specified.

“4. The hinged legs in combination with the body of the horse, and with the cranks substantially as and for the purposes specified.

“5. The foot-rests upon the arms, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

“6. The double-armed levers, and diagonal cords, in combination with the handle and steering wheel, substantially as described and specified.”

The first and second claims are intended to embrace, and do embrace, as far as words can accomplish it, the essential elements of the velocipede now in use. It remains to be determined by the courts how far the rival claimants clash with each other. The manufacturers have as yet paid but very little attention to the demands of Mr. Smith.

In 1867, the Hanlon Brothers devised an improved style of reach, consisting of a bifurcated bar, or fork, in the jaws of which the hind wheel is allowed to revolve; while the single end of this fork forms part of the swivel, over the front wheel. Not yet satisfied with this _veloce_, on account of the difficulty they found in using the same machine for their in-door performances, and out-door exhibitions, they had the saddle arranged so as to be enabled to vary its position nearer to, or farther from, the front wheel, and at the same time had slots made in the cranks, so that the treadle might be adjusted to various lengths. The alterations were found to be of such benefit, that application for a patent covering these improvements was made by them, and granted by the Patent Office. We know of no velocipedes now being made in this country, which do not include in their construction all these late improvements, and the Hanlons are also notifying manufacturers of the existence of their claims.

The Patent powers in Washington are literally overwhelmed with applications for patents of different models of these articles. In a large room in the Patent Office, there are some four hundred of these models awaiting investigation. Over eighty models have already been examined and patents for them issued; others are now under examination. Some hundred caveats or notices that patents will be applied for have been lately filed. In one week eighty applications and caveats were received. One single agency in New York city has lately prepared seventy patents for improvements.

HINTS TO PURCHASERS.

There is a very general complaint of the high prices maintained by the manufacturers of velocipedes, and it is claimed that they are pocketing immense receipts, at the expense of an excited and incautious public. Though there is no doubt that they can be manufactured at prices much below those at which the best machines are now held, and still yield a handsome profit, a reduction in price will not be probable so long as the demand so far exceeds the supply. And now that it is found that the machine is patented, we will not have the so much wished for cheap velocipede, which would assuredly have followed the competition that had commenced, before it was known that one man only held the exclusive right to their manufacture.

But it must be remembered that as long as materials and labor are so dear, the cost of manufacture must necessarily be great. A manufacturer requires draughtsmen to design his improvements, pattern-makers to prepare models for the foundry, blacksmiths to do the forging, wheelwrights for the wheels, machinists to turn and fit the work, foundry-men to cast the pedals and braces, bolt-makers to make the rivets and bolts, saddlers to prepare the seats, and painters and varnishers to finish the machine for the wareroom. The wear and tear in the ordinary use of the velocipede is so great as to require the very best of material in its construction. There is no other kind of vehicle which receives such severe usage. The weight of the rider and the concussions of the road are not only borne by two wheels, but the necessity of giving the fore wheel a sidewise motion, render it indispensable to connect the two by a frame, whose peculiar form and character make it exceedingly liable to be deranged and broken. This frame and its appendages must be of wrought iron, steel, and brass, and all its work must be of the best quality, or else the machine will soon get out of order and become useless. The fittings of the two wheels, their axles and their journals, must also be of the best workmanship. The same is true of the wheels themselves. No wood that is not perfectly seasoned should be used for them; and the hubs, spokes, and felloes must be built with the utmost care and thoroughness; otherwise they will soon become wabbling and unsteady, so that speed and comfort will be out of the question.

The price of a good machine will not fall much below a hundred dollars, until there is a general decline in the price of all sorts of commodities.

We advise the purchaser, by all means, to get a _good machine_. It is now possible to buy cheap velocipedes; and they will, no doubt, be manufactured much cheaper, and yet be dear at any price. The best are none too good, and are certainly worth more than the difference.

The hall velocipedes are, for the most part, slim affairs; the frame made entirely of cast iron, without metal gearings, brakes, or springs, and useful only for floors. It is uncomfortable for the rider to go over roughnesses without springs, and a well-built machine is required to stand the jar of uneven roads.

It is no better policy to purchase a cheap velocipede, than a cheap ready-made shoe or other article of clothing.

It is a prevalent but erroneous idea, that the larger the bicycle, the greater the beauty and the greater the speed. A machine with a front wheel of a diameter of forty inches, is the largest that can possibly be rendered practicable. Thirty-eight inches is much better; and good riders prefer that of but thirty-six or thirty-seven inches diameter for the road.

Before purchasing any machine, especially the cheaper ones, examine them thoroughly; or if not a judge of good mechanical workmanship, ask a friend to do it for you. Many defects are concealed by the coatings of paint, particularly in the castings and forgings; and a machine that is weak in any point, is a dangerous one in fast riding. Be sure that every bolt is properly secured by nuts that cannot be shaken off; they should be riveted into the bolt, as they will soon work loose if not so fastened. The crank should never be keyed into the shaft, but fastened on to a square head; or, what is better, shrunk into the shaft.

The ingenious way of supporting lanterns on the machine, is a waste of time and expense; better some kind of clamps to secure a light umbrella in front, when the sun shines hot, or it rains; and clamps for fastening a travelling bag or shawl in the rear, particularly if one looks forward to country excursions and summer trips.

ADVICE TO THE BEGINNER.

To those who have never seen the two-wheeled velocipede in use, it seems surprising that the rider can keep his equilibrium. The principle of the thing is the same as that of the movement of a boy’s hoop. As long as the hoop revolves rapidly, its tendency to any lateral movement is almost suspended, and the greater the speed the less the difficulty in maintaining the upright position.

At first sight one supposes it to be a formidable undertaking to mount and steer the bicycle. To learn to manage it, however, requires no more skill, courage, or patience, than to learn the art of skating; and when the art is once acquired, it provides a means of locomotion and a source of enjoyment as much more available than skating, as the number of days in the year is greater than the few bright mornings when one can find a smooth, glassy, and well-frozen skating ground.

“Velocipedestrianism” is fully the equal of skating and horseback riding, in its invigorating and exhilarating effects. The velocipede bears young and old, light and heavy, easily and pleasantly and with equal facility.

In learning the velocipede, it is advisable to use a machine of only moderate height, so that the soles of the feet can readily touch the ground. At the best school we know, where the pupils graduate experts, six different sizes of machines are used. The beginner is put upon one with a guiding wheel of a diameter of only thirty-four inches, and is promoted from one to another, according to progress.

At first start, run beside the iron horse, leading it by the hand, so as to familiarize yourself with its movements, and to master well in your mind the idea of the fore wheel, upon which all depends. This will be an affair of but a few moments only. You will very readily perceive that it will be impossible to balance upon the machine, while it is standing still. You will also see that, without practice, it will be an impossibility to mount the iron horse, and balance yourself upon the seat, while it is in motion. Both these facts lead you to perceive that motion is the first requisite. To get that, and at the same time maintain equilibrium, you must first use your feet on the floor or ground as a means of progression, learning, as you move, to balance yourself by the motion of the guide wheel, to the right or left, whichever way you may lean.

If out-of-doors, it is as well to practice on a slope; and after mounting, let the machine move forward of its own accord, while you occupy yourself studying the effect produced by the inclination which you give to the balancing pole or handle. After you have practiced enough to admit of your going some little way without touching your feet, learn to go the same distance with your legs raised, so as to bring the centre of gravity higher from the base. When you have overcome this difficulty and thoroughly understand the action of the balancing pole, place one foot on the pedal, and follow its movements, without assisting them. Then try the other foot, and accustom yourself to the movement of turning the wheels with your feet. Next, put both feet upon the pedals, and work them alternately with scrupulous regularity. Speed is attained by simply accelerating this movement. You will be surprised to find that you can, all at once, ride your velocipede. After a couple of hours of proper practice, you will be able to accomplish a distance of thirty or forty yards, without running the risk of an upset.

In learning, be careful to keep the shoulders straight and the head back. An erect position upon the bicycle is as necessary for grace and ease, as upon the horse. Avoid looking at the wheels, but accustom yourself to look ahead.

Confidence in your own ability is required, without rashness. If you practice in a public hall, pay no attention to the laughter of spectators, and avoid self-consciousness. If you feel that no one was ever so clumsy before, the feeling itself will be sure to increase your awkwardness. Remember that all good riders have necessarily been through the same experience. It is no disgrace to upset your vehicle. Molière says: “_On peut être honnête homme et faire mal des vers._”