Robert P. Scott

“ In naming the Bolton, Johnson, Lallement, and Croft machines, I have not taken the trouble to ascertain whether they all were the very first machines of the kind in the art, nor would it matter whether they were or not, unless it could be shown that others were of equal prominence. We should not recognize mere vagaries as an advance in the art: the above gentlemen patented their machines, and it is therefore reasonable to suppose that they were real workers, and not simply chimerical characters flitting about in the minds of recent explorers. ”

“ But even if the rider should get the benefit of all the energy he stores in climbing a hill, there is still an indisputable objection to a heavy wheel,—to wit, a man can labor long and continuously at a strain within reasonable limits, and can do a large amount of work thereby; but to strain the system beyond those limits, and attempt to store up too much energy in too short a space of time, is to make nature revolt, resist the imposition, and refuse to be appeased for some time to come and often not at all ”

“ So confidently is this believed, that a great genius has been led to promulgate the theory that at some future time man will consist of a head and trunk; that all use for the limbs being entirely dispensed with in the art of moving and manipulating matter, these will gradually shrivel up and drop off, as it has been said the tail did when we no longer used it for swinging our bodies from tree to tree, like the proverbial monkey, or as a projectile force so valuable to the locomotion of the kangaroo. ”

“ It will be a long time before we can expect to realize our dream of perfection in easy riding, or to find cyclers hunting for the rough roads; nor do we expect to see them peering eagerly forward through the misty morning, greeting the dawning obstacle as glad tidings of “Land ho!” but we do expect very soon to see the discomfort and loss of power now encountered in a great measure overcome. If some one will only get us over the sandy places as nicely as we can reasonably expect, in the future, to glide over the rough places, then we will all be happy. ”

“ In climbing a hill there is no loss of momentum from a too sudden change in its direction; the matter of inertia does not figure in the case in any way, and we have a mere question of the rise and fall of a weight under certain modifications, said weight being the rider and his machine, said rise the ascent of the hill, and the fall the descent thereof. In a purely physical sense, then, we store up a certain amount of energy, or, in other words, put so much energy to our credit as against gravity, and theoretically we have a right to expect to get the benefit of it. ”

“ The whole question of the advantages of the cycle method or wheel locomotion must resolve itself into one of reduction of organic friction as shown by fatigue in the body. All inorganic friction, such as metallic friction in the machine and upon the road, must be finally overcome at the expense of organic friction due to the exercise of the muscles in man. Without stopping to discuss such profound questions as to just what organic friction is, or as to how the display of energy creates friction, we will confine ourselves to the more tangible problem,—to wit, improvements upon the improvement ”

“ See the number of patents, many of which are good, lying in the files at the Patent Office,—neglected and forgotten by everybody except the examiner, who persistently uses them as ammunition against the real benefactor of mankind who, though subsequent, would like to do something with them.
Before my early entrance into the arena of invention, I had a suspicion that some of the work of benefiting mankind, if so high a title be justifiable, consisted in getting an invention into practical and useful form for general use. ”

“ Had the inventor simply remarked that he had made use of his momentum, transmitted through the rim of the wheel, and acting to wedge one of the brakes against the head or the other brake, whereby to increase the brake, or some such explanation, everybody would have acquiesced in it as a reasonable possibility, even if they had not the slightest idea of what the inventor was talking about. It is a satisfaction to know that it is becoming a little dangerous, in the cycle art, to make a statement that savors of getting something for nothing. ”

“ Speaking of potential energy and momentum, we naturally come upon the question of machine weight. It is a peculiar fact that the weight of the man does not form so important a part in the bicycle exercise as that of the machine, so that if a rider be heavier by twenty pounds than another, it will not generally count against him; but if that weight is in the machine, competition is out of the question. ”

“ When it comes to be fully appreciated by the fraternity that the shock sustained by the machine and rider is not only to be treated as a matter of comfort or discomfort, but that it has other very important claims to our consideration, we may expect it to be more fully discussed. Not that we care so much about the vibration loosening every joint, screw, and pin in the entire contrivance, which makes it worn out, so called, when it has scarcely begun to wear,—of course, in the general march of progress, we expect to remedy that also,—but it is the momentum we are most after. ”

“ It is such sport to leave far behind fast-trotting horses, and men and women who are obliged to take the street-car every place they go. And what could be more amusing than to see some or all in a car rush to that side to see a ‘lady riding a bicycle.’ I sometimes get just a trifle angry when I hear some old feminine fuss and feathers say, ‘Oh, isn’t that disgraceful to see a woman riding a man’s bicycle!’ They, I suppose, never read the papers, as they would scarcely ever have time after working, worrying, and scolding their husbands (if they are lucky enough to have one) . ”

“ Few fields of invention have ever developed so rapidly and interested so many inventors with as little apparent advance to the casual observer. As I have stated in a former chapter, the advance has been a sort of evolution, creditable to those who work the changes, yet with little chance at any time for what is termed a broad patent. When the saddle was raised up over the cranks and the front wheel enlarged, a great stride forward in the art was made, yet it is questionable whether such changes afforded sufficient ground for strong patent claims ”

“ The great inventors are those who stick to one thing until success is attained or absolute failure fully demonstrated. Why, now, this anathema against the chronic inventor? It is this: the chronic inventor is lazy; you say he will stay up at night, work all day, and never sleep; well, let him, all except the work; this element is supposititious. It is not work, and here is just where the trouble comes in,—the chronic inventor stops just where the work begins. It is fun to invent, and it only takes a little practice to be able to accomplish it ”

“ It is scarcely necessary to explain the construction of the bicycle intended for ladies’ use; suffice it to say, that a modern Rover Safety is used in which the backbone drops down to a level with the cranks, and the rider can step between the wheels and rise into the saddle by the pedal mount; not a difficult task, to judge from the grace and ease with which women accomplish the feat every day. ”

“ Now, it would be of little use to write a book for popular reading on the mechanical construction of a watch, because from its very nature none but an expert could appreciate the facts, if any were given; but greater hope might be entertained in regard to a larger machine, because the buyer can at least see what he is about. You never heard of a bicycle-rider blaming his repairer for stealing the wheels out of his machine and substituting others, because he can see, however inexperienced he may be, that this has not been done. ”

“ À propos of fundamental principles, what are the requirements needful for the most successful means of man-motor locomotion? In more homely phrase, how can a man, without calling upon the storage of energy other than that inherent in his own body, propel himself from place to place with the least amount of physical exertion? ”

“ Several years ago lever-power was tried in England on bicycles and tricycles and extensively introduced, but has been so generally abandoned that there is to-day no machine of importance so driven. The worst feature of the lever action, however, is that the movement of the foot does not become automatic, as is the case in the use of the crank. There is absence of regularity, and a consequent loss of momentum. A rotary motion is more natural to the feet, being more like walking, while a lever motion is like treading water while swimming, or like constantly climbing up stairs. ”

“ THE FUTURE OF THE ORDINARY.
“‘The Ordinary is doomed,’ we very frequently hear people say, but we are not of that opinion. True, it has ‘had its nose put out of joint’ by the Safety lately, but this only shows us the correctness of the opinions we have always held, and proves to us that, if the makers will only look after the safety and comfort of Ordinary riders a little more, the old love for the high wheel will return, and good business will result. ”

“ When a rider transfers his base of operations from a level to a hilly country permanently, a change in his gear may not be out of the way; but to fix the machine for more or less power alternately as hills and levels are met with is, in the light of my experience, more tiresome than the necessary variation in the effort of the man. ”

“ A man cannot transmit power to the wheel while the crank is coming up, except the little he can get by ankle-motion. A close examination will show that, whereas the crank is longer, the man has a proportionally less number of degrees through which he can drive it. Time, as well as force, enters into the problem of driving a bicycle; the time is equal to the number of degrees the crank travels through; here a man only has one-third, or less, of the circle, through which he has any power to turn the wheel. ”

“ If we propose to stick to the old high perch, let us be men and take it as it has been perfected, neat and comfortable, with the rider upon the front wheel and within a reasonable distance of the point over his work. ”

“ It is evident that one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of the requirements of a practical road wheel, or a man-motor carriage, is that the power of the rider shall be transmitted to the said wheel in the most direct manner possible; that is, by causing the strain to come upon the muscles in such a way that these muscles shall be placed in the best possible position to overcome such strain, and to take advantage of such conditions as nature has already provided for, in training our muscles to the work we have had to do under the old régime, without the wheel. ”

“ In most industries, where a machine is the product, the consumer is expected to be an expert in the art to which the industry appertains, and is therefore supposed to be capable of individual judgment as to the merits of what he acquires; if a steam-engine is the object of the purchase, it is expected that an expert of some ability in the art will judge of and afterwards21 run and repair it; but how could this be expected with a bicycle?
There is probably no other machine used by mankind, with the possible exception of the watch, that does service to such a variety of individuals as the cycle. ”

“ Examples are known wherein a racer on long distances could no longer lift his legs, even with the aid of a spring, though at the same time, he still had strength enough left to propel the machine. In fine, this difference between the crank and spring lever is that in the former, a little extra power is exerted to lift the other leg, while, in the latter, energy is stored to be used in raising the same leg.
In a perfectly fresh man I have found, by the registers of the cyclograph, that the rider lifts all weight from a returning crank, but this does not happen when he becomes tired. ”

“ The ladies’ bicycle certainly is the more modest appearing, if we were used to both, and it takes much less work to run it; if it does not thrive, it will mean simply that the entire system of ladies’ cycle riding must go. Common prejudice cannot long sustain such a senseless discrimination as to keep her on the “trike.” Tandems, of course, have an advantage in that the spectators can imagine that the man is doing all the work, which is generally about as true as that he does all the work when the family cook-stove is to be moved. ”

“ Have your hobby, nourish it, talk and write about it, and make everybody believe you can fly; don’t let anybody down you, get in the last kick at every man who won’t think just as you do, but just as you are going to put it in practice, stop! slip quietly to your escritoire, get out your book, go straight to the bank, and have it accurately footed up; if there is a fat balance, and you are unmarried, with no other care on your mind, and nothing to do for seven years, then go in, and God speed to you. ”

“ The muscles of man are best adapted to a direct pull or push. If we push upon a weight with the muscles at an angle to the direction in which we want the weight to move, the effective power is limited in the same way that the effect upon a weight is limited if we push at it in a direction at an angle to that in which we wish to move it; that is to say, not the total, but only a portion of the power will be effective in moving the weight.
The above facts apply particularly to our subject when we desire to transmit motion to a wheel by means of the weight or gravity of our bodies. ”

“ In the first place, there is no such thing as partial tangency. A tangent spoke is tangent, and that is all there is about it. A tangent is a definite thing, and means a line normal to a radius at the circumference; at least, we can accept this definition as well enough suited to the cycle art. And, in speaking of tangency, we ought rather to say tangent hub than tangent wheel, since the spokes are not tangent to the rim of the wheel, but to the hub. All cyclists know very well, nevertheless, what is meant by partial tangency in the cycle art, and I will therefore use the term. ”

“ The worst feature in the bicycle saddle is that nature did not intend man to sit astride of anything, and this strikes me as the greatest oversight in the general plan of our physical make up as pertaining to cycle riding. Nature only provided three convenient ways of supporting the body,—to wit, first, on the feet ”