Ferris wheel

“ But over hilly and wooded country the air is often flowing or rushing in conflicting channels, and the aviator does not know what he may be called upon to face from one moment to 163 the next. If the aeroplane starts to drop, it is only necessary to push the steering wheel forward a little—perhaps half an inch—to bring it up again. Usually, the machine will drop on an even keel. Then, in addition to the motion just described, the aviator will lean toward the higher side, thus moving the ailerons by the seat-back, and at the same time he will turn the steering wheel toward the lower side. ”

“ So intense was the moment that the puncher neither noticed the cut on Roy’s head nor the condition of Star. He fastened the ponies to the top supports, and then got behind the wheel.
“As easy as you know how, Bug Eye,” Teddy cautioned. “Watch for every bump and slow down. All right. Let’s go!”
The starter whirred, the motor awoke, and the car began to move. Roy studied the man’s face anxiously. He and Teddy tried to hold the body so that it was absolutely immovable, but that was impossible. The plains are vastly different from a macadamized road. ”

“ In general, the biplane consists of two large sustaining planes, one above the other. Between the planes is the motor which operates a propeller located in the rear of the planes. Projecting behind the planes, and held by a framework of bamboo rods, is a small horizontal plane, called the tail. The rudder which guides the aeroplane to the right or the left is partially bisected by the tail. This rudder is worked by wires which run to a steering wheel located in front of the pilot’s seat. ”

“ Jerry's hand tightened on the steering-wheel. "And who has ever gotten a single, clear look at one of the kids?"
Jerry spent a restless night. On the way to his office the next morning he met Watson, talking to a farmer on the courthouse steps.
"Listen to Carson, here," the sheriff said grimly.
Carson's straw hat bobbed as he talked. "I'm waitin' to see the farm adviser. Somethin's gone wrong out at my place on the South Fork. I'm on good bottom land—highest yield in the county. But in the last two, three weeks my corn, my wheat, even my berries has stopped growin'!" ”

“ The perch, axle-trees, and carriage timbers have been reduced to thin sticks. The four wheels are made so slender as to resemble a spider’s web; in their construction of the wheels the principle of the patent rim used in England in 1790 has been adopted. Instead of five, six, or seven felloes to each wheel, there are only two, of oak or hickory wood, bent to the shape by steam. The ironwork of the American buggy is very slender, yet composed of many pieces, and, in order to reduce the cost, these pieces of iron are mostly cast, not forged, of a sort of iron less brittle than our cast iron.... ”

“ It appears to us that, it being seen that the tendency to reverse would prove objectionable in the proposed machine, the suggestion that the hand-wheels should be made heavier in order, by greater momentum, to correct that tendency, as it was well known increase in weight, coupled with adequate rotative force, would, sprang naturally from the expected skill of the maker's calling, and that this use of the heavier wheel did not make the mechanism in any proper sense a new thing evolved by the inventive faculty. ”

“ And some are fifth wheels like myself—neither old nor self-effacing, neither middle-aged nor useful, but simply expensive to keep painted, and very hungry for the road. It may be only a matter of time, however, when I shall be middle-aged and useful, and later old and self-effacing; when I shall stay and take care of the children, and go upstairs early when the young people are having a party.
A young technical college graduate told me once, to comfort me, I suppose, that a fifth wheel is considered by a carriage-maker a very important part of a wagon. ”

“ However, drawing an object on wheels is a decided improvement over sliding it along the road, for two reasons: the sliding friction at the axle is reduced to a minimum by choosing materials that will slide upon each other with comparatively little resistance, by polishing them smooth and by lubricating them. But even if these precautions were not taken there would be a distinct advantage in the use of wheels because of the relatively shorter travel at the axle than at the rim of the wheel. ”

“ If carriages had always to move along perfectly smooth roads, such as a tramway of wood, iron, or stone, the use of wheels in overcoming friction would be their sole utility, and the height of the wheels would be of small consequence. But as carriages are drawn along roads with loose stones and uneven surfaces, wheels are further useful in mounting over these obstacles, and it is plain that a high wheel does this more easily than a low one. ”

“ Each of the four wheels has a different diameter. Their two axles converge toward the center of the circular track upon which each horse moves, and the axis inclines toward the center.
Each pair of wheels, therefore, constitutes a true rolling cone, whose apex passes through the central point of the track situated upon the horizontal rolling plane. The inequality of the wheels naturally makes it necessary to employ but a single driving wheel, and to mount the four wheels loose upon the axles. ”

“ I have seen a case where one piece of rail was pushed into the draw-bar casting, and it held the engine up through a journey of seventy miles. If one of the back driving-wheels can be used, it lessens the weight that has to be borne by any lever contrivance. When one wheel is disabled, it must be blocked up in the jaws ”

“ Turning back to our first spoked wheels, it is very evident that we may put a rim over the spokes or even fill in between the spokes and convert the wheels into solid disks that are in frictional engagement with each other without getting away from the fact that we are dealing with levers. Each wheel, then, consists of a continuous revolving lever. Friction gears are used quite commonly in machinery when it is desirable to have the wheels slip if subjected to excessive strain. ”

“ The wheels are of the bicycle type, with wire spokes, but with hubs six inches long. The axle is bent to incline upward at the ends, so that the wheels incline outward at the ground, the better to take the shock of a sideways thrust when landing. The usual metal or wood rims may be used, but special 190 tires of exceptionally light construction, made for aeroplanes, should be purchased.
The controlling wires or cords for moving the rudder (or tail) and for warping the tips of the wings are of flexible wire cable, such as is made for use as steering rope on small boats. ”

“ The shape of the rim, as well as that of the small wheels, is such that they hug each other firmly, so that the rim is carried around in a direction which corresponds with the direction of rotation of the friction wheel. In operating the carriage the motor is set in motion, and then one or the other of the two friction wheels is pressed against the rim on the driving wheel, according to whether it is desired to run forward or backward. While this arrangement might not operate with entire success if applied to a heavy vehicle, it appears to be all that could be desired for a light carriage. ”

“ While still hot, a workman files the sawn ends so that they may fit together closely when laid down on the sleepers. The completed rails are then stacked for removal on trucks to their destination. The rollers which turn out these rails in so regular and beautiful a manner are driven by a pair of engines of enormous power. The huge fly-wheel is twenty feet in diameter, and weighs, with its axle, thirty-five tons. ”

“ The wheel of an engine or a carriage, for example, after being forged by the black-smith, requires to be most carefully cut round the rim, so that the space between the flange—that is, the projecting inner part of the wheel, and the outer part—may be perfectly conical, in order that the least amount of surface may be exposed to the rail, and consequently the least amount of friction produced. ”

“ Wheels provide the best form of transportation over a smooth, hard road, but if the road is soft, the wheel will sink into the surface and will be greatly impeded. In traveling over mud or sand runners are preferable to wheels because they have a broader and longer bearing surface. In the snowy regions of the north and the sandy regions of Africa and Asia [215] Minor, sledges are used in place of wheeled vehicles. Sliding friction is less than rolling friction under such conditions. In fact, only where man has constructed special roads is it possible to use wheeled locomotion. ”

“ Considering that the railway-carriage builder gives up the coach-wheel principle, and returns to the primitive construction of the pair of wheels fixed to the axle turning in bearings, we see that our ordinary carriage-wheels turning independently on their axles are best suited to comparatively narrow wheels, and to smooth ground or made roads. Here they give greater lightness and speed, and especially have the advantage of easily changing direction and turning, which in the old block-wheel cart can only be done by gradually slewing round in a wide circuit. ”

“ The shaft-gearing of these spur-wheels consists of impact roller motions, so that the crank centrally on the shaft, within easy reach of the operator upon the seat and between the driving-wheels, may be effectually operated by the hand, and a lever from the guide-wheel is designed to be in such a position as to be within easy reach of the operator’s feet forwardly, so that no difficulty will be encountered, all of which will now be fully set forth. ”

“ If the face of the wheel and the surface of the road were absolutely smooth and free from friction, so that the face of the wheel would slide without resistance upon the road, then the effect of the force thus applied would be merely to cause the wheel to turn round, the carriage being stationary, the surface of the wheel would slip or slide upon the road as the wheel is made to revolve. ”

“ Again, the long spoke acts as a longer lever, the point of draught being the axle, which is higher from the ground in the higher wheel, and again assists in overcoming the obstacle, as the angle of incidence is so much less.
To learn that the leverage power of a high wheel is very great we need only consider the advantages gained by a large wheel in locomotives and in bicycles. In practice we find that wheels from 4 feet to 5 feet are sufficient for large carriages, and from 3 feet upwards for ordinary vehicles. ”

“ In addition to the friction of the rolling motion on the road, they have, it is true, the friction of the axle in the nave; but, on the other hand, they are free from the friction of the rollers with the under surface of the load, or the carriage in which the load is transported. The270 advantages of wheel carriages in diminishing the effects of friction is sometimes attributed to the slowness with which that axle moves within the box, compared with the rate at which the wheel moves over the road ”

“ Scarcely any kind of machinery can be constructed without wheels of some kind—they serve almost numberless purposes. The fly-wheel (fig. 1) serves to produce a continuous motion, from its size and weight giving it a tendency to go on, and in this way causing it to fill up the intervals of unequal action, as in the ascent and descent of the piston in a steam-engine. The toothed-wheel serves to give motion to other wheels, and this at a certain rate either greater or less than its own, according to its size, and consequently the number of its teeth ”

“ The rims of the hand-wheels are made sufficiently heavy to act as a balance against the weight of the blade-lifting devices, so that the momentum of the wheel will greatly assist the operator in the manipulation of the machine. ”

“ It will be seen that when the horse is drawing the vehicle, the friction of this large wheel against the ground being greater than that of the concentric one within it, the latter will revolve until the center of gravity of the whole is situated anew in a line vertical to the point at which it bears on the ground. The result of such an arrangement is that the driver rolls on the large wheel just as he would do on the surface of an endless rail. ”

“ The wheelers were always the heavyweights, old and trained, and able to hold back the load or their unruly teammates until the whackers could throw on a brake or "rough lock," the last named a log chain fastened at one end to the wagon, thrown through the wheel spokes in such a way as to be between the ground and the wheel on the "near rear hind wheel" of the lead wagon. ”

“ Now the simplest method possible would be the driving of the road wheels or wheel direct by the piston-rods of the engine, a plan only possible where a very small wheel is used, and only actually employed in the Holden bicycle as described in the chapter devoted to this type of machine. Next to this comes the use of gear wheels—'cog' wheels—as employed upon tricycles and some light forms of car where the motor is set close to the axle. In these we have one gear wheel fixed to the shaft of the motor, gearing into a similar one upon the axle. ”

“ If you keep the present dish, you must have a narrow wheel, or it is rubbing; but if it is a straight axle, it ought to be as wide as that where there is no more friction, and then the wide wheel will not do half the mischief that the coach-wheel does. The present stage coach-wheel will do a great deal more mischief, working as it does, than if it had been perpendicular. ”