Driving wheel

“ That is, while A revolves once, B and the hub and the driving-wheel will revolve only 64⁄80 = 4⁄5 of a turn. To use scientific language, B revolves 20 per cent. slower than A.
[Pg 446]
This is the gearing we use for hill-climbing. On the level we want the driving-wheel to turn as fast as, or faster than, the chain-ring. To make it turn at the same rate, both A and C must revolve together. ”

“ Luckily the fly-wheel of the engine struck on a mound and stopped the car with the two front wheels over the edge of the cliff. Make it therefore a golden rule: never leave your car, whether the engine is running or not, without first putting the speed lever in the out-of-gear position and also putting the side brakes on. ”

“ Assuming that the vehicle is in perfect condition for use and the engine has been set going, the first thing to do is to examine the ways and means of starting the carriage either forward or backward, to ascertain how to stop it when desired, and steer it from side to side or round a corner, or to avoid an obstacle. We will suppose that the vehicle is of the Panhard type, with wheel steering and single lever at the right-hand side, giving the speeds forward and reverse. ”

“ Driv′er, one who or that which drives, in all senses: a club used in golf to propel the ball from the teeing-ground; Driv′ing-band, the band or strap which communicates motion from one machine, or part of a machine, to another; Driv′ing-shaft, a shaft from a driving-wheel communicating motion, to machinery; Driv′ing-wheel, a main wheel that communicates motion to other wheels: one of the main wheels in a locomotive.—Drive feathers, down, to separate the lighter from the heavier by exposing them to a current of air.—Drive to one's wits' end, to perplex utterly.—Let drive, to aim a blow. ”

“ There is a small grooved wheel on the axle of the fan outside, and an endless line, like a clothes-line, is carried over this wheel and a groove in the edge of a high light wooden driving-wheel rigged between two uprights in the rear and with a handle to turn. ”

“ The most skillful driving did not prove skillful enough to guide the staggering oxen through the way provided by the road-makers; and the constant tendency of a forward wheel to run up a tree, on one side or the other, was very trying to the drivers. ”

“ It is so particularly in the case of an automobile driver. The steering wheel is a sort of antennæ, which imparts a vibratory intelligence to him, that cannot be grasped or understood by others in the car.
At first the matter of driving is a feeling of intensity in doing certain things, and in trying to anticipate the conditions. This state of mind continues until driving becomes a reflex action. The throttle, or the pedals are instinctively moved; the throwing in of a gear is proceeded with in an easy, natural fashion, and the starting movement is brought about without a perceptible jerk. ”

“ This device for preventing the wheelers from cutting the corners will be found most useful with horses that have been driven a great deal in the wheel, because they soon learn to recognize the indication given to the leaders by the shortening of the lead rein passing along close to their heads. ”

“ I am fond of rapid driving, but sometimes it made me rather nervous to dash at the rate of eight miles an hour, within two feet of a precipice down which we looked upon the tops of trees a thousand feet below. There is, however, very little danger, as where the descent is steep, the driver can, in a moment, by putting his foot upon a spring at his side, cramp the wheel, and check our speed. ”

“ Screw and worm wheel gear, for the same purpose as 445.
447. The driven wheel A has a limited travel up and down the slot, the idle wheel B being kept in gear by the link suspension.
448. Idle wheel and slot. A common device for changing direction or speed in driving gear by connecting or disconnecting it with intermediate gearing between a fixed driving and a driven shaft.
449. Parallel motion radiating driving device, with a limited vertical travel and a radial motion.
450. Motion by belt is conveyed to a driven shaft having a radial motion in a vertical plane. ”

“ The driving wheels, being fully proved not to slip upon the road, do not produce any effects more injurious than the ordinary rolling wheels; consequently the wear occasioned by a steam carriage upon a road is not more than that produced by a carriage drawn by horses of an equivalent weight and the same or equal tires; but the wear produced by the pounding and digging of horses' feet in draught is many times greater than that produced by the wear of any carriage. ”

“ Fig. 744 represents a lathe constructed by the Defiance Machine Works for turning the hubs for carriage and wagon wheels.
The blank from which the hub is turned is driven by a mandrel having a square stem fitting in the live or driving-spindle, this mandrel being supported at the other end by the ordinary dead centre operated by the upper hand-wheel. The bed is provided (between the driving-spindle and tailstock) with the usual raised Vs on which rests a carriage carrying a cross slide. ”

“ When driving on greasy roads it is always well to keep as far away as possible from any vehicle in front, whether it be a motor-car, a horse-drawn vehicle, or a cycle, as this allows plenty of time to pull up slowly and gradually. ”

“ Locomotive driving at a hundred miles an hour is but mild exhilaration as compared to the feelings of the motor-car driver who travels at fifty miles an hour on the public highway.
Gigantic motor trucks carrying tons of freight twist in and out through crowded streets, controlled by one man more easily than a driver guides a spirited horse on a country road.
Frail motor bicycles dash round the platter-like curves of cycle tracks at railroad speed, and climb hills while the riders sit at ease with feet on coasters. ”

“ A boulder now and then or rough ledge cropping across the road would tilt the old lady at an uncomfortable angle. Heights and climbs over dangerous switchbacks had become commonplaces of travel by now, and we had gained confidence from learning the tremendous flexibility of which a motor car is capable. We were willing, without taking credit for extraordinary courage, to undertake almost any road wide enough for our tracks. People who confine their driving to perfect boulevards and city roads have no idea of the exhilarating game motoring really is. ”

“ In passing such a light the eyes should be kept on the road and shielded, if possible, from the glare of the other machine. The precaution of driving slowly under such circumstances goes without saying.
Unlighted Vehicles. —Unlighted, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, and animals driven or walking in the street frequently give the automobile driver palpitation of the heart. ”

“ It is surprising to find that if a man who has been used to driving cars which go slowly up-hill changes to a high-powered car the temptation to rush down-hill vanishes. One's view of the road is reversed. ”

“ One used to hear a good deal about the dangers of engine driving, and no doubt an engineer would be glad to turn to the right or left now and then when meeting a train head on—a thing, however, not likely to happen often, though I suppose once is about [Pg 126] enough. All the same, a straight, fenced and more or less exclusive track has advantages, and I wished I had one, plunging, weaving, diving through the rain as we were, among pedestrians, cyclists, trams, carriages, other motors, and the like ”

“ I have no doubt, save four out of five, if not nine out of ten stones that are crushed at present, and reduce the road expences in the same proportion; but while the fancy of having carriage-wheels out of upright with crooked axles is continued, wide wheels would be a serious objection; the inside and outside of the wheel being of different diameters, and going different speeds, must cause an increase of load to the horses, because their rubbing on the road and tendency to twist move the stones out of their bed in the road, and, instead of bedding them firmly, has the contrary effect ”

“ Experience alone will decide the point. The only danger, in my mind, that is to be apprehended, is the injury which roads may sustain by the possibility of the wheel which is acted upon by the Engine, turning round without propelling the carriage, in which case the road would suffer considerably; and this would take place, if a train of Carriages were attached to the Engine, the draught of which was more than the friction or gripe of the Engine-wheel on the surface of the road. ”

“ These, in driving, must always be a walk or a trot—never a canter, which, owing to the draught, would be equally injurious to the horse and to the carriage. Either of these paces, moreover, should be suited to the nature of the road. Rapid driving, on the stones especially, exposes a carriage to injury, both from shocks against others, and from those which attend its own motion. However, it is sometimes for a moment necessary, in order to get out of the way of carts, waggons, &c. ”

“ I'm never happier than when I'm sitting with my two hands on the wheel, one toe on the gas, the other on the brake, a heel on the little pedal that makes the old machine snort up a hill like a horse dug in the side with a spur. ”

“ Of course we are writing now of those who wish to get practice and pleasure out of their stables, not merely for those who use their horses for purposes of transportation only. Do not start out with the notion that the only way to drive a tandem, or a four, is to have exactly the proper vehicle, the right harness to the shape of a buckle, and horses of just such and such a character. The show ring is one thing; driving for sport and pleasure is quite another. ”

“ The driver of the motor should then talk soothingly to the horse, and the groom should also encourage it as much as possible. The horse will follow with his eyes the movements of the car, and, as a rule, in a little while will allow it to be driven close by without any further signs of fear. The horse should then be harnessed and taken out on the road, the motor-car driven out to meet it, and sent a number of times past it until the animal takes little or no notice. ”

“ The next day, if possible, more driving should be undertaken, but this time on the second speed, first directing the steering with one hand and then with the other, so that perfect control can be exercised with either hand, the hand that is more or less at liberty being engaged in taking articles out of the pocket, &c., adjusting the lubricators, pumping oil into the cylinders, and other small details of this sort, which at times it is expedient to do when actually on a journey. ”

“ A powerful engine, of the six-drive-wheel construction, is required to propel a very moderate load of passengers, and as it laboriously puffs along the grades, the forests echo and re-echo with the sound, while the traveler feels thankful that the iron horse, instead of flesh and blood, is being employed in his service. ”

“ The man who drives the motor must always have the best possible view of the road, just as on the footplate of a locomotive every driver knows that in times of mist or rain the difficulty of seeing through the windows of the cab is immensely increased, and careful drivers prefer to have their heads round the edge. ”

“ On the one hand you had coachbuilders and others filling the newspapers and publishing tracts, some very serious, some extraordinarily mathematical, others merely facetious, to prove that the roads could be preserved only by using very broad wheels—some,179 indeed, advocated rollers, which, as we shall see, were actually tried—and on the other hand you had people filling more columns, and very dull columns some of them were, to show that a low broad wheel was the one thing which no really satisfactory vehicle could possibly possess. ”

“ We understand the inhabitants have resolved to leave well alone.
At a meeting of the Four Wheeler's Association, a speaker boasted, with some justification, that a charge which is brought every day against drivers of motor-cars has never been brought against members of their Association, namely, that of driving at an excessive speed.
Rumour is again busy with the promised appearance of a motor-bus which is to be so quiet that you will not know that there is one on the road until you have been run over.
[Pg 187]
An Unpardonable Mistake.—Short-sighted Old Lady. ”

“ As every person interested in motor carriages knows, until the passing of the Locomotives on Highways Act of 1896, every mechanically driven carriage had to be preceded by a man on foot with a red flag, and proceed at a pace resembling that of an ox waggon. But now we may, if our vehicle be under a ton and a half, move at the pace of an average horse, that is to say at twelve miles an hour. ”

“ If, however, it were possible for the householder to engage a light motor-car for himself and his wife and eldest daughter, a motor-brake for the children and servants, and a light steam-van for the luggage, bicycles, buckets and spades, and perambulators, which would load up, not against time, but quietly at the front and back doors, and unload at the hotel or lodgings, what a vast deal of fuss and worry would be saved! ”

“ There is a cobweb of wheeled vehicles of all sorts, from a cab to a hybrid construction something between a wheelbarrow and a costermonger’s shallow. There is much bawling and flinging, shoving, hoisting, pulling and dragging of parcels; all the horses’ heads seem to be turned the wrong way; everybody’s off-wheel seems locked in somebody else’s ”

“ They are grown-up baby perambulators upon two wheels; the driver sitting up behind, where the handle would be, and drawing the reins of interminable length over the top of the vehicle. Picture it in your mind, and then wonder, as I did, what power of attraction keeps the horse upon the ground; what prevents his flying into the air when the driver settles down into his seat. A pair of low, folding doors take the place of a lap robe; you dash through the street at an alarming rate without any visible guide, experiencing all the delights of a runaway without any of its dangers. ”