Four-wheeler

“ The Dion and Bouton steam carriage won the race, making the run at a mean velocity of about twelve miles an hour.
This was a sturdy little four-wheeler, on the back of which rested the pole-bolt of an ordinary carriage, the fore-part of which had been removed. This constituted a six-wheeled affair, remarkably supple and manageable, in spite of its length. The vehicle, empty, weighed 1·4 ton; loaded 2·25 tons, and could develop fifteen horse-power. The two front wheels, steering-wheels, were rubber-tyred; the rear wheels, drivingwheels, iron-tyred. ”

“ Four-wheeler!!!
"Four-wheeler!" went down well as "Hansom Up!" Yessir! When Harmony's on and Benevolence guides it,
A Growler's a cab, just the same as a Forder, and 'e aint no "Cabby," true grit, as derides it. ”

“ With their advantages of greater speed and carrying capacity over the horsed vehicles, their introduction was a most important development, though their working at first imposed a severe financial strain on many companies.
Cabs.—The horse-drawn cabs which ply for hire in the streets, or wait at authorized “cab-stands,” are of two kinds, the “hansom,” a two-wheeled vehicle so named after its inventor (1834) and the “four-wheeler.” “Hackney coaches” for hire are first mentioned in 1625, when they were kept at inns, and numbered 20. ”

“ In England it is represented by delicious little trails of “goods-wagons,” four-wheelers of from five to eight or nine or ten tons’ capacity, the “goods” often left exposed to the rigors of winter, save for possibly a tarpaulin covering; in the United States, fast-freights and slow-freights crowd upon one another’s heels; the sixty-ton steel car has long since come into its own. ”

“ I think, as a rule, it is a good plan to pass the lead reins through the loops of the bearing-rein of the wheeler, instead of through D’s fixed on his |Lead reins through bearing-rein loops.| head-collar or throat-lash. The loops should hang down about four inches, and be quite loose, so that the wheeler can toss his head to a considerable extent without violently jerking the leader in the mouth. It is unnecessary to pass the reins through the terrets on the hames, as bringing them straight back to those on the pad gives a better lead. ”

“ So, next day, Taraban brought his wife to the Palace, and her beauty was such that it made the other ladies of the Court look like crows. The Tzar could not gaze sufficiently at her, and the instant she had gone felt himself seized with a violent love for her. He sent in hot haste for his Court Ministers, his Boyars, and his great Generals, and said: "Here are the keys of my royal treasury. Take as much gold as ye require to search throughout the four corners of the white world. Only fetch me, to become my Tzaritza, such another beauty as the wife of my archer!" ”

“ Yes, sir; the baby is a heart-breaker on dress-parade, and the ten-wheeler is a whale on business, and if they don't jump the track, you watch out for some express speed that will make the canals sick, see if they don't."
Without giving me time to say a word, he was off again.
"You ought to seen 'em start out, nary a slip, cutting off square as a die, small one ahead speaking her little piece chipper and fast on account of her smaller wheels, and the ten-wheeler barking bass, steady as a clock, with a hundred-and-enough on the gauge, a full throttle, and half a pipe of sand. ”

“ Gilligan had finished the girls were out of bed and feeling about for their clothes.
"You know the room doesn't look half bad by daylight," remarked Violet, as she was arranging her hair before an elaborately framed old mirror. "And it surely is quite clean."
"But it's horribly gloomy, just as mother said." Billie was regarding the dingy woodwork, now almost black with age, and the huge four-poster with its funereal canopied top, and the large pictures of dead and gone ancestors that adorned the walls. "The only really good things in the whole room are the tables and chairs. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the Fall, Bobby and Meg had to go to school. It was good fun for Miss Mason was a kind teacher. Then the twins insisted on going to school too, and their appearance quite upset the class. And in school something very odd happened and all the boys and girls wondered what it meant.
Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun
Winter came and with it lots of ice and snow, and oh! what fun the Blossoms had skating and sledding. And once Bobby and Meg went on an errand and got lost in a sudden snowstorm. And once Twaddles slipped through a hole in the ice, but the others went quickly to the rescue. ”

“ It has been stated by a previous Witness, that a Carriage of the weight of two tons propelled by Steam drew after it another Carriage weighing nine tons; what should, from your experience, be the breadth of the tire of the wheel of the propelling Carriage and the Carriage drawn?—Looking solely to the welfare of the road. I should prefer a wheel of four inches and a half, flat on the tire, to any other class of wheel that can be made, being of opinion that a greater breadth of wheel cannot at one time touch the surface of a well-formed turnpike road. ”

“ When a rear wheel breaks down upon a march, the best method I know of for taking the vehicle to a place where it can be repaired is to take off the damaged wheel, and place a stout pole of three or four inches in diameter under the end of the axle, outside the wagon-bed, and extending forward above the front wheel, where it is firmly lashed with ropes, while the other end of the pole runs six or eight feet to the rear, and drags upon the ground. ”

“ 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 two-wheeled vehicle turns on one wheel, which forms the centre at the place where it touches the ground, and the opposite wheel forms the circle struck from the said centre. The body in this instance follows the circular motion exactly as the axle, and consequently maintains a steady position above the wheels.
“A four-wheeled vehicle remains in a straight line when first the front pair of wheels are turned under, then by the effect of the draught the hind pair of wheels follow in a wider circle. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The second carriage likewise carries two drums equal in diameter to those of the toothed wheels. These are fixed, and their line of centers must remain constantly parallel with the line of centers of the gear-wheels, and consequently with the straight line which passes through the point, A. This parallelism is obtained by means of a weak steel spring, or of a silken thread passing over the four wheels, the two first of which (the gear-wheels) hold it taut by means of a barrel and spring placed in the center of one of them. ”

“ The inventor proposed to use this for an infinitude of purposes, such as driving carriages for the conveyance of passengers, ploughing land, mowing grass and corn, or working thrashing machines. The carriage had three wheels—one for steering. The steam engine drove, by spur gearing, four legs, which, pushing against the ground, moved the carriage. The engine could also be made to act upon the two hind wheels for ascending hills, or for drawing heavy loads. A windmill, driven partly by the action of the wind, and partly by the exhaust steam from the engine, was used as adjunct power. ”

“ The Best Friend was a four-wheel engine, all four wheels drivers. Two inclined cylinders at an angle, working down on a double crank, inside of the frame, with the wheels outside of the frame, each wheel connecting together outside, with outside rods. The wheels were iron hub, wooden spokes and felloes, with iron tire, and iron web and pins in the wheels to connect the outside rods to. ”

“ The vehicle drawn by the light locomotive, except where the light locomotive travels at a rate not exceeding four miles an hour, shall have a brake, in good working order, of such efficiency that its application to the vehicle shall cause two of the wheels of the vehicle on the same axle to be so held that the wheels shall be effectually prevented from revolving, or shall have the same effect in stopping the vehicle as if such wheels were so held. ”

“ When you are certain the structure is firm and can stand the strain and weight of a loaded car, lay the two-by-four rails upon the ground, and fit them to the car-wheels by pushing the car over them, to see that they are just the right distance apart. If you make your track too wide the car-wheels will slip off the rails and run between them, and if you lay your track with too narrow a gauge the rails will pinch the flanges of the wheels so tightly that the car will stop, or the rails spread. ”

“ In order to travel fast over level country, and yet be able to mount hills without undue exertion, we must be able to do what the motorist does—change gear. Two-speed and three-speed gears are now very commonly fitted to cycles. They all work on the same principle, that of the epicyclic train of cog-wheels, the mechanisms being so devised that the hub turns more slowly than, at the same [Pg 443] speed as, or faster than the small chain-wheel, [42] according to the wish of the rider. ”

“ The seventh vehicle, a vast fourgon with rack sides but no hood, had four wheels and six horses, and carried a resounding mass of coppers, boilers, chafing-dishes, and chains, among which were mingled a few bound men lying their full length, who seemed to be ill. ”

“ Standing on the platform at King’s Cross, with a large part of the immense driving-wheel hidden below you as it rests on the rail, you do not realise its tremendous size. Yet, let the engine-driver open the throttle, as it is called—that is, turn on the steam to the cylinders—and that huge wheel will revolve, and with its neighbour on the other side, haul after them that heavy train of carriages, and, gathering speed as they go, they will soon be rushing up the incline at forty miles an hour, and then on at sixty. ”

“ The Verbiest model was for a four-wheeled carriage, on which an aeolipile was mounted with a pan of burning coals beneath it. A jet of steam from the aeolipile impinged upon the vanes of a wheel on a vertical axle, the lower end of the spindle being geared to the front axle. An additional wheel, larger than the supporting wheels, was mounted on an adjustable arm in a manner to adapt the vehicle to moving in a circular path. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Having inspected various forms of two-wheeled and four-wheeled carriages, in the patentee’s premises in Drury Lane, I feel justified in recommending them as being constructed on the soundest mechanical principles; and have no doubt, that if reason be allowed to decide upon their merits, they will ere long be universally preferred by all who seek for easy-moving, safe, and comfortable vehicles. ”

“ The carriage is consequently propelled by the friction or hold which either or both hind-wheels, according as the power is applied to them jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath the hind part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through a hollow cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, [pg 195] enables the director to force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard the progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the wheels off the ground. ”

“ Some carts, from their peculiar construction and arrangement of seat, rail, and steps, not being adapted to the pulling yourself up by the rail with the left hand alone, as on a coach, it may be necessary to take hold of the rail or the corner of the dasher with the right, when care should be taken not to disturb the wheeler with the whip, which, with the reins, you have in that hand. ”

“ It is this joy of control that comes to the driver of an automobile which is one of the motor-car's chief attractions: it is the longing of the boy to run a locomotive reproduced in the grown-up.
The ponderous, snorting, thundering locomotive, towering high above its steel road, seems far removed from the swift, crouching, almost noiseless motor-car, and yet the relationship is very close. In fact, the automobile, which is but a locomotive that runs at will anywhere, is the father of the greater machine. ”