The Velocipede
Contents
- Credits the velocipede to Nicephore Niepce on the evidence of his brother Claude's Hammersmith letters of 1818-19, and argues from tractive-force figures that rolling costs a man far less power than walking. Then surveys British manual-locomotive patents from John Dumbell (1822) through Baddeley, Merryweather and Dr Cartwright to W. Edge, Joseph Goodman, Thomas Du Boulay, Edward Gilman, William Tribe and Mons. Riviere's near-bicycle of 1868.
- Reports the French trade: Paris factories turning out two-wheeled bicycles and three-wheeled tricycles at ten to fifteen pounds, the name abbreviated to "velox", schools where three or four lessons make a competent rider, and the postmen of the Aube delivering parcels by tricycle. Notes the mania passing on to America's "velocinasiums", and recalls Michael Faraday spinning a machine up Hampstead hill.
- Describes the forms of bicycle shown in Figs. 16 to 20 — the first with a self-brake worked by a handle in front of the rider, the others of lighter and more elegant construction, and Fig. 20 without a brake, which the author thinks a mistake since a brake gives power of instant stopping.
- Recommends the three-wheeler as safer than the bicycle for timid riders and for ladies, with an easy seat, small steering fore wheel and slipper-shaped pedals from which the feet disengage instantly. Covers Fig. 22, a British pattern in considerable favour, and the Parisian lady's machine (Fig. 23) whose lever both boosts speed and acts as a brake, and notes that "Velocipedes de Luxe" cost almost any sum fancy can reach.
- Gives front-wheel diameters by stature — 34 to 36 inches for small men, 40 for tall — but notes a small man on a 36-inch wheel keeps up, speed coming from suppleness rather than force. Adds eight rules for the novice (avoid crowded streets, coast 20 or 30 yards down an incline with the brake on before touching the pedals) and reports the Southampton magistrates' ruling that no toll may be charged for a velocipede.
- Two illustrated lessons: in Fig. 24 an assistant pushes the rider down an incline while he learns to correct a lean by turning the front handle slightly the same way; in Fig. 25 he mounts with one foot on the pedal and brings up the second as that pedal rises. Closes with an unheaded note on the gentlemen's tricycle (Fig. 26), pedalled on the front wheel like a bicycle.
- Describes Fig. 27, a child's velocipede built on the rocking-horse principle — the child sits astride with his feet on tricycle-style pedals and steers by the fore wheel — and a youths' machine in the form of the bicycle reduced in proportion.
- Unheaded closing essay: expense is the chief barrier to the velocipede, but a cheap machine is dear in repairs, so clubs might hire them out at about sixpence a week in the pound — a ten-pound machine for five shillings. Praises the exercise as a substitute for horse riding and a reputed cure for slight rheumatism, and advises flannel shirts, a wide-awake hat, and no steep hills or cold washing afterwards.