The Bicycling World, Vol 53, No 11
Articles in this issue
- Out of the Cycle Manufacturers' Association meeting at the International Hotel, Niagara Falls, on 6 June, the trade will gather at Atlantic City on 25–26 July jointly with the Cycle Parts and Accessory Association; J. F. Cox and W. J. Surre are seeking certificate-plan railroad rates, and the Thomas Auto-Bi Co., Curtiss Mfg. Co. and D. P. Harris were admitted to membership.
- Philip A. Williams, Jr., won his replevin suit against the E. P. Blake Co. of Boston in the Superior Court of Massachusetts — but the verdict was for one dollar; he had sued to recover 342 Olive bicycles, 20 Hampden bicycles and an automobile.
- W. F. McGuire, general manager of the Consolidated Mfg. Co., Toledo, denounced a rival maker who has been telling the firm's patrons it is going out of business since the receiver took charge; McGuire insists the factory is as busy as ever and filling all orders.
- The Mutual Rim Co., under whose title the wood-rim "pool" operates, has invited bicycle manufacturers to contract for five years' supply; E. J. Lobdell, president of the pool, pressed the point at Niagara Falls, and several makers had already signed.
- Full-page photographs of George N. Pierce, president of the Cycle Manufacturers' Association, and William H. Crosby, president of the Cycle Parts and Accessory Association, each standing with a bicycle.
- A method for the rusted nut: notch each face with a sharp cold chisel while backing up the opposite face with a heavy hammer, which stretches the nut without injuring the threads — not to be confused with the "Baltimore wrench," which always spoils the nut.
- A report by the American Consul General at Panama notes that Panama City's streets have been much improved and that new highway runs of fifteen miles and more lead out to the Sabanas, so bicycle and motor bicycle makers should find a sales opening in the Canal Zone.
- A statistician claims bearings of the modern type were made as far back as 1794 by Minge and Greyton, of Morveau, France, for the army service corps, and that the next application was by the Frenchman M. Suriray, who used them on a bicycle in 1869.
- A comparison of the storage cell with the dry cell for motor bicycle ignition, covering the lead grids and spongy-lead compound, the 1 : 10 sulphuric electrolyte, the 2.4-volt discharge, hydrometer testing of density and the danger of short-circuiting or using an ammeter.
- Oil spattering onto the gauze screen over the air intake collects a film of dust that cuts down the air supply and hampers the motor — an obvious remedy but a hard fault to locate.
- When making temporary connections in the gasolene line, red rubber tubing should be used, as it is less affected by the fuel than the white varieties.
- The leader argues that persistent publicity pays, from the schoolboy who wrote "It pays to advertise" to the newsboy who never stops yelling, and cites St. Louis, where a few "brave souls" revived a dead cycling city with a new club, De Soto runs and twenty-odd riders out every Sunday.
- The Jacksonville Wheelmen of Florida are building a three-storey 26x27-foot addition to the rear of their club building and renovating the old structure, aiming at one of the best club houses in the South.
- London's cycling newsboys, already a feature of the streets for their skill in the traffic, came to greater prominence by striking and patrolling en masse up and down Fleet street.
- Germany will require the motorcyclist to pay an annual fee of ten marks ($2.50) plus two marks per horsepower from one to six horsepower, and three marks per horsepower above that up to ten.
- The village trustees of Franklinville, N. Y., have offered a reward for evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever has been strewing carpet tacks along the local cycle paths.
- Joseph Harris of Jersey City set out on a Reading Standard bicycle for the Golden Gate and quit at Rhinebeck, N. Y., 76 miles out, taking the first train home and blaming his 1 1/2-inch tires for the collapse.
- The Pawtucket Cycling Club of Rhode Island, organized in 1893 and incorporated in 1896, voted at its last meeting to disband and sell its property after thirteen years.
- The season calendar from 9 June to 29 November 1906, including the F. A. M. annual tour and endurance contest from New York to Rochester, the F. A. M. annual meet and championships at Rochester 4–6 July, the world's championships at Geneva 29 July–5 August, and the Century Road Club and Roy Wheelmen road races at Valley Stream.
- After Rome, N. Y., protested its omission, chairman H. J. Wehman added six miles to the Federation of American Motorcyclists' Endurance Contest route of 2–3 July, making the total 389.8 miles; the Rochester Motorcycle Club has secured the Crittenden Park track for the racing, with W. B. Williams in charge.
- M. E. Toepel, chairman of the F. A. M. Roads and Tours Committee, has devised a bronze finger-post memento inscribed "Rochester," "New York" and "1906 Tour" for the annual tour of 30 June–3 July; E. H. Corson will lead the Boston party, joined by treasurer Dr. G. B. Gibson.
- Fred C. Hoyt of Boston has been suspended by Chairman Douglas of the F. A. M. Competition Committee pending an investigation of his amateur status, after he rode in the Chicago Motorcycle Club's Decoration Day meet.
- The adjourned meeting of the L. A. W. National Assembly will be held in Boston on Saturday 16 June, with the annual gathering at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in the afternoon.
- National champion Frank Kramer suffered two defeats abroad in a fortnight — beaten by half a wheel by Schilling in the Grand Prix de la Champagne at Reims on 23 May, then by Poulain in the "Battle of the Nations" at the Velodrome Buffalo, Paris, on 27 May.
- A panoramic photograph of the cycle-mounted squad of New York police, in "knicks," brass buttons and white topped caps, turning out in the 1906 annual police parade.
- Oscar Schwab won the "course des primes" at the Angers fete on 26 May and the Grand Prix of Angers, beating Chevallier, Gougoltz, Doerflinger and Rettich; Vandestuyft and Stol took the Treptow track 24-hour team race at Berlin, with "Woody" Hedspeth and Kudea second.
- Chairman Douglas of the F. A. M. Competition Committee is considering replacing the five-horsepower limit with a cubic-capacity rule, having found that machines rated at five horsepower and less exceed it.
- The professionalism charges against Oscar Hedstrom, Stanley T. Kellogg and George N. Holden of Springfield, Mass., arising from the New York Motorcycle Club's hill climbing contest of 30 May, have been turned over to Roland Douglas of the F. A. M. Competition Committee.
- August Huron of the Roy Wheelmen stole a lap on the field in the twenty-third mile of a 25-mile open amateur race on a quarter-mile board track and won; Martin Kessler of the Edgecombe Wheelmen took the half-mile handicap from scratch and W. S. Fenn the half-mile open, with Alfred Ashurst winning the three-mile handicap.
- The world's championship program for the Junction track, Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 July and 2 and 5 August, with the 1,200-metre amateur and professional titles, a professional tandem, a 30-kilometre motor-paced race and a 10-kilometre motorcycle race.
- Robert J. Walthour of Atlanta gave W. Thomas Hall and William Stinson six laps each and still won the 25-mile motorpaced race at the Revere Beach saucer, Boston, on 2 June in 36:56 1/5, changing wheels twice; Hall quit in the thirteenth mile.
- "Woody" Hedspeth finished third behind Heiny and Puspocki in an hour motorpaced race at Brendenburgh, Germany, on 7 May, was third again in the 10-kilometre event and won a handicap race from scratch over Voight, Mensing and Niderau.
- Roy Knabeshue, perhaps America's best known aeronaut, has turned from flying machines to motorcycles — his airship engine was built for him by the Consolidated Mfg. Co. of Toledo, and he now rides a Yale-California.
- The Tiger Wheelmen's closed fifteen-mile "Shoe Handicap" from Jamaica over the Hoffman boulevard to Newtown gave every finisher an order for footwear, from Regals and Douglasses down to bathing slippers; Urban McDonald won from scratch in 40:12 from Archibald Barton and George B. Hunter.
- John Chapman opened the Salt Palace saucer with twenty-three professionals; Iver Lawson took the one-mile open from Downing and Saxon Williams, Crebs won the half-mile handicap and McLaughlin the amateur mile, while the visiting Australians E. A. Pye and W. "Pedlar" Palmer finished among the also-rans.
- Burton Harding, a native Salt Lake boy, won the postponed Decoration Day eighteen-mile road race over the muddy Bountiful roads from 4:30; Charles Archibold took the time prize in 51:20 and John Berryessa of San Jose the second time prize; an observation train carried over 1,000 spectators.
- Emil Friol won the French professional championship for the second time at the Velodrome des Princes, Paris, on Thursday 24 May, beating Dupre by a length and Poulain by about the same in the final heats.
- Eight hundred spectators saw the Denver A. C. Park saucer reopen on Decoration Day; G. R. Boyd's pacing machine refused to spark in the 30-mile motorpaced series against Erne W. Smith, and Frank Starbird beat John Beard in the five-mile motorpaced race in 10:59 3/5.
- "Jock" of the Scottish Cyclist calls luggage the traveller's curse and, after reviewing handlebar carriers, frame bags and front platforms, gives the palm to the little platform carrier over the back wheel, dismissing Japanese straw baskets as not waterproof.
- Two hitherto unpublished photographs of tricars at work after the earthquake — one carrying a worried man with his household goods strapped before him during the exodus, the other showing an injured man in the forecarriage on relief duty at the tent camps.
- A well-known expert invited to try a friend's new mount accidentally dropped the exhaust lifter as he was bounding into the saddle, picked up a twenty-mile pace and had to jump a high board fence; the machine turned out to be built for racing.
- The light and facile tricar did faithful dispatch and courier work in the chaos after the San Francisco earthquake and fire, at a great advantage over the ponderous motor car thanks to its lightness and short base in narrow, treacherous quarters.
- Two motor bicycles took fire within a week — one at Springfield, Mass., while the owner was filling the tank with gasolene, bringing out the fire department; the other in traffic, where the rider lost his coat smothering the flames before a policeman finished the job with an extinguisher.
- A paper by J. W. Brooker read before a foreign organization on solid versus fluid friction, viscosity and film thickness, the adulteration of oils with vegetable oils, india rubber and "viscom" thickeners, and carbon deposits from cylinder temperatures of 250–300 degrees.
- Starting a twin cylinder machine is hard because the pistons must be swung over the compression points together; arranging the exhaust lifters so they release at a slight interval lets one cylinder lead the other and removes the destructive slip and spasmodic running.
- A writer in the American Machinist recommends boric or boracic acid, mixed with water to a thick paste and painted along the joint, in place of borax for brass-brazing gray iron, steel to steel and mended cast-iron.
- Grants include Valery Gallien's cold-vulcanized armored tire for Societe-Anonyme des Pneumatiques Cuir "Samson," Albert C. Menges's intake-valve, James S. Copeland's chainless driving mechanisms assigned to the Pope Manufacturing Company, Alexander P. Morrow's back-pedalling brake and Charles F. Pougher's variable-speed mechanism for the Birmingham Small Arms Company.
- When fitting a new valve to a motor the stem must be cut to the proper length, since it lengthens under the heat of the motor and will fail to close; gauge the clearance between stem and tappet with a single thickness of heavy wrapping paper while the motor is cold.
- Consul McNally of Liege describes the Swiss Anti-Dust League's methods — spreading heavy oil distilled from petroleum, obtained in California, Galicia and Baku at $5 to $6 a barrel, and coal tar from gas works at 2 1/2 to 3 cents a square yard, with an annual saving in wear of about 2 cents.
- Lieutenant G. M. Routh of the Royal English Artillery rode 650 miles in five days with 140 pounds of baggage, beginning at Jaffa on 5 April and reaching Constantinople, then crossing Austria and Germany to Belgium and on to Dover; he called the roads through Palestine and Asia Minor the worst he ever met.
- A German authority reports forty-three motor bicycles in Cairo and seventeen in Alexandria, with French makers so far taking the cream of the Egyptian trade.
- The Irish Cyclist reports rabbits as plentiful as cats on Irish roads: a Mr. Singer of Leursham was thrown and badly cut after running into one in the dark, while a rider crossing the Luggala pass in the Wicklow hills wrung the neck of the one he struck and it made supper for four.
- Franklin Murphy, who says he is a champion bicycle rider in Ireland, is to be deported after Dr. Stone of the Marine Hospital Corps reported decaying tissues; the 53-year-old, a former president of the Sidenham Hockey Club of Belfast, has appealed to Washington.