The Bicycling World, Vol 8, No 4
Articles in this issue
- The editor reaffirms The World's earlier position on bicycle patents that remain in force after the Lallement patent's expiration, arguing the dispute over their scope is a matter for the courts, not for editorial debate.
- New Jersey Division L.A.W. resolutions, signed by Llewellyn H. Johnson and other officers, censure the Citizens' Bicycle Club of New York for coasting Montclair Hill against posted L.A.W. sign-boards on 6 November 1883, an act that threw two ladies from their carriage and demolished it.
- U.S. patent notices reported for The World by Boston solicitor Henry W. Williams: a tricycle mechanism from Leonard W. Elliott, a circular bicycle-performance platform from Jas. B. Elliott of London, an anti-friction axle from Chas. V. Woerd of Waltham, a tricycle from Jean Joseph Auguste Larocque of Paris, and a front-wheel roller device from Casper P. Padmore of Philadelphia.
- Describes the Butcher cyclometer's cam-and-ratchet mechanism, which reads distance up to 9,999 miles and can swap its counterweight for a lamp at night, and reports that a stock company has formed with Mr. Butcher already taking orders for January delivery.
- A record table compiled for the Cyclist by G. P. Coleman, Official Handicapper and Timekeeper of the National Cyclists' Union, listing English amateur times from short distances up to 100 miles, with holders including A. Thompson, H. L. Cortis, the Hon. Keith Falconer and F. R. Fry at tracks such as Crystal Palace and Surbiton.
- Argues that L.A.W.-sanctioned race tracks are being measured inconsistently, citing Mr. Midgely's Washington race (measured three feet from the pole rather than the required eighteen inches) and the New Haven Ramblers' October meet, and calls for reform of the League's eighteen-inch pole standard.
- Foreign cycling notes: Corey's ten-mile American record, the Veloce Club Bearnais's new track at Pau, French champion Charles Terront's marriage at Biarritz, a Spalding clergyman's prosecution for leaving his tricycle unattended by the roadside, and F. S. Hunwicke's 402½-mile ride from Tottenham to Edinburgh on a 56-inch geared Otto bicycle.
- Two letters: Citizens' Bicycle Club member Fred. Jenkins rebuts the 'Unfair' charge over the club's blue corduroy uniform, noting a new cloth is still under review ahead of the 11 December meeting; a Washington C.T.C. member asks why the club's English and American uniforms differ and objects that only L.A.W. members may ride Central Park's Riverside Drive.
- Miscellaneous notes and squibs: S. Conant Foster's cycling verse, a Boston wheelman naming his Rudge 'Barnaby Rudge,' R. J. McKee's 115-mile Toronto-to-Belleville ride, Yale men Patterson and Kimberly riding 100 miles from New Haven to Springfield, Capt. J. F. Brown's wedding, and S. S. McClure's resignation as editor of the Wheelman.
- Reports the Canadian Wheelmen's Association board accepting J. S. Brierly's resignation as secretary in favor of H. B. Donly of Simcoe, names Eakins, Brierley and Donly to compile a C.W.A. touring guide-book for Ontario and Quebec, and gives the League of American Wheelmen's state-by-state membership totals (3,130 members) and re-apportionment of representatives.
- Race reports including the Yale Bicycle Club's Farnam hare-and-hounds run, a Denver one-mile handicap won by W. L. Robinson, the Poughkeepsie-to-Hyde-Park road race won by Theodore W. Roberts on an Expert Columbia, and the Baltimore Druid Lake medal races where R. F. Foster overtook E. E. Williams in the ten-mile contest.
- Club news from around the country: new clubs organizing in Harrisburg, Pa. and Dutchess County, N.Y.; the Citizens' Club's new New York club-house; Oraton Hall improvements for the New Jersey Wheelmen; and the Connecticut Bicycle Club's Hartford exhibition, where the New Haven Ramblers won the club-riding prize and Geo. H. Nash won for individual riding.
- C.T.C. department news: the club, founded 1878, now has over ten thousand members; U.S. Chief Consul Frank W. Weston of Savin Hill, Boston, is handling new applications; and the eighth annual meet is set for Harrogate, Yorkshire, in August 1884.
- Answers to correspondents on track-measurement standards, saddle reviews and machine recommendations, including directing J. S. Gibson to Manchester maker W. Harrison for the 'Flying Prince' and 'Harrison' machines, and referring another reader to Pratt's American Bicycler for bicycle-law questions.