THE DEMON WHEEL.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 8271, 23 November 1895, Page 5

THE DEMON WHEEL.

Br Luke Shabp.

I am not sure that I ought to write about the demon bicycle, at least until my acquaintance, Monsieur Pvfttapjan, has had time to get Pari»%Qd 1 i patent his marvellous invention all over the world. Still he spoke in the most open way abont this miracle, and did not seem to care who heard him, so perhap3 he has protected his different contrivances as he went along, after the Edison manner, for it is well known that Thomas A., Edison cannot sleep at night unless he. has taken out at least sixteen new patents during the day. I met Ai. Rataplan at a mountain resort 5000 feet above the sea in the Jura range, the most western part of Switzerland. I thought at first that he was a Avar veteran, for his breast was covered with medals of all sorts, but a clo3er inspection showed that they were badges of various bicycle clubs in all parts of the world. He told mc that he is a member of every cycle society in the world so far as. he knew, although of course some of them might have escaped him. "Are you a record breaker ? " I asked. " No, I am an inventor, I think I did break the record across France." "And you are here resting after your ride ? " I ventured. Well, yes, in a measure. Actually I had no intention of coming to Switzerland, but I could not rightly help myself. It all came about through the greatest invention the world has ever seen. Talk about pneumatic tyres ! They're not in it compared with my invention." "You talk English," J said, "with a colloqriial fluency somewhat unusual in a Frenchman. Where did you learn the language ? " "Oh, I'm riot a Frenchman. My name's Macguire and I'm from Philadelphia. I came to France and changed my name to Rataplan because I couldn't get a fair show in America." "I thought the States was place in the world for an inventor." " So it is, if you don't start from Philadelphia. You see, -Philadelphia, is a slow town. New York men speak of having their country residence there. Then Philadelphia has always been an unfortunate city for inventors. There's the Keely motor man. He is enough to Gomorrah any town. You see, I had no capital, and the moment I invented anything and tried to interest a man with money in it, he made fun of the thing as soon as he heard I was from Philadelphia—asked mc if I was a friend of Keely's and all that, till I got tired of it. Then other fellows got to hear of my inventions and patented them before mc and so I never got a chance. When I became M. Rataplan, of Paris, I got rich Americans over here to listen to mc and I've made money. But this invention beats them aIL" " Is it a secret ?" " You're not an inventor, are you?" "In a way. I'm a newspaper man." " Oh, that's all right. I lake newspaper men.. It doesn't matter my telling you, for if you did write it up, you'd get it all wrong, and nobody would understand it." " Then let mc hear about it." " Do you know anything of electricity ? " "A little. I know you will bum your fingers if you don't let go a live wire mighty suddenly." "Quite so. You have been accurately informed. Well, you know what a storage battery i 3 ? " " Yes. It is like certain kinds of investments. You put in a sum of money and get out only part of it." " Exactly. That's the ordinary storage battery of commerce. You get out only a fraction of the electricity you put in. Ever heard of the Macguire Storage Battery ? No ? I thought not. It's a small pocket battery—l won't enter into particulars—but by a certain interior arrangement of the plates, it actually increases the E. M. F. of the fluid put into it." '' And what does E. M. F. stand for ? "

"Electro motor force. I see you don't understand even the rudiments of electricity. Now it struck mc the Macguire Storage Battery might be applied to a bicycle. It worked beautifully—small and compact, yon know—but it always ran out just when you were in some part of the country where you couldn't get it charged again. So I put my wits to work and invented a little portable dynamo which could be attached to the driving wheel of a bicycle and which wonld keep replenishing the storage battery. I thought that the force going down hill would run the dynamo enough to keep the battery reasonably fall a:s"d so transmit the force to the bicycle when going up hilL" 4i And did it work?" *' Did it work ? It did work my boy, in a way that would- hare made your hair stand oa end, and nearly ruined my constitution,

but as soon as I have that invention under control I'll paralyze the world. I took my machine out of Paris for a trial spin before I had everything completed. I live in the southern part of Paris anil so ran down toward Fontaineblfcau to try how it would go. I had the dynamo in one pocket—it is very- small but powerful, as I told you— and the battery in the other. About twenty miles south of Paris 1 {jot off the machine with a smooth empty country road ahead of mc, and attached dynamo and battery. But I forgot one tiling, and that was that the Maeguire Storago Battery increased the K. M. F. of ths electricity pumped into it. Well, I jumped on the bicycle and ran it down tue road for a mile or so, listening to the dynamo purring beautifully ; then I put my two feet oil the front rests and let her. spin. She spun to the queen's taste. We went along for about ten miles and I knew then the little battery ought to be giving out, but she didn't give out. The machine was running faster than ever. I reduced spaed a bit with the brake, and I have no doubt that at that time I could have stopped the machine, but, as I tell you, I didn't realise the situation. As we went on and on I noticed the bicycle was going faster and faster. • I beeama just a little scared, for I remembered I had no way of stopping except by the brake. I put that on hard, but it j seemed to have no effect on the wheel. It began to smoke and finally snapped off. Then I was helpless." " Couldn't yon have kicked off the battery or the ctynamo ?" "Have you ever ridden a bicycle?" "Yes."' " Well, then, you know that if you are going down a steep hill on the keen jump, you have all you can do to sit there and steer the machine. That was the way with mc. I was not going down hill, but along a smooth, level road at a greater rate of speed than any wheel ever went down any lull. I flashed through villages faster than a lightning express, ringing my ball like mad, out I'll bet you no one ever heard a sound till I was a mile away. Well, it struck mc all at once just what the trouble was. The more that little dynamo shoved electricity into that battery, the more the battery increased the E.M.F. and the faster went the machine, and the faster the machine went the more electricity the dynamo produced." " Ciit my dear Macguire, don't yon see if that happened it would be perpetual motion ?" " That's it. You're not so dull after all. That's just the point, and there's where I'm going to paralyze the world. It isn't what this invention will do on a mere bicycle that's the great thing. That is a mere trifle compared with the vaet possibilities of the discovery." " But what did you do on the bike ?" "What did I do? There was only one thing to do. If I kept on I would run smack through Marseilles and go plump into the Mediterranean. If I ran the machine against a wall or building I would smash myseli into a thousand pieces. I thought over the situation for about a hundred miles and then saw that my only chance was to make for the Alps. I knew by the rate we were going it wouldn't take long to reach there, and so breathing a prayer that people would keep to their own side of the road, I turned towards ths east and made for Switzerland. I passed the ParisBerne express near Dijon, and left her as if she were standing still. I tell you I was a happy man when I saw the Jura mountains loom tip ahead of mc. I saw this hotel away up among the clouds, and knew there must be a road up to it, so I pointed for the tall mountain. You sue I couldn't stop and enquire the way; I was on a through express, and had quite enough of riding for one trip." "And did the mountain stop the machine?" ""Well, not perceptibly for the first thousand feet. I was afraid I would have to go clear over Mt. Blanc, The second thousand feet she slowed quite noticeably ; the third thousand feet still more. The fourth thousand feet I saw I could get off with safety, but I was so stiff with riding I could hardly move. At last, when nearing the top, I saw the brute actually wasn : t going to stop, so I made an effort just at the summit and threw myself backward over the hind wheel, nearly breaking my neck. But I got off, thank goodness." . , . < ''' And where is this wondei'ful bicycle now ?" " Heaven only knows ; the Swiss government doesn't, for I've telegraphed them to find out. As I sat helpless on the summit, I saw the machine give a wobble or two and thought it was going to fall, but it didn't. It got on the down grade and went at a rate that seemed to be good for another ten thousand miles. I telegraphed all down the road from this hotel asking the authorities to be on the lookout for it, but I've heard nothing from it since. I expect it took a dash off the road at one of the turns and is lying in the forest somewhere. Perhaps it has crossed the Gemmi and the Simplon and is in Italy by this time, Next machine I fit up you bet I'll put on a controlling gear." " I think that would be an improvement." " Yes. Well, now you see my object in telling you all this is to give you a chance of making your everlasting fortune. I left Paris, as I told you, in a hurry, not expecting to take a trip to Switzerland, and so brought no money. If you let mc have fifty or a hundred pounds now I'll give you a qiiarter share in my invention. Remember Westinghouss offered a half share in his brake for 500dol. and the other fool didn't take it. He went mad afterwards." "Who? Westinghouse ?" "No. The other fellow, because of the fortune he missed." "You forget /what I told you at the beginning." " What was that ?" " I'm a newspaper man and consequently have no money. But I'll give you a good notice." r Ancl here it is.— Detroit Free Press.