Introduction.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 57

Introduction.

The ' ' Byke " is on the list of things once prohibited by scientific authority. A great mathematician once predicted that as the average of man's walking speed under the best conditions is four miles an hour, and as the machine would be worked by the legs of man, therefore the average speed of the machine would never exceed, under the best conditions, four miles an hour. The machinists exhibited their reverence for scientific prediction by racing the human propelled machine up to nearly the speed of the galloping racehorse. But before this speed was reached, science had very carefnlly watched developments, and. without

prejudice, quietly look charge and directed the evolution of the machine with happiest, results. The motor car affords another instance, with a moving story of the unholy combination between science law and popular and Parliamentary prejudice, whereby the enterprising motorist was kept back for years ; and, what is worse, a contempt for law and constituted authority was fixed in his breast, whence have flowed a terrible list of undesirable consequences, which have made motoring a much hated and very much feared pastime. Still the engineers and the mathematicians and the men of science generally have done wonders for motoring. Aviation has much to say of the same import, for science was at first committed to the theory that man's weight required a wing spread of a mile or so, and the demand

was defended as a deduction from the great principles laid down by Newton himself. But already man has flown with exasperating 1 ease for an hour or two and beaten a flying bird, in the presence of thousands of shouting people. As usual in these cases, science has taken a hold, and bids fair to guide the experimenters of the day into the perfection of bird flight. Indeed, there are men not without scientific knowledge who think that the perfection will be relatively to the birds who carry only themselves as is the perfection to the fishes of the steamship, which, by following the example of the fishes, who support themselves only in the water at great speeds, carry cargoes of tens of thousands of tons, and hundreds of passengers, also at great speeds, against stormy

winds and raging seas. In this connection, the popular mind has been too scornful of the trained intelligence. The story of the dog ' ' Boonder, ' ' who lives now only in the immortal page of Bret Harte, supplies to this school of thought its favourite illustration. "Boonder" said his creator was known as "Boonder the Conservative" because "in matters that did not involve courtesy lie was sincere in his likes and his dislikes. He was instinctively opposed to the railroad, and when the track was laid Boonder maintained a defiant attitude towards every rail as it was laid down." In like manner did he resist the introduction of gas into his native town, and spent one whole day in angry altercation with the workmen." Also when the question of water works had been settled and work begun, "the grading of an ad-

joining lot was for a long time a personal matter between Boonder and the contractor. ' ' Yet, says Boonder 's creator, all these works went on. Men quote and they laugh. But they forget the essential difference. The dog resisted blindly, resisted until one day — it was the day of the trial trip of the railway ears — he "barked himself out of all shape in the front, being thrown back several feet by the recoil of each bark," until in one of these intervals he failed to recover quickly enough, and the resister of progress perished a martyr to his conservative notions Here we have the fundamental difference. The dog resisted blindly. whereas science merely is slow to accept the first claims of novelty, but maintains that watchful and

unprejudiced attitude, which alone can command the eventful success of all scientific advance. This is why the development of the cycle has been along the lines of soundness and reliability. Science, having begun by quoting a formula which said the thing could not be done at all, ends by drawing up another formula which explains how easily it is done every day. Tour simpler canine can only detect imposture — and there he carries in eye and nostril a veritable bunch of Spears of Ithuriel — but when it comes to rewarding merit, and consolidating and directing achievement, the comparison must cease between your canine and the eternal academy of sciences. I. — The Bicycle. It was first a velocepede — that is, after a painful experience of many wheels of dubious order and construction. And about the

year 1870 the velocepede came into the front of pedalling and prediction. The thought naturally occurs : "Is there a purveyor of bikes who was in the business in that remote epoch?" Echo immediately answers — if you happen to be in Victoria street, Wellington— "Yes!" The firm of Rudge Whitworth was in business then, and is in business now, after continuous service, and is, by Royal Warrant, manufacturers to the King and Prince of Wales. The fact tells of a vast store of experience, added item by item, till every part of the machine has its experts and its separate history. Going with the manager, Mr. Reynolds, into the warehouse, where the bikes of the firm are stored, you find them lying about in great variety after their voyage from the works at Birmingham and Coventry. Typical they are, as you may see at a glance, of the firm which has the longest experience, being distinguished for the longest sale list, and for a variety of specialities unique and attractive. Having watched the progress of cycling from those velocepede days, the directors of these famous works have arrived at the perfection of specialised parts, which tells its own history of the general development of the popular machine. The methods have long been scientific, followed by the most rigid tests, and the most exacting examination, and lately the system has been placed under the control of a magnificently equipped chemical and physical research laboratory established in 1901, for the sole purpose of testing and improving every detail of the manufacture. These details are highly original in character, though to the ordinary observer it may appear that all bicycles are alike in every respect. They may be when the parts are bought from different manufacturers and put together by the makers, who are known to the trade as "assemblers." At the works of the firm every part is built and all are put together under the same roof, so to speak, for there are many roofs in this huge enterprise, and all the parts are protected by far-reaching patents. There are among these the Coaster hub and brake, the two-speed gear, and the three-speed gear. Of these the former has the advantage that the change of gear can be effected while pedalling, as well as while free wheeling, whereas in the latter the modus operandi is the simplest possible: — "The gear drives normally direct on the medium gear. A movement of the lever brings the high gear into action with an increase of over 30 per cent. ; an opposite movement of the lever, on the other hand brings the low gear into action, Avith a reduction of 25 per cent, below the medium. The free wheel is available on all three gears. ' ' Among the specialties of the firm we see the No. 6041 Model— illustrated— as durable and fully guaranteed as all other Models made by the Rudge Whitworth firm fitted with Coaster hub and brake — a reliable, easy running and popular machine; the Model 6141, with similar equipment to above, and is the popular lady's machine; the Model 5 Aero Special Speed Iron, a fine racing machine; the ultra refined Model 2041. for the riders who arc

especially particular and pernickety in their cyclic taste ; there are models for girls and boys, and there are models of light weight with great strength; in all, some seventyfive different models. It is to be noted that all parts are interchangeable, whereby the great desideratum has been secured of rapid, cheap, prompt, and unerring repair, accurate fit, absence of friction and durability. Other details are equally interesting. The frames are made of cold-worked highgrade steel exclusively; no malleable, cast or hot-stamped iron is used. They are consequently of uniform temper throughout, and possess unrivalled stiffness and strength. The flush joints give a perfectly smooth outline, with no ledges or angles in which mud or dust can lodge The hubs have cold-drawn bodies with bearing cups and cones of high carbon tool steel. The extraordinary durability of the bearings is universally acknowledged, and has only been achieved by years of experience and the employment of the finest grades of steel procurable. So far as the company can trace, less than one in 75.000 of the cones shows any signs of wear within the normal lifetime of a bicycle. The vital organ of the bicycle, the front fork and crown supporting throe-fourths of

the weight of the whole concern, is specially provided for, being made throughout of cold drawn steel, and of a strength' much above all possible requirements. These specialties, together with a large range of standardised patterns, are among the results of experience which has grown up with the bicycle during the last forty years, and they demonstrate to the most careless observer how the marvellous development of the ordinary bicycle of commerce has come about.