Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/288

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��Popular Science Monthly

��And Now Comes the Front- Wheel Drive Motor-Cycle

AMONG the many new forms of lo- comotion which are continuahy starthng the pubhc appears the front- wheel drive motor bicycle. This novel

���This front-wheel drive motor-cycle will run one hundred miles on one gallon of gasoline

machine is equipped with a device very similar to the motor wheel to be seen on the street.

The motor wheel in this case is actu- ally the front wheel of the bicycle, and it is claimed by the makers that it em- bodies the correct principle of pulling the load instead of pushing it. This method of construction permits of a di- rect transmission of power, the usual chain, belt or shaft drives being elim- inated. The front wheel bears the weight of the motor, while the weight of the rider is borne by the rear wheel.

The motor is a single cylinder, four- cycle, and air cooled. It is said that it will drive the machine at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour for a distance of one hundred miles on one gallon of gasoline.

Three-Wheeled 'Rickishas for Asia

A CONSIGNMENT of five hundred jinrickishas has been shipped to Calcutta, India, for distribution through- out the Orient, with the intention of eventually displacing the two-wheeled 'rickishas now in use in Asiatic coun- tries. The two-wheeled 'rickishas have a great disadvantage in the unpleasant

��way they often tip out the passenger when the coolie drops the handles to the ground. The new 'rickisha eliminates this disagreeable feature, and it pos- sesses an added advantage, because of having pedals, in keeping the feet of the coolie from the ground. Wet pavements and muddy roads have been the cause of many deaths among the jinrickisha coolie population of Asia ever since that vehicle was first introduced by an enterprising American missionary in the lands where the 'rickisha reigns.

Some of the new jinrickishas are provided with storage batteries and an electric motor, but the majority of them are driven by foot pedals. The gearing is comparatively low, to adapt the new 'rickisha for hill climbing.

Another consignment of five hundred of the vehicles will be shipped as soon as the American factory, where they are made, can turn them out. They are destined for India, China, Philippine Islands, Java, and the Straits Settle- ments.

A Makeshift Polarity Indicator

TWO lengths of soldering wire at- tached to the two wires of a direct current circuit and suspended in a weak solution of sulphuric acid will serve as an emergency polarity indicator. After the wires have been in the solution for several seconds, one of them will be- come covered with a brown layer, in- dicating that the wire is connected to the positive side of the circuit. The brown layer is lead peroxide.

���Tricycle jinrickishas are now used in the Orient, thanks to American salesmen

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