Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/585

 Popular Science Mout/ily

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��support when desired, as in an ice-skate. This is supposed to l)e of \aliie in performint; fan(\' e\-oIiiiioiis. The axes of the r<jliers are not all in the same plane hut follow a ciir\e, so that by tilting liis foot the operator can ride on any pair of rollers he likes. One won- ders wliai \\(iul<l hapjien it a tat man unexpectedly struck a downhill stretch of slippery sidewalk. Sometimes sim- I)licit\-, and e\en hard-running features are Hea\en-sui^gested \irtues.

Another skate ( Fig. 6) i.s of the simpler sort. It is propeled by taking strokes.

��A gasoline equipment with a chain drive to the rear wheel and a gasoline tank under the instep and heel

Fig. 10. A rack-and- pinion arrangement to utilize the down- ward pressure of the heel as a means of rapid propulsion

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��Fig. 9. A mechanical centipede with nine wheels arranged in single and double rows

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��Fig. 8. The descending heel makes a pawl catch in a cogwheel and drives the skate

��in the usual way. Skates somewhat similar to this are also made with four wheels each. Fig. 5 shows a type making use of a single, large wheel, fastened to the leg of the rider. By tilting his toe forward the rider can get a hold on the ground and thus bring about "energetic propulsion," to quote the inventor. The large size of the wheel makes it eas\' to ride over irregularities in the street. But the idea of proceeding down the street with a bicycle-like wheel strapped to each foot does not seem exactly conventional, either.

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