The Aeronautical Annual, 1896: Devoted to the Advancement of the Neglected Science (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

Excerpt from The Aeronautical Annual, 1896: Devoted to the Advancement of the Neglected Science

The machine has been improved very gradually; most of the modifications have been slight; yet some of the stages have been marked with great distinctness.

The twelve machines here shown in the drawings give a rough outline of the progress made. First, we have the wheel of 1816 (fig. I), propelled by striking the feet against the ground. This machine represents the parent form, involving the great principle of two wheels balanced by the act of turn ing the forward wheel on a pivot. It was used principally for the purposes of sport, and it is easily seen that it was at its best on down grades.

Looking backward, it seems strange to us that a device so simple as a pair of foot cranks attached to the front axle was not soon adopted, yet the discovery of such simple things some times takes years of hard thinking. Columbus was doubtless surprised when the superficial people of his day told him on his return that any sailor might have discovered the distant land, all one had to do was to sail west. His alleged reply, illus trated by the balancing of the egg, was most appropriate. The inventor of the sewing machine informed the world that all through the centuries the sewing needle had been threaded at the wrong end; no one knows how long it took him to think that out. We do know, however, in the case of the wheel, that it took many years to think of putting foot cranks on the front axle.

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