JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Looking for illustrations of an enormous horse-drawn rangefinder in volume 7 (1879) issue of the Scientific American Supplement I came across these two unusual images of a hand-powered sleigh and “bicycle”. The gearwork looks to be about the size of a modern bike wheel, perhaps even bigger–it certainly weighs more, and could weigh more than an entire (good) bike. I don’t really understand how the energy is transferred but it seems to be that the gear drives a toothed rod back and forth that reacts with a springed mechanism that in turn moves the wheels. It is a huge gearwork, but that vehicle looks awfully big and not-so-mobile to be driven by that and the springs. On the sleigh the gearwork seems to push a plane of some sort to push the sleigh forward. Even in 1879 there were better and simpler designs for bikes…I don’t know what to say about the sleigh….
From the SA: