j4k3

The Balloon Cycle

There floated over the hamlet of Ville neuvye-la-Garenne, the other afternoon, in mid-air, a balloon. Suddenly it appeared to burst and fell rapidly toward the earth. Fearing that a disaster had occurred the terrified folk ran to the spot at which they expected the aerostat would reach the ground, when to their amazement they saw a parachute detach itself from the car and descend gently. Immediately the earth was touched one of the passengers jumped upon a small bicycle which he had brought with him from the aerial regions, and he disappeared in the direction of Levallois, in the neighborhood of Paris, as rapidly as the machine could carry him. The explanation of this singular occurrence is simple. The balloon was the Caliban, and the ascent was made from Levallios by Captain Capazza and M. Hervien, the latter being the cyclist. Their object was to test the possibility of a balloon being used for carrying war dispatches, and they assumed that an enemy succeeded in destroying it. Yet they proved that by means of the parachute they would be able to make good their escape and to outdistance their pursuers with the aid of a portable bicycle.—London Telegraph

https://archive.org/details/BRM_1894101801/page/n5/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Balloon

Recently a bicycle race from Bath to Kensington, 106 miles, for the (captaincy) and (subcaptaincy) of the Middlesex Bicycle Club commenced in the Bath Market-place, the competitors being Mesate, Pearce, Leaver, Goulding, Percy, Tyne, Spencer, and Walker. The diameter of the driving wheels varied from 45 to 52 inches. The first six miles of the race, which was over a capital road, were done in a very short space of time. At Newbury, which is about midway, the first two riders to arrive were Walker and Tyne. Here the wheel of Tyne's machine collapsed, making him lose two hours in the first half of the race. He went on again, but was quite out of the running. The race was won by Mr. Walker, of the Middlesex Bicycle Club, who started at ten minutes past five a.m. and arrived at Kensington at fifteen minutes past three p.m. - the greatest speed on record for the distance.

Sorry for any errors.

So a modern rider typically takes at least 4 hours to do a century ride and that is at top amateur/pro levels. Averaging 25 miles per hour for that long is very difficult. Most avid club cyclists will average around 16 mph in the real world and can finish a century in around 6-7 hours.

In this race, it started at just after 5 am and was won by the finishing rider just over ten hours later at fifteen minutes past 3 pm. So the average speed of the winning rider was just over 10 miles per hour. You'll have to forgive me for not knowing metric time but in real units, the race was 170 km, and the average speed was 17 kph.

In terms of wheel size, the 700c wheels of today are around 28in in diameter. The racers here were riding between 45-52in. So 45in is 1.143m, and 52in is 1.32m

I speculate that these were likely Penny-farthing or Ordinary velocipedes

The frame is a single tube following the circumference of the front wheel, then diverting to a trailing wheel. A mounting peg is above the rear wheel. The front wheel is in a rigid fork with little if any trail. A spoon brake is usually fitted on the fork crown, operated by a lever from one of the handlebars. The bars are usually mustache shaped, dropping from the level of the headset. The saddle mounts on the frame less than 18 inches (46 cm) behind the headset.

One particular model, made by Pope Manufacturing Company in 1886, weighs 36 pounds (16 kg), has a 60-spoke 53-inch (130 cm) front wheel and a 20-spoke 18-inch (46 cm) rear wheel. It is fitted with solid rubber tires. The rims, frame, fork, and handlebars are made from hollow, steel tubing. The steel axles are mounted in adjustable ball bearings. The leather saddle is suspended by springs.[32]

Another model, made by Humber and Co., Ltd., of Beeston, Nottingham, weighs only 24 pounds (11 kg), and has 52-inch (130 cm) and 18-inch (46 cm) wheels. It has no step and no brakes, in order to minimize weight.[33]

A third model, also made by Pope Manufacturing Company, weighs 49 pounds (22 kg) and has forged steel forks. A brake lever on the right of a straight handlebar operates a spoon brake against the front wheel.[34]

All three have cranks that can be adjusted for length.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing

The original posted article from 1874 is on page 2 at the top right of the news paper archived here: https://archive.org/details/NPDP18740922/page/0/mode/2up?q=bicycle&view=theater

Joke aside, there are several cool fonts in this one from 1892:

https://archive.org/details/CentralBoston1892Specimen/page/n73/mode/2up

I didn't think aluminum rims or clinchers were a thing all the way back then.

Here are all the rest of the cycling highlights of The Iron Age like chainless drive too.

stationary trainer:

https://archive.org/details/IronAgeVol54Jul121894/page/n95/mode/1up?view=theater

::: spoiler Bonus riding lawn mower:

from: The Iron Age catalog of 1894

https://archive.org/details/IronAgeVol54Jul121894/page/n65/mode/2up?view=theater

I'm not sure I can link like that to archived images from a catalog. Page 279 is missing from the scan. This is the whole catalog: https://archive.org/details/sears-roebuck-catalogue-111/page/n136/mode/1up?view=theater The bicycle section starts on page 137 of the slider.

For reference:

At this early point in the history of license plates in the United States of America, none of the 45 states, territories, or the District of Columbia, was issuing its own plates.[1][2][3][4] The State of New York remained the only state that required vehicle owners to register their automobiles. The system of using the owner's initials as the registration number, begun in 1901, remained in effect. This would change in 1903 when a number was assigned to each owner to display on their vehicle. Across the country the increases in the number of automobiles was being noticed, and there were many cities, like Chicago, that had already begun to require their owners to register their vehicles.[5][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_States_for_1902

1902

• February 12 – The 1st Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance takes place in Washington, D.C..
• March 7 – Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
• March 10 – Clashes between police and Georgian workers led by Joseph Stalin leave 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison.[1]
• April 2 – The Electric Theatre, the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
• May 20 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.
• July 2 – Philippine–American War ends.
• August 22 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first American President to ride in an automobile, a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.
• August 22 – A 7.7 earthquake shakes the border between China and Kyrgyzstan killing 10,000 people.
• September 1 – The first science fiction film, the silent A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), is premièred at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, by actor/producer Georges Méliès, and proves an immediate success.[7]
• November 16 – A newspaper cartoon depicting U.S. President "Teddy" Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub inspires creation of the first teddy bear by Morris Michtom in New York City.
• December 30 – Discovery Expedition: British explorers Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point reached thus far by man, south of 82°S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1902

This is a killer reference source and entry point for many applications and projects.

Capstan actuators = rope twisted around two drums for gear reduction, but with limited range of motion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwIBTbumd1Q

https://github.com/aaedmusa/Capstan-Drive

Compliant tube based headphone pad idea I had while riding a bicycle two days ago. I got the thickness and dimensions dialed for printing and bending, but I either need to setup my old KP3 kingroon with a longer 2040 Z extrusion or print this in 2 pieces. Either way, the joint connection needs more than just the overlap and glue. TPE would probably be better too, although I have no idea what shore hardness this $10 clearance spool of TPU has. The sound quality seems a little tinny and I have no way to tell how loud it is externally, but it is just my first iteration that I can put around my ear and test. TPU is so slow to print and the moisture levels impact the qualities drastically. I actually like the texture and properties of wet TPU more than dry, but it is hard to get it just right. With the design's compliant bend, consistency is kinda important. Anyways, just another boring project. On the bright side, this seems cooler temperature wise when the TPU pad is against my ear.

I spent all day chasing custom logarithmic infill patterns that might incorporate a compliant bend but only learned about how not to do a thing like that in CAD.

https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/zebrule-vs-zorse

I've had some kind of illness with tomato plants and it spread in a way that is pathogenic where a 3rd plant was kept separate but upon leaving in closer proximity it become infected. I thought the first two were due to some circumstantial factors like using some soil from another plant that died, or pots with poor drainage, but the third plant did not have these factors. So am I forced to clean surfaces, toss the soil and start over, or can I reclaim the soil?

Blocked users see content and interact with users that have blocked them which creates a potentially negative isolation. The approach of allowing blocked users to interact assumes all users have amenable intentions. It ultimately discourages eccentrics and creative individuals in favor of the lowest common denominator and mob avalanche behaviors. Blocking such user elements does nothing to ameliorate the problem. The persistence of said interactions is a slight negative bias advantage against positive well intentioned individuals. This negative bias places the burden of finding balance on the end user in potentially daily interactions. While the magnitude of the issue may be small, it still has a net negative impact on the lives of users and their interactions on Lemmy. Is this a solvable problem and one that is in the cards soon?

Likewise, when a user deletes a post, that post remains visible in their profile. Perhaps an interaction was abusive or some misunderstanding lead to a mob avalanche of negativity. The persistence of such a message in any form is an emotional tax on the person forced to view it.

While these issues may seem trivial to some people, there are users seeking social interaction at various states of mental health, life circumstances, and disabilities. These small elements of Lemmy may have a disproportionately negative impact on the lives of such individuals.

I bring up these issues as someone physically disabled and trapped in a situation of social isolation where these elements have become more of a concern with time and apparent shifting demographics on Lemmy.