Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1894 — WHEELING ACROSS THE CHANNEL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHEELING ACROSS THE CHANNEL.

- j George Pinkert Proposes to Ride* His Tricycle From Calais to . Dover.. . New York Sun. The tricycle to ride on water was the inituru 1 outcome of the tricycle Torroad riding, -which machine, it will be remembered, made a strong bid for public favor in Ensrland when the bii-.ycle really came into general use in 1876 and the following years. The rather cumbersome threewheeled machine, however, had to give way to the two-wheeled bicycle. -YHid-it - is-to-dav practically ont-gof-datG so cerned, although there has been

quite a splurge made with it on the water as a means of locomotion and pleasure. For this purpose it has many .pojnts in its favor where a bicycle would have none, unless linked to a cumbersome system of boats. One of the latest novelties in thidirection is the land and water tricycle on which Mr. George Pinkert, of 12 Schweinemarht, Hamburg. Germany, proposes to ride across the English Channel from Calais to Dover, in the third week of June. The channel at this point is_about ’ v. nty mi K's ”wide. and is” world famous as the most “choppy” piece Of water there is in Europe, it being estimated by the late Captain Webb, -who swam across it, that there were no less than nineteen currents. The machine to be used is an invention of Herr Pinkert’s, patented in 1883,■ and it consists of a front steering wheel, which is made of thin steel plates and is sixteen inches wide at the axle, forming a lensshaped. air-tight vessel of great buoyancy. The edge of this is fitted with a concave metal rim and a rubber tire, for running on land, the keel, so to speak, becoming the tire., I’he two large propelling wheels are composed of a laige circular tube of steel plate, forming an air-tight ring about four feet in diameter, connected with Ulie-AfaveLot the. axle by Deans of steel spokes, and fitted with paddles on either side of the outer circumierence.. It is..lik.e the paddle wheel of a steamboat, having a solid •ore running through the center of the. wheel, to which the paddles are attached, instead of to the two side, rims as in the steamboat. Outside, of the air-tight core, and attached to. it by steel rods, is an ordinary con-ea-v-e-Ynetal bicycle rim fitted with a bard rubber tire. In other respects the tricycle is an ordinary one. having the seat over the axle, between the two wheels, which are rather wide apart for the’ ourpose of giving more stability by the greater beam. At a recent trial n the Munich baths the speed of over fix miles an hour was obtained, and" t is estimated that the trip across the channel will be made inless than’ five hours. This is not the first time this trip has been attempted. As far back as 1882 a man named Kunan, of Brussels invented a machine which was well tested in the smooth water of a bath, and was. on the 28th of July, ridden across the "silver streak” by in Englishman named Terry. Dover was left at 1) a. m., and Calais was reached in less than eight hours,the rider being almost exhausted by the leeway made by his machine. The total distance travelled by Terry was estimated to be nearly thirty miles. The machine, he rode was a high standing one, the wheels being 50inch. this being before thedayof the low-wheeled "safety,” and so the wind had a considerable effect on it and carried the rider far out of hjs course.

Uncle Sam, however, has not been behind hand in the matter of water tricycles, and no less than ten of various designs have been patented and tried with more, or less success in America. Some are for smooth water and some for rough water at sea. the latter being fitted with boats on the catamaran style. One for smooth water was ‘to be seen almost daily oi| the Hudson in the neighborhood of Poughkeepsie last fall ridden by a well known locai gentleman, who promised that when the ice came he would show what the machine could do over the frozen surface, but the ice never came. The great desideratum claimed for the Pinkert machine is that it car be placed on Broadway, ridden tc the Battery, dropped in the bay,and ridden to Staten Island (perhaps the inventor might even tackle Europe; without any change of gear what ever. Oscar Wilde s taste in dress, especially in,the use of jewelry, is stil that of an exquisite. He Wears thret rings on his left hand and one on hi; right, while his wrist is ornamentec with a chain bracelet of solid gold, to which a heart-shaped locket is attached. He wears red, yellow am blue ties of great size, and his general appearance makes him one o’ the most conspicuous men seen or the streets of London.