Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1900 — A Mouse Motor. [ARTICLE]

A Mouse Motor.

It has become the fashion among enterprising traders to attract attention to their shop windows by the exhibition lot some moving object, generally actuated by clockwork, A distinctly novel Idea in this direction 4s that recently adopted by certain American bicycle dealers, who have succeeded admirably in not only attracting attention to their wares, but in showing at the same time the perfection of their workmanship. They show, in brief, how the wheel of a cycle may be driven by mouse-power; The bicycle is either attached to a frame or hung to the ceiling, so that the front wheel is clear of the ground and can run easily. Just above the top of this wheel and fixed to the steering head of the machine is a mouse-cage with no bottom, but so close to the tire that the animal within has no room to escape. The weight of the mouse is sufficient to give the wheel an Initial movement, and the poor little creature trying to run to a refuge provided for It <in the cage keeps up the motion in treadmill fashion. Usually, there are two mice in each cage, and one or the other is generally doing work on the wheel.