Steam power?
Dawnrider
Posts: 271
Think it could catch on?
note the single brake over the front wheel,expected to stop it when its doinh 40 MPH!
http://www.railwayforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=467&d=1222994331
"THE ROPER STEAM BICYCLE.
The steam-powered velocipede was built in 1869 by Sylvester H. Roper, of Massachusetts, and demonstrated by him at circuses and fairs. It had a vertical firetube boiler heated by charcoal.
This machine is preserved in the Smithsonian Motorcyle Collection in the USA.
The twin-cylinder engine has a cylinder bore of approx 2.25 inches. It directly drives 2.5 inch cranks on the rear axle. The valvegear is of the piston type, actuated by eccentrics. A feed-water pump is driven by the left-cylinder crank. The engine exhausts into the base of the chimney to provide draught, as in locomotive practice.
Roper died of a heart-attack on 1 June 1896, while driving this machine at 40 mph on a local bicycle track in Boston.
This design weighed 150 pounds ready to operate. It had to be restoked roughly every seven miles.
Note the spoon brake bearing on the top of the front tyre. These brakes were notoriously inefficient, and stopping the weight of boiler and engine must have been a tricky business
Photo Sylvester Roper and his final steam bicycle"
(thanks to locojoe at www.railwayforum.net )
note the single brake over the front wheel,expected to stop it when its doinh 40 MPH!
http://www.railwayforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=467&d=1222994331
"THE ROPER STEAM BICYCLE.
The steam-powered velocipede was built in 1869 by Sylvester H. Roper, of Massachusetts, and demonstrated by him at circuses and fairs. It had a vertical firetube boiler heated by charcoal.
This machine is preserved in the Smithsonian Motorcyle Collection in the USA.
The twin-cylinder engine has a cylinder bore of approx 2.25 inches. It directly drives 2.5 inch cranks on the rear axle. The valvegear is of the piston type, actuated by eccentrics. A feed-water pump is driven by the left-cylinder crank. The engine exhausts into the base of the chimney to provide draught, as in locomotive practice.
Roper died of a heart-attack on 1 June 1896, while driving this machine at 40 mph on a local bicycle track in Boston.
This design weighed 150 pounds ready to operate. It had to be restoked roughly every seven miles.
Note the spoon brake bearing on the top of the front tyre. These brakes were notoriously inefficient, and stopping the weight of boiler and engine must have been a tricky business
Photo Sylvester Roper and his final steam bicycle"
(thanks to locojoe at www.railwayforum.net )
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Comments
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Good grief,they really look cumbersome to say the least! Suppose you could also make a cuppa after a ride...;)0
