THE NONAPLET

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, November 21, 1895.

NINE MEN ON ONE BICYCLE.

Wonderful Wheel That a Californian Is Constructing.

A MILE AT A MARVELOUS SPEED.

The New Nonaplet, as the Inventor Terms It, Will Be Made of Aluminium and Will Be Geared to Two Hundred and Twenty-five—What the Machine May Do.

   When the tandem was built a number of years ago, it was looked upon as a remarkable development of the bicycle, and the two riders skimming along over the road attracted almost as much attention as a small circus parade. The triplet, with seats for three riders, but only two wheels, next made its appearance and astonished the cycling world by its speed. Both the  tandem and the triplet were used for pacing riders in contests against time, and some expert finally suggested that a quadruplet or a two-wheeled machine for four sturdy cyclists would set a faster pace than had ever been seen on the track.

   Many persons did not believe the frame could be made strong enough to support four heavy wheelmen, but the machine was constructed and proved a great success as a pacemaking device. It made its mile on a straightaway course in 1 minute 35 seconds, a better performance by half a second than Salvator's world famous mile on the straight track at Monmouth park, New Jersey, Aug. 28, 1890.

   It was now quite generally believed that the "quad" was the longest bicycle that could be built and operated successfully, but P. J. Berlo very recently demonstrated that the opinion was not well founded. He constructed a quintuplet which carried five riders, but had only the usual number of wheels. It proved a valuable addition to the pacemaking apparatus, and encouraged by its success a California inventor is building what he calls a nonaplet, which he expects will carry nine men and display unprecedented speed on a straightaway course. The inventor's name is Albert Thompson, and he is a resident of San Francisco.

   This machine will be a world beater, says The Wheel. Nothing can pace it, and even the lightning must hustle or be distanced. The phenomenon will have two 30 inch wheels, will weigh 180 pounds, and its gear will be 225. Think of the speed a gear of 225 will make when a 90 gear rolls a mile in 1 minute 35 seconds, or about 45 1/2 feet per second! What will be the pace of the "nonaplet" with nine crackerjacks whirling the big rear sprocket almost four times the diameter of that on the ordinary wheel? They won't do anything to that 1 minute 35 second record!

   After the Delmas-Smith-Jones-Davis "quad" team made their best time, half a second better than the fast horse, they could not stop their machine. At the awful speed they dared not attempt to back pedal for fear of being hurled from the seat and dashed to pieces, and the machine ran several miles along the straight, level road.

   When the riders alighted from their perilous positions, their faces were blanched the hue of death, so great had been the nervous strain and the fear of an accident—always imminent—which would pitch them to destruction. All four of the strong, skillful wheelmen were so prostrated that they did not attempt to ride for weeks. At least this is what truthful California reporters say.

   The mind grows weary trying to conceive of the physical endurance of the nine who will pump that 225 gear machine ahead and dizzy "getting on to" the conception of the rifle shell velocity of that racer of aluminium. Steel will not be in it with this nine of a kind. Several experts estimate the "nonaplet" to be capable of a mile in 20 seconds—or in 10 seconds providing the riders can get out a reasonable life insurance or accident policy or if respiration is possible during such speed through the air. Possibly the cyclist, yet to come will be geared to his wheel in every particular and the atmospheric as well as the other conditions overcome.

   Not a few bicycle manufacturers are doubting Thomases when Inventor Thompson's nonaplet is mentioned. They do not believe the machine can possibly be a success. California, however, is essentially a land of great things. Trees, potatoes, flowers—everything grows greater, bigger and better in the "glorious climate of Callforny." Thus it seems but natural that cycling should expand into something stupendous in such a country. Expectations are to be verified if the world is to believe the San Francisco Call, and why should it not do so?