“Mr. ——, of ——, has patented a good idea. On the other side of the forks from the regulation plunger he introduces another spoon connected with the front under the arch of the fork, provision being made for the mud-guard. On moving the lever, both brakes act in unison, thus duplicating the resistance with the same power required to work the brake in its single form.” If it takes a certain pressure to hold the first brake down, and none to hold the second, why not put on two seconds and no first, and thus have a good brake power without any pressure at all? Since penning the above I have heard further of the new brake in question, and have been tempted to cancel the paragraph, since injustice might be done to an honest inventor; but on second thought concluded to retain it as an example of careless statement, knowing that others were misled by the same. Had the inventor simply remarked that he had made use of his momentum, transmitted through the rim of the wheel, and acting to wedge one of the brakes against the head or the other brake, whereby to increase the brake, or some such explanation, everybody would have acquiesced in it as a reasonable possibility, even if they had not the slightest idea of what the inventor was talking about. It is a satisfaction to know that it is becoming a little dangerous, in the cycle art, to make a statement that savors of getting something for nothing. A prominent American maker, whose wares now stand high in our market, must have been a hobbyist once too, when he climbed the steps into an English bicycle factory on his lever tricycle. Probably he has reformed, as I hear of no step-climbing now. Only within a few days I have had an offer to inspect a machine that the inventor assumes will make a mile a minute. “No other machine was ever made to work by hand and foot,” says the same inventor. He also assures me that wire wheels are a mistake, and that the old wooden ones are just as good and cheaper. This machine has an ingenious device by which to lock the front wheel of a bicycle, to save the trouble of holding the handle-bars “when you don’t want to steer.” This much I believe the inventor may be right about. A machine, properly made, run by hand and foot, might make short distances very rapidly, since the entire energy of the man could be quickly used up; but whether such a machine would be of marketable value is a question. Quite recently a new “hickory wheel” man of more formidable caliber has entered the lists, and again we are called back to bone-shaker days. Well! after the beetle (rear-driver) has been so fondly embraced, let us be prepared for anything that may come. We have dropped down from the cat to the kitten, and can now get out through a pretty small hole if hard pressed; so for the present we will hold the hickory wheel on probation.