Other makers have adopted the joint to the centre of the frame or backbone of the Safety type (No. 2 above), so constructed that the pedals are also provided with a vertical motion; this certainly helps to isolate the man from vertical concussion, and it is good; yet the horizontal give is lacking in these machines, and the front fork, together with the handle-bar, still receives a shock and loses in vibration. Later, an inventor has shown a new pedal in which, apparently, the rubber works upon a spring and has a vertical motion under the pressure of the foot. This is a deserving though a misguided effort. The connection of the man with the apparatus through which the power is transmitted to the machine should be as direct and rigid as possible: all springs should be beyond this point. An elastic pedal is quite a different device from that named in the last preceding paragraph, in which the crank-shaft has a vertical motion and the “connecting-link,” together with the source of power (the man), are all rigidly and inelastically connected together, the whole, as a system, swinging vertically by a spring. An English firm has for several years had upon the market a machine which, from its external appearance, is all springs; the inventor thereof deserves greater credit than the success of the venture has awarded him. If in the early samples put upon the market the parts had not been so frail and the appearance so exceedingly homely, he might have fared better. Several premature freaks of advancement in this matter of springs have occurred, but the general progress has been quite logical. First, we had the saddle provided with a very feeble amount of elasticity, then an increased amount, until makers vied with each other in producing the best spring for the old Ordinary; then we had the spring connection between the front fork and backbone in the Safety, confining the shock to the forward half of the machine; and then came the spring fork isolating the entire system except the front wheel from the shock. So far the inventions have been practical and are in use. Next we have a worthy, but I fear impractical, inventor, who proposes springs between two outer rims of the wheel or substantially at the ends of the spokes, thereby confining the concussion to one rim of the front wheel in the manner shown in cut. (See English spring rim.)