BarelyAWake
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Motor Roller Skates by the Paris Correspondent of The Scientific American – April 1906. The new motor skate which has been lately brought out at Paris by M. Constantini, a well-known inventor of carbureters and other devices for automobiles, is attracting considerable attention owing to its novelty, seeing that this is the first time that a gasoline motor has been applied to a roller skate.
A short time ago we gave a description of this apparatus, which was exposed for the first time at the Paris Automobile Show. Since the above article appeared we have been able to secure the present photographs, which were kindly supplied by the inventor. These show the skates as they are applied to the person. In view of the fact that each skate contains a gasoline motor, carbureter, battery, and spark coil, it will be seen that the whole has been reduced to a comparatively small size.
The use of the rubber-tired wheels is found to give a very smooth-running movement. On the back of each skate will be observed the small sheet-iron box which contains the battery and the spark coil. From the box a pair of wires protected by rubber tubing passes up to the leather belt which the person wears, and upon the belt is placed the switch by which he is able to make or break the ignition circuit when he wishes to start or stop the motor or to regulate its speed.
On the back part of the belt is fixed a small gasoline tank in the form of a flat and slightly curved sheet-iron box. From this reservoir a small rubber pipe specially treated to withstand the deteriorating action of gasoline as it runs down to the skate and connects with each of the carbureters. A second controlling device fastened to the belt enables the person to adjust the gasoline feed from the tank to each of the motors.
The gasoline reservoir is made to hold from one-quarter to half a gallon of fuel. Owing to its small size and flat form it occupies but little room and, as will be observed, is covered by the coat, leaving nothing visible but the tubes and wire. running to the skates. Each, motor weighs 4 kilogrammes (8.8 pounds) and consumes a liter of gasoline per 60 kilometers. The weight of the skate complete is but 6 kilogrammes (13.2 pounds), and speeds of from 3 to 25 miles an hour are obtainable with it.
To start, the operator turns on the gasoline, relieves the compression by means of a special valve-raising lever, and then skates along the road. As soon as he has gotten under way, he switches on the ignition current, and the motors begin to operate. If the novice does not take care to lean forward at this moment, the sudden acceleration may upset him. To stop, it is only necessary to break the ignition circuit or to raise one’s self upon the front wheels.
By doing the latter, the driving wheels are raised off the ground and the motors race, running free. If one motor runs faster or better than the other, the operator can correct this by moving that foot back of the other, or by bearing more weight upon the faster-running skate. M. Constantini has given the new skate a very thorough trial and has been exercising with it in the parks near the city. He finds that a person can travel either at slow speed or at quite a rapid rate, and that he soon becomes accustomed to using the device, and to controlling the speed of the motors easily.
At present the inventor is engaged in constructing two different types of motor skate. The first of these is the one we have already described in detail in a preceding number, and which is shown in the present illustrations, it having been but slightly improved in the details since the last account. Since then the inventor has designed a new form of motor skate, which he has already constructed at his factory.
In the second form the exterior of the skate remains about the same, but otherwise it differs considerably from the one just mentioned. The main difference lies in the fact that only one of the skates is fitted with a gasoline motor, and the latter is made to drive the second skate by means of a rod which passes across and connects the two. The rod has a universal joint on each end at a point near the skate, and is attached at one end to the motor body and at the other to the frame of the second skate.
In this way the rod keeps the skates spread at the right distance and makes the whole system quite steady, especially as the feet cannot spread accidentally too far apart, such as often happens with roller skates. In practice it is thought that there will be no disadvantage in having the two skates thus connected together. The motor has been made larger in this case and has power enough to operate both skates. This form is intended to be used by sportsmen, for races, and in all cases where a high speed is wanted, while the first form is adapted for moderate speeds.
In the second form of skate the available space between the four wheels is almost entirely taken up by the large motor and its carbureter, while the space under the second skate is utilized to stow the gasoline tank, which is of considerable size, and also the battery and spark coil, thus dispensing with the double battery and coil which the first system uses. The gasoline tank has a capacity of about a gallon, and this is found upon trial to be enough for a run of 50 or 60 miles.
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