Man as an Automobile.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 252, 23 November 1903, Page 4

Man as an Automobile.

THE COMING OF THE ELECTUIC WOTOU SKATE. The nitrtor car 13 not to lie the filial means of locomotion so far tis men and women are conbei'ned, piediets the BWklers' Journal. , The 1 Inotor car will be superseded in ft large measure by the motor skate. "The city. inan 01 the future," prophesies that Journal, " will carry roller skates on his boots, each driven by a small electric motor. He will rush along the pavements (or will a spec'mi track be provided for him '?) with a finger on n button tiihtrolling the eurreiit frbhi u very compact generator:" " Given perfect apparatus;" . said an electrical expert, whti whs interviewed. on the subject, "a speed of fl'tnii 12 to 15 miles an hour could be attained. It would, of course, vary according to the 'tonnage' of the traveller." For instance, a successful merchant would bo outstripped by his clerk in & journey, ssay ; from Shepherd's Bush t<> the Bank: The clerk wbuiii presumably offer less" resistance to the air ; but with his greater means the merchant would be enabled to provide himself with a wind shield-." AfioTher expert pointed but that one of the difficulties at present in the way was the weight 'and size of accumulators which the city-bound human mbtbi' Would have to stuff into his pockets. Another difficulty is the impossibility of working two motors at exactly the same speed, and the dignified city man would find that one foot showed a tendency to travel quicker than the ether. " This pro Mem of the variation in speed of motors must be solved liefore unacrabatic persons commence competing Individually with the ' Twopenny Tube,' otherwise the main roads will have to be provided with ambulance walpjgons at frovyjiont intervals." A third authority suggested gasolene as a motive power for the Skates. " There'by the costly ambulance a.rroih|gements would be avoided," he explained, " for if the motor man fell or collided l , the explosion of the gasolene would remove him beyond all such aid." On the whole electricians showed more interest in the proposal than 1 the city men.