The "Motosacoche."

Progress, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 December 1905, Page 40

The " Motosacoche."

Various attempts have been made to arrange an engine and accessories that could be attached to a push-pedal bicycle so as to convert it into a motor cycle. This has been successfully accomplished in an ingenious contrivance called the "Motosacoche," which had a first prominent appearance m Australia in the recent Dunlop reliability motor cycle contest for the Kemsley Cup. In this apparatus an explosion engine, carburetter, accumulator, fuel reservoir, etc., are fixed to a triangular frame of steel tubing, which may be secured to any bicycle by means of seven-winged nuts. The whole is enclosed by two side plates, bulged in front to form a scoop, so as to draw the air past the horizontal flanges on the motor cylinder. The movement of the motor shaft is transmitted by a twisted belt passed about a grooved pulley, clamped on the spokes of the rear wheel. Not the least striking feature of the entire appliance is its light weight. The motor develops if~h.p. r and only weighs 15! lbs. The carburetter, which works perfectly even when inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, weighs but 14-Joz. Current for ignition is supplied by accumulators, having a capacity of 24 ampere hours. The coil is situated in the fore part of the engine , only an inch or two away from the sparking plug. The petrol reservoir will hold 2\ quarts, being sufficient for a distance of about 75 miles. Oil is forced into the crank case by a hand pump, contained in the oil tank. Sufficient oil is carried for a run of 125 miles. The total weight of the whole mechanism is but 3 3 1b5., so that a bicycle is increased but little m weight by the addition of the " Motosacoche. >r Regarding its practicability and efficiency no more need be said but that in a recent endurance race of 620 miles, the first and second competitors were mounted on ordinary roadsters, with " Motosacoche " engines, and ran the whole distance without a single breakdown, beating thirty-seven other makes of motor engines.