The Smith Motor Wheel was an American version of the British Wall Auto-Wheel. It was manufactured by the A O Smith Corporation of Milwaukee who, in 1912, acquired the American manufacturing rights from Wall. In 1919 the manufacturing rights were sold to Briggs and Stratton who continued making the Motor Wheel until 1924. The Smith differed from the Wall in several respects. One ingenious feature of its design was that the road wheel was fitted directly to the camshaft. This revolved at one eighth of engine speed and, therefore, carried a four-lobe cam to operate the exhaust valve. The dished steel wheel partially enclosed the engine, making the Smith considerably slimmer than its British counterpart. The narrow width of the unit allowed the Davis Sewing Machine Company of Dayton, Ohio to use it in the front forks of their Dayton Motor Bicycle. An inverted rear engine mounting was used and the motor wheel was attached to the cycle by a semi-circular leaf spring which doubled as the front mudguard.
Another motor wheel was the Merkel, made by the same company as the more familiar Flying Merkel motor cycle. The unit consisted of a complete rear wheel, engine and mudguard assembly replacing the normal cycle rear wheel. The axle was situated a few inches further back than the wheel it replaced and the whole unit pivoted at the cycle fork ends. This movement was controlled by coil springs, providing a modicum of suspension and also cushioning transmission shocks. The crankshaft passed right through the wheel hub and the flywheel magneto was on the side of the wheel remote from the engine.
A more conventional machine was the Cyclemotor, made by the Cyclemotor Corporation of Rochester, New York. The engine was bolted into the cycle frame and drove the rear wheel by belt.
While all these power units demonstrate considerable ingenuity, the cycles to which they were fitted were distinctly crude, especially when compared to British cycles of the same period. In particular the use of block chain for the pedalling gear and the apparent total absence of brakes. In fact, these machines were fitted with a coaster or back-pedal brake but this was the only means of stopping a heavy and quite powerful machine.
This article was first published in the East Anglian Cyclemotor Club's magazine, Buzzing, Volume 2, Number 2 in Summer 1983.
See Identity Parade for a picture of the Cyclemotor.
