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SOMETHING NEW IN STARTING MACHINES TJio sleepy little village of Southwick lu Sussex opposite tin mouth of ijhorcham Harlwr is likely some day to wake and find Itself famous as a center t f industry for at Ogbourne Cottage resides that clever mechanician Charles Chapman who after sixteen years of indomitable perseverance over tech ¬ nical difficulties has succeeded In perfecting a start ¬ ing gate which simple swift silent and safe em Ivpdies pal the desiderata that render that most Im ¬ portant appaiiage toi our race courses as perfect and uptodate possibleLast as possible Last week a Sporting Life representative paid Air Chapman n visit and found him putting a polishing touch to his invention All that could be seen of the apparatus was mirnsrruetlve enough at a cursory glance four square posts the hinder pair nearly the double height and of wider span constituting the modest framework that supports the motive appa ¬ ratus The barrier consists of a single or two cov ¬ ered cords specially Woven by a patent bobbin and in Which at interrils are woven copper staples so that in the event of a horse bolting they give way unu r pressure to prevent injury to horse or jockey and can be repaired in a minute minuteThe The cord is rigid but attached through a thimble at each end to a loop of elastic cord a marvel of resilience and strength which by two other thimbles is stretched on to two short iron pins some eighteen Inches apart sloping upwards and backwards on each front post the clastic attachment thus form Ing a Vlikfc triangle witlf its apex at the connec ¬ tion with the barrier barrierThe The bases or perpendiculars of the elastic triangle hetweeri the two peps are embraced by loops of the same material which Iscarrled through two lignum vitne rings at the top of each back post and strained down their hollows to n catch at the foot of each Here cpmoR in Jhe crux of the situation in tin shape of a clever lock which the inventor has christened the parrots beak placed between the upper and lower plus into which the loop embrac ¬ ing the upright strapd of tin sustaining elastic triangle is slipped ami when the upper beak closes on the lower the eompetecafch can stand a pull of cwt The gate is released by direct pull by hand auto ¬ matically bv fixit or by electricity the pull re ¬ quired bciiig very slight One snatch and the beak opeiis the gate noiselcKsfy vanishes into the air in a Hash and tin baffled eye catches It again stretched across the top of the baok posts By electricity a long green cord indistinguishable in the grass enables the starter to go back with his horses some 100 yards follow them up as he likes and the pres ¬ sure of a button held in his pocket releases the gate Moreover the current simultaneously sounds a gong in the jndges box a great facility In these days when timing faces is brought to such critical per ¬ fection There are no pulleys no overhead wires no slides and no runnels The f6itr posts represent the only material structure except when the gate is fastened in position and the two elastic cords form tem ¬ porary side connections overhead It can be erected in six hours and two lads with two hours tuition can rejease and rcfastcn It ten times In twenty min ¬ utes It lias been tried most satisfactorily at Og bourne hence the name of the inventors cottage and no horse has as yet refused at it The cords are made by the patentee with a home patented machine of thirtytwo bobbins each fed by three thread and are particularly tough somewhat simi ¬ lar in shape to a circular lampwick They can be plaited in any colors Sporting Life
