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THE CYCLE INDUSTRY

and down and about, tries the brakes, pinches the tyres, runs an eye over all, and finally passes it along to the women and girls who proceed to grease it, wrap strips of paper or butter cloth all over it and tie it up with string. If it is going overseas and the journey is long, the machine may have to be dissembled to enable it to be packed with others in metal lined cases. For passenger train in the British Isles it goes forward wrapped in paper or cloth and for goods train in a crate, either singly or with two or three others.

For transit by goods train in Great Britain each machine occupies a narrow wood crate; by removing pedals and handle-bar it is possible to squeeze a bicycle into a space of 77 in. × 23 in. × 48 in., or 48½ cu. ft. If two or more machines are to travel together the separate crates are sometimes enclosed in another wood crate that is strong enough to hold the lot and to allow it to be slung, and there you are.