(From the New York World)

    A motor monocycle of strange design and for which great things are claimed has been invented by Oswald Jensen of New York. In appearance this traveling machine is unlike any other vehicle in use to-day. Within a huge wheel with pneumatic tire is suspended a seat on which the driver rides. The machine is not a loop-the-loop affair, as one viewing the pictures of it might suppose, the rider being always in an upright position.
    The advantages claimed for this queer motor carriage by its inventor are many. It offers not only a new and easy method of rapid, speeding overland, but it opens avenues of travel that are closed to all other styles of vehicles in its ability of move over rough, sandy and rocky country. “It bounds over rocks and other obstacles,” declares its inventor, “with as much ease as a horse trained to jump.”
    It requires neither road nor rail, but travels cross-country over fields and meadows, climbing hills and bounding over ditches and other irregularities of the land formerly considered insurmountable barriers even to the most reckless chauffeur. And it has the speed capacity of an express train—a mile a minute.
    In addition to the one large wheel upon which it travels the monocycle has two auxiliary wheels, which can be extended to the ground or drawn within the large wheel, as may be desired.
    The main wheel is nine feet in diameter and consists of a light steel rim five inches wide fitted with a pneumatic tire.
    The rider sits within this wheel upon a movable seat, which, in being operated toward either side, causes the wheel to be steered and balanced.
    The upright position of the motor and rider is maintained by means of eight small wheels which, travel upon tracks fixed upon the inner side of the main rim. While these wheels render the position of the motor frame and seat independent of the rotary motion of the rim, the seat also retains a vertical position independent of the frame. To produce this effect the seat is suspended between two standards, which in turn slide laterally across the motor casing.
    When traveling at leisure along country roads the rider extends the auxiliary wheels toward the rear on each side of the main wheel, thus converting the machine into a tricycle; but when it is desired to attain high speed, or to cross uneven country, he draws them within the large wheel and rides upon a single tire.
    The auxiliary wheels can also be extended so as to form three wheels abreast, in which position they are mainly intended to serve as stays to hold the vehicle in an upright position when at rest.
    An interesting feature of travel by this unique machine is the sensation of rising at each alteration of the speed caused by the peculiar method whereby traction is produced. When the power is applied the rider rises within the wheel, and, as the speed increases, he gradually sinks back into his former position, from which he is again elevated when he applies the brake; but whatever speed may attain or however abruptly progress may be checked the, rider is not carried too far from his normal position, his rise being checked, by automatic brake and power releases.
    When in motion the monocycle is balance and steered with a lever on the right, which in being operated moves the seat laterally of the frame, resulting in an unequal distribution of weight; which causes the wheel to swerve in one direction or the other, changing its course or maintaining its equilibrium as may be desired.
    When at rest, or when traveling steadily over even ground, the motor occupies a position in the lower portion of the frame; but when the power is applied the motor moves forward and upward in proportion to the resistance encountered. The seat also rises, but in a lesser degree, and it holds its vertical position by swinging in the standards.
    The tractive effect, being thus secured by the rising movement of the weight within, enables the wheel to travel over any surface however smooth without slipping and to climb grades which no other machine can overcome.
    Since by the great diameter of the main wheel the monocycle is useful for traveling through rough country, ordinary obstacles presenting but slight obstruction to its passage, its inventor claims that it will prove of service for military purposes, and also to those who for business or other reasons are compelled to pass through desolate territory. Its inventor has great expectations of the monocycle as a racing machine. Its small width (being in all but thirty-four inches when the auxiliary wheels are retracted) causes it, with the assistance of the rotative movement of the rim, to glide along rapidly, attaining a speed of a mile per minute without being subjected to severe atmospheric resistance.
    The monocycle differs from other motor-driven vehicles in that it does not draw upon the ground to produce the tractive effect, but, tumbles forward with continuous falling motion, applying new surfaces of the tire to new surfaces of the ground without relying upon the stability of the latter for maintenance of motion.
    It thus has the distinction of being the only machine which successfully travels on loose sand, and, therefore, the first practical substitute for the ancient ship of the desert—the camel.
    Its adaptability for traveling over ice and snow might also render Mr. Jansen’s invention a valuable auxiliary for the Arctic explorer.

From—The Cook County Herald. (Grand Marais, Minn.), 15 July 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.