History
of Bicycles-
Every
morning I hop on my vintage Huffy bicycle and pedal to the fitness center in
town. It’s a pretty ride with lots of farm fields and cows along the way.
In
the back story for my novella, An Ordinary Angel, the heroine Julianne, rode an
early model bicycle through town, which caused her previous suitor to cease his
courtship.
I
did a bit of research to get a feel for the early history of the bicycle, which
was called a velocipede at the time Julianne took her ride on the machine.
Some
of the first sketches of a bicycle were made by the Italian artist and inventor
Leonardo da Vinci. Crude two-wheeled vehicles propelled by the feet were
popular as early as the second half of the 17th century. In 1690 a Frenchman invented the célérifere, which consisted of
a wooden beam to which the wheels were affixed. The vehicle had no handlebar;
the rider sat on a cushion on the beam and propelled and steered the machine by
pushing his or her feet along the ground.
The
first working bicycle with a handlebar that pivoted on the frame, and enabled
the front wheel to be turned, was designed by Baron Karl von Drais of Germany,
in 1818. It had no pedals. He pushed himself along with his feet. Similar
machines were soon developed with various improvements by inventors in France,
Germany and Britain. These early versions came to be called velocipedes, from
the Latin words for speed and walking.
In
1839, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, added foot cranks,
connected by rods to the rear wheels which allowed the rider to propel the
machine with his feet off the ground.
Later, in 1855, Ernest Michaux, of France, put
rotating pedals on the front wheel of the velocipede. The frame and wheels were made of wood. The
tires were iron and the pedals were attached to the hub of the front, or driver
wheel, which was slightly higher than the rear wheel.
This
version was known as a boneshaker, because of its affect on the rider pedaling
over rough roads or cobblestoned streets.
In 1869 solid rubber tires were mounted on steel rims and this new machine
was the first to be patented under the modern name, bicycle.
In
1873, an English inventor, James Starley produced the first machine incorporating
most of the features of the so-called ordinary,
or high wheel bicycle. The front wheel of Starley’s bicycle was as much as three
times larger in diameter than the rear wheel.
The
first United States bicycles were produced after 1876 by Colonel Albert Pope of
Massachusetts. They were ordinaries, with
the high front wheel and a tiny rear wheel.
Few women rode due to the difficulty in mounting and riding them. They
cost more than $300.00. Finally in 1885 the British introduced a bike which had
equally sized tires and was driven by a chain. It was called the safety and soon replaced the ordinary, allowing women and children to
take up riding in droves.
Twenty
thousand people owned bicycles in 1882. That number expanded to over one
million in 1893 as the entire nation fell in love with the sport.
Sources:
The
writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800’s, by Marc McCutcheon, Writer’s Digest
Books, Cincinnati, OH, 1993
The
New Book of Knowledge, 1990 by Grolier Incorporated.
Funk
& Wagnalls New Encyclopedia
