Invention

Part 16 - Bicycles

On June 12, 1817, German inventor Baron Karl von Drais, propelled his two wheeled 'walking machine' for a distance of 13 km (8 miles), in less than an hour, by pushing his feet against the road. It was made entirely from wood (except for the iron tires and brass wheel bearings) with a rear wheel brake and front wheel steering and weighed 22 kg (48 pounds).

In 1818, a London cartwright, Denis Johnson, sold an improved copy he called a velocipede but it quickly received the nicknames, "hobby-horse," and, "dandy-horse." 

 In the 1850's, Willard Sawyer built a range of four-wheeled vehicles that were exhibited at the British Great Exhibition of 1851 and the American Exhibition of 1854. They had a treadle-operated crank axle for the front wheels and a rope-and-pulley steering system to steer the rear wheels and (except for the wooden wheels) the vehicles were made from steel bars, making them strong and lightweight.   J.C. Skeffington toured southern England on one, covering 526 miles in 20 days.

About 1863, a French metalworker fitted pedals to the front-wheel hub of a velocipede. It was easier to propel the bicycle although it was difficult to steer and pedal the same wheel. The newly mcadam-paved boulevards of Paris were smooth but it was known as the "bone-shaker" on the rougher roads in the United States.

The velocipede craze spread on both sides of the Atlantic and, by 1869 the city of Halifax, Canada, had five velocipede rinks and riding schools. 

In France, in 1869, Eugène Meyer, replaced the heavy wooden wheels with the wire-spoke tension wheels invented by the aircraft pioneer George Cayley in 1808. He used a larger front wheel which provided a faster ride and a smaller rear wheel to make the bicycle lighter. In Britain it was known as the Penny-Farthing because the diameters of the two wheels compared to the large British penny and the smaller quarter penny or farthing.

In Britain, James Starley improved the tension-spoke wheels by fitting the spokes at a tangent to the wheel hub. He used ball bearings for the wheels, solid rubber tires and hollow-section steel frames to reduce weight and making the ride much smoother. The large front wheel was up to 60 inch (1.5 m) in diameter.

In 1878 Boston, USA, Albert Augustus Pope introduced mass production techniques (later adopted by Ford and General Motors) and intense advertising to sell his "Columbia" high-wheelers. 

Harry John Lawson introduced a rear wheel chain drive bicycle in 1879 but it was not popular as it still had a large front wheel.

The Penny-Farthings were not safe. The rider was sitting high on the frame and a bump in the road frequently threw the rider over the front wheel causing broken bones and occasional death.

In 1885 Britain, John Kemp Starley and William Sutton produced the Rover Safety Bicycle. It was a more stable, rear wheel chain driven bicycle with two wheels the same diameter. The front wheel steering axis was well in front of the wheel's contact with the road providing a significant caster effect.

Starley never patented the design and, by 1890, the safety bicycle had completely replaced the high-wheeler in North America and Western Europe and it became an everyday means of transport for people of all ages rather than a dangerous toy for young men. 

Meanwhile, in 1888, John Dunlop reinvented the pneumatic bicycle tire which provided a much smoother ride and, in 1891, Michelin obtained a patent for a removable pneumatic tire which was used by Charles Terront to win the world's first long distance cycle race, the 1891 Paris–Brest–Paris.

The rear wheel chain drive allowed for easier turns and relaxed pedalling while the pneumatic tire and the diamond frame was lighter and more comfortable. The original front spoon-brakes, were later replaced with the better coaster brakes or rod-actuated rim or drum-brakes.

The first electrically powered bicycle was built in 1897 by Hosea W. Libbey.

The bicycle remained popular in Europe and in Britain they were a primary means of adult transport well after 1945. Conversely, by 1940, in the United States people preferred automobiles and most bicycles were made for children.

With the invention of the derailleur gear mechanism, between 1900 and 1910, cyclo-tourists in France had a selection of ten gears but it was not until the 1930s that European racing organizations permitted racers to use gearing. Until then, they had to use a two-speed bicycle with a sprocket on either side of the rear wheel hub. To change gears, riders were obliged remove the wheel, turn it around and remount the wheel.

Bicycles were used by most armies. Japan used about 50,000 bicycle troops in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese bicycles could carry 36 kilograms of equipment compared to a normal British soldier's bicycle which could carry only 18 kilograms.

After 1949, the Flying Pigeon bicycle was approved by the People's Republic of China and a bicycle became one of the three "must-haves" of every citizen.

The 'English racer' was imported into the United States after 1945. It was faster and better for climbing hills because of its lighter weight, narrow tires, and internally-geared, rear wheel hubs.

In the 1970's, an increasing awareness of the value of exercise led to an American bike boom. Annual sales of adult bicycles quadrupled between 1960 and 1975. About 17 million bicycles were sold at the peak years of the adult cycling boom. European derailleur-equipped racing bikes were the most popular models. They had dropped handlebars, five to fifteen speed derailleur gears and a narrow racing type saddle.

In Britain, the 1980s, cyclists preferred all-terrain bicycles such as the mountain bike. The sturdy frame and load-carrying ability gave it additional versatility and in 1990, annual British sales reached an all-time record of 2.8 million bicycles.

BMX bikes, usually with 20-inch wheels, originated in California in the early 1970s when teenagers imitated their motocross heroes. The craze grew into an international sport.

In 1981, mass-produced mountain bikes were an immediate success. They had stronger frames, wider tires with deep treads for better traction, a more upright seating position and shock absorbers on front and rear suspensions. By 2000, mountain bike sales outstripped all other bicycle sales.

Since 2000, bicycles have become lighter, stronger and more aerodynamic with the use of computer aided design, finite element analysis designed aluminum and carbon fiber parts and wheel covers, disc brakes and electronic gear-shifting systems.

After Francis Faure, pedalling  Mochet's recumbent Velocar in 1934, broke Oscar Egg's one hour distance record by half a mile, and also beat world champion Henri Lemoine, the Union Cycliste Internationale banned recumbent bicycles from officially sanctioned racing. This caused the inauguration of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association and races for "banned" classes of bicycles. In 2009, pedalling a recumbent streamliner on level ground at Battle Mountain, Sam Whittingham set a human powered speed record of 132 km/h (82 mph).