History of the bicycle

The written history of the bicycle starts with the patented under the name Vélocipède 1817 in France running machine of the German ( Baden ) Forest teacher Karl Drais. The even so-called von Drais walking machine was later called in his honor and trolley. The German name for a two-wheel bicycle was only at the end of the 19th century.

Etymology

The first institutional designation as " bicycle " comes from the German cycling clubs, the 1884 " velocipede " to "bicycle", of " Velozipedist " or " Bicyclist " to " bikers " and " velozipedieren " or " bicyceln " go to " wheel " went over.

The name previously and from 1884 for some time used were:

The first term " velocipede " ( equal Schnellfuß ) coined Drais in 1817 for the French patent the running machine of the old German saying " make his Schnellfuß " ( Grimm's dictionary: escape or run away ).

The long used by the spelling Duden term " wheel " instead of " running machine " leads to confusion with the real wheel, the rat race, in the earlier humans or animals ran to drive a machine or the impeller may comply with their urge to move the small pets.

Before the two-wheeler

Muscle cars are already known from the Middle Ages, mostly for parades of the powerful, like that of Hans Hautsch for Emperor Ferdinand III. . around 1650 Since the 17th century there were two niches for:

• Lifts with manual drive for the handicapped, who could not use their legs, such as the Stephan Farfler since in 1655.
• Garden carts with lackeys - foot drive for stately gardens to avoid a draft animal feces, such as in the castle garden Schwetzingen.

1812 began a series of poor harvests whereby the horse transport determining oats price increase scary. The forestry teacher Karl Drais turned his studies at Heidelberg to land transport by he built two radically simplified, four-wheel muscle cars after criticism of the previous Gartenphaetons:

• Driving machine I with treadmill between the rear wheels, 1813 for 6 km / h
• Driving machine II traveled to the Congress of Vienna with pedal crank shaft between the rear wheels, 1814, with the Drais.

Pictures are known. The high price of oats hurt gathered in Vienna princes but not so much that Drais ' performances made ​​her think of alternatives to the horse. A Badisches privilege was refused.

The individual mobility in the early 19th century

Conditions

Costs of keeping horses

In 1816 the harvest was all. This was caused by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora volcano east of Bali, followed by the year without summer of 1816. The correlation between the prevailing famine and the horses dying because of lack of food and the two-wheeled invention by Drais has demonstrated Hans -Erhard Lessing. Mid- 1817 had the distress peaked.

Road quality

The fact that the walking machine was invented in West Germany and in the early years, above all in England and France caught on and was further developed, is also related to the quality of the roads to watch: In England, France and West Germany were due to the invention of macadam already in first third of the 19th century, a dense network of roads on which easily could roll along on wheels. The extension of this network to the northeast took several decades. Until then, it had in other areas, including large parts of the German Confederation, almost entirely unpaved country roads or highways coarser type ( cobblestones of boulders ).

1817 Drais ' walking machine

• On June 12, 1817 Drais took the two-wheel drive machine from Mannheim addition to Schwetzingen relay House ( now lies in the district of Mannheim Rheinau ) and back - at 15 km / h faster than the stagecoach.
• A second drive from Gernsbach a hill of '382 meters to Baden -Baden on 28 July was correspondingly slower at 6 km / hr.

"The main idea of ​​the invention is taken from the skating ," Drais wrote in Badwochenblatt of Baden- Baden - otherwise no further word about the course.

The original walking machine weighed little more than 20 kg, as much as a Dutch bike today. It had the same large 27- inch wheels with iron tires, a friction brake to the rear wheel, front hinged Park supports or alternatively panniers and an optional luggage rack behind the seat to oil sleeve bearings in brass bushings made ​​for easy running and 15 cm caster of the front for self-stabilization the steering.

Drais described in a newspaper article possible special machine its running:

• Custom made after step height,
• Height adjustable walking machine, see introductory illustration
• Two - run machine, today's tandem,
• Three - and four-wheeled handcar with sidesaddle forward.

Long stretches have been completed:

A side effect was the emergence of public fast runners on foot over long distances - only then called Drais his device also high-speed machine.

The news about the practical riding horse spare ran like wildfire through Germany and the West. Craftsmen built the vehicle after solely on the basis of newspaper text. Drais was awarded thanks to protection by Grand Duchess Stéphanie Napoléon a privilege from Baden to ten years, but only in France, a brevet to five years. As an official Drais was not allowed to be entrepreneurs themselves. Everywhere else there was free replicas, estimated 5000-10.000 world. But the good harvest in the autumn of 1817 closed the budget window for the invention.

The preference of the trolley driver for comfortable track surfaces resulted in periods when the roadways in town roads only the sidewalks were bumpy and even, soon to conflict. Driving on the sidewalks was banned in Mannheim in December, justified in Milan in 1818, in London, New York and even Calcutta 1819. Portion, sometimes arbitrary governmental restrictions were a major reason for the end of the machine, not just technical inadequacy, as the political opponents of the early Democrats Drais later spread, but again Herlihy. In a secret race 1829 in Munich 22 km / h have been achieved.

Alleged motorcycles prior Drais:

• The so-called Leonardo bicycle chain to the rear wheel of 1492 allegedly in Codex Atlanticus was not yet visible on candling 1961 of the adhered sheet 133 on the back
• The stained glass windows of Stoke Poges shows a cherub on measuring wheel with Abstellsporn, no two-wheeler of 1642, as it is a fake drawing (see Dodge Foreword )
• A walking machine found in Braunsbedra with direction indicators, allegedly by the local Wagner Kaßler 1760, probably dates from Leipzig mechanic Christian Hoffmann 1817
• The deflectable Bikes called Célérifère a Comte de Sivrac allegedly of 1791 were a fake, but in 1817 privilege for quick carriage ( Celerifer ) to Jean -Henri Sievrac (see Dodge Foreword )
• The legend of the motorcycle MacMillan Trethebelvelozipeds allegedly from 1839 proved to be abgefälschtes McCall velocipede of 1869 (according to Herlihy ).
• The Kurbelveloziped by Philipp Moritz Fischer allegedly from 1855, according to City Council decision of Schweinfurt actually dated from 1869 (see Dodge preface).

Meanwhile 1820-1865: stable three-and four-wheelers

Due to the rise of the railroad handcar which disappeared completely from the public consciousness. The politically persecuted Drais dodged for five years as a land surveyor to Brazil. The Balancierangst still unsportsmanlike population left the mechanic on three - or four-wheeled human-powered machines fall back, even if they showed more rolling resistance. Particular success in his Willard Sawyer in Dover in the 1850s, which drove his Quadricycle with Fußhebelantrieb to the first Great Exhibition in London in 1854 and - in children's sizes - delivered to the royal courts all over Europe, as well as the Crown Prince of Hanover. German four-wheelers slumber probably as handwritten privileges or patents in the archives of the former principalities (printed Reich patents until 1877).

Drais ' walking machine can also be seen in interaction with former skate experiments. A breakthrough came with the opera " Le Prohète " by Meyerbeer in 1849, which performed throughout Europe, a Skating scene on roller skates with two wheels simulated. Young people began to drive on sidewalks skate. But still lacked the steerability. This allowed the tiltable roller skate on four wheels by the American James Plimpton 1863.

1866: Balance and cranks at the same time

The two-wheeler with crank was from 1862 Pierre Michaux ( born June 25, 1813) and his son Ernest invented (maybe even 1861) or 1862 by Pierre Lallement (* 1843 in Pont-à- Mousson ). A parallel invention can not be excluded. From 1863 Pierre Michaux produced in Paris Velocipedes with pedal drive in the first few pieces. Focus of his business at the time was still necessary to Wagenbau. When developing him their father, the chemical producer Olivier Jules from Lyon helped the engineering students Aimé and René Olivier, with financing. Pierre Lallement had worked in 1862 for a stroller manufacturers in Lyon. In 1863 he worked, probably as an employee with Michaux in Paris. Michaux was transferred to the cast iron material for the frame of wood. From 1865 onwards, M. Gabert built in Lyon Velocipedes of more elastic wrought iron. In August 1865, Aimé and René Olivier traveled from Paris to Avignon on Velocipedes 794 km in eight days. Whether their wheels Michaux or Gabert were, is not known.

In the same year Pierre Lallement emigrated to the United States and settled there in 1866 patented a bicycle with pedal drive the front wheel, USP 59915, supported by the financier James Carroll. The bikes produced by this patent enjoyed great popularity for several years, in North America, not only in an urban audience, but also in the countryside.

Who when dared to be the first, the feet constantly loess from the ground, but can not be clarified precisely. So constructed the blacksmith Henry Dyer Künzelsau a Schubstockrad, but in which the mechanics drive no wheel, but served the pushing up from the ground, and had to be steered with the feet. Walther Euhus dated this two-wheeler at 1850, but it is in 1859 or 1869 detected on a local fair.

The Compagnie Parisienne the Oliviers, which campaigned vigorously for the new sport of the young men built a modified Kurbelveloziped in series with 39 kg twice as heavy as the running machine. The brake wire is wound up by twisting of the rotatably mounted arm, and the braking force is increased by a pulley. Forgings came by train from Marseille. The saddle was now so high that it did not reach the ground with their feet. To upgrade you took a run and then steered to the saddle, or someone had to hold the velocipede. Only later there was a footrest to rise. A pedal could not give our, as the pedal crank was so rigidly connected to the front wheel. Races were run using first hand ground ball bearings, designed circuits and the driving noise attenuated by solid rubber tires. The Paris demand was supplied by British companies in Coventry. In the U.S., there was a brief boom with over a hundred patents. In Germany, from 1868 at least 37 manufacturers, including such well-known names such as Heinrich Bussing, who founded a bus plant at the age. Car pioneer Karl Benz learned on a Kurbelveloziped from Stuttgart his speed rush and then changed his plans a road locomotive for paying collective interest of one light engine Velozipeds for private transport called Patent Motorwagen.

1868: With steel spokes to the penny-farthing

The date the self-taught James Starley ascribed invention of Stahlspeichenrads is according to the latest grant the Alsatian mechanic in Paris, Eugene Meyer. After whose name had thwarts any misprint " Magee " one hundred years, the research, the French Patent 86705 could be found with the correct name. This allowed the pressure-loaded wooden spoke wheels, which eased its cohesion when dry, can be replaced by loaded on train wire spoke wheels. Meyer wrote in the patent: " Since all the wire spokes here are only charged to train, they can not bend ", thus expanding elegant Kurbelvelozipede - with ever smaller rear wheels like other French manufacturers also. The spokes have still the same shape, but were radially and installed reversed - hung on the rim and screwed into the hub.

When, in August 1870, French rider came to a race to England, including the famous James Moore on a Meyer velocipede with a small rear wheel, ranged three days later, James Starley and William Hillman associate their patent in 2236 on a unicycle with a tangential spokes, called " Ariel "was produced in Coventry. They had recognized that the spokes are constantly stressed near the hub to bending by the fierce pedaling and break. By tangentially, not radially ordered the spokes, the spokes transferred between the hub and rim only tensile forces. Rotation of the rim relative to the hub by means of two levers Internal all around served to bias the spokes. Basic downside was that the spokes loosened while facing downhill pedaling. They built the front wheel runs around a mistake, even when collapsed it shows, as well as when you press the brake tire. Rectified this deficiency the crossed Tangentialspeichenrad from starlets Patent 3959 of 1874, in which the spokes were in pairs clamped antagonistic to each other. The half of the spokes pulled the rim relative to the hub forward or backward.

Penny Farthing 1870-1890 era: Bicycles and Tricycles

Sportsmanship and industry of England brought the bicycle idea to advance, unlike first France after the lost war seventies. Thanks to the steel spokes of the front wheel grew in diameter up to a conditional by the driver's step height limit. Hard rubber tires were standard. The massive forged frames were replaced by hollow body, whereby the weight could be reduced again to 20 kg. An entire bearing industry was created by use in wheel hubs, handlebars and pedals head.

1884/1885 Niederrad with chain drive

The first bicycle with chain driving the rear wheel built Harry John Lawson in 1879 and named it as opposed to the Penny Farthing Ordinary Bicyclette ( " ordinary bicycle "). The driven rear of this machine was still significantly smaller than the front wheel, although the size difference offered no advantage.

The breakthrough of the chain- driven rear wheel achieved, however, only John Kemp Starley, who in Coventry / England struggled since 1877 together with the business partner William Sutton, bikes safer and more under the brand name Rover (literally " wandering Schweifer " ) first produced tricycles. His first bicycle with chain drive of the rear wheel, the Rover I, he introduced before 1884. As Lawson's construction, it had a larger front wheel. On 30 January 1885, was patented. The public was so fixated on penny farthing that visitors to the first presentation described the Rover as unsportsmanlike. Starley then organized a race in 1885, was proved on a new, much improved vehicle, the Rover II, the speed of its drive. This Rover II marks the beginning of the modern bicycle.

In November of the same year presented the Frenchman Georges Juzan be very similar to the Rover vehicle in the magazine Vélo Sport ago.

History of the bicycle from the penny-farthing for Niederrad in pictures

Illustrations from 1890:

Radgeschichtliche organizations

Organizations that deal with the study of the history of the bike and with the proper preservation of all, in related artifacts, are the British Veteran -Cycle Club, the German Club Historic Bicycles eV, the American Wheelmen well as other national and smaller clubs.

Since 1990, the International Cycling History Conference ( ICHC ) meets every year in a different country. Your conference reports "Cycle History" offer the opportunity to gain an overview of the current state of knowledge.

Periodical publications in connection with the clubs, except the appearing in the United States " Vintage Bicycle Quarterly"

The bike in the social and technical context

Technology sociologists show the example of the history of the bicycle ( such as in the history of the pneumatic tire ), technical development processes of social expectations and attributions of meaning are as much dependent.

The use of muscle strength improved significantly, as the bicycle has established itself as generally used vehicle. The early technique used, as slight lattice frame, pneumatic tires and ball bearings resulted in a high energy efficiency and ever was a model for the construction of all subsequent, mostly larger vehicles such as motorcycles, automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, aircraft, and spacecraft.

The pedal drive is followed by a chain and a circuit efficiency of 95 percent ( simple hub gears ) to 99 percent (high-quality derailleur ). The overall efficiency of a bicycle, depending on care conditions, driving style and the technique used 70 to over 90 percent. The required kinetic energy ( joules per kilogram transported and kilometers ) is in any mode of transportation ( human or animal ) as low as the bike. Therefore, the bicycle is one of the most environmentally friendly means of transport.

Fakes

There are numerous examples of counterfeits of the invention of the bicycle after the two-wheeler principle. All counterfeits showed strong similarity to the Michaux - Velozipeden on:

• The bike of the Russian peasant Artamonov, which should be so moved in 1801 from the Urals to Moscow, is considered forgery. As an indicator is that it has too many skipped development steps.
• A bicycle from Themar (Thuringia ), which was dated 1844.
• An Italian bike of 1855, which is in the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica National da Vinci today.
• Between 1967 and 1974 the writings and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci was inserted a picture of a bicycle; see bike drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. Prof. Hans -Erhard Lessing unmasked this forgery in 1997 at a meeting of the International Cycling History Conference in Glasgow.