![Velocipedes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Velocipedes.png)
A velocipede () is a
human-powered land vehicle
Human-powered land vehicles are land vehicles propelled over ground by human power, The main ways to support the weight of a human-powered land vehicle and its contents above the ground are rolling contact; sliding contact; intermittent contact; ...
with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the
bicycle.
The term was probably first coined by
Karl von Drais
Karl Freiherr von Drais (full name: Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn) (29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851) was a noble German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. He was born and died ...
in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation of his advertising leaflet for his version of the ''
Laufmaschine
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle th ...
'', also now called a '
dandy horse
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle t ...
', which he had developed in 1817. It is ultimately derived from the Latin ''velox'', ''veloc-'' 'swift' + ''pes'', ''ped-'' 'foot'.
[''Oxford Dictionary of English'', 'velocipede'] The term 'velocipede' is today mainly used as a collective term for the different forerunners of the
monowheel
A monowheel, or uniwheel, is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle similar to a unicycle.
Hand-cranked and pedal-powered monowheels were patented and built in the late 19th century; most built in the 20th and 21st century have been motorized. ...
, the
unicycle, the
bicycle, the
dicycle
A dicycle () (also known as a diwheel) is a vehicle with two parallel wheels, side by side, unlike single-track vehicles such as motorcycles and bicycles, which have two wheels inline. Originally used to refer to devices with large wheels and peda ...
, the
tricycle
A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle.
Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...
and the
quadracycle
A quadracycle is a four-wheeled human-powered land vehicle. It is also referred to as a quadricycle, quadcycle, pedal car or four-wheeled bicycle amongst other terms.
Quadracycles have been in use since 1853 and have grown into several fami ...
developed between 1817 and 1880. It refers especially to the forerunner of the modern bicycle that was propelled, like a modern tricycle, by cranks, i.e.
pedals
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...
, attached to the front axle
before the invention of geared
chains
A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...
and
belt
Belt may refer to:
Apparel
* Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist
* Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports
* Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practit ...
and
shaft drives powering the rear.
History
Among the early velocipedes there were designs with one, two, three, four, and even five wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs sometimes used
treadles and
lever
A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...
s to drive the rear wheels.
The earliest usable and much-copied velocipede was created by the German
Karl Drais
Karl Freiherr von Drais (full name: Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn) (29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851) was a noble German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. He was born and died ...
and called a ''
Laufmaschine
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle th ...
'' (German for "running machine"), which he first rode on June 12, 1817. He obtained a patent in January 1818. This was the world's first
balance bicycle
A balance bicycle, run bike or no pedal bike or dandy horse is a training bicycle that helps children learn balance and steering. It has no foot pedals, no drivetrain, no chain, no gears, no gear shifters, no derailleurs, and no freewheel.
Desig ...
and quickly became popular in both the United Kingdom and France, where it was sometimes called a ''
draisine
A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure.
The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl ...
'' (German and English), ''draisienne'' (French), a ''vélocipède'' (French), a ''swiftwalker'', a ''
dandy horse
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle t ...
'' (as it was very popular among
dandies
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle desp ...
) or a ''
Hobby horse
The term "hobby horse" is used, principally by folklorists, to refer to the costumed characters that feature in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. They are particularly associated with May Da ...
''. It was made entirely of wood and metal and despite the condition of the roads at the time was sometimes ridden for long distances.
It was almost 40 years until "velocipede" came into common usage as a generic term, with the launch of the first
pedal
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...
-equipped
bicycle, developed by
Pierre Michaux
Pierre Michaux (June 25, 1813 – 1883) was a blacksmith who furnished parts for the carriage trade in Paris during the 1850s and 1860s. He may have become the inventor of the bicycle when he added pedals to a draisine to form the Michaud ...
,
Pierre Lallement
Pierre Lallement (; October 25, 1843 – August 29, 1891) is considered by some''New York Times'' accessed July 18, 2010 to be the inventor of the pedal bicycle.
Early years
Lallement was born on October 25, 1843 in Pont-à-Mousson near Nancy, Fr ...
and the
Olivier brothers The Olivier brothers, Aimé, René, and Marius, were the first people responsible for recognizing the commercial potential of a new invention : the bicycle.
The Olivier family was wealthy, owning a series of chemical plant in France based in Lyon. ...
in the 1860s. The
Michaux company was the first to
mass-produce
Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
the velocipede, from 1857 to 1871. That French design was sometimes called the boneshaker, since it was also made entirely of wood, then later with metal tires. That in combination with the
cobblestone roads of the day made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. These velocipedes also became a fad, and indoor riding academies, similar to roller rinks, could be found in large cities. In 1891 ''
L'Industrie Vélocipédique'' ''(Cycling Industry)'' magazine described
'La Société Parisienne de constructions Velo' as 'the oldest velocipede manufacturer in France', having been founded in 1876 by M. Reynard, and awarded the 'Diploma of honour' at the
Exposition Universelle (1878)
The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War.
Construction
The buildings and the fairgroun ...
(World's Fair).
[Tonton Velo, pour les velos anciens. ''L'Industrie vélocipédique'' January 1891. Société Parisienne de Construction Vélocipédique](_blank)
/ref>
During the 1870s advances in metallurgy led to the development of the first all-metal velocipedes. The pedals were still attached directly to the front wheel, which became larger and larger as makers realised that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals. Solid rubber tires and the long spokes of the large front wheel provided a much smoother ride than its predecessor. This type of velocipede was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"), and its shape led to the nickname penny-farthing in the United Kingdom. They enjoyed a great popularity among young men in the 1880s who could afford them.
While young men were risking their necks on the high wheels, ladies and dignified gentlemen such as doctors and clergymen of the 1880s favoured the less risky tricycle. Many innovations for tricycles eventually found their way into the automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
, such as rack and pinion steering
A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the ''pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven i ...
, the differential, and band brake
A band brake is a primary or secondary brake, consisting of a band of friction material that tightens concentrically around a cylindrical piece of equipment or EMUs to either prevent it from rotating (a static or "holding" brake), or to slow it ...
s, the forerunners to drum brake
A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum.
The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...
s.
On May 8, 1888 in Washington D.C, Matthew A. Cherry patented new contributions to a velocipede design that could seat up to 3 people including an overhead awning.
File:1880velocipede.jpg, 1880 Velocipede
File:The American Velocipede.jpg, ''The American Velocipede'', 1868, a wood engraving
Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...
from ''Harper's Weekly
''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
''
File:McCall1869.jpg, Thomas McCall in 1869 on his velocipede
Boneshaker
Boneshaker (or bone-shaker) is a name used from about 1869 up to the present time to refer to the first type of true bicycle with pedals
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...
, which was called velocipede by its manufacturers. "Boneshaker" refers to the extremely uncomfortable ride, which was caused by the stiff wrought-iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
and wooden wheels
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
surrounded by tires made of iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
.
History
This type of bicycle was invented in the 1860s in France and first manufactured by the Michaux company from 1867 to 1869 – the time of the first bicycle craze
The bike boom or bicycle craze is any of several specific historic periods marked by increased bicycle enthusiasm, popularity, and sales.
Prominent examples include 1819 and 1868, as well as the decades of the 1890s and 1970sthe latter espec ...
, and copied by many others during that time. It fell out of favor after the summer of 1869, and was replaced in 1870 with the type of bicycle called "ordinary", "high-wheel", or " penny-farthing".
Few original boneshakers exist today, most having been melted for scrap metal
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
during World War I. Those that do surface from time to time command high prices, typically up to about $5,000 US.
Design
The construction of the boneshaker was similar to the dandy horse
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine (in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle t ...
: wooden wheels with iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
tires and a framework of wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
. As the name implies it was extremely uncomfortable, but the discomfort was somewhat ameliorated by a long flat spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
that supported the saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
and absorbed many of the shocks from rough road surfaces. The boneshaker also had a brake
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction.
Background ...
a metal lever that pressed a wooden pad against the rear wheel. The front wheel axle
An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...
ran in lubricated bronze bearings, and some had small lubrication
Lubrication is the process or technique of using a lubricant to reduce friction and wear and tear in a contact between two surfaces. The study of lubrication is a discipline in the field of tribology.
Lubrication mechanisms such as fluid-lubric ...
tanks that would wick oil from soaked lamb's wool into the bearings to help them run smoothly. Like the High Wheel bicycles that became popular later in the 19th century, boneshakers were front-wheel drive, but in comparison they had smaller wheels
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
(only about 1 m), and were heavy, with a lightweight model weighing 30 pounds or more.
File:Boneshaker, European, circa 1868.JPG, European "boneshaker" bicycle, circa 1868.
File:Velocipede Michaux-1.jpg, The Michaux velocipede had a straight downtube and a spoon brake
A bicycle brake reduces the speed of a bicycle or prevents it from moving. The three main types are: rim brakes, disc brakes, and drum brakes.
Most bicycle brake systems consist of three main components: a mechanism for the rider to apply the ...
.
In railroad use
Railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
s in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
often made use of a three-wheeled handcar
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...
designed to be operated by a single person, which came to be known as a "railway velocipede" or "railroad velocipede". The three-wheel hand-pump rail car's invention is credited to George S. Sheffield of Three Rivers, Michigan. Legend has it that because of inadequate train service to his home, Sheffield built a simple three-wheel car, allowing him to commute seven miles between home and work without having to walk. While so traveling one evening, he discovered a break in the track, and flagged down a night freight train, thus preventing a possible accident. The railroad rewarded his efforts by bankrolling his invention. George Sheffield obtained the patent for his device in 1879, calling it a "velocipede hand car." Originally manufactured by G.S. Sheffield & Co. and later manufactured by Fairbanks, Morse & Company, the Sheffield velocipede remained in use up to World War II.
File:Hand Car Animation.gif, Animation of a handcar, based on a patent by George S. SheffieldGeorge S. Sheffield
/ref>
File:Preserved Velocipede.jpg, Single-person railroad velocipede on display at the Toronto Railway Historical Association.
File:Theb0741 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg, 3-wheeled velocipede or handcar
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...
on a railroad track. It is operated by hand.
File:Velocipede at NRM.jpg, Velocipede or handcar
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...
at the Nevada State Railroad Museum
File:16 21 2397 velocipede.jpg, Velocipede at the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
Patents
*''Velocipede'' (reissued as RE7972)
U.S. Patent 382351A ''VBLOGIPEDE''
(Lifetime, Expired)
See also
* Outline of cycling
:''This article is an outline about the activity of cycling. For an outline about bicycles themselves, see outline of bicycles.''
:The following ''outline'' is provided as an overview of, as well as a topical guide to cycling:
Cycling, al ...
References
External links
*
*
19th century picture of a Velocipede supposedly outrunning a horse
Musée McCord Museum Gallery "A Race on the IceBicycles v. Skates"
The Boneshaker
Retrieved 28 June 2010.
{{Human-powered vehicles
1817 introductions
Cycle types
Vehicles introduced in the 1810s