The bicycle is a wheeled vehicle having a tandem arrangement of the wheels with a saddle for the rider, a steering handle, and gear for propulsion by the feet. The modern bicycle is the result of a long history of technological development. Crude, two wheeled vehicles propelled by the feet have been known as early as Ptolemic Egypt. Not until the 17th century did bicycles begin to appear with any frequency. A basic knowledge of the development of the bicycle can be helpul in dating images, especially as boys so liked to be photographes with their bikes. French and German inventors took many of the crucial technical strps leading to the modern bicycle. The term bicycle was first used in 1869, previously they were commonly called velocipede, a French term dating from the late 18th century. The fashion quickly passed to England where the machine was dubbed the bone maker. An Englishman in 1869 submitted a patent for a bicycle with steel rims and solid rubber tires. In 1870 the first all metal machine appeared. Another Englishman, James Starkey, in 1873 produced the first ordinary, or high wheeled bicycle--the front of which could have a diamter as much as three times that of the rear wheel. Other improvements followed with better rubber tires and wire wheel spokes. The front wheels became larger and larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals. You would purchase a wheel as large as your leg length would allow. This machine was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"). The saftey bicycle, wheels of equal size, was universally adopted by American manufacturs who introduced hollow steel tubing, coaster breaks, adjustable hande bars, and other imprivenents made bikes a familiar site on American streets.
Crude, two wheeled vehicles propelled by the feet have been known as early as Ptolemic Egypt. Not until the 17th century did bicycles begin to appear with any frequency. A basic knowledge of the development of the bicycle can be helpul in dating images, especially as boys so liked to be photographes with their bikes.
French and German inventors took many of the crucial technical strps leading to the modern bicycle. A French inventor, Chevalier de Sivrac, in 1690 seized upon the idea of rigidly connecting two wheels with a wooden beam. He decorated the head of the beam with the head of a beast, often a lion. The rider sat on a cushion and propelled the machine paddling his feet on the ground. There were no hande bars for steering which was accomplished by dragging the feet on the griund. It was named the celerifere Several French versions followed witgh no notable impriovements:
the accelerator (1790) and the celeripede (1810). A German, Baron Karl von Drais, in 1816 designed a steeing device, a handle bar which pivitoed with the front wheel, and as a result is
often referred to as the "father of the bicycle". His machine was called the draisine. French, German, British, and American inventors made minor improvenents during the early 19th centuries. English versions were referred to as the hobby or dandy horse.
The last major step in the development of the modern bicycle occurred in Scotland. Blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan in 1839 applied driving letters to a German-style draisine. This enabled the rider for the first time to propel the machine with his feet off the ground. The machine was propelled with cranks and rods. Another Scottman, Gavin Dalzell in 1846, further improved it and the machines became known as Dalzells in Britain.
Figure 1.--Bicylicling had by the 1880s and the invention of the saftey bike become a popular family activity. This family has outfitted all of the family with bikes, even the boy still wearing a Fauntleroy dress and curls. I wonder if he didn't find it difficult riding his bike in that outfit. (Of course this photograph was taken in a studio, so we don't know he actually wore when riding his bike. Notice the girl in a smock-like dress who is in a kind of multi-wheeled bike. |
A more recognizable modern bike named the velocipede was introduced by French blacksmith Pierre Lallement about 1855. The frame and wheels were made of wood, the tires were iron, and the peddles were attached to the hub of the front or driver wheel, which was slightly higher than the rear wheel. Lallement's machine proved so popular that fashionable Paris society required everyone to have one.
The fashion quickly passed to England where the machine was dubbed the bone maker. An Englishman in 1869 submitted a patent for a bicycle with steel rims and solid rubber tires. In 1870 the first all metal machine appeared. (Previous to this metallurgy was not advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of.) Another Englishman, James Starkey, in 1873 produced the first ordinary, or high wheeled bicycle--the front of which could have a diamter as much as three times that of the rear wheel. Other improvements followed with better rubber tires and wire wheel spokes. The front wheels became larger and larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals. You would purchase a wheel as large as your leg length would allow. This machine was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"). They were affectionalled called "Penny Fathings" teferring to two differently sized British coins. These bicycles enjoyed a great popularity
among young men of means (they cost an average worker 6 month's pay), with the hey-day being the decade of the 1880's. Because the rider sat so high above the center of gravity, if the front wheel was stopped by a stone or rut in the road, or the sudden emergence of a dog, the entire apparatus rotated forward on its front axle, and the rider, with his legs trapped under the handlebars, was dropped unceremoniously on his head. Thus the term "taking a header" came into being. The bike in 1875 could weigh 30 kg, about twice the weight of modern bikes. Ball bearings and pnemantic tires were introduced in the 1880s. Inventors made many additional improvements, buy Englishman H.T. Lawson in 1880 invented a rear driving saftey, or low wheekled machine about 1880 with wheels of equal size and the pedals attached to a sprocket through gears abd a chain which applied power to the rear wheels.
The saftey bicycle, wheels of equal size, was universally adopted by American manufacturs who introduced hollow steel tubing, coaster breaks, adjustable hande bars, and other imprivenents made bikes a familiar site on American streets. Cyclists lobbied for better roads. Production boomed in America and Europe. Over 1 million bikes were manufactured in America alone in 1899. Manufacturers brought out tricycles for younger children. The bicycle was a technologicl device that helped make the Gay Ninties gay. It was a practical investment for the working man as transportation, and gave him a much greater flexibility for leisure. Ladies, heretofore consigned to riding the heavy adult size tricycles that were only practical for taking a turn around the park, now could ride a much more versatile machine and still keep their legs covered with long skirts. The bicycle craze killed the bustle and the corset, instituted "common-sense dressing" for women and increased their mobility considerably. In 1896 Susan B. Anthony said that "the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world." Bicycling was so popular in the 1880s and 1890s that cyclists formed the League of American Wheelman (still in existence and now called the League of American Bicyclists). The League lobbied for better roads, literally paving the road for the automobile. Most towns of any size would have a bicycle mechanic. Notably it was two American bicycle mechanics that built the first airplane.
The heyday of the bike, however, was short lived. By 1909 the bicycle industry was virtually nonexistant--Anericans turing to automobiles and motorbikes. Bikes were geerally confined to messenger boys, school children, and small groups of devotees. Bicycles continued to be an important mode of transportation in several European countries. The popularity of bicycles increased in America in the years before World War II. All Anerican boys considered getting their first two-wheel Swinn a virtual rite of passage. There has been a further increase in popularity in recent years assiociated with the fitness craze in America.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main bike page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[Essays]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor hats]
[Sailor suits]
[Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Pinafores]