Bicycle Historical Background: Early Bicycles


Figure 1.--One of the most notable early bicycles was the high-wheel or penny-fartthing bicycle. Here we see a Germany boy from Dresden taken about 1888. Notice the stripped shirt. We see boys in sailor suits wearing these shirts. Also notice what looks like an embroidered belt.

The fashion quickly passed to England where the machine was dubbed the bone shaker. 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.










HBC




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Created: 1:44 AM 12/27/2006
Last updated: 1:44 AM 12/27/2006