Description:
Bicycle with an iron frame, front steering, adjustable, triangular pedals made of bronze, leather seat, and wooden wheels, which was originally purchased by Henry N. Flynt from John Kenneth "Mike" Byard of Silvermine Tavern around 1950. In 1817, the German inventor, Karl Friedrich Christian Louis Baron von Drais von Sauerbronn (1785-1851), or Karl von Drais as he called himself, invented the first human-propelled machine, with two in-line wheels, which he called a velocipede (literally "fast feet") or "Laufmaschine" (running machine), which became known as a "Draisine" (English), "Draisienne" (French), or dandy horse or hobby-horse. This machine consisted of two in-line wheels connected by a perch with a cushioned seat, a balance board for resting the arms, and a handle bar attached to the front wheel. The rider sat on the sear and moved forward using a heels-first gait. The first running machine, which was made entirely of wood, was intended to enable von Drais to survey his grounds with greater efficiency. Both the English and the French claim the invention of the "pedal" bicycle in the early 1860s, when pedals were applied directly to the front wheel. Known as bone shakers, these ambulatory devices were extremely uncomfortable since they was also made entirely of wood, then later with metal tires, and the combination of these with the cobblestone roads of the day made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. Although Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) discovered vulcanized rubber in 1839, it was not patented until 1844. Rubber as material for tires was used experimentally in the 1870s; the inflatable tire was invented by 1881 when it first appeared at the 1881 Paris World's Fair where it was shown along with the first "electric sewing machine." The tires on this example appear to be made from wooden buggy wheels with iron tires.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2004.40.1 |
