Catalog of the Cycle Collection (Smithsonian Bulletin 204)
28 quotes
"The bicycle, perhaps the most widely known form of mechanical transportation in the world today... is used for transportation, recreation, and business in nearly every part of the world. ...[I]n Europe... the streets in foreign cities [are] teeming with bicycles as workers pedal between home and work..."
"It is stated that a Frenchman, de Sivrac, constructed... in the latter part of the eighteenth century... a "celerifere," ...a ...wooden bar supported on two wheels and carrying a padded saddle. The front fork had no swiveling action, so the vehicle could not be steered. It was propelled by the rider's striking his feet against the ground."
"About 1816, Baron von Drais constructed a similar machine, the front wheel... mounted in a fork that could be swiveled... to be steered. His... "Draisienne" or the "Draisine," several years later was introduced into England by Denis Johnson, whose improved version had an adjustable saddle, a cushioned rest for the forearms, and... different... handle bars. Known in England as the Pedestrian Curricle, the Hobby Horse, or the , this... was in vogue in 1818 and... several years afterward. Contemporary lithographs show dandies practicing on the machine in riding academies, as well as riding it over the open road (pl. 1). It, too, was propelled by the riders striking his feet against the ground."
"In 1821, Gompertz in England designed a machine to be propelled by the motion of the rider's arms, which, by... gearing, applied power to the front wheel (see pl. 2, b)."
"About 1840, , a Scottish blacksmith, fitted cranks to the rear-wheel axle of a velocipede..."
"In Paris shortly after 1860... or his employee fitted pedals to the front-wheel axle of a velocipede, creating... the "boneshaker." Later, Lallement took up residence in New Haven, Conn., and on November 20, 1866, obtained a patent (No. 59915) covering a similar machine, entitled "improvement in velocipedes." The patent drawing reveals a saddle attached to a spring... [and] weighted, pivoting pedals."
"The Hanlon brothers of New York City obtained a patent (No. 79654) on July 7, 1868, for an improved version of the Lallement vehicle... covering adjustable pedals and seat. ...[T]hey suggested... rubber rings could be used on the wheels to make them noiseless and... prevent... slipping... an early [suggested] use of the rubber tire. ...[P]atent (No. 86834) granted February 9, 1869, covered a mudguard over the front wheel, and a brake shoe operating against a wheel... controlled by twisting the handle bars. Although these machines achieved temporary popularity... this... waned because they were cumbersome... heavy, and required an awkward angle of thrust on the pedals, as the rider sat far behind them."
"S. H. Roper, of Roxbury, Mass., constructed a steam-operated velocipede... (pl. 4, a) [which] appeared in the late 1860's at fairs and circuses in New England. Resembling a Hanlon-type velocipede, with wooden wheels and iron-band tires, the machine was propelled through the rear wheel... axle... fitted with cranks connected to two small steam cylinders, one on each side of the rear section of the frame."
"In the early 1870's, bicycles and tricycles using wire wheels made their appearance, notably in England. of was one of the pioneers in this field, and.... fathered many new and ingenious features pertaining to cycling. ...English pioneer ...H. J. Lawson... built an experimental rear-chain-driven safety bicycle during this period."
"The high-wheeled bicycle, with the saddle well forward over the large front wheel, was first produced in England and... introduced to America... at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. This... the ordinary, was the first... practical bicycle. The rider was in a position to add his weight to a downward thrust on the pedals, and, compared to... the boneshaker... it was a light-weight, comfortable machine. It was immediately popular, and the interest in bicycling increased greatly with its introduction."
"At the close of the Exposition the unsold ordinaries were taken by the Baltimore firm of Timms and Lawford, and most of them were soon sold to the newly organized Cunningham Co., of Boston, Mass., which, in 1877, was the first bicycle importing firm in America. In the same year Albert A. Pope also began importing English bicycles, and in 1878 his company, the Pope Manufacturing Co., of Boston, Mass., became the first manufacturer of bicycles in America. In that year Pope began building bicycles under the trade name "Columbia" in the factory of the Weed Sewing Machine Co. at Hartford, Conn., and by 1895 all of his interests were concentrated in that city..."
"In 1877 the first [U.S.] bicycle periodical... "The American Bicycling Journal," was started at Boston by Frank W. Weston, and 2 years later... merged with "The Bicycling World,"... of Boston. ...[T]he first bicycle club in America was the Boston Bicycle Club, jointly founded... 1878, by Charles E. Pratt and Frank W. Weston..."
"The ordinary, or high-wheeled bicycle with the large wheel in front, was especially hazardous, as the rider was in danger of taking... a "header" [headlong fall] whenever the front wheel struck an obstruction... To circumvent this... a bicycle with the large wheel in the rear was devised. ...[K]nown as a Star, its popularity never approached that of the ordinary."
"In 1884 or 1885 Lucius D. Copeland equipped one of these Stars with a small steam engine and a boiler, and successfully operated the machine. Two or three years later a tricycle (pl. 4, b) was similarly equipped for Copeland by the Northrop Manufacturing Co. ...[T]hese machines appeared in many engineering magazines ...and Sandford Northrop issued advertising brochures publicizing ...his Moto-cycle Manufacturing Co., but the venture proceeded no further ...one of ...many... attempts ...to produce a commercially successful self-propelled vehicle."
"Although usually thought of as early automobiles, the original vehicles of... and Karl Benz are a part of the history of cycle development. Each produced, independently... a gasoline-engine-powered cycle in 1885. Daimler's was a two-wheeled vehicle—a motorcycle—while Benz's machine was a large tricycle with wire-spoked wheels, the single front one being... steerable..."
"The high-wheeled ordinary and the Star bicycles were succeeded by the so-called safety, pioneered by J. K. Starley, nephew of , and by Lawson, to eliminate the danger... of the rider taking a header over the high front wheel. Gradually the size of the high wheel was reduced until, by the middle 1880's, the proportions of the modern safety had been achieved. Curiously, this was a return... to the proportions of the old Hobby Horse... However, the safeties were driven by chain or shaft to the rear wheel from pedals... below the rider. Most of those produced at the turn of the century were chain driven."
"Prior to 1898, bicycles had appeared with braking mechanisms... but... did not include coasting or free-wheeling features. The... coaster brake... appeared in the patent applications of Harry P. Townsend, of the New Departure Manufacturing Co. ...in 1898; James S. Copeland, of the Pope Manufacturing Co. ...in 1898; and William Robinson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1899. These issued as patents, respectively, in 1907, 1913, and 1903. It is stated that the Townsend patent, No. 850077, contained the broad and controlling claims. The 1898 catalog of the Pope Manufacturing Co. describes the Columbia New Departure automatic brake... as a device for which a need had long existed. ...[T]he widespread adoption of the coaster brake made the bicycle ...much safer ..."
"In the 1890's interest in bicycling reached boom proportions. Production... rose from... 200,000 in 1889 to 1,000,000 in 1899... [T]he importance of the bicycle to the life of the 1890's was much greater than... today. Then, only a few score automobiles had been built, horses and carriages were expensive to maintain... and urban public transportation was... slow and frequently inadequate. The bicycle met the need for inexpensive individual transportation... for going to and from business... deliveries... recreational riding, and... sport."
"What to moderns seems a simple device of modest and limited performance was, in the relatively unmechanized 1890's, a swift vehicle and a fine machine. Owners were drawn together by their interest in it as a mechanism, as well as in riding or racing, and bicycle clubs were a part of the social and sporting scene."
"A nation-wide bicycle club, the League of American Wheelmen, was formed... 1880... through... efforts of ... and Charles Pratt. ...[T]he influence of its numbers [above 100,000] was an effective promoter of good roads."
"Bicycle racing... had a large and enthusiastic following... and the demand for lighter and faster bicycles accelerated... improvements..."
"Charles M. Murphy... 1899, on a board surface laid between the rails of the Long Island Railroad... riding within a hood... at the rear of a car, kept up with the car as it was pulled by a locomotive at... 60 miles an hour. ...[H]e became known as "Mile-A-Minute Murphy." His record was surpassed... 1911, when Alfred Letourner pedaled a mile in 33.05 seconds on a highway in California... at... 108.92 miles an hour in the wake of a shield attached to the rear of a midget racing automobile."
"[T]he bicycle had a decided influence on the... automobile. The bicycle introduced thousands... to individual mechanical transportation, and proved the value of many materials and parts that were subsequently taken over by the automobile designers. Ball bearings found one of their earliest uses in bicycles of 1880 or earlier. The differential unit was employed in tricycles, and various forms of freewheeling and gear-shifting devices were in use. Steel tubing, developed largely for cycle frame construction, was adopted by some early automobile builders. Pneumatic tires for cycles were patented... in the United States... 1890, by John Boyd Dunlop... of Belfast, Ireland, and were... in use on bicycles prior to that..."
"Many pioneer automobile builders were at first bicycle manufacturers... Charles E. Duryea, , Colonel Albert A. Pope, H. A. Lozier, and George N. Pierce... Wilbur and Orville Wright were bicycle manufacturers... before they turned... to the aeronautical field, and Glenn H. Curtiss... aviation pioneer, started... as a bicycle manufacturer."
"[I]mprovement in highways and street paving promoted by organized bicyclists... was an important element in the acceptance of the early automobile. ...[T]he cycle was the proving ground for the automobile."