THE STORY OF THE BICYCLE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XVII, 24 April 1897, Page 502

THE STORY OF THE BICYCLE.

A FEW years ago, when the ‘ safety ’ first made its appearance, the most enthusiastic devotee of the wheel would scarcely have dared to claim for it a place among the great inventions of the age. Todav, in reckoning the achievements of the nineteenth century, to such epoch making discoveries as the railroad, the steamship, the telegraph, and the telephone, we can hardly refuse to add, as the latest item on the list, the bicycle. The beginnings of the bicycle were obscure, and the early steps in its development were slow. Until a decade ago it was only a curious plaything, which attracted little public attention, and gave small promise of general benefit. Then, suddenly, with the introduction of the wheel of modern pattern, the world at large began to learn its possibilities. The growth of wheeling became rapid, dramatic, almost sensational. Old and young, rich and poor, men and women, boys and girls—all caught the 'bicycle fever.’ The manufacture of the slender steel machine has become a colossal industry ; its popularity is an important factor in many phases of contemporary life. And the end is not yet; its advance still proceeds apace, and to its future possibilities a limit can scarcely be set. It is our purpose to present here some of the most interesting points of the history of cycling, and some of the most striking aspects of its present marvellous development. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BICYCLE. It may be said roughly that the bicycle was born in France, was developed to maturity in England, and has reached its most universal popularity in America. A Frenchman, M. Baudry de Saunier, who has made a special study of its beginnings, has found a historical trace of it as far back as the fifteenth century. The story of the modern wheel, however, may be begun with M. de Sivrac, who early in the present century exhibited in Paris a machine which he called a celeripede. It consisted of two wooden wheels with a perch between them on which the rider sat, his feet touching the ground. He propelled it by striding forward, and steered it with a handle bar operating the front wheel. At about the same time Baron von Drais, master of the forest to the Grand Duke of Baden, constructed a similar vehicle under the name of the Draisienne. Both it and the celeripede were heavy, clumsy affairs, difficult to manage, and utterly incapable of general service. But a great step forward was taken by another French inventor, Michaux, by trade a carriage maker in Paris, who in 1555 put the first crank upon the front wheel.

The development of that idea ha? given ns the bicycle of to day, for of all the countless types bronght out in the last twenty-five years the principle of the crank and pedal is the only one that has never been lost sight of. Then came Pierre Lallement, who followed np the improvements oi Michaux, and in 1866 came to America, locating in New Haven, where he made a machine that has often been exhibited in the last few years, and is still in existence. It was called a velocipede, the word ‘ bicycle ’ not having as yet put in an appearance. In 1566 and 1867, by a freak of Parisian fashion, the riding of velocipedes was the favourite pastime of the haut ton of France. Everybody rode, following the example of the Prince Imperial and the fashionable dandies of the third empire. Schools sprang up in Europe and in America—more attention, be it noted, being paid to graceful riding than to racing. In Paris it was the fad to attend the opera on wheels, the manage ment taking care of them during the performance. The Hanlon brothers, the famous acrobats, who were in this country in IS6S, did much to promote the popularity of wheeling ; but public interest presently flagged, and in a short time velocipeding died a natural death. CYCLE PIONEERS IN ENGLAND. Meanwhile various improvements had been patented by McMillan and others in England, and therethe manufacture of wheels was first put upon a substantial basis and developed into an industry. Thomas Humber, of Nottingham, was the most conspicuous pioneer in a movement to which many contributed. The first Humber bicycle was made in February. 1869. It had wheels of almost equal size ; but two years later a new model appeared, with the front wheel much larger than the rear. This rapidly became the ‘ ordinary ’ —a type which prevailed for twenty years, but which has suddenly become almost as obsolete as the mastodon. During the seventies, cycling received a great impetus in England, and for the first time its practical benefits began to be understood. Factories multiplied rapidly, the midland town of Coventry becoming the especial centre of the industry. Thence the contagion spread across the Atlantic, gradually at first, and later with tremendous impetus. HOW THE WHEEL CAME TO AMERICA. Americans are more ready, probably, than any other people to appreciate and adopt a ‘ good thing ’ offered to them from any quarter of the globe. Vet for several years the bicycle had an uphill road to travel. In 1876 the ‘ ordinaries ’ exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial were regarded with eyes askance, and few considered that there was a future for them. Some machines, however, were imported from England, and an attempt was made to create a demand for them.

It "is difficult, in 1897, to realize the difficulties that had to be faced, less than twenty years ago, by the champions of the bicycle. The first makers of wheels had to venture the myriad risks of a new and uncertain enterprise ; the first wheelmen had to endure ridicule and overcome prejudice. To secure for the • monstrosity,’ as it was called, the ordinary privileges of the road, legal action was necessary. Under the leadership of Colonel Albert A. Pope, of Boston—to whom, without question, belongs the honour of having been the

pioneer of cycling in America—associations were formed and funds raised ’to move legislatures and courts. We who possess to-day the freedom of every road and path that is open to any other vehicle can scarcely recall the effort required to obtain the passage of the • LibflMy Bill,’ which gave the wheelmen of New York the right to pass through Central Park, the Boulevard, and every public thoroughfare of the metropolis. This was accomplished as recently as June 27th, 1887.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ’SAFETY.’ While not exactly a misnomer, the term ‘ safety,’ as applied to the modern bicycle, is superfluous. It originated when the old ‘ ordinary ’ was in the heyday of its vogue, and was used to distinguish the low type of wheel from the high model, which the timid beginner was apt to regard as dangerous. The first departure from the established style was to make the driving wheel slightly smaller than on the average ordinary, giving the front forks a larger rake than customary. Necessarily, the saddle was carried further back and the liability of incurring a ‘ header ’ was greatly decreased. The difficulty that had to be overcome in this style of machine was that of reaching the pedals while astride the saddle. After much experimenting it was found necessary to substitute bent levers connecting with the cranks, and attached at their upper ends to short arms working on universal joints at the sides of the forks. This marked the beginning of an era of lever driven bicycles, whose main principle was the transmission of power to the large or driving wheel, without having the rider’s weight sufficiently near the centre of balance to cause the small wheel to rise in the air and shoot him over the handle-bar whenever the large wheel encountered an obstruction. This innovation did not interfere greatly with the popularity of the ordinary among those whose temerity emboldened them to chance accidents in order to enjoy the exhilaration of a spin on the wheel. Each distinctive type, however, had its coterie of admirers, and the increasing interest of the public encouraged inventors to persist in the attempt to obtain a practical and safe bicycle. THE BICYCLETTE. To whom is really due the credit of introducing the first rear chain driven bicycle, it is difficult to state with certainty ; but among many claimants of the distinction, it seems probable that the earliest machine of the type

destined to supersede all others was the * Bicyclette,’ invented by H. T. Lawson, an Englishman, and put on the market by Rudge in 1880. It is noteworthy that it proved a failure, and the * Crocodile,’ as it was derisively titled by cyclists of that time, ceased to live after a few models had been constructed. THE KANGAROO, MARVEL, AND ROVER. The next striking departure from the regular model was made in 1883, when the Kangaroo was brought out in England. The Kangaroo was rather a dwarf ordinary than a safety, as it was both steered and driven—with cog wheels and a chain —from the front. In the following year the wheel took two further steps toward its perfected form. One of the new designs was the Marvel, a rear driver with an eighteen inch steering wheel and a curiously constructed frame, and adjustable to accommodate riders of different heights. The other was the Rover, invented at about the same time by J. K. Starley. In appearance this machine was complicated and unwieldly, and with a vertical fork and secondary handles was found difficult to manipulate. Confidence in the ultimate triumph of the principles it embodied, however, spurred the inventor to renewed endeavonrs, and he finally secured a pattern that was gradually adopted wherever cycling was known. About 1890, the manufacture of high wheels practically ceased, and the safety became the prevailing type of bicycle all over the world. The old Rover type was hardly an ideal of strength and beauty. At first, many makers built the frame after their own ideas, constructing it of graceful curved tubes without much regard to strength and lightness. Gradually the diamond frame, with all straight tubes, asserted its superiority. At first, this style of frame was a true diamond in shape, with upper and lower tubes joining at the steering head. The lengthening of the steering head, however, led to the slight alteration that changed the frame to a pentagonal shape, since adopted

bv manufacturers of bicycles in every country in the world as being of maximum strength with a minimum expenditure of material. THE PNEUMATIC TYRE. After the adoption of the safety secured a reasonable degree of stability, the cyclist's worst grievance was the jolting of a ride awheel. Many attempts were made to minimize vibration, but it is rather singular that none of the early ones took into consideration the part played by the tyre in receiving the concussion of surface inequalities. In 1889 an Irish boy named Dunlop, the son of a veterinary surgeon in Belfast, complained so loudly of the joint shattering qualities of his * boneshaker ’ that his father began to experiment, and evolved the idea of a hollow rubber tyre filled with compressed air. His invention revolutionized cycling, and created a new and important branch of industry, for the manufacture of pneumatic tyres to-day employs thousands of hands. OTHER RECENT IMPROVEMENTS. Another important improvement is the wooden rim—which is, curiously enough, one of the few bicycle inventions originated in inventive America. It first appeared on a wheel in 1893, and thorough tests proved its stanchness and springiness. Although it has usurped the place of the steel rim in America, the latter being practically obsolete, it is regarded with disfavour in England. This is in great part due to prejudice, which will no doubt be eventually overcome. In many details and accessories of the bicycle, where constant improvements might have been expected, they have been comparatively rare until within the last year or two. Now, however, the makers, having settled on the diamond frame as a standard, seem to have determined to seek individuality in specialities. Suspension saddles, condemned by physicians, and cumbersome pedals, made way for more modern inventions, and

mechanical experts, laboured incessantly to simplify the machine and avoid the slightest superfluity at any point. The result is that the bicycle of 1897 is indeed a triumph of mechanical skill, as well as an important factor in the world’s civilisation.