History of the bicycle (28 photos)

Almost all of us in childhood rode a bicycle, ours or someone else’s - it doesn’t matter) The fact is that for all of us a bicycle is something that originally existed, an absolutely simple mechanism... But few people think about the history of the bicycle, about the fact that when - people couldn’t even dream of such a means of transportation...

There are many theories that attribute the creation of the bicycle to different people, from Leonardo da Vinci to a certain serf peasant Artamonov, who received freedom for himself and his entire family for his invention, but direct evidence was either not found or was eventually recognized as fakes

The first proven mention of the invention of the bicycle dates back to 1817. Although it was not yet a bicycle, but a scooter, a small wooden two-wheeled scooter, which its creator, the German professor Baron Karl von Dres, dubbed a “walking machine”

But the name did not catch on, and the scooter invented by Drez began to be called a “trolley”, in honor of the baron himself)

In Great Britain, the name “trolley” also seemed dissonant and the British began to call Drez’s scooter a “dandy horse”) But Drez officially patented his invention only in 1818, although this was only the first step towards creating a bicycle =)

Another British name for a slightly redesigned railcar is hobby horse, which came into use in 1818.

The invention turned out to be so unexpected and unusual for that time that it quickly gained popularity, and no one even thought of changing anything in this simple design, until in 1839 the Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan came up with the idea of adding pedals and a saddle to the trolley. True, he connected the pedals to the rear wheel not through the usual chain mechanism, but using ordinary connecting rods and iron rods. In fact, MacMillan created an almost modern bicycle, but his invention was not widely used and remained little known

Soon, in 1845, the Englishman Thompson created the first inflatable tire, which, however, turned out to be impractical and technologically imperfect

The next “step” in the history of the bicycle occurred in 1862 in France in the town of Nancy, when the local master of creating baby carriages, Pierre Lallement, who knew nothing about MacMillan’s invention, decided to attach pedals to the front wheel of the trolley. In 1963, already in Paris, Lalman assembled his first bicycle

The Frenchman's invention interested Lyon industrialists, the Olivier brothers, who, having collaborated in 1864 with Lallement and carriage engineer Pierre Michaud, began mass production of bicycles that differed from the original design in a metal frame, which Michaud proposed to replace the fragile wooden analogue) Pierre Lallement received a patent for his invention only in 1866 and in fact this officially made him the first creator of the bicycle

In 1867, the English engineer Edward Cowper developed the first successful design of a wheel with tensioned metal spokes (before that the spokes were wooden and, therefore, fragile and short-lived)

In the 70s, someone came up with the idea to enlarge the front wheel of Lalman's bicycle and place the saddle almost on it, while the rear wheel was reduced, which made the already stupid design even more unstable

A large number of injuries to customers motivated the creators of this miracle to add a third rear wheel, otherwise it was too dangerous to ride such a bike, although judging by the sales, there were many such daredevils in Britain =)

Such a bicycle began to be called “penny farthing” - the second word has nothing to do with the English verb)) This was the name of two British coins, the size of which was significantly different, as was the size of the wheels of the new bicycle)

Someone even thought of making such an unusual model of a penny-farthing)

The chain drive in the bicycle design appeared in 1878, thanks to another Englishman Lawson (name

neither, unfortunately, I don’t know). At the same time, the first folding bicycle was invented)

The first bicycle, similar to our usual means of transportation, appeared in 1884. It was equipped with a chain drive, almost identical wheels, and the saddle was located between them, closer to the rear wheel. The idea of such a safe design came to the mind of another Englishman - John Starley. And he called his creation “Wanderer” (Rover). And yes, it was from this moment that the Rover company began to exist, producing bicycles and then cars until April 15, 2005, when it was declared bankrupt

The first real inflatable rubber tires for bicycles appeared in 1888 through the efforts of the Scotsman John Dunlop (familiar name, isn't it?)) It was after the invention of rubber tires that it became really comfortable to ride on bicycles, without constant shaking on widespread off-road conditions (oh yes, we forgot, that there were no roads then either =)) In the 90s of the 19th century, bicycles gained unprecedented popularity, and the Dunlop company ensured a comfortable existence for itself for many years to come - its popularity can be judged even by the fact that Dunlop car tires are considered one of the best even today , and the company is one of the largest in the world! Below is John Dunlop himself with his invention =)

It is worth noting that although the bicycles of that time already looked almost like modern ones, they were still made of ordinary steel, susceptible to corrosion (they did not yet know how to weld stainless steel), especially since the frame was not painted. Therefore, each bicycle required careful care after each trip, and instructions on how to do this (cleaning, lubricating, rinsing with gasoline or kerosene, etc.) took up as many as 4 pages in 1895)

In 1895, the first recumbent bicycle, the ligrad, was invented, and in 1914, the Peugeot company began mass production of them.

In 1898, another improvement appeared, without which I simply can’t imagine how people rode before - brakes)) Initially it was a pedal brake and a freewheel mechanism, which made it possible not to pedal when the bicycle was rolling. Around the same time, hand brakes also appeared, but they did not gain popularity immediately. This is what modern hydraulic disc brakes look like

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the appearance of the first gear shift mechanism, but it was completely impractical - there were two sprockets on the rear wheel, one on each side) Imagine that to change gear you “just” had to stop, remove the chain, and unscrew the rear wheel , turn it over, screw it back on and put on the chain))

The next gear shift mechanism was the “planetary mechanism” invented in 1903. In short, it was based on the rotation of several small gears around a central, “sun” gear. I don’t see any point in looking deeper into the planetary mechanism; I’ll just say that a car differential was subsequently created on its basis)

The bicycle gear shift system we are familiar with appeared only in 1950 through the efforts of the famous and popular Italian cyclist Tullio Campagnolo at that time.

From that moment on, the bicycle, in principle, completely took on the appearance familiar to all of us. After this, the changes were no longer fundamental, mainly regarding lighter materials for the frame (massive sales of bicycles made of titanium began in 1974, carbon fiber in 1975) and alternative gear shift mechanisms (for example, the introduction of an index gear shift system in the early 90s)

It is clear that the popularity of bicycles faded with the advent of cars, at first cyclists were considered one of the main obstacles on the road, and in the 40s in the USA bicycles were even considered children's toys, but, oddly enough, since the late 60s this two-wheeled mode of transport began to gain popularity again, mainly due to the popularization in developed countries of a healthy lifestyle and awareness of the importance of environmental problems of humanity

The popularity of cycling today is evidenced even by the abundance of special parking lots in European cities. Here, for example, is a three-story bicycle parking lot in Amsterdam =)

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A couple of interesting facts about bicycles:

- currently there are about 15 types of bicycles for various needs and conditions of use;
- the most “cycling” country in Europe is Denmark, the average resident of which travels almost 900 kilometers per year by bicycle;
- in many European cities you can rent a bicycle right at the station, and in Copenhagen and some other cities they generally rent them for free, and for any period of time (the likelihood of “theft” is leveled due to the unique coloring);
- in Amsterdam there is a special hotel for cyclists with its own bicycle workshop and a program of bicycle excursions;
- 95% of all bicycles are produced in China - mainly due to the fact that most bicycle manufacturers have moved production to this huge country with cheap labor;
- the speed record for a bicycle is 268.83 km/h and was set by Fred Rompelberg from the Netherlands on the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA, Utah - in setting the record, the Dutchman was “helped” by a racing car driving ahead, “cutting through” the air flow for the cyclist;
- the world's largest bicycle, the Frankencycle, whose height is 3.40 meters and wheel diameter is 3.05 meters, was built by Californian Dave Moore in 1989;
- the world's largest tricycle "Dillon Colossal" was also assembled by Dave Moore, in 1994) The diameter of the rear wheels was 3.35 meters, and the front - 1.77 meters;
- the longest bicycle appeared in 1988 in New Zealand through the efforts of Terry Tessman - a 22.24-meter bicycle was designed for 4 people and weighed 340 kilograms;
- but there are eccentrics and more fun than Dave Moore and Terry Tessman) I'm talking about Australian Neville Patten, who in 1988 assembled the world's smallest bicycle, the diameter of which was only 1.9 cm! I don’t know how, but he drove his creation more than 4 meters))))
- another minimalist, Swede Peter Rosenthal in 1996 assembled the world's smallest unicycle with a height of 20 centimeters and a wheel diameter of 1.8 cm! The Swede also drove his “miracle” 4 meters)) Apparently neither he nor all the other extraordinary personalities listed above thought about the practicality of their inventions =)