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25-664: Early bicycles received the name Boneshakers because they were made of wood with hard wheels. Next was the "High Wheeler" also known as the Penny-farthing which was difficult and dangerous to ride. The Overman Wheel Company , founded 1882, was the first manufacturer of a safer bicycle in the United States: the design came to be known as a safety bicycle in the United States, in their factory complex in Chicopee, Massachusetts . During

50-477: A potter's kick wheel . A treadle is operated by pressing down on it repeatedly with one or both feet, causing a rocking motion. This movement can then be stored as rotational motion via a crankshaft driving a flywheel . Alternatively, energy can be stored in a spring, as in the pole lathe . Treadles were once used extensively to power most machines including lathes , rotating or reciprocating saws , spinning wheels , looms , and sewing machines . Today

75-569: A break in the track, and flagged down a night freight train, thus preventing a possible accident. The railroad rewarded his efforts by bankrolling his invention. George Sheffield obtained the patent for his device in 1879, calling it a "velocipede hand car." Originally manufactured by G.S. Sheffield & Co. and later manufactured by Fairbanks, Morse & Company , the Sheffield velocipede remained in use up to World War II. Treadles A treadle (from Old English : tredan , "to tread")

100-497: A framework of wrought iron . As the name implies it was extremely uncomfortable, but the discomfort was somewhat ameliorated by a long flat spring that supported the saddle and absorbed some of the shocks from rough road surfaces. The boneshaker also had a brake  – a metal lever that pressed a wooden pad against the rear wheel. The front wheel axle ran in lubricated bronze bearings, and some had small lubrication tanks that would wick oil from soaked lamb's wool into

125-503: A matter of preference and necessity. A human-powered machine gives the human operator close, instinctive control over the rate at which energy is fed into the machine; this lets them easily vary the rate at which they work. Treadle-operated machines are also used in environments where electric power is not available to power electric machinery . Other, similar mechanisms for allowing human and animal muscle to power machines are cranks , treadmills , treadwheels , and kick wheels like

150-507: A patent in January 1818. This was the world's first balance bicycle and quickly became popular in both the United Kingdom and France, where it was sometimes called a draisine (German and English), draisienne (French), a vélocipède (French), a swiftwalker , a dandy horse (as it was very popular among dandies ) or a Hobby horse . It was made entirely of wood and metal and despite

175-462: A single person, which came to be known as a "railway velocipede" or "railroad velocipede". The three-wheel hand-pump rail car's invention is credited to George S. Sheffield of Three Rivers, Michigan. Legend has it that because of inadequate train service to his home, Sheffield built a simple three-wheel car, allowing him to commute 11 kilometres (7 mi) between home and work without having to walk. While so traveling one evening, he discovered

200-624: Is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle . The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as vélocipède for the French translation of his advertising leaflet for his version of the Laufmaschine , also now called a ' dandy horse ', which he had developed in 1817. It is ultimately derived from the Latin velox , veloc- 'swift' + pes , ped- 'foot'. The term 'velocipede'

225-420: Is a foot-powered lever mechanism ; it is operated by treading on it repeatedly. A treadle, unlike some other types of pedals, is not directly mounted on the crank (see treadle bicycle for a clear example). Most treadle machines convert reciprocating motion into rotating motion , using a mechanical linkage to indirectly connect one or two treadles to a crank. The treadle then turns the crank, which powers

250-453: Is today mainly used as a collective term for the different forerunners of the monowheel , the unicycle , the bicycle , the dicycle , the tricycle and the quadracycle developed between 1817 and 1880. Velocipede refers especially to the forerunner of the modern bicycle that was propelled, like a modern tricycle, by cranks, i.e. pedals , attached to the front axle before the invention of geared chains and belt and shaft drives powering

275-468: The 'Diploma of honour' at the Exposition Universelle (1878) (World's Fair). During the 1870s advances in metallurgy led to the development of the first all-metal velocipedes. The pedals were still attached directly to the front wheel, which became larger and larger as makers realised that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals. Solid rubber tires and

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300-426: The 1880s favoured the less risky tricycle. Many innovations for tricycles eventually found their way into the automobile , such as rack and pinion steering , the differential , and band brakes , the forerunners to drum brakes . Boneshaker (or bone-shaker) is a name dating from the 1860s for the first type of true bicycle with pedals , which were called velocipedes by their manufacturers. "Boneshaker" referred to

325-488: The 1880s there was great demand for bicycles because of the advancements in safety and design. One of the major advances which helped bicycles become popular were chain driven cycles with gears which allowed the bicycle to use smaller wheels. Inflatable rubber tires were also a great advancement which helped to make bicycles practical and possible. The bicycle craze reached a peak in the 1890s when there were up to 4 million riders and 300 bicycle manufacturers. American Bicycle

350-592: The American Bicycle Company and soon afterwards announced plans to open a branch plant in Canada called the National Cycle Company. The American Bicycle Company only lasted a few years (from 1899 to 1903). Historians have not determined why the company failed but they have several theories. One idea was that the company was poorly organized, and another theory is that the various manufacturers involved in

375-516: The bearings to help them run smoothly. Like the High Wheel bicycles that became popular later in the 19th century, boneshakers were front-wheel drive, but in comparison they had smaller wheels (only about 1 m), and were heavy, with a lightweight model weighing 14 kilograms (30 lb) or more. Railroads in North America often made use of a three-wheeled handcar designed to be operated by

400-469: The company had different objectives. After the breakup the many different companies went back to competing. One contributor to the end of the bicycle craze may have been the advent of combustion engines which were initially applied to 4-wheel carriages. In early 1900 the resulting "motor car" or "automobile" and large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable cars was underway in Lansing, Michigan . In

425-470: The condition of the roads at the time was sometimes ridden for long distances. It was almost 40 years until "velocipede" came into common usage as a generic term, with the launch of the first pedal -equipped bicycle , developed by Pierre Michaux , Pierre Lallement and the Olivier brothers in the 1860s. The Michaux company was the first to mass-produce the velocipede, from 1857 to 1871. That French design

450-503: The extremely uncomfortable ride, which was caused by the stiff wrought-iron frame and wooden wheels surrounded by tires made of iron . The so-called "boneshaker" was invented in the 1860s in France and first manufactured by the Michaux company from 1867 to 1869 , the time of the first bicycle craze . The boneshaker was copied by many others during that time. It fell out of favor after

475-556: The late 1890s and early 1900s manufacturers also installed engines on bicycles to create the first motorcycles. American Bicycle later bought the Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Company which made Rambler brand bicycles. Rambler bicycle was obtained in 1900 after Thomas B. Jeffery sold it to focus on the Rambler automobile . CCM (bicycle company) Boneshaker (bicycle) A velocipede ( / v ə ˈ l ɒ s ə p iː d / )

500-459: The long spokes of the large front wheel provided a much smoother ride than its predecessor. This type of velocipede was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel"), and its shape led to the nickname penny-farthing in the United Kingdom. They enjoyed a great popularity among young men in the 1880s who could afford them. While young men were risking their necks on the high wheels, ladies and dignified gentlemen such as doctors and clergymen of

525-443: The machine. Other machines use treadles directly, to generate reciprocating motion. For instance, in a treadle loom , the reciprocating motion is used directly to lift and lower the harnesses or heddles ; a common treadle pump uses the reciprocating motion to raise and lower pistons . Before the widespread availability of electric power , treadles were the most common way to power a range of machines. They are still widely used as

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550-535: The rear. Among the early velocipedes there were designs with one, two, three, four, and even five wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs sometimes used treadles and levers to drive the rear wheels. The earliest usable and much-copied velocipede was created by the German Karl Drais and called a Laufmaschine (German for "running machine"), which he first rode on June 12, 1817. He obtained

575-429: The summer of 1869 and was replaced in 1870 with the type of bicycle called "ordinary", "high-wheel", or " penny-farthing ". Few original boneshakers exist today, most having been melted for scrap metal during World War I. Those that do surface from time to time command high prices, typically up to about $ 5,000 US. The construction of the boneshaker was similar to the dandy horse : wooden wheels with iron tires and

600-403: Was founded by Albert Augustus Pope, owner of Columbia Bicycle . In 1898, the U.S. bicycle industry was caught in a downward spiral of market saturation, over-supply and intense price competition. Pope issued an affidavit stating that the American Bicycle Company was incorporated on May 12, 1899. In an attempt to control supply and limit competition, 42 manufacturers (later over 75 companies) formed

625-563: Was sometimes called the boneshaker, since it was also made entirely of wood, then later with metal tires. That in combination with the cobblestone roads of the day made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. These velocipedes also became a fad, and indoor riding academies, similar to roller rinks, could be found in large cities. In 1891 L'Industrie Vélocipédique (Cycling Industry) magazine described 'La Société Parisienne de constructions Velo' as 'the oldest velocipede manufacturer in France', having been founded in 1876 by M. Reynard, and awarded

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