Bicycle history. How the bicycle appeared Who invented the bike
The official history of the bicycle began in 1817 after the German professor Carl von Dres created and patented the first bicycle a year later. two wheel scooter, which has been called a "running machine". The wooden scooter, later popularly nicknamed the "trolley", was equipped with two wheels and a steering wheel, and in general looked like a bicycle, but without pedals.
Invented by Carl von Dres 
"Running Machine" Carl von Dres Around 1839-1840, the blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan from the Scottish village improved the "handcar" by adding pedals and a saddle to it. Pedals pushed rear wheel, with which they were connected by metal rods by means of connecting rods. The cyclist sat on the saddle between the front and rear wheels, and the front wheel could be turned using the steering wheel. In fact, the bike modified by Macmillan can be safely called the first prototype of the current bike, but unfortunately it remained completely unnoticed and little known.
Bicycle drawings by Kirkpatrick Macmillan 
Improvements by Kirkpatrick Macmillan 
Kirkpatrick Macmillan Bicycle Around the same time, a young French pram maker, Pierre Lalman, had a similar idea. He did not know anything about the developments of Macmillan and in his car it was necessary to pedal, not push.
Invention by Pierre Lalman In 1963 Lalman went to Paris, where he made his first model. And already in 1864, together with the industrialists Olivier brothers and in collaboration with the carriage engineer Pierre Michaud, he began mass production of his invention. It was the carriage engineer Pierre Michaud who guessed to make the frame of a bicycle metal, all previous inventions were wooden, and according to some reports, the name “bicycle” was also invented by Michaud. Two years later, Lalman leaves for America, where he patents his invention.
Pierre Lalman with his invention 
Bicycle by Pierre Lalman In 1867, the inventor Cowper proposes successful design spoked metal wheel.
And in 1878, the English inventor Lawson introduces a chain drive into the design of a bicycle.
The very first bicycles similar to the current ones were called Rover - “Wanderer” and were made in 1884 by the English inventor John Kemp Starley. They were produced from 1885 to 2005. The bicycle, much to the surprise of those times, had a chain drive to the rear wheel and wheels of the same size.
One of the first versions of Rover - "Wanderer" 
Rover - "The Drifter" In 1888, Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop invented rubber tires. They were much more advanced than their predecessors patented in 1845. Thanks to the new rubber tires, bicycles got rid of the offensive nickname “bone shakers” and this contributed to their popularization. The 1890s were the golden age of bicycles.
Although the bicycles of that time became visually similar to modern ones, the materials from which they were made were far from ideal. Since stainless steel could not yet be welded, the frame and all metal parts were made of rusting steel and were not painted. Caring for such a bike required laborious care: cleaning, lubricating, washing with gasoline or kerosene after each ride.
At the same time, many modified versions of bicycles appeared: folding, aluminum, with different wheels, tandems, ligerad - a bicycle that can be controlled lying down.
Ligerad 
Tandem of the 20th century 
Folding bicycle 
folding bike demonstration 
Over the past hundred years, the popularity of bicycles has experienced its peaks and troughs. Starting in 1905, the popularity of bicycles began to decline due to the development of road transport. And by 1940 in America, the bicycle began to be perceived as just a toy for children. And since the late 60s, bicycles have gradually become fashionable again, thanks to propaganda healthy lifestyle life and the general awareness of the importance of environmental problems.
Below I have selected for you photos of bicycles and cyclists of past centuries. Enjoy watching.
In the matter of the invention of the bicycle, different countries are trying to appropriate this merit to themselves. Many sources reflect a variety of versions, each of which, in principle, has the right to exist.
But among this number of theories, two are still the most consistent with the truth.
Blacksmith Efim Artamonov
According to one version, the first bicycle - more precisely, a "two-wheeled cart" - appeared in Russia in 1801 thanks to the blacksmith Artamonov. Artamonov was not given a patent, although he rode about five thousand kilometers on his bicycle. The two-wheeled cart was very soon forgotten, so the generally accepted version remains the authorship of the German baron Karl von Dres.
The history of Efim Artamonov is fascinating: it is believed that this serf came to St. Petersburg in 1801 for the coronation of the emperor on an invented bicycle, and allegedly received freedom for himself and his family for such an innovative design. The bike was placed in a museum in Nizhny Tagil. 
However, there is no written confirmation, no documentary evidence that this story is not fiction. As, in fact, there are no documents confirming that the blacksmith Artamonov existed at all.
Von Drez
Assembled by von Dres in 1814, the design was called the “walking machine”. It looked like a two-wheeled scooter made of wood, without pedals, with a saddle and steering wheel. To bring the structure into action, it was necessary to push off with the feet from the ground. Baron von Dres received a patent for the invention in 1818. It was the name of the inventor that formed the basis of the term "trolley".
Baron von Dresz served in the forest administration, whose leadership, long before obtaining a patent, immediately after the demonstration of a bicycle in the city of Karlsruhe, turned out to be extremely dissatisfied with the "stupid" ingenuity of the employee. The baron was threatened with being placed under medical supervision. But in 1816, when in the middle of summer snow suddenly and more than once fell, the harvest was lost, and people were forced to slaughter cattle and horses, which had nothing to feed.
Since there was nothing else to drive, von Dres' wooden car gained serious popularity. The prince also liked the scooter, who asked the king of Bavaria to reward von Dres. Later, Drez created a meat grinder, a typewriter, and the very cart that is called a trolley. 
It is noteworthy that von Drez was eventually accused of being crazy, because a normal person would not come up with "strange things." The inventor was placed under house arrest, his property went from hand to hand, and in 1850 von Dres died in complete oblivion and extreme poverty.
From simplicity to perfection
A few decades later, in 1840, the Scotsman Kirkpatrick Macmillan improved the design invented by Drez by adding pedals. But Macmillan's work did not gain wide popularity. And only in 1853, Pierre Michaud patented a pedal drive, and also equipped a bicycle with a brake and a saddle with a spring. Such bicycles have received the caustic name "bone shakers".
Despite such a telling characteristic, races were even held on bone shakers, such as, for example, the race in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Cloud in 1868. Since 1867, spoked wheels have appeared on bicycles. Such a wheel design was proposed by a certain Cowper. In 1868, Meyer and Co. began to produce bicycles with a chain.
For a decade and a half, until 1885, spider bicycles with a huge front wheel and a small rear wheel were very popular. The large diameter of the front wheel to which the pedals were attached. Provided high speed of movement - up to 30 kilometers per hour.
The disadvantage of this bike was poor stability - the structure overturned at the slightest bump in the road. Another stage in the history of the bicycle is a chain drive with gears of different diameters. The model was called "kangaroo". 
The Scotsman John Dunlop equipped the bicycle with a pneumatic tire: he simply put a rubber hose on the wheel and filled it with water, and later he came up with the idea of filling the hose with air and closing the hole with a special valve. Over time, bicycles have been constantly improved, becoming lighter, more maneuverable, more comfortable.
Today we can choose the most different variants- ladies' and men's models, road and mountain, with and without gear shifting. Tandems and tricycles, children's bikes and complex designs designed for several people are all relatively affordable and great fun for people.
"Don't reinvent the wheel!" - surely you have heard this phrase more than once and even pronounce it yourself. When they say this, they usually want to emphasize the simplicity of the matter, when any deviations only complicate, but in no way speed up its process. But, paradoxically, we know very little about the invention of the bicycle. For example, do you know in what year the bicycle was invented? Most likely no. Who invented the first bicycle? Don't know either? Then our article is for you!
As the famous saying goes, it's never too late to learn. And it's not a shame not to know something, it's a shame not to want to learn something new. Therefore, we will talk about a very simple and very complex device at the same time - a bicycle.
Who first invented the bicycle?
We hasten to immediately debunk one common myth. The bicycle was not invented by Leonardo da Vinci. The famous drawing, which allegedly belongs to the brush of Leonardo, in fact, is not.
Also, the legend that the bicycle was invented by the peasant Artamonov, and that it is still kept in one of the museums of Nizhny Tagil, has not found any confirmation.
In fact, the bicycle, in the modern sense of the word, was not invented immediately. His improvement went through at least 3 stages.
In 1817, German professor Baron Karl von Dresz invented something like a scooter. It consisted of 2 wheels and was called the "Walking Machine" by the author. And later, compatriots called this scooter a trolley (in honor of the inventor Drez). In 1818, Baron Carl von Drez patented his invention. When the scooter became known in the UK, it was nicknamed the "dandy horse". In 1839-1840, in a small town in the south of Scotland, the blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan improved the walking machine by adding pedals and a saddle to it. McMillan's bike was very similar to modern bike. The pedals had to be pushed, they in turn rotated the rear wheel, and the front could be turned using the steering wheel. For reasons unknown to us, Kirkpatrick Macmillan's invention remained little known and was soon forgotten.
In 1862, Pierre Lalman decided to add pedals to the "dandy horse" (Pierre did not know anything about Macmillan's invention). And in 1863 he realized his idea. Many people consider his product to be the world's first bicycle, and Lalman, respectively, the creator of the first bicycle.
Question "Who invented the first bicycle?" invariably gives rise to another, no less interesting “When was it invented?” 1817 can also be considered the year of the invention of the bicycle, the year the "walking machine" was invented, and 1840, and 1862. But there is another date associated with the invention of the bicycle - 1866, when Lalman's bicycle was patented.
Since then, the bike has improved every year. The materials from which the bicycle is made, the design itself, as well as the diameters and ratios of the dimensions of the wheels, have changed. However, the essentially modern bicycle is not much different from Lalman's bicycle.
Where was the bicycle invented?
If we assume that the first bicycle was invented by Pierre Lalman, then France is considered the birthplace of the bicycle. However, the Germans are used to believing that the bicycle was invented in their homeland. In part, this is also true, because if it were not for the invention of Baron Karl von Dres, it would not have occurred to Lalman 
improve it.
But don't forget about Scotland. The prototype of the bicycle, designed by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, in fact, was not much different from the invention of Pierre Lalman.
This expression has firmly entered our lexicon. When they say it, they mean useless work on the creation of something that has long been known to everyone. Expressions of this kind are used in many countries. But, interestingly, the mention of a bicycle is typical only for post-Soviet countries. And why do we have such a love for bicycles?
Scientists still cannot determine the exact date when the history of creation began. Some researchers claim that sketches depicting similar vehicles can be seen among the bas-reliefs of the tombs of ancient Egypt and the frescoes of Pompeii. Other versions date the age of the two-wheeled vehicle to the 16th century. But in the absence of irrefutable evidence, these ideas remain hypotheses.
Bicycle birthday
Officially, the history of the creation of a bicycle began on June 12, 1816. On this day, the inhabitants of German Baden were quite surprised to see an unusual phenomenon. The respected and well-known Baron Karl Drez rode through the streets of the city on a strange vehicle, consisting of two wheels located one after the other and a steering mechanism. It was powered by the legs of the rider, pushing off the ground every few meters. The speed of an unusual scooter was about 10 km / h. An original copy of the first rover can still be seen in the Karlsruhe Museum.
The first factory and other milestones in the history of the creation of a bicycle
Drez's model was subsequently relentlessly improved. In chronological order, the achievements were as follows:
- In 1839, Thomas McCall made an attempt to improve the quality of the product by making a tricycle and equipping it with a system of pedals and pushers.
- 1845 Front wheel drive was invented by Gottlieb Millius and Philipp Fischer.
- 1861 The first of them to build a bicycle that most closely matches modern models were Pierre and Ernest Michaud. Their model had pedals above the front wheel axle. The model became very popular. In the same year, the Michauds opened a bicycle factory, which produced from three to five machines a day.
- 1868 The French company "Mayer" has launched mass production of bicycles with rear-wheel drive, which is familiar today.
- 1888 Veterinarian John Dunlopp patented pneumatic tires. The idea came to him when he watched his son ride a bicycle with wooden wheels. His invention made the driving process more convenient and added speed to the two-wheeled car.
- 1914 - present. The design of the frame and drive has been improved many times, adding new aerodynamic qualities to the bike. And now, 212 years after the first departure of the invention of Baron Drez, a world record was recorded. Sam Whittingham on a bicycle Varna Diablo II was able to accelerate to 132.5 km / h.
Hoaxes in the history of the creation of a bicycle
In historical chronicles, you can see many myths about the first creators of two-wheeled vehicles, for example:
- Sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. The fact that the sketch contains chain drive and a ball bearing, which did not exist in the 15th century. In addition, the paper was "found" only in 1973, which suggests an attempt to falsify a document of historical value.
- Efim Artamonov. For a long time it was believed that the Ural serf craftsman created a bicycle in 1800 and even made a run of 2 thousand miles on it. The product was then kept in the Local Lore Museum of Nizhny Tagil. With the development of modern methods of analysis, a new study was carried out. In fact, the age of Artamonov's work turned out to be much less. The item was made no earlier than 1870.
I love cycling very much. It's so cool to pick up speed and feel the wind whistle in your ears. Or the distance from home to the stadium, which usually takes half an hour to overcome in a few minutes. And I have always been interested in the question: "What is the history of the creation of a bicycle?" Now I will tell you about it.
It seems that there is no simpler invention in the world. After all, it is not for nothing that the expression “ no need to reinvent the wheel”, that is, to invent something known to everyone. But people for a long time did without them. It is believed that in 1801 the Ural blacksmith Yefim Artamonov built the world's first bicycle with wheels, pedals and handlebars. From the Urals, he came to Moscow and there his bike ended up in the Tsar's museum of rarities and was forgotten. But there are still disputes whether this event actually happened or is it a historical tale.
In 1815 German Baron Carl von Drez came up with a device that he called the "running machine". But this name did not take root and they began to call it "trolley", in honor of the baron. The trolley looked like a two-wheeled scooter with a steering wheel and without pedals, with a wooden frame and could develop a good speed for that time.
This invention is a delight! Imagine, at a time when the main transport was a cart drawn by horses, suddenly it becomes possible to move quickly on your own. True, this contraption was set in motion with the help of legs walking along the ground, which is why the riders quickly wore out their boots.
But when in the 60s of the 19th century master Pierre Lalman, making baby strollers, screwed pedals to the front wheel, industrialists became interested in his invention. They began producing a large number of bicycles, and even with a metal frame, which replaced the wooden one. It was from this moment that the history of the bicycle began.
Then bicycle designers decided to increase the front saddle to two meters. The rear was 30 centimeters. Such bicycles were called "spiders". A large number of customer injuries forced the creators of this miracle to add a third rear wheel, otherwise it was too dangerous to ride such a bike and fall high. To attract buyers, competitions were arranged on the "spiders". Newspapers of those years wrote: "It takes the strength of an elephant and the agility of a monkey to handle these bikes."
But bicycles really became popular when an Englishman Thomson invented tires s, and the Dunlop veterinarian found what to make them from. He cut off a piece of watering hose and pulled it over the rim. But they did not pump air into the tire, but used water, which made the bike very heavy.
Imagine that all this time the bikes had no brakes. They were invented only at the end of the 19th century. It would be interesting to see how the cyclists stopped?
And at the beginning of the last century appeared the first gearshift mechanism. But to use it, you had to stop, remove the chain, unscrew the rear wheel, turn it over again and put on the chain!
The production of bicycles served push and to build cars and planes. After all, many technologies developed for the production of its parts began to be used in the production of these complex mechanisms. And a number of today's well-known automobile companies began as bicycle ones.
Bicycles became less popular when cars appeared. They were considered one of the main obstacles on the road. But today, bicycles have again become a favorite mode of transport. Firstly, it is good for health, and the environment is not littered, and in city traffic jams they will give odds to anyone.
This is interesting:
First trip around the world cycling 125 years ago was very difficult. It lasted three years, because the bike at that time had a huge front wheel and no tires.
The world speed record for a bicycle is 268 kilometers per hour. But don't be surprised high score: and the track was especially prepared, and even in front of the cyclist there was a car that cut through the air flow.
