Velocipede

The velocipede was a series of human-powered vehicles created in the Victorian age. There were designs with two, three and four wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs used treadles and levers to drive the rear wheels. Later two-wheel versions had increasingly large front wheels, directly driven by bicycle pedals, and a smaller back wheel—these leading to the penny-farthing. This invention was made by Walter Hunt.

The two-wheeled velocipede sometimes called the boneshaker was invented in the early 1860s in France. The Michaux company was the first to mass-produce the velocipede, from 1867 to 1870. It cost $100 in 1870, making it unaffordable to the working classes.

The dandy horse was a similar vehicle, but without pedals and also sometimes called a velocipede.

Patents

* -- "Velocipede" (reissued as RE7972)

ee also

* Balance bicycle
* Bicycle
* Karl Drais
* Draisine
* Dandy horse
* Quadricycle
* Tricycle

External links

* [http://www.thevelocipede.com/ The Velocipede Museum, Old New Castle, Delaware USA]
* [http://currierandives.net/TheVelocipede/ 19th century picture of a Velocipede supposedly outrunning a horse]
* [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M975.62.72?Lang=1&accessnumber=M975.62.72/ Musée McCord Museum Gallery "A Race on the Ice - Bicycles v. Skates"]