  thumb|225px|velocipedes from an 1887 german encyclopedia thumb|right|225px|1880 velocipede  thumb|european "boneshaker" bicycle, circa 1868. thumb|left|thomas mccall in 1869 on his velocipede velocipede (; latin for "fast foot") is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. the most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. the term was coined by frenchman nicÃ©phore niÃ©pce in 1818 to describe his version of the laufmaschine, which was invented by the german karl drais in 1817. the term "velocipede" is today, however, 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. == history == 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 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 vÃ©locipÃ¨de (french), a swiftwalker, a dandy horse (as it was very popular among dandies) or a hobby horse. it was made entirely of wood and had no practical use except on a well-maintained pathway in a park or garden. the term "velocipede" was coined in 1818 by nicÃ©phore niÃ©pce to describe his own "improved" version of the drais laufmaschine, that included an adjustable saddle. it was, however, 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 
1817_introductions Cycle_types