The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-01-22
From the Chicago Times. Dec. si.l
THE VELOCIPEDE.

u
~ perfected" says an old Latin maxim
le the truth of whose application wa
b. made manifest in the early histor
=, of the velocIpede. Like all,things G
earth it had its forty wears in th
ID wilderness. 1t first made its appear
le ance in Paris and received notice +
d the following effect in the journal d
- Paris. The date of the entree wa
July y, 17S9 1t was stated that
J certain vehicle, invented by NJ. M
b Blanchard and Massurier-the for
J. mer the celebrated aeronaut-wasex
4 hibited IN rapid motion in the PIsc
=, Louis XII. on July y, 1889, in pres
ence of many members OF the Frencl
, academy and a large concourse o
e spectators. At the front of the me
chine was the head OF an eagle will
Outspread wings, 10 which was at
. tached the apparatus with which tho
| driver directed its movements. BE
hind him was seated an individual
who gave an impetus, more or less
rapid, to the machine by pressing
his feet alternately on the ground
He sat down or stood at discretion
with his legs half concealed in a soii
of box, where the springs that com
municated movement TO the machine
were evidently placed. The inventor
subsequently transported the vehicle
to Versailles. and exhibited its capa-
bilities in presence of Louis XVI,
Maria Antoinette and their court
There is nothing to show why this
experiment failed, but it is to be sup
posed that it had it's defects.
The second appearance was also
in 1908, and public exhibitions were
made of its workings in the Jardin du
Luxembourg, but without success.
At that time it was mounted on very
low wheels, and the rider had TO sup
port himself by placing his feet di-
rectly on the ground. Such mech
anism was OF course rudimentary,
and the result was that the invention
was extensively ridiculed and carica-
tured, and in these al chiyes only do
any traces of the first experiments
made with this machine in the gar
den of Luxembourg exist.
But the modern railroad locomO-
tive was also sneered at and carica-
tured, and so was the modern steam
boat. And the early inventors, who
sought to make the world wiser, were
called disc plies of the black art, and
friends ofthe devil. And more, they
were socially Ostracised they were
hooted at and stoned by the mob,
and sometimes burned at the stake
But they never ceased scheming and
planning, nor was the vel0citece to
stop here. Twenty years after its
first exhibition the velocipede resp
peared in Paris. This time, public
fur ctionary, one NJ. Drenze, perfect
ell the machine of twenty years he
fore, and again exhibited it in its
improved form. NJ. Drenze secured
the lider's point of support upon the
aXletrees To the two wheels instead
or the ground, and thus crcaiod the
actual modern velocipede. The in
ventor, who belonged To the admin
istratiOn of postoflices, also FORMED
the further idea of proposing this
machine for the use OF rural postmen,
as being OF greater availability in the
matter of speed and promptncss, and |
at the same time causing them less
fatiene. The plan was adopted, but,
unfortunately, Just in the winter sea-
son, when many difficulties existed
in the way ofloeOmotion. The wheels
slipped about in the hard sand with
out advancing, and the enterprise
was again considered a failure. At
this late day, it would have been
suggested that it was only necessary
TO iron the wheels, or suspend the
use of the vehicle during the winter
But the French Government disliked
innovation, and dropped the veloci
pede.
"Three times and OUT is The old say
ing, but not so with our subject. A
few years on, and, undiscOuraged, the
velocipede appeared third time, and
again in an altered form-this time
being a little carriage upon three
wheels, and propelled by the hands
of the rider. This machine did not
succeed on account of the difficulty
in guiding it, and the fatigue it
caused the guider. It's well-known
fact that the muscles of the legs can
be used much longer than those of
the arms, and, acting upon this hint,
all good velocipedes are so arranged
that the action of the arms is merely
complimentary to that of the legs.
This failure was the result of not
attending to this fact.
"The mills of the gods grind slow
ly, but they grind exceedingly fine.'
Science and Improvement move like 4
the tortoise, but still they move, as
Galileo said of the world. When
pebble is dropped in the water your
eye loses the ripple. But that little
splash has displaced every drop in
the stream, and the water you see
before you has been completely
changed. The velocipede as il has
been exhibited thus far was an idea
dropped into the mind, and that idea
must grow, and the mind must he
before its work ends.
In the presence of success who is SO
bold as TO laugh. Ridicule falls
harmless before the iron armor OF
And the velocipede
succeeded. Paris, where it was hoot-
ed at and frowned down, now lifts
ND the prostrate work, and the thing
despised yesterday is the idol wor
shipped to-day. 1t is the poetry of
Justice, and the two share the tri
umph. The thoroughfares Of Paris
are thronged with countless riders
on the strange creature, and the
public have warned the velocipede
that they must carry their
lanterns Oh their vehicles to avoid
accidents. The mania has spread to
all classes, and to the suburban cities
of the capital. In st. Cloud, Vim
cennes, Engheim, Pantim in Bor-
deaux, Marseilles, and the other
cities, the people are all
riding this economical species ofiron
horse, which requires no feed, har-
ness, stable, or groom to care for it.
The velocipede and velocipede
mania has reached America. 1t
struck New Orleans many years ago.
But the inhabitants ofthat benighted
buroh thought it might be the ..yel-