Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-06-13
FATHER OF THE 'iWREEL."
Sketch Of the Inventor Of the BIZ
cycle.
Our Regular Weekly Resume of Outdoor
Sporting Events in this City
and Vicinity.
The Bicycle.

How very true Il Is tna1 the SuIuos Vi
some great invention often receives but
little return for his work is we'll illustrated
in the career of Pierre Lallement. To him
Era the hundreds otthousands ofcycIists iu-
debled for the pleasure they derive from
their favorits sport. He was the first to
discover that a velocipsde having bat two
poin's Of support could be steadily and
cautiously ridden, aud was the frat to fol-
low up his experiment with Improvements
aud to incite the confidence of others that
the bicycle was vehicle of practical value
While others VINO have taken advantage OF
the invention have reaped fortunes. Lslls'
meut has reaped nothing. To-day he lie
mechanic in the repair shop of the Pope
Manufacturing Company. where he works
industrlously at the trade he learned
in his youth, and. with the buoy
ant spirits of Frenchmsn,is apparently AZ
happy as if he was in possession OF the Tor
tune which is his rightiul desert, Heis
plain, intelligent mechanic, of about mid
die height, and speaking the English Ian
guage but brokeuly. Though quiet IN de
mesnor be is quick in thought and acton;
BE ia still an active rider of the bicycle and
ia az enthusiastic in his love OF the sport as
ever. 10 his present position he sill con-
tinues adding improvements to the bicycle
and tricycle., aud, though not generally
known, many of the LITTLE convenlences
and additions to the machines 80 frequent
" placed upon the market are the result. OF
his inventive brain.
Pierre Lsllement was born October 20,
l843, at Pout q Mousson, in the east OF
France. At the age Of l9 he he went from
his village home to Paris where he found
employment with manufacturer OF baby
carriages. Lsllement had seen the aborlg'
inal two.whesled velocipede contrived by
the Baron Won Brais, which was pa
eptsd in 1916 1t was used to some extent
in America and on one Charles Sumner,
id his yellow waistcoat has disported him
self. This machine was waiting for q
crsnked axle and pedals to make 1t We
hicle, but no one but Lallement was able
TO devise q way of accomplishing this DE
conceived bis bicycle in 1852 and worked
it out as his circumstances would per
NIT, his struggles with it extend
ing to 1866. He was very
poor, and it was only after great exertion
that he contrived 10 construct rough
model of his machine. There were axles
and bearings braces from the rear axle to
the perch, front forks and cranks, and
forged socket fitted to the perch, and spin.
die aud handle bars. The handles were OF
wood, and the first pedals were round spools
of wood; afterwards hs made pair OF ped
ais OF square wooden pieces, With sheehron
on top, and secure for the feet to come
against and weight for the bottom,
shaped like an acorn, to keep them up
right. A seat was placed nearly midway
between the wheelover the perch. After be-
striding 1t ons could tough the floor on
either side with his foot. Itrequired long
practice aud much patience to learn to ride
the machine. but he conquered at last and
rode upon the public boulevards to the
amusement Of the people He endesVored
to improve his maehine, but having no as
distance other than from the small salary
he received it was difficult matter to
work up new enterprise. He began work
On a new machine but he did not finish 1t
il France. :,
In 1855 he came to america and sound
employment at Ansonis Conn. He had
brought portions OF his bicycle with him,
and in the fall Of 1865 had completed his
machine. He was soon able to take long
rides about the country, and one occasion,
while speeding down a hill, ran into Wsg-
on, and took the first header ever IN.
dulged in bys cyclist. In the spring of 1866
Lsllement at last found man willing to
advance the money necessary for obtaining
q patent and to take seltinterest. On
May 4 his specifications. model and draw
ings were flied in the United States patent
Office, making the lsst PUBLIC record OF the
bicycle in the world. But neither ne nor
Mr.. Carroll had resources Tor working the
invention and introducing II into pubhc
favor: nor was Lsllement able to secure
The means to make it profitable even for
some months after the patent was granted.
he had brought his bicycle to a degree OF
practical success, induced some to try IT,
patented it, siddea i even from New haven
TO Aasonis, tried American temper anu
capital and after all returned to Paris
apparently as far from fortune as when he
left.
LGllemant I'D not again see his machine
for about fourteen years. The original
velocipede ia now in the possession OF Pope
Manufacturing Company.
When Lslltme ut returned to Paris he
found other mechanics repeating his ex.
periments. In 1868 they we're widely used
in France and lev taken to England,
which country later sustched the trade
from France ana America, and sent the
bicycle nearly around the world. An i'm.
menss business was soon developed, and
France was supplying other countries at
the price per machine Of 500 and up
wards. In the meantime the construction
of bicycles increased with rapidity in
America, though at first the art wss pur
sued more on the stsge, by the Hsnlons
and others, and in the shops and riuks, aud
Lallemeut's patent became valuable. The
half interest of Mr.. Carroll was purchased
bp New York maker, who later also pur'
chased Lsllement's interest, paying him
10000 francs This was large sum tor
Lslleuent, and enabled him to stick out
well in his business at Paris. 1t was the
only direct pecuniary benefit he ever re.
csived from his invention. The patent ex
PRED in 1889, and the trade is now held on
patents subsequent to his.
NOTES.
Joe L. Rhees is at work on q 25x3l can
vas in oil representing a party Of wheel
mea on the road.
Mr.. c. R. Overman, Of the Overmsn
Wheel Co., was in the city last week in
the interest of his bicycles and tricycles.
he made many friends while here and the
boys pronounce him a good fellow.
The beautiful moonlight nights bring
the boys ont in round numbers. The run
out east over the National pike is the
fsVorite.