The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1905-09-27

pictured by many as being driven
speedily along the Roman roads,
crushing beneath them the forms of
the common and lowly subjects of the
Empire. 1t remained for the rich Of
the modern world, however, to
develop great speed, and still greater
speed from some self-propelled vehicle.
While to some poor inventor might be
ascribed the origin of our "Speed-toys,"
still the world owes to the rich every
advance made, through their financial
encouragement
The Earliest Bicycle.
At about the time when the Thirteen
Original Colonies were ringing with
shouts of freedom, a French balloonist,
named Blanchard, invented what was
known as a ''straddle-wheeI' for his
own amusement This was nothing
more than two wheels connected by
simple framework, with no pedals. The
rider straddled the machine and
pushed it along with his feet, or
coasted down grade. The handles of
Paris and London took up this toy and
had great sport with it, but it was too
hard work and the speed was not great
enough
Following this, in about 1923, Cug-
not, Frenchman, and Trevithick, an
Englishman, and Oliver Evans, an
American, experimental with a sort
of carriage propelled by steam. Moth
ing so fast had ever been seen, and the
carriage became quite the fashion with
gentlemen who had money to spend
and whose aim in life was enjoyment.
But these carriages were noisy, clumsy
and very dirty affairs and were dis
carded.
The Wheel of the Last Century.
The bicycle with the high wheel in
front and little wheel behind came
next, and being fairly comfortable,
speedy. clean and creating no noise
quickly sprang into fashion, but there
was always an element of danger to
the "speed-seekers" through concealed
stones in the path, which meant a
header. so that something even more
speedy and safe was called for.
The safety bicycle was an evolution
coming some twenty years later,
whose high price at first placed it as a
luxury much to be desired. Bicycles
were for a long time placed in the
same category as pianos and carriages,
lough they were of little use other
than for pleasure. The safety was,
asEits name implied, safe. swift and
noiseless. BY 1895 the bicycle boom
rose beyond any proportions assumed
by the previously demanded speed
tovs. In the United States four hun
dred factories, representing capital
of something like $75,000,O0O, turned
out nearly million machines a year.
Half Mile a Minute too Slow.
The fad lasted five years, when a
demand arose for something even
faster than the speed of mile in two
Minutes or so, attained by the bicy-
cle and a more comfortable seat than
fhat afforded on the bicycle frame.
Inventors were already at work. and
vhile ii may not be true that out of
he bicycle developed the automobile,
ret the two-wheeled conveyance, with
rs pneumatic tires, created the
demand for something better.
Men like w. X. Vanderbilt, Jr.,
Iohn jacob Astor. and Albert G.
R0stwick were among the pioneers
inlAmerica to bring over from Europe
me speed toys Of the rich. and their
mdchines were the targets for thou
sands of pairs of eyes in the streets
of New York
"A Mile in Thirty Seconds.
When one of these men made a
scord Of mile in something like IS