The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-26
Centenary of the Bicycle, the French
 "De1dy Horse

This year marks the centenary or
 the beginning of the bicycle, as it was
 in 1915 that mankind first began it's
 travels astride a machine of two
 wheels. The original home of the b1-
 cycle is in France. In the latter part
 of the eighteenth century several
 French inventors turned their atten=
 ton to the problems connected with
 this mode of locomotfon. Blanchard,
 the pioneer aeronaut,, who visited America. and made the first ascent in a balloon on this continent, contrived
 a sort of veIocipede, but it was con- sidered as only an amusing toy.
 Nicephore Niepce, Baron won Drais,
 and other inventors built velocipedes. about a. century ago, and on May 26, 1915, according to a French work on l the subject, the dandy horse" made its appearance on the streets of Paris. ''Draisena, a machine called a velocipede,'' was the description. ap- piled to the invention of Baron von Drais, but the early bicycles were. popularly called dandy horses. Rid ing on this novel mechanical steed
 was very popular for a time in France l The two wheels of the dandy horse were of equal size, connected by a bar, on which a saddle was placed, and stride of which the rider sat. In l appearance it was somewhat similar, l to the modern ttsafety," but the inn petus was given by the riders feet touching the ground, alternately pushing and being raised. Propulsion | by pulling levers with the hand or 1 treading with the feet was next at
 tempted, but not with any great meas
 ure of success. The velocipedes oper- ated with the feet usually had three | wheels. On account of the labor in | volved, it never became popular. The ] modern bicycle is an adoption of the two wheels of equal size as used in l ,5r, 0f l gearing up used in the tricycle..
 The dandy horse and other early 1 developments of the bicycle soon I languished, and it was not until 1861
 that bicycles and tricycles again came l into use About that time the old 1 fashioned high wheel or 'fboneshaker' 1 gained wide favor in Europe, and in 1 the early ,7Os it was introduced into | the United States and Canada As in 1 the earlier development of the ttfwheeI," ]" France was the pioneer A l number of the 'sboneshakers" were I exhibited at the centennial exposition in PhiIa adeIphiat in 1876. David Stan ton, Frank w. Weston, William M 1 Wright and A. D. Chandler were among the American pioneers of the bicycle. The wheeling fever of l Americans started in Boston. where the first bicycle club was organized and the pioneer American bicycle dealer started in business.
 l 1h6 eDlCycl6 11SslQIS1CEUI1nS industry in America had it's beginning in the early sos. The first distinctive Amer fican bicycle was put on the, market in l18S1 It had the big wheel of the English and French machines, but 1 with the little wheel in front instead
 of behind, and was driven by lever
 and clutch action instead of by cranks The tricycle., or three-wheel-
 ed machine, was the next American
 type of veIocipede.N Soon afterward l the dwarf or safety bicycle came
 into use, but 1t had a, hard fight to
 win supremacy over the high bicycle
 The invention of pneumatic tires in
 1888 started the bicycle craze in
 earnest, and in the sos the whole
 world was cycling mad. Gradually
 the craze subsided and was supp1ant-
 ed by motoring in the popular fancy
 and the bicycle became an object ot
 utility. As such it has held it's owr
 among that large class of people if l nancially unable to own automobiles