Rex Bicycle, 1898
date: label: date made
content: 1898
name: label: maker
content: Rex Cycle Co.
notes: label: Description
content: The Rex Cycle Company of Chicago, Illinois manufactured this three-wheel bicycle in 1898. The bicycle was designed by Bohn C. Hicks, who obtained three patents on this type of machine
label: Description
content: (patents, 557,387, 557388 and 561710) in 1896. While it might seem inconsistent to apply the term "bicycle" to a 3-wheel machine, this is not a tricycle in the usual sense of the word. The unusual construction of the Rex cycle resulted from Hicks' efforts to produce a machine "particularly adapted to absorb or minimize the shocks incident to riding over obstructions." The seat was mounted on a tube attached to pivot points on the front wheel and the rear third wheel, a design to allow the wheels to undulate over bumps with minimal jostling to the rider.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Bicycling
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Anne, Margaret, Katherine, and Nicholas Schmidt
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.333681
label: catalog number
content: 333681
label: accession number
content: 304752
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Bicycle, 3-Wheel
label: Object Name
content: bicycle, 3-wheeler
label: Other Terms
content: Bicycle, 3-Wheel; Road