Anderson Military Bicycle
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
notes: label: Description
content: James C. Anderson of Highland Park, Illinois was granted patent number 633745 on September 26, 1899 for a military bicycle. This bicycle was donated to the Smithsonian in 1929. It is apparently the only bicycle of its kind, and was probably built for James C. Anderson, the patent holder, by a local machinist. In spite of the quality of the workmanship, this is a most awkward machine, and those accustomed to riding conventional cycles find it almost impossible to balance. Anderson, of Highland Park Illinois, was granted Patent number 633,745 for a "military bicycle" on 26 September 1899. Subsequently such a machine was built, following closely but not exactly the drawings of the patent application.
label: Description
content: The application describes “A machine for personal locomotion, propelled wholly by the human body, whether used for transportation in of the rider only or for the, additional service of a carrier, especially for carrying the necessary equipments of a soldier, it is not only desirable that the machine should be compact and small as possible, but it should, as it were, fit the rider mounted thereon in an upright soldierly position, which position is manifestly best suited to the human anatomy and best conserves the human force of the body in propelling the machine, as well as in maintaining the proper equilibrium." In other words, the articulation of the body of the rider and of the machine should compensate each other, and in such a wheel it is also desirable that the rider should be able to mount in front and when occasion requires to dismount forwardly or in the direction of the motion of the wheel, and hence it is important that his movements should not be obstructed by the usual arrangement of handlebars in front of him.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of James C. Anderson, through Russell A. Conn
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.309686
label: catalog number
content: 309686
label: accession number
content: 107860
label: patent number
content: 633745
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Bicycle
label: Object Name
content: dispatch rider’s bicycle
label: Other Terms
content: Bicycle; Road; Army