History of the Bicycle

And Its Impact on American

Culture and the Automobile

History of the Bicycle

1500: First drawing of a bicycle by
Leonardo da Vinci
1816: Draisine, Germany
1863: Velocipede, France, Pierre
Lallement
1869: Velocipede, America, William van
Anden (brakes, suspension, freewheel)
1870: First highwheeler, England

History of the Bicycle (contd)

1878: Col. Albert Pope copies the Duplex
Excelsior, Hartford
1880: Pope Manufacturing Co.
1880: Columbia Light Roadster safety
bicycle
1889: Dunlop pneumatic tire
1890: Womens Rights
1895: Arnold Schwinn and Co.

History of the Bicycle (contd)

1899: 60 mph
1933: Balloon tired bicycles, Schwinn B10E
1938: Schwinn Paramount
1941: 108 mph
1957: Middleweight bicycles, Schwinn
Corvette

History of the Bicycle (contd)

1960: Schwinn Varsity 8 speed
1963: Muscle Bikes
Corvette, Stingray, Super Sport,
Continental, Fastback, Speedster

Early Area Bicycle Manufacturers

1896 Albany
1898 Amity
1896 Berkshire Special

1896 Atlas
1893 Bradley Chainless
1898 The D+H
1898 Rensselaer

R.H. Rube
Wm. Beattie
Berkshire Cycle Co.

Albany, NY
Cohoes, NY
N. Adams,
MA
Farnsworth and Wilson Amsterdam,NY
Machinery
Bradley Chainless
Albany, NY
Bicycle Co.
Budd Brothers Mfg.
Glens Falls,NY
Erwin Mfg. Co.
Greenbush,NY

Some Other Well Known Bicycle

Manufacturers
These are regional companies that no
longer produce bicycles:
Rollfast: Little Falls, NY
Columbia: Westfield, MA

Some Present Day New York

Bicycle Manufacturers
Serotta: Saratoga, NY
Vicious Cycles: New Paltz, NY
FBM: Binghampton, NY

Bicycles and America

The bicycle literally paved the way for the
automobile. Cyclist associations
organized public support for paving roads
in Britain, continental Europe and the U.S.
(Ref. 4)

1890s: A petition to Congress by the

League of American Wheelmen resulted in
the Office of Road Inquiry

Bicycles and America

1890s: Womens Rights
1896: Susan B. Anthony told The New
York Worlds Nellie Bly that bicycling had
done more to emancipate women than
anything else in the world. (Ref. 1)
Cycling required a more practical, rational
form of dress, and large billowing skirts
and corsets started to give way to
bloomers. (Ref.1)

Bicycles and America

1895: Frances Willard, a leading suffragist,
in writing why she decided to learn how to
ride at age 53: she wanted to help women
to a wider worldfrom natural love of
adventure a love long hampered and
impededand from a love of acquiring
this new implement of power and literally
putting it underfoot. (Ref. 1)

Bicycles and the Automobile

Bicycle Technology
Pneumatic Tires
John Dunlop patent 1889

Roller Chain
Differential
Tangent Spoked Wheel
See the Ford Quadricycle

Ball Bearings
Aerodynamics

Bicycles and the Automobile

Bicycle Technology (contd.)
Drum and caliper-disc brakes
Bendix-Elmira, N.Y.

Materials Technology (Ref. 4)

Thin-walled, seamless drawn-steel tubing

Brazing
Electric welding
Heat treatment and case-hardening steel

Bicycles and the Automobile

1896-1900: Arnold Schwinn and Co. builds
4 prototype cars
1896: Ford Quadricycle, two bicycles side
by side, two cylinder engine (Ref. 2)
1898-1900: The Duryeas, bicycle
manufacturers in the 1880s and 1890s
start automobile companies
1900: Rambler Bicycles Co. started, went
on to become the Rambler Car Co.

Bicycles and the Automobile

Some European bicycle manufacturers
that became automobile manufacturers:
(Ref. 3)

Morris
Peugeot
Opel
Sunbeam
Triumph

Bicycles and the Automobile

Bicycle mechanics become automobile
mechanics
The knowledge, experience, and even tools of the
bicycle mechanic easily transferred to work on these
types of automobiles. This translation took physical
form in the Young and Company automobile garage
in Riverside, California. Cornelius Young ran two
businesses at the corner of Orange Street and Eighth
Street: an automobile garage at 768 Orange Street
and a bicycle shop at 587 Eighth Street. The two
properties joined in a common shop at the rear,
where Young could work on either automobiles or
bicycles. (Ref. 5)

Conclusions
The early history of the automobile and
airplane have direct ties to the bicycle
The rise of the automobile led to the
decline of the bicycle
The decline of the bicycle continues in
India and China
Environmental and energy issues may
lead to the return of the bicycle

References

Ref.1: www.annielondonderry.com/womenwheels.html
Ref.2: Lacy, Robert; Ford, The Men and the Machine
Ref. 3: St. Pierre, Roger; The Book of the Bicycle
Ref. 4: McMahon, C.J. and Graham, C.D.; Introduction to
Engineering Materials: The Bicycle and the Walkman
Ref. 5: Borg, Kevin; Auto Mechanics: Technology and Expertise in
Twentieth-Century America