BI'CYCLE ( Lat. his, twice Gk. daos, kyklos, circle, wheel). A name given to the spe cial form of man-motor machine which was intro duced into England about 1873 and the United States in 1877, and was t he immediate forerunner of the modern bicycle. This early and now obso lete bicycle was a skeleton vehicle consisting pri marily of two tandem wheels, the forward one and 'driver' being very much larger than the other: hence arose the familbir moue, 'the wheel,' which is also applied. though less appropriately, to the machine of to-day, which was first known as a 'safety bicycle,' in which the two wheels are of the same diameter. Within tell years the bicycle leaped into public favor by enormous bounds, and for a while its use became well-nigh universal in the United States, and as a natural consequence its manufaeture developed into a vast industry. Its popularity, however, has re •ently greatly declined.
The history of eyeling, as a popular pastime at least. might justifiably he assumed to begin with the advent of the English high-wheel bicycle in 1873: hut, in order to trace the evolution of the machine from its eonception, we have to go back to a period more than half a century ear lier. About the year 1816 Baron von Drais de vised a vehicle to assist him in the performance of his daily duties as chief forester to the Grand Duke of Baden. This machine, which was named `draisine,' after the inventor, and was exhibited and patented in Prance shortly afterwards, is claimed to have been a rudimentary bicycle. It Was, composed of two tandem wheels of equal size, cbonnected by a perch, on which the rider partly sat, propelling it by thrusting with his feet upon the ground. and guiding it by a bar connected with the front wheel, and provided with a rest for the arms. In 1891 a handsome monument was erected in memory of the 'Father of the Bicycle' over his grave at Karlsruhe. the ex penses of which were borne exclusively by bicy clists. An improved form of appeared in England in 1818, and was patented by Denis dohnson, under the name of %Johnson's Pedes trian Currienle." This machine was very popular for a short time, but as soon as it acquired the suggestive titles of 'hobby horse' and 'dandy it rapidly fell into disuse. In June, 1819,
the eurriele was patented in the United States. by Win. K. Clarkson. but failed to arouse more than a languid interest. The next progressive step in the improvement of this novel vehicle was made by Louis Gumpertz in England in 1821. The rider was still obliged to thrust with his legs as before, but there was placed in front of the body-rest a lever connected with a segment rack, gearing in a pinion on the front wheel, which could thus be driven by the hands. This machine, however, did little to retard the waning popularity of the 'hobby horse,' and the con trivance was practically allowed to sink into oblivion for nearly a quarter of a century. Until very recently it was supposed that nothing of the character of a bicycle was produced until the appearance of the velocipede in I S66, but in 1892 the fact was revealed that a Scotchman named Kirkpatrick McMillan applied driving levers to a machine of the draisine type about 1340, and four or five years later another Scotchman. one Gavin Dalzell, actually produced a rear-driving 'safety,' on which he was able to travel ten or twelve miles an hour. This remarkable vehicle is thus described by an eye-witness who wrote to the Bicycling Yews in 1892: "The rear wheel— the driver—is of wood, shod with iron. about 40 inches in diameter, and has twelve spokes. The front wheel is of similar construction, but only of about 30 inches in diameter. . . . The main frame resembles the 'dip' pattern, the de sign of which is applied in an extended form to ladies' safeties. . . . The action obtained is not rotary, being a downward and forward thrust with return, the feet describing a small segment of a circle. That the gearing, which constitutes the chief wonder to the critical and historical reader, was actually on the machine while ridden by Dalzell, is proved by the re ceipted accounts of the blacksmith, John Leslie, who made all the ironwork used in its construc tion." Ilere then was the modern safety bicycle.