CATALOG OF THE CYCLE COLLECTION 

 OF THE DIVISION OF ENGINEERING, 

 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



By Smith Hempstone Oliver 



INTRODUCTION 



The bicycle, perhaps the most widely known form of mechanical 

 transportation in the world today, has been with us for approximately 

 a century and a half, and today is used for transportation, recrea- 

 tion, and business in nearly every part of the world. To the American 

 as he first sets foot in Europe this widespread use is startling. Accus- 

 tomed at home to seeing the automobile completely outnumber the 

 bicycle, he finds the streets in foreign cities teeming with bicycles 

 as workers pedal between home and work in the early morning and 

 late afternoon. 



It is stated that a Frenchman, de Sivrac, constructed a crude form 

 of bicycle in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Called a 

 "celerifere," it consisted of a rough wooden bar supported on two 

 wheels and carrying a padded saddle. The front fork had no swiv- 

 eling action, so the vehicle could not be steered. It was propelled 

 by the rider's striking his feet against the ground. 



About 1816, Baron von Drais constructed a similar machine, the 

 front wheel of which was mounted in a fork that could be swiveled, 

 allowing the device to be steered. His machine, known as the 

 "Draisienne*' or the "Draisine," several years later was introduced 

 into England by Denis Johnson, whose improved version had an 

 adjustable saddle, a cushioned rest for the forearms, and a different 

 arrangement of the handle bars. Known in England as the Pedes- 

 trian Curricle, the Hobby Horse, or the Dandy Horse, this form of 

 vehicle was in vogue in 1818 and for several years afterward. Con- 

 temporary lithogi-aphs show dandies practicing on the machine in 

 riding academies, as well as riding it over the open road (pi. 1). 

 It, too, was propelled by the riders striking his feet against the ground. 

 A modern facsimile of such a machine is in the collection of the 

 National Museum (pi. 7, a). 



W. K. Clarkson, Jr., of New York, obtained a United States patent 

 for a velocipede on June 26, 1819, but it is no longer known exactly 



1 



