DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHWAY TRAVEL MITMAN 339 



period, Starley and Sutton, Lawson, Singer, and Humber were 

 quietly going ahead with the development of the low-wheeled, chain- 

 driven bicycle. Then in 1885, Starley and Sutton invented and 

 introduced the " Rover ", which embodied most of the features of 

 the present-day bicycle. This machine is generally recognized as 

 the one which settled once and for all the superiority of the safety 

 arrangement as over against the high-wheel type. Cyclists in Amer- 

 ica at first were rather loath to adopt it, but after 1890, following 

 J. B. Dunlap's successful application of pneumatic tires to bicycle 

 wheels which he patented in 1888-89, high-wheel machines rapidly 

 disappeared. In subsequent years inventors in Europe and the 

 United States added many refinements to the " safety ", all of which 

 enhanced the immense popularity which it enjoyed. By 1896 there 

 were 4,000,000 riders in the United States and in 1898 the 250 

 bicycle manufacturers made and sold over 600,000 machines. There- 

 after production and use declined in favor of the automobile, but in 

 1933 production had again climbed almost to the 1898 record. 



Although the bicycle was and still is primarily a vehicle for 

 recreation rather than for highway travel, it played a very impor- 

 tant part in hastening the advent of the practically successful auto- 

 mobile. Not only was the bicycle manufactory the preparatory 

 school of the automobile craftsman, but also many of the funda- 

 mental parts of the automobile were invented and developed by the 

 cycle industry, including the differential and free-wheel clutch (for 

 tricycles) ; the steering mechanism (for tandem ^">' cycles) ; wire- 

 spoked wheels; and adjustable ball-bearings and roller bearings. 

 Again, it was due to Dunlap's untiring efforts to provide his son with 

 an easier riding bicycle that the pneumatic tire was perfected. And 

 lastly, it was due to the agitation of the formidable host of members 

 of the League of American Wheelmen that brought about improved 

 methods of mending old roads and the construction of many miles 

 of good, new roads. 



V 



Considering regularity of operation, comfort, and speed, it may 

 be said that the peak of development of public highway travel in 

 horse-drawn vehicles was attained in Europe early in the nineteenth 

 century. The regular and speedy transportation of the mails was 

 of prime importance, and on the Royal Mail coach was heaped 

 all the accumulated experience of coachmakers and wheelwrights to 

 make that vehicle worthy of its hire. As a result, mail coaches with 

 4 to 6 passengers made daily and weekly runs with numerous changes 

 of horses en route in the phenomenal time of 8 miles an hour. 



Very shortly after the introduction of these fully developed 

 coaches there appeared two entirely new kinds of vehicles, neither 



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