David Toppin wrote:
> Does everybody know Baron von Drais was?
Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn??? The German Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn invented the "Laufmaschine" or "Running Machine", a type of pre-bicycle. The steerable Laufmaschine was made entirely of wood and had no pedals; a rider would push his/her feet against the ground
to make the machine go forward. Sauerbronn's bicycle was first exhibited in Paris on April 6, 1818.
and In 1817 among the forests near central Germany a new kind of bike was
created by Baron Karl von Drais. The bicycle was wooden with two wheels, a seat and handle bars. It was the fastest thing of its time with speeds of 10 miles per hour. The hard part about the bicycle was
that it was without pedals. One would use their feet and push while the wheels rolled on the ground. Drais' machine was patented on the 12th of January 1818 in Baden.
The new vehicle was called the "Draisiennes". The first demonstration
of the Draisiennes was April 5, 1818. It went very poorly as a result
of the shabby presentation made by the hired presenter.
The Draisiennes were used for enjoyment just like the roller coster and ferris wheel. Also the bicycles were not ridden by the aristocrats. The machine was copied many times because it wasn't patented throughout all of Germany and France.
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Karl Drais (April 29, 1785 \u2013 December 10, 1851) was a German inventor
and invented the Laufmaschine ("running machine"), also later called the velocipede, draisine (English) or "draisienne" (French), or nick- named, dandy horse. This incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle and meant the beginning of mechanized personal transport. He also invented an early stenograph machine.
Karl Drais was born in Karlsruhe, with the aristocratic title Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Christian Ludwig, Baron Drais von Sauerbronn, but as he was a democrat, he did not use his title. His father was the chief judge of Baden, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Drais. His mother was Margarete Ernestine von Kaltenthal. The Margrave of Baden at that time, Carl Friedrich von Baden, was one of Karl's godfathers.
From 1803 to 1805, Drais studied architecture, agriculture and physics at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg.
He joined the civil service as forestry official and in 1810 received
the title of a chief forest ranger, but was not yet assigned an adequate position. One year later he was suspended from active service, but continued to receive his salary so that he could devote more time to his inventions.
Drais' most influential invention was the velocipede, the earliest form of a two-wheeler - without pedals. His first reported ride from Mannheim to Rheinau (now a section of Mannheim) took place on June 12, 1817. In the same year, he undertook a second trip from Gernsbach
to Baden-Baden.
On January 12, 1818, Drais was awarded a Großherzogliches Privileg,
similar to our modern patent (Baden had no patent law at that time). In addition, he was appointed Professor of Mechanics by Grand Duke Karl Friedrich. This was merely an honorary title and not related to any university or other institution. At the same time, he retired from the civil service and continued to receive his salary as a kind of inventor's pension.
From 1822 to 1825, Drais joined a German expedition to Brazil, headed by Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff.
It has been posited that the 1816 Year Without a Summer, with its effects on horses and resulting problems with transportation, may have been one reason for Drais's invention of the velocipede.[1]
He died in his hometown of Karlsruhe in 1851.
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The first documented cycle was built in the early 19th century. In 1818, Baron von Drais introduced a machine to the public in Paris. It
had two in-line wheels connected by a wooden frame. The rider sat astride and pushed it along with his feet, while steering the front wheel.
It was not very efficient but it was faster than walking and many upper-class young men found it an amusing pastime. Before long, the \u201cDraisienne,\u201d as the Baron\u2019s vehicle was known in France, became the latest society craze.
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In 1817 Baron von Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royal gardens faster: two same-size in-line wheels, the front one steerable, mounted in a frame which you straddled. The device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, thus rolling yourself and the device forward in a sort of gliding walk. The machine became known as the Draisienne or hobby horse. It was made entirely of wood. This enjoyed a short lived popularity as a fad, not being practical for transportation in any other place than a well maintained pathway such as in a park or garden.
Isn't the Draisienne off topic by a lot???
Chuck von Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
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