Tuesday, November 29, 2011

History of BiCycles

Innovation
Year
Country
Details
1817
Germany
Baron Von Drais invents the "running machine" or Laufmaschine. Patented the following year. Known in various forms as :
Draisine, Draisienne, Velocipede. English version was the Hobby Horse (Denis Johnson). All have two, in-line wheels and the ability to steer.
Hand Drive
1821
England
Louis Gompertz adds a hand-driven, ratchet mechanism to the front wheel of a Hobby Horse but the innovation, as with Drais' was never really followed up.

1839-1840
Scotland
Kirkpatrick Macmillan is traditionally credited with a machine in which power was supplied to the back wheel via rods connected to treadle-type pedals. Thomas McCall marketed copies; an 1845 version is in the Dumfries Museum. It is questionable whether significant progress resulted from either.
Rear-Wheel-Drive Bicycle
1843
France
Alexandre Lefebvre is credited with a rear-drive machine; he took it to America twenty years later and it still exists in the "History San Jose"
museum (the earliest extant bicycle?).
Pneumatic Tire
1845
England
R. W. Thompson invents the pneumatic tire but with no commercial follow-up.
Treadle Drive
1847
Scotland
Gavin Dalzell builds a two-wheeled hobbyhorse with a treadle-drive, possibly copied from the Macmillan design.
Crank-Driven 4-Wheeler
1851
England
Willard Sawyer exhibits his four-wheeled, crank-driven vehicle at the Great Exhibition and subsequently becomes established as a Velocipede manufacturer.
Boneshaker Bicycle
1864
France
J. Townsend Trench documents his purchase of a velocipede from the Michaux family. Possibly the first record of a "production" front wheel, pedal-driven bicycle (but note that it was not presented untill 1895). This style became known as the "Boneshaker". Historians still debate the claim of Pierre Lallement that he had previously invented the first pedal-driven machine.

1866
USA
Lallement, now in the USA, gets the backing of an investor, James Carroll, and their patent application is granted; probably the world's first public record of the pedal-powered two-wheeler.

1870
England
James Starley products the "Ariel" High Wheeler (aka "Ordinary" or "Penny Farthing"). Later versions had front wheel sizes of upto 5 feet.
Wire-Spoked Wheel
1870
England
W. H. J. Grout patents the radially spoked, nipple adjusted bicycle wheel (unlike prior load-bearing wheels). Some credit Meyer with this design two years previosly.
Ball Bearings
1872
German
Friedrich Fischer first mass-produces steel ball bearings, patented by Jules Suriray in 1869.
Caliper Brake
1876
England
Browett and Harrison patent an early caliper brake.
Differential Gear
1877
England
James Starley patent a differential gear; probably the first for a bicycle but the principle was not new.
Internal Hub Gearings
1878
England
Scott and Phillott patent the first practicable epicyclic change-speed gear fitted into the hub of a front-driving bicycle.
Folding Highwheeler
1878
England
Grout patents a folding High Wheeler, the first "portable" bicycle.

1879
England
Henry J. Lawson patents a rear wheel, chain-driven safety bicycle, the "Bicyclette" (his earlier models were lever driven).
Chain
1880
England
Thomas Humber adapts the block chain for use with his range of bicycles.
Safety Bicycle
1885
England
John Kemp Starley (James Starley's nephew) markets the revolutionary Safety Bicycle (the "Rover") with a chain/rear-sprocket drive and tangentially-spoked, similar sized wheels. Includes many of the major features of modern bicycles.
Seamless Tubing
1886
Germany
The Mannessman brothers are credited with the invention of the process to manufacture seamless steel tubing.

1888
Scotland
Commercial development of the pneumatic bicycle tire by Dr. John Boyd Dunlop.

1890s
France
Cycles Aluminium becomes one of the earliest manufacturers of an aluminium bicycle.
Derailleur
1896
England
E. H. Hodgkinson patents a 3-speed Gradient gear, a pre-cursor of the modern derailleur.
Internal Hub Gearing
1896
England
William Reilly patents a two-speed hub gear. His later 3-speed version was put into production by Sturmey Archer in 1902.
Butted Frame Tubes
1897
England
Alfred M. Reynolds takes out a patent on "butted" steel bicycle tubes.
Freewheel
1898
Germany
First major commercialization of the freewheel by Ernst Sachs. William Van Anden had obtained the first freewheel patent in 1869.

1910
France
The first, easy-to-use derailleur is invented by Paul de Vivie (Velocio) that shifted among four gears at the pedals.
Recumbent
1914
France
Peugeot markets their production recumbent bicycle. Charles Challand had exhibited his "Horizontal Bicyclette Noemale" in Geneva in 1895.
Dual-Suspension Mountain Bike
1915
Italy
Bianchi produced a folding bicycle for the Italian Army with telescoping seatstays, a leaf spring at the bottom bracket, a spring fork and large profile pneumatic tires. Bianchi now calls it the first dual suspension mountain bike! There are earlier versions of military folding bicycles.

1930
Italy
Tullio Campagnolo intriduces the bicycles hub quick-release.
Recumbent
1932
France
Charles Mochet designs the Velocar, a recumbent bicycle on which Francois Faure breaks both the mile and kilometer records.

1933-1934
USA
Introduction by Schwinn of the balloon tire and "streamlined" bikes which leads to rugged bikes that can take the abuse of teenage boys and which set a forty-year trend.
Mountain Bike
1938
USA
Schwinn markets the "Fore-wheel" brake, "Cantilever Frame" and the "Spring Fork". Resulted in what was to be the Grandfather of today's mountain bikes.
Folding Bicycle
1939
France
A. J. Marcelin petents "Le Petit Bi", a 16-inch wheeled folding bicycle, remarkably similar to the Moulton and Bickerton of later years.
Shifter
1946
Italy
Campagnolo markets the dual-rod "Cambio Corsa" gear shifter (over ten years after the prototype) widely used for atleast a decade.
Index Shifting
1949
England
The Hercules Herailleur is launched; a rear derailleur with indexed shift levers. Marketed for five years.
Derailleur
1951
Italy
Introduction of Campagnolo's modern Gran Sport derailleur.

1962
England
Launch of the Moulton small-wheeled bicycle with separately sprung suspension and custom tires. Competed successfully in time trials and track pursuit events.
String-Ray
1963
USA
Schwinn introduces the Sting-Ray that subsequently helped launch the BMX craze.
Rear Derailleur
1964
Japan
The Sun Tour Grand Prix is marketed as the first slant parallelogram derailleur, a design that has held up till the present day.
Index Shifting
1969
Japan
Sun Tour launch their indexed shift lever, the Five-Speed Click, and a combined freewheel-plus-rear hub, the Unit Hub. Neither of them found a market, and were abandoned. Bayliss Wiley in England has also experimented with unit hubs as far back as 1938.

1970
England
The aluminium Bickerton portable small-wheeler is developed. Followed by the successful Brompton in 1976 and Dahon in 1980.
Bmx (Bicycle Motocross)
1970
USA
The movie On Any Sunday by Bruce Brown debuts. Although it is a motorcycle documentary, a brief scene during the beginning of the movie shows kids on Sting-Ray bikes emulating motocross. This small spark eventually evolves into full-fledged, organized BMX racing by 1974.
Mass-Produced Titanium Frame/Fork
1974
USA
Teledyne markets the first titanium bike that was produced in any quantity (Speedwell of England had some Ti production frames as far back as the 1960s, welded by Lamborghini!) Litespeed brought titanium frames to a broader market in the 1980s.

1975
USA
The first carbon-tubed, metal lugged frame appears: the Exxon Graftek. Suffered from frequent frame failure. The technology was later perfected by Look, Trek and others.
Aluminium Frames/Bikes
1975
USA
Gary Klein displays his welded and heat-treated aluminium frames at the International Bike show. Alan (Italy) and Vitus (France) were producing their lugged aluminium frames arround the same time. Cannondale launch their "Aluminium for the Masses" in 1983.

1978
USA
Fomac Corporation designs the Avatar recumbent. It is one of the many styles that constituted the 1980s renaissance of recumbents which included Lightning Cycle winning the HPV-RAAM relay and Easy Racers breaking the 65 mph barrier.
High-Quality Folding Clincher Tire
1978
USA
Specialized introduce the first high-quality foldablr clincher tire (the Turbo) which launches the demise of the tubular.
Aerodynamic Road/Track Bicycles
1980
East Germany
Introduction of aerodynamic bicycles with a stable construction. Culminated in the American "Super Bike" at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Mass-Produced Mountain Bike
1981
USA
The specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike is launched nationwide, capitalizing on the Marin Country vogue inspired by Calofornian icons, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Tom Richey et al. (all of whom also produced earlier mountain bikes).
Electronic Cycle Computer
1983
USA
Avocet launch the first electronic cyclometer (bike computer).
Moulton
1983
England
Moulton launches his second generation of "space-frame" small-wheeled bicycles.
Clipless Pedals
1984
France
LOOK markets their clipless pedal (following on an earlier track model launched by Cinelli in 1970; the "Death Cleats", no automatic release).
Index Shifting
1985
Japan
Shimano introduces SIS indexed shifting (learning from their inferior product, the Positron, from 1977).

1986
USA
Kestrel introduces their production non-lugged, carbon fiber frame and Trek market their first lugged carbon frame.
Suspended Mountain Bike
1987
USA
Paul Turner demonstrates a full suspension bicycle with front and rear shocks. Eventually becomes a partner in Rock Shox. Diversified the sport of off-road biking.
Aero Handlebars
1987
USA
Scott USA manufactures the first modern aerobars, originally the brainchild of Boone Lennon. Pete Pensyres had earlier used his own clip-on style bars in setting his RAAM record.
High-Performance Folding Bike
1989
USA
Hanz Scholz designs the Bike Friday "World Tourist". A reasonably compact folding bicycle that matches the performance of conventional touring machines.
Integrated Brake/Shift Levers
1990
Japan
Shimano introduces integrated brake/gear levers.
Electric Derailleurs
1993
France
Mavic markets their ZAP electronic shifting. Ceases production in 2001. Possible future follow-up by Campangnolo. Browning Research had invented a prototype electronic system in 1974.
Hydraulic Disc Brake
1994
USA
Sachs (SRAM) introduces Power Disc, the first mass-produced hydraulic disc brake system.

1998
Germany
Rohloff develops the Speedhub, 14 equally-spaced hub gears which are operated by a twist-grip with no overlapping ratios and a gear range as wide as a 27-speed derailleur system.
30-Speed Derailleur Drivetrain
2002
Italy
Champagnolo offers a 30-speed derailleur drivetrain with the Record 3-x-10a adrivetrain.


[Source HeroCycles.com]

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