Horses of Iron

[Philistine]

Mlle. Serpolett will, it is understood, make one great concession to the Australian sense of decency by riding in skirt instead of bloomers, but a rider going for records in skirts has about the same chance of success a swimmer undertaking, in heavy boots and a long overcoat, to establish new figures for 100 yards. To judge from her photograph, the visiting cycliste is well-proportioned and athletic-looking - if such a term may be applied.

Classic.

Some of those Aussie newspaper quotes are pure gold Lock. Are you searching those through the National Library of Australia?

 

[Lock]

Some of those Aussie newspaper quotes are pure gold Lock. Are you searching those through the National Library of Australia?

Yah man... their "Trove" site, here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/

The National Library of New Zealand has done good work too, their "Papers Past" site:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast

Speaking of Napoleon... amusing to see other bike pics online...




View attachment 2



Pretty sure this would be more his style...


...but I hope today we could get him moving along with this whole 21st-century thing...

:lol:

 

[Lock]

Awesome find by granolaboy, here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=38207

From 1960. "...using a scooter motor."... but these daze would be electric for sure...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5xDIvS2Ek
[youtube]SL5xDIvS2Ek[/youtube]

Important fact. "...made to comply with the numerous Road Transport Acts"
:lol:

 

[Lock]

Another frame just begging to be stuffed with lithium...


and with a front wheel frock motor!


Seen various places eg:
http://cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/killinger.htm
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36503

"From the German MOTORRAD magazine, October 1938.":
http://www.schouwer-online.de/technik/killinger_e.htm

In Italy five plane engineers once built the RONDINE. Now it’s called GILERA and is destined to win a lot of races for the GILERA brand. When technicians do something with love, something good will turn out.

Three years ago five technicians from Munich started to design another nonconformistic motorcycle, but they had another target: they created a modern bike with front-wheel-drive and and aerodynamic, rational shape. That means a bike for daily use. And now it’s ready for the show.

Our readers will remember the MEGOLA story. The magazine staff had restored an old MEGOLA to recollect the merits of this multiple-cylinder front-wheel-drive bike. We wrote: “Fantastic behaviour in curves . . . a child could ride it on sand . . .”

What the five technicians from Munich – the names of the designers/engineers are KILLINGER and FREUND – now completed is more than an improved MEGOLA. The engine displacement is again 600cc and it is also incredibly light: 135 Kilogr. (with fuel), but this bike has a three-cylinder two-stroke engine in the front wheel, it HAS a transmission and a clutch, it has a comfortable front and rear suspension and looks elegant and thrilling.

There’s always a crowd of people around the displayed bike indicating that there’s happening something great. If you join them and listen to them you will be astonished that most of them like the shape of this bike. That’s important because the technicians wanted to build a bike that can be sold in large numbers some day. The people are used to aorodynamic shapes of car bodies now and it seems that they already expected something like that. The shape was developed to meet all these requirements: all moving parts covered, dirt protection, multicylinder and front-wheel-drive. Another target was to reduce the numbers of different parts. This bike has less parts than a light 100cc-bike!

At first sight you realize the dirt-protective and aerodynamic covers of the front and rear wheel. Frame, fork and fuel tank are also aerodynamically improved. We were impressed by the nice details and good shaped transitions of the different body parts, as seen on race bikes.

And now the construction: the middle of the frame and the rear wheel cover are currently built as sheetmetal shells around a tube frame. For the mass-production version there are plans to build the middle frame as a boxed frame, welded together, using two pressed sheetmetal parts. Of course this supermachine has a rear suspension. It is linked to the lower end of the (inner) tube frame and fixed with flexible (rubber/metal???) elements which don’t need any service. A lid in the box frame allows access to the seat springs to regulate the hardness of the seat’s suspension.

The steering is like that of a normal bike, but the telescopic elements (80 mm lift) are more vertical than usual. That means that the wheelbase won’t change much when the front fork dives in.

The front-wheel-drive is much better than the Megola design. First, the weight of the engine (unsprung weight) is lower. The front wheel with engine has a weight of 50 Kilos. Second, a custom carb without a float needle doesn’t have problems that could be caused by vibrations. And third, the light-weight battery ignition allows to start the engine without problems and helps to keep the engine weight low. The distributor and the points are located in the hub. The technicians originally intended to build a dynastarter. These improvements (plus transmission and clutch) had been impossible to add to the MEGOLA design.

The three-cylinder two-stroke engine uses a Drehschieber (= turning disk with intake holes for more exact timing of the intake of the fuel-air mixture). The fresh fuel-air mixture is sucked in by the vacuum in the three crankshaft housings as usual. The "Drehschieber" does the intake timing for all three cylinders. The engine is not a radial engine as known from planes. And there is no need for a flywheel. All three cranks seem to work on one common gear. This arrangement and the recoil of the pistons in the turning direction should secure a perfect balance of the moving parts. The cylinders are made of KS (brand name) iron cylinder walls and are totally embedded in the Silumin (kind of alloy) engine housing. Alloy cylinderheads with lots of cooling fins and the exhaust pipes are the only things that can be identified as engine parts between the spokes of the cast alloy wheel. These flat spokes are designed to serve as a cooling fan. The two-speed transmission is built as a differential transmission and uses slope-meshed gears. The clutch is made of usual clutch disks. The clutch (with the springs at the outer circle) is located in front of the transmission. The transmission is actuated by steel cables (foot-operated). All parts of the engine allow easy access for service work. After the removal of the engine – only two bolts and some wiring have to be removed – all important parts are within reach. The tire can also be removed easily. You have to unlock a safety mechanism and can remove the tire completely with the split rim. The front brake is installed in the hub. The rear suspension also has telescopic oil-filled shock absorbers. The gasoline runs down through flexible hoses.

Five men worked for three years on this machine. The bike was test-driven already and the engine was tested on a test-stand. As there are so many progressive ideas built into this bike, we hope that the developers will have a chance to complete their work, because we would like to experience the preferences of this bike some day:

Better handling – more safety – less weight – simple construction – no chain or cardan shaft – no valves – tangential arrangement of the cylinders for smooth engine characteristics.

Ch. Christophe

Video slide show w/3-D model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4fwgHiTQ8E
[youtube]E4fwgHiTQ8E[/youtube]

8)

 

[thewmatusmoloki]

The Mergomobile waz obviously WAY ahead of it's time ......

Just check out those low, low profile tyre's/tire's.

 

[blueb0ttle2]

Nice detail from the early days of power electronics...
...
One in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWZE6g6Ytlw
[youtube]OWZE6g6Ytlw[/youtube]

8)

I want.

I have this guy's younger brother inside a vacuum tube tester I use for my old radios. #83 rectifier tube.
Here's a photo of one in action...

And some info on other glowing vacuum tube rectifiers. Often used in Hi-Fi and early radio.

 

[sk8norcal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_automobiles

A 1916 experiment in creating a fuel-saving automobile in the United States. The vehicle weighed only 135 pounds (61.2 kg) and was an adaptation of a small gasoline engine originally designed to power a bicycle.[1

 

[Lock]

The Mergomobile waz obviously WAY ahead of it's time ......
Just check out those low, low profile tyre's/tire's.

Hehe...

And some info on other glowing vacuum tube rectifiers. Often used in Hi-Fi and early radio.

Ooooooh! Ahhh! :lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_automobiles
A 1916 experiment in creating a fuel-saving automobile

Cute... Had to go find that... reproduction here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264535

And here:
http://www.oldwoodies.com/feature-redbug.htm

Red Bugs are small, two passenger, wooden buckboard cyclecars that were produced from 1914 to about 1930. Early Red Bugs where powered by a fifth wheel with an integral motor. The Smith Motor Wheel and the Smith Flyer were first manufactured by the A.O. Smith Co. of Milwaukee in 1914. Five years later, Briggs and Stratton bought the manufacturing rights and produced the little woodie for several years.

The rights were sold to Majestic Engineering & Manufacturing Co., later known as Automotive Electric Service Company of North Bergen, New Jersey in 1924. Now called Red Bug or Auto Red Bug, production of the car continued. For a while, the Red Bug was powered by either the Motor Wheel or a Dodge 12 volt electric starter motor. The Motor Wheel was ultimately replaced with a five horsepower Cushman engine with chain drive to the rear wheels. The company was renamed Automotive Standards and in 1928, and an amusement park version featuring a wrap-around bumper was announced.

In March 1930, a news report indicated that the Indian Motorcycle Company in Springfield, MA was to build the diminutive vehicle on a "cost plus" basis. Little is known of the Red Bug after this date. After all, it was the depression and a new Red Bug sold for more than a used Model T Ford.

View attachment 1



$325 in 1928, about $4100 today.

 

[Lock]

Getting a kick out of Arthur Hotchkiss and his bicycle railway...

The Roanoke Times April 1, 1892

RIDING ON A FENCE.
The Mount Holley and Smithville Bicycle Railroad.
Unique Invention of a Connecticut Genius
How He Proposes to Revolutionize Traveling Methods
Description of the New Road.

One of the most unique ideas in railroad construction is about being put into practice between two New Jersey towns - Mount Holley and Smithville - and if everything is true it will revolutionize short-distance travel. Every passenger runs his own train, doing away with the expense of engineers, conductors, brake men and firemen.

This new idea of locomotion, says the New York Herald, is a bicycle railroad, it will run in a direct line over fields, roads and creek, crossing the latter ten times in two miles, the distance between the towns, and the time will depend much on the record-breaking disposition of the individual who has the thing in hand.

When completed the railroad will look like a fence with a bicycle inverted running on top of it. There is a bicycle for the exclusive use of each individual, and it would be possible to travel at the rate of a mile in two minutes.

The road will start with about seventy-five or one hundred machines. There will be two depots - one on the ground of the H. B. Smith Company, Smithville, the other on Pine street, Mount Holley. Agents for the company will have charge of the bicycles, collecting fares and furnishing machines to passengers, and side tracking the bicycles when not in use.

The inventor of this wonderful railroad system comes from New Haven, Conn. His name is Arthur E. Hotchkiss. The famous walking doll was invented by this same genius eighteen years ago. He was the first to accomplish the manufacture of miniature clocks in this country - in fact, devoted ten years of his life exclusively to improvements on clocks and watches.

Mr. Hotchkiss had never mounted a bicycle and yet with keen perception and love of invention he saw a good field to work in, and four years ago commenced his railroad scheme. This track is built by bedding cross ties in the ground once in six feet and erecting upon them a post and rail structure about three and a half feet high. The post is secured to the cross ties by means of bolts and angle irons. Narrow wooden stringer pieces connect the posts, and the top stringer piece has a T shaped rail screwed to it, on which the bicycle runs.

This railroad requires for its use a special form of bicycle, although the ordinary saddle, handle bar and propelling mechanism are employed.

The upper part of the frame are two grooved wheels which run one in advance of the other on the single track rail. The position of the saddle is between the wheels, so that the rider is carried above the trackway and astride the track-supporting structure. This handle bar is located in front of the rider in the usual way, and, while not required for balancing or steering, serves to steady the rider and to assist when propelling rapidly. The frame is made double.

It extends downward below the track rail on opposite sides of the track structure about two and a half feet and has at the lower end small guide wheels running horizontally on opposite sides of the lower stringpiece of the trackway to keep the machine in an upright position.

The driving wheel in front of the rider is about twenty inches in diameter and is connected with a ratchet and chain to the propelling treadles, which are located at the lower part of the frame on either side of the fence. The machine is geared up by its ratchet mechanism to a higher speed than is practicable in an ordinary road bicycle.

Other forms of vehicles for use in connection with this system have been devised, so that ladies may ride them or several passengers may be carried at a time.

It is also proposed in most cases to construct two fences or tracks to admit of travel in either direction. This double track can also be used for a bicycle to run on both rails, as in case of any other railway system.

The road will be called the "Mount Holley and Smithville Bicycle railroad."

There is more or less danger attached to bicycle riding at night. This will be obviated by the elevated track, and, what is still more in its favor, it can be used in all seasons and, by arranging a parachute over it, can be used in all weathers. There will be head and rear lights for use at night. There can be no danger of the vehicle jumping the track, and no previous skill in managing a bicycle is necessary.

The land has been secured. In many cases right of way has been conceded by owners. All specifications are prepared and ground for depots secured. Inventor Hotchkiss says it will be the cheapest railroad in the world to maintain.

Better pic of Arthur and his bike:





From the "Encyclopedia of New Jersey." Maxine N. Lurie, Marc Mappen - 2004
View attachment 2

One of his original bikes survived somehow...



Mount Holly Herald
September 24, 1892

THE BICYCLE RAILROAD A SUCCESS
That the bicycle railroad is a success goes without saying. It is the biggest and most complete success Mount Holly has had for a long time, as the crowds that gather nightly will testify. Fully five thousand people have been carried since the road was opened last week, and the cash receipts have been sufficient to pay one year’s interest on the bonds. At this rate the road will be one of the best dividend earners in the country. Every night there is a crowd of people at the depot waiting their turn for a ride, and the machines are kept busy until eleven o’clock at night. In a short time the double track will be extended to Smithville. To say that Prof. Hotchkiss is delighted at the success of his invention does not half express it. The failure of the road was predicted by so many people, and it was ridiculed so on all sides that an ordinary man would have lost heart, and given up in despair, but Prof. Hotchkiss, in this respect is no ordinary man. Obstacles only urge him on to greater effort, and there was no happier man in town when he realized that the representations he had made to the stock and bondholders had been fully verified, and in fact had exceeded his expectations.

He received congratulations on all sides. About fifty machines will be built, and this will be about enough to accommodate the travel. The roadway is illuminated at night, and each machine carries a light to avoid collisions. Derailment of a machine is impossible and the road is absolutely safe.

Nice writeup here:
http://www.smithvilleconservancy.com/BicycleRR.php

http://www.vice.com/read/american-eros-101-v15n5

Hotchkiss Bicycle Railway: On September 13, 1892, eccentric entrepreneur Hezekiah Smith opened his suspended bicycle commuter railway system built between his bicycle factory and nearby Mount Holly, NJ, home to most of his employees. Several resort towns in southern Jersey soon built their own, but to the best of my knowledge, none survive. A sole remaining rail bike can be seen at Smith’s factory compound, which is now a museum. (An additional note: Smith went on to become a bigamist, keep a small harem in his walled garden, and train a bull moose to pull his carriage. Just thought that might be of interest.)

Turns out several of Arthurs bicycle railways were built in the UK, but only as fairground amusements... Norfolk:
http://www.archives.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC098513

The Switchback and Bicycle Railway Thompson's Gravity Switchback was opened on the beach opposite Norfolk Square in 1887. It moved onto the Parade in 1887 and moved again in 1892, this time to a site just north of Cemetery (now Sandown) Road. The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railway opened on the same site in 1895. Both ventures moved to a site between Beaconsfield and Salisbury Roads in 1900. They remained there until the end of the 1909 season when they were closed and moved to Honley in Yorkshire.

Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_Bicycle_Railroad

Smithville - Mount HollyIn 1892, Arthur Hotchkiss received a patent for a bicycle railroad and contracted with the H. B. Smith Machine Company to manufacture it. The initial track ran 1.8 miles from Smithville, in a nearly straight line, crossing the Rancocas Creek 10 times, and arrived at Pine Street, Mount Holly. It was completed in time for the Mount Holly Fair in September, 1892, and the purpose of the railway was supposed to have been enabling employees to commute quickly from Mount Holly to the factory at Smithville. Monthly commuter tickets cost $2.00. The record speed on the railway was 4.5 minutes, and the average trip took 6–7 minutes. The railway was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It only had one track so that it was impossible to pass another rider, and if riders travelling in opposite directions met, one had to pull off onto a siding. By 1897 ridership had declined, and the railway fell into disrepair.

http://nj-pine-barrens.livejournal.com/2557.html

The Railway was built to allow employees to commute quickly from Mount Holly to a bicycle factory at Smithville. The railway was not a success, the impossibility of overtaking being one reason; another was that a second track was never completed, so if riders travelling in opposite directions met, one had to pull off onto a siding. One might imagine this leading to disagreements about who had the right of way. The railway was in a severe state of disrepair by 1898 when the Mount Holly and Smithville Bicycle Railway Company (as it appears to have been known) declared bankruptcy. Presumably the system was repaired at some point, and opened for recreational use. The Bicycle Railroad gave Smithville its nickname for many years, "The Bicycle Town." This helped to distinguish it from the Smithville near my childhood home in Atlantic County, which was known mainly for its 'pig iron' ore deposits. Both are now popular historical sites.

The Star Bicycle was developed and built in Smithville by the H.B Smith Machine Company in 1881, and its proprietor, Hezekiah Bradley Smith, busied himself with its production and marketing. The Star differed from conventional bicycles of the time by having the larger wheel at the rear, where rider sat, and the smaller wheel up front. This allowed for greater control especially when traveling downhill. To illustrate this, Hezekiah hired a professional rider to successfully ride a Star bicycle down the steps of the United States Capital in front of dozens of photographers and reporters. Hezekiah also arranged for races all over the country that the Star would often win. Both the marketing and the design proved successful, and the Star was another moneymaker for the H.B Smith Machine Company.

In the 1880's, as Hezekiah was approaching 70, his behavior was becoming more eccentric. Although he still oversaw the village and dabbled in politics, he also began to collect wild animals for his private zoo in the mansion's courtyard. He became determined to harness one of his moose and train it to pull his coach, and he finally succeeded much to the terror of his neighbors. More and more he confined himself to the mansion and gardens. In 1885, a full sized statue in the likeness of his departed wife Agnes arrived from Italy that he had mounted as a shrine to her in one of the gardens. Around this time Hezekiah also invited six young ladies to stay at the mansion, and rumors circulated that they were servants, students or his harem. They would often join him in the garden, along with the violinist he kept on staff, for music and conversation. His health would continue to deteriorate, and on November 3, 1887, the great Hezekiah Bradley Smith died of pneumonia at the age of 71.

Blackpool again! (Surprised they didn't try and electrify the line...) :lol:
http://www.pleasurebeachpostcards.org/early-side-shows.html
View attachment 3

William Bean's original ride - The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railway - looking East. Printed by JM & Co London, this card was sent to Elland, Yorkshre from Blackpool on 8th October 1908. The young Lady on the ride appears to be having to make a considerable effort in order to make progress - perhaps this was why the ride was none too popular!

http://www.blackpool4fun.com/history.htm

William George Bean was influential in the growth of the fairground enterprise around seaside resorts in England and during the town’s pioneer years leading to the launch of the Pleasure Beach. It is easily believed and imagined that Blackpool at the turning point of the twentieth century was up and coming, rough and ready, much like the old American West frontier towns, as it is a common descriptive term used by writers in authoring books about its early beginnings.

Bean was born on June 6th 1868 and on the birth certificate, written is his father a Thames River Pilot, stating he drove steamboats through the ancient lochs on the most famous of all rivers in England. Bean considered himself a Londoner foremost and at the point of his career when he had been living in Blackpool thirty years, still made the habit of managing his business from the offices he maintained in London, visiting them every five or six weeks. He was no academic but worldly read and was later to astound Blackpool councillors with his self-acquired knowledge and learning from books.

In 1887 aged nineteen Bean left London to seek fame and fortune in the United States, as did many others at that time. He worked in advertising for a while on Madison Avenue. He had the makings of a designer but when questioned by his daughter Lillian Doris as to why he turned his interests elsewhere, he replied, “Well I would have gone on with it but I wasn’t eating very well. So I decided I had to turn my attention to something else.”

Bean went to Philadelphia and was involved in manufacturing for the then growing amusement park industry. Coney Island was just starting out with the tram companies of the major cities developing their own interest in amusement parks finding the market profitable. His interested would have culminated with the enthusiasm of the day in the Chicago 1893 Columbian Exposition in White City.

There Bean would have seen Arthur Ethelbert Hotchkiss’s design, the man rumoured to be a relative of the inventor of the Hotchkiss machine gun, a ‘Bicycle Railroad’ on display in the Midway. A railroad with bicycles propelled mechanically along a track by way of an operator perched on a fence at the side of it with the patrons sitting astride the bikes as it amusingly removed all the legwork involved ordinarily for the rider.

The ride bombed in its first outing to the public at the Exposition, grossing $185.00, Hotchkiss having patented the device by December of 1892 in London stating he was a resident of Mount Holly, New Jersey. He had convinced H.B. Smith Manufacturing Company of Smithville to build single and tandem bicycles to run upon a fixed track. It had intended to be a serious design for the future with the Smithville Bicycle Railroad opened to travel citizens of Mount Holly to jobs and back home again. The improved safety of the bicycle soon made it an obsolete idea and worthless franchise. Six years on the bicycles and the line dismantled, Hotchkiss tried operating systems elsewhere usually in seaside resorts but all of his aims dwindled to nothing with its practice.

Amazingly, Bean returned to England bringing with him the sole U.K. rights to build and operate Hotchkiss’s idea believing there was a brighter future in British seaside resorts. Being a Londoner Great Yarmouth and Brighton were the first places he tried his apparatus on the unsuspecting public.

Bean’s elder brother, Alfred Charles Bean, was a stockbroker in the City. A Company was set-up in London called, using a more presentable sounding name, The Hotchkiss Patent Bicycle Railway Syndicate, Limited for the English market on the 25th April 1896.

Out of the 3,000 original £1 shares, Bean took 1,500, while his brother Charles’s accepted 400. The remaining six shareholders were members of the London Stock Exchange and believed to have been associates of Charles Bean. The responsibilities of the new company mainly consisted of the manufacturing and leasing of several designs of bicycles used in Hotchkiss’s railway system. There are special references in Company articles to tracts of land in Great Yarmouth and the Devil’s Dyke near Brighton, as Bean had a formal agreement to lease, opening and operating his Bicycle Railway in these towns.

Bean was already formulating where next to take his business entrepreneurial ideas as a Bicycle Railway was erected and running in Blackpool in July of that same year in 1896 at South Shore with a Mr T.W. Potts as its manager, as it appears Bean remained in London keeping his interest on his businesses from the hub of his enterprise.

Lots of pics on the web for a new, improved design but I don't see that any full-scale railways were EVer built...

 

[sk8norcal]

nice! good find on the Red Bugs!

 

[Lock]

Really likin' this woodie made in Chicago...
View attachment 6

It's in the "Old Spokes Home" collection, in Burlington, Vermont
http://www.oldspokeshome.com/

Badged the "Old Hickory Cycle Company", and mfgrd. about 1897.

`Bit about Chicago in the 1890's...
http://votewithyourfeetchicago.blogspot.ca/2008/05/brief-introduction-to-bicycling-in.html

Thursday, June 2, 2011
A Brief Introduction to Bicycling in Chicago
The metropolis of the Midwest has a long been a cycling Mecca. By the late 1800s it boasted 54 wheelman’s clubs with over 10,000 members. In 1897 Carter H. Harrison II rode the bicycle craze to the mayor’s office with the slogan “Not the Champion Cyclist; But the Cyclist’s Champion.”

By the next year about 2/3 of U.S. bikes were manufactured within a 150-mile radius of Chicago, making it the “bicycle-building capital of America.” Schwinn, founded here in 1895 by a German immigrant, dominated the domestic market for most of the 20th Century.

...and Chicago had cycling hotties as well

Cycling Magazine, 24th July, 1897

Chicago has a champion lady scorcher who rides in white duck bloomers, black golf stockings, astride of a tan-coloured bicycle, with a diamond frame. We have not heard that any other city is wildly ambitious to possess the phenomenon referred to. On behalf of Europe we beg to intimate that Chicago may keep her!

Sorry, no pics of the grrrl... maybe later


At the same time...
http://www.antiqueshoppefl.com/archives/May05/cs110.htm

Max Tonk, born in Berlin in 1851, went with his family to Chicago in 1857. He learned to carve and worked in his uncle's piano and organ factory carving embellishments of the instruments. In 1873 he opened his own carving shop supplying the Chicago cabinet industry with fancy ornaments for cabinets and caskets. In the 1880s Tonk Manufacturing began to make swivel seat piano stools for the growing musical industry. Tonk became the largest maker of piano stools in the country, making the majority of swivel seat stools on the market, including the ubiquitous round oak stool with claw feet. Tonk Manufacturing was eventually headed by three generations of Tonks.

Google patents shows several US patents from Phineas H. York between 1894 to 1900 for piano benches and stools... all assigned to the Tonk Manufacturing Co. of Chicago.

So at some point Max decided he wanted to get into the cycling business, and Phineas morphed into a bicycle designer...

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A bicycle-frame member of polygonal form having two mating parts adapted to fit the one within the other, and each composed of laminated strips of wood bent to form the polygonal frame member, the sides of which are continuous, and said parts being hollowed upon their proximate sides and providing when united, a longitudinal cavity, substantially as described.

2. A bicycle-frame member of polygonal form, consisting of two mating parts adapted to fit the one within the other and each composed of laminated strips of wood and said parts being hollowed on their proximate sides, strengthening pieces or blocks located in said hollow portions, and the parts when united forming a continuous polygonal frame member with longitudinal cavities, substantially as described.

3. A bicycle-frame member of polygonal form consisting of two mating parts adapted to fit the one within the other and each composed of wood veneers laminated and united to form a polygonal frame member, the sides whereof are continuous and integral, and an external veneer spirally wound around the frame members, substantially as described.

4. A bicycle-frame member composed of two mating parts, one of which is adapted to be fitted within the other, and each composed of laminated strips of wood or wood veneers hollowed on their proximate sides and the two when joined, constituting the steering-head post, top and bottom bars and a seat-post, which are continuous and integral, substantially as described.

5. In a bicycle-frame, a steering-head post, top bar, bottom bar and seat-post formed of strips of wood laminated and the laminations being continuous around the angles of the frame, substantially as described.

6. A bicycle-frame whereof the steering-head post, the top and bottom bars and the seat-post are constructed integrally with each other from strips of wood laminated and the laminations extending continuously around the angles, and the joints thereof being arranged between the angles, substantially as too described.

7. A bicycle-frame whereof the steering-head post, top and bottom bars and seat-post are constructed integrally with each other from strips of wood laminated and the laminations being continuous around the angles of the frame and provided with suitable bearings and with a longitudinal cavity, substantially as described.

8. A bicycle-frame whereof the steering-head post, the top and bottom bars and seat-post are constructed integrally with each other from wood veneers, the laminations whereof are continuous around the angles of the frame and said frame having at its lower rear apex a bushing embraced by the laminations, substantially as described.

9. A fork for bicycles composed of strips of wood laminated and the laminations being continuous or integral around the bends or angles of the fork, substantially as described.

10. In a bicycle-frame constructed of wood veneers, the combination of the main frame having a bushing to provide a bearing for the crank-axle and rear-fork members through which the bushing also extends and said bushing being threaded, and cups having a threaded engagement with the bushing and adapted to clamp the parts together, substantially as described.
PHINEAS H. YORK.

In January of 1897, the Chicago Coliseum hosted one of the largest trade shows in the US, the annual Bicycle manufacturer's trade show, and Sporting Life listed the exhibitors in their January 30, 1897 issue:
View attachment 3

Is this not a beautiful thing?




Possibly my favourite bit:


"Twistie" spokes! These spokes sparkled in the sunshine! Bring back twistie spokes I say!

Sadly, the "Old Hickory Cycle Company"/Tonk only produced these bikes for a year or two in 1897-1898... at $100+ they were a bit spendie versus steel frames, and maybe folks didn't appreciate the smoother ride w/the wood soaking up vibrations...

 

[Martin A]

The Auto Red Bug picture from 1929 looks as if it's running an English 'Trade Plate' as the registration. These plates are used by garages/ car sales to legally run unregistered vehicles on the road. Also it looks as if it's been driven on the left, as in the UK, and is parked in the direction of traffic flow. Where is the original image from?

 

[Lock]

Spot on Martin A... pic was taken in London!

 

[Quajochem]

Nice detail from the early days of power electronics...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWfg6SHxpJk
[youtube]QWfg6SHxpJk[/youtube]

One in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWZE6g6Ytlw
[youtube]OWZE6g6Ytlw[/youtube]

8)

I want.

Thats just PURE ELEKTROPORN!

 

[Lock]

Seems to me the real story behind Hotchkiss and his bicycle railroad was Smith...
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8099&start=633

Turns out Hezekiah Bradley Smith was quite a guy. Bicycle-friendly and EVentually playing with motorized trikes too...



Seems he had a good heart... although some folks looked askance at his younger (much younger) second wife(?) and partner in bigamy(?), his coterie of young women later in life who used to get together regularly in the gardens of his mansion (that some jealous reporters termed his "harem")...

View attachment 18

...his pet moose, February, that he trained to pull a cart...



It's hard to say what was most "over the top" for Senator Smith... Call this maybe "Vermont boy makes good"...

His bio from the "Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey", 1885

Burlington County.
Hezekiah B. Smith.
(Dem., Smithville.)

Senator Smith was born at Bridgewater, Vermont, in the year 1816. He learned the trade of a worker in wood, and at the age of nineteen he went into business for himself at Woodstock. Three years later, he took a partner, who, he avers, involved him in bankruptcy. When he was thirty years of age he had paid off all the debts of the firm, and then left Woodstock. He went to Woodburn, near Boston, which was the center of the eastern blind-making trade, with a machine of his own invention that would cut and clean forty mortises a minute. In that town at that time there were five principal blind manufacturers, all of whom were obliged to give up the business within a year. The dealers in blinds in Boston gave him a certificate that his invention had saved over $30,000 annually to buyers, and the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association gave him a large gold medal, which is yet in his possession. Since then he has taken out a number of patents.

About seventeen years ago Mr. Smith went to a little manufacturing village, two miles from Mount Holly, and bought the manufactory and the houses standing there, which he converted into residences for his workmen. It was then called Shreveville. He expended, it is stated, $300,000 in improvements. He has a natural liking for iron, and 1,200 tons of it have been used in the building of houses and in otherwise improving and ornamenting the real estate. He built a fine hall for the use of the operatives, and employed and paid a band-master, for a number of years, to teach the mechanics instrumental music. He altered the name of the village to Smithville, after himself. A weekly journal, called the Smithville Mechanic, devoted to mechanics, science and literature, he has published there for a long time. Altogether, Mr. Smith estimates that he has invested over half a million of dollars in Smithville. He gives steady employment to over one hundred men the year round, and his manufactory is one of the most thriving industries in that section of the State.

Mr. Smith served as a member of the Forty-Sixth Congress, from the Second New Jersey District. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1884.

In the session of 1884 he served on the Committees on Agriculture, Lunatic Asylums, Public Grounds and Buildings, and Reform School for Boys.

1879—Deacon, Rep., 5,967; Ridgeway, Dem., 4,888; Axtell, Gr'nb'k, 237.

1882—Smith, Dem., 6,358; Merritt, Rep., 5,370; Abbott, 131.

Another bio from Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888

SMITH, Hezekiah Bradley, inventor, b. in Bridgewater, Vt., 24 July, 1816; d. in Smithville, Burlington co. N. J., 3 Nov., 1887. He learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, and became an inventor and manufacturer of wooden machinery. He settled in Woodbury, Mass., about 1860, engaged in the manufacture of window-blinds, and invented a machine that cut and cleansed forty mortises a minute, for which the Massachusetts mechanical association presented him with a gold medal. He subsequently took out more than forty patents for original inventions. He established a wood-manufactory in Smithville, N. J., in 1871, which settlement was named in his honor, and spent large sums in building model houses, halls, and places of amusement for his workmen. He was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1878, served one term, and in 1882 was elected state senator, declining renomination.

So his very first patented machine from 1849 actually blew away the competition...


Seen here too:
http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=766&tab=76,343

Apr. 17, 1849
Mortising-machine
Hezekiah B. Smith
Manchester, NH
This was the first patent granted to Hezekiah Bradley Smith, who later founded H. B. Smith Machine Co., which became one of the most important 19th century machinery makers. H. B. Smith was notable for being one of the first to make all-iron machines - others were making machine frames from wood, which is not nearly as stable and rigid. The image of the ad for this "Blind Machine" appeared in "Smithville, The Result of Enterprise". The provenance of the ad is not given, but it is noted that after Smith was granted the patent, "He soon moved to Boston to market his new invention." The machine manufacture was subcontracted to various foundries and machine shops, but he opened his first machine shop in 1851 in Lowell, MA, and he commenced manufacture of his own designs.

From then on, through the 50's and 60's and 70's Hezekiah regularly trounced the competition with award-winning designs for better state-of-the-art wood-working machines...eg:

The American Institute of the City of New York opened their 29th Annual Fair at the Crystal Palace, New York City, on September 15th, 1857...

List of Premiums awarded by the Managers of the Fair:
(Machinery No.3 - Machines for Working Wood, and Models and Drawings for the same.)
H.B.Smith, Lowell, Mass., for the best power mortising machine. Large silver medal.
H.B.Smith, Lowell, Mass., for the best moulding machine. Diploma.
H.B.Smith, Lowell, Mass., for the best small wood planer. Diploma.

Illustrations and Descriptions of Machinery, &c. at the 29th Annual Fair, 1857.
(The descriptions are furnished by the inventors.)

Smith's Power Mortising Machine
H. B. Smith, Lowell, Mass.
These machines are compact, being built entirely of iron and steel, take up but little room, are simple and durable, and have acquired the enviable reputation of being the best machines in use, giving perfect satisfaction wherever used. They run without noise, with no jar on the foot, and the chisel is reversed by power, applied by friction, operating instantly, the chisel always taking care of itself, with no loss of time to the operator, and with no possibility of breaking the machine, they may be run any desired speed with perfect safety.

Size No. 2, is intended principally for door manufacturers, and is capable of mortising any size of stile, or rail, ever required. It is also sufficiently heavy and strong, and suitable for mortising hard wood, such as bedsteads, &c., weighs about 700 pounds, and should be run about 450 strokes per minute.

Size No. 3, is intended for mortising sash and blind stiles, or any light work, thereby taking the place of all foot machines, and does the work nicer, and at least three times as fast, with much less labor to the operator. It weighs about 350 pounds, and should be run about 500 strokes per minute.

[A large silver medal awarded.]

Part of the reason the Smith machines were so good was that he built them entirely out of iron and metals, when many competing firms were still using wood as frames etc in their products...


In 1878, Hezekiah's personal life finally caught up with him... from the New York Tribune, November 22, 1878

ONE WIFE TOO MANY.
A disheartening story comes from New-England, of which the hero is Mr. Hezekiah B. Smith, who has just been elected to Congress by the united efforts of the Democrats and Greenbackers of the IId New-Jersey District. The sum total of the tale is that Mr. Smith has one wife in Woodstock, Vt., and another in Smithville. N. J., where he now resides, and most of which town he owns. In 1866 - so runs the narrative - he ran away from Woodstock, Vt., with Miss Verona Eveline English, and married her in Boston. The pair lived happily together until 1865, and four children were born to them. They resided in Boston and Lowell. In 1850 Smith bought a house for his wife in Woodstock, and frequently visited her there. At last he told her that "he had found a woman who would be true to him and he was going to marry her, his first marriage being illegal." That was in 1865. He gave her a house in Woodstock, put some money in the bank for her and departed. He now turns up as the rich owner of Smithville, and as chief stockholder of the H. B. Smith Manufacturing Company, which makes wood-working machinery. He is also proprietor of The Smithville Mechanic, of which the New-Jersey Mrs. Smith is editor.

If the facts are as we find them stated, the House of Representatives may have some objection to permitting Mr. Smith to take his seat. He is a soft-money Democrat of the strongest sort, and the Republicans will doubtless be quite willing to see his seat empty or filled by a different kind of man. He may be pretty sure that his career will be closely investigated. Whether he legally married Mrs. Smith No. 1 or not, he cohabitated a long time with her in Vermont, and an agreement so to live, by the laws of that State, is a legal marriage without any ceremony. If there has been any divorce the Vermont Mrs. Smith knows nothing about it. She has, it is stated, the sympathy of the people of Woodstock, who consider the treatment which she has received as cruel in the extreme.

Mr. Smith was nominated by the National Labor Greenback party. They sent him a anti-National-bank and anti-capital letter, to which (though he is worth $200,000) he favorably responded. The Democrats kindly lent their assistance and Mr. Smith was elected. But there is many a slip'twixt the cup and the lip; and in these days it is not safe to call any member of Congress blessed until he is sworn in, and sometimes it is not safe even then. It is hinted by the Woodstock correspondent of The Springfield Republican that Mr. Smith may go to Europe rather than Washington, or resign his seat rather than face a prosecution for bigomy. This melancholy catastrophy which has overtaken the Democratic-Greenbackers of the IId New Jersey District will show the danger of nominating candidates worth $200,000, and will be likely to confirm the anti-capital, anti-bloated-bondholder men in their peculiar views. They should go to the alms-house or the insolvent court for their next candidate.

Pic of young hottie Agnes M. Gilkerson, about 1865, the source of so much inspiration and trouble for Hezekiah:

View attachment 14

Beauty, AND brains...


In 1880, his good friend and employee J.J.White introduced Hezekiah and the Board at H.B.Smith Machine Co. to fellow inventor and chicken farmer, Maineiac George Washington Pressey, Jr., and his new idea for an improved velocipede...

Seen here:
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/h-w-from-old-catalog-wilbur/illustrated-history-of-the-town-of-hammonton-with-an-account-of-its-soil-clima-bli/page-3-illustrated-history-of-the-town-of-hammonton-with-an-account-of-its-soil-clima-bli.shtml
Illustrated history of the town of Hammonton; with an account of its soil, climate and industries.
H. W. Wilbur, 1889

George W. Pressey.
Mr. Pressey is a native of the State of Maine, and was born in Waterville, in 1825. His father was a carriage manufacturer, and by the time the young man was eighteen, he had learned carriage building in all its branches. He early gave signs of an inventive genius, many useful tools having been invented by him. He invented the first apple paring machine, and a carriage spring, known as "Pressey and Farnum's lever spring," a wagon attachment which in its day was deservedly popular. Mr. Pressey came to Hammonton in 1860. In 1867 he invented the "Pioneer Stump Puller," which had a wide use all over the United States. Other inventions which followed were the "Pressey Folding Umbrella," a ventilating stove, and a snath fastener for scythes. But the inventions which have made him best known are the American Star Bicycle, and his incubators and brooders for the artificial hatching and raisins: of chickens. The Hammonton Incubator and the Pressey Brooder have extensive sale and use among poultry men. Mr. Pressey, and his daughters Misses Emma and Anna, are extensively engaged in raising chickens, and have reduced the business to a science. They raised and marketed last year about five thousand.

Georges' 1880 US Patent 233640:



SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,640, dated October 26, 1880
It will be noticed that the rider occupies a position nearly central over the hind wheel, the foot-rests of the treadle are within convenient reach of the feet of the rider, and the steering-rod of the fork of the front wheel is set back and its upper end is readily accessible by the rider. By these means the rider sits more comforably, has the velocipede under greater control, and cannot trip or be thrown, and steers with ease.


...and another patent the same year:



In a "Penny-Farthing World" of bikes with large front wheels, Georges' designs were unique, with the smaller wheel in front...


From The Builder and Wood-Worker, September, 1881

The American Star Bicycle.

THIS new candidate for popular favor is the invention of Mr. G. W. Pressey, of Hammonton, N. J., and, as may be seen from the accompanying illustration, is radically different in construction from the old and "accepted" style of bicycle. Mr. Pressey has based his new departure upon the principles of health, safety and convenience and an examination and test of his new plan bicycle, as compared with the older styles, will be convincing as to the soundness of these principles and the advantages of the new system. Among these advantages may be summed up the following: The carrying wheel is held firmly in line by the frame, so the push of the rider does not throw it out of its course. The small steering wheel being in front, serves as a brace to prevent the momentum of the rider throwing him forward when the wheels are stopped or partly stopped by any obstruction, so it can be ridden safely even over logs six or eight inches in thickness. It steers and can be turned quickly, as the push of the rider does not affect the steering wheel, while in turning, a brace is formed on the outside of the circle. It is easily mounted or dismounted. The step being at the side near the saddle, the rider steps easily to and from his seat, instead of climbing up from behind as he must do with the crank machine. There is no bone shaking, both wheels being furnished with fine elastic springs, which add much to the comfort of the rider. It is easy to handle and control, and can be used by ladies in ordinary costume, while the machine is adjustable to the size of the rider, and the latter does not have to fit the machine as in the case of the old styled bicycle. All other bicycles are propelled by cranks turned by the foot, a method of propulsion now out of use in all kinds of machinery; the hand is fitted to turn a crank, the foot is not. If one tries to turn a grindstone by putting his foot on the crank, he will find the experiment a failure. On a six inch crank, a bicycler must make a muscular motion of 37 1/2 inches in order to bear down on his crank an average of less than 4 inches, full power. This is a waste of motion no bicycler can afford. The "American Star," by the use of levers and clutches, has a continuous power, which turns the wheel entirely around with the same motion and exertion required to move the crank one-half around the old machine, enabling the rider to go faster and easier with the same amount of labor, at the same time giving independent action of the levers, the ridier pushing with one foot or both, at pleasure, or setting with foot resting on pedals, which do not move unless he moves them. The name of "Star " is given this bicycle on account of the peculiar arrangement of the wire spokes, which form a double star at the center. By this arrangement the twist of the hub, caused by the pressure of the foot on the crank or lever, is held by the tensional strength of the spoke, which is about 1,000 pounds; while, in the old wheel, the hub is mostly held in place by the bending strength or stiffness of the wire, which is only five or six pounds; the new wheel gaining by this arrangement a strength more than thirty times as great.



The claims are neither fictitious or imaginary. At the recent Boston Bicycle Parade and Meet, in which some half dozen of "American Star" bicycles were exhibited, the great efficiency and practical merits of the new machines were plainly demonstrated to the thousands of bicyclists and visitors who were present, amply proving that the claims made for them are substantiated in actual service.

At this exhibition the new machines came into actual competition with their many rivals, and the result so clearly evinced the superiority of the "American Star," even over the best of its predecessors, as to disarm criticism ard to banish prejudice. The world moves on and the new invention of Mr. Pressey only proves that in mechanical science and genius America leads the van. The "Star" needs but to be introduced to give it the popularity it deserves, and the manufacturers, the H. B. Smith Machine Co.. warerooms 925 Market street, Phila., will be glad to give all needed information and to receive orders for the new season now opening.

The "recent Boston Bicycle Parade and Meet" would have been the first official annual convention for the US L.A.W. (League of American Wheelmen") held in Boston in 1881:



The Watchman and Southron was published out of Sumter, South Carolina so the "exhibition" referred to in their report from December 1881 probably refers to the International Cotton Exposition held late that year in Atlanta, Georgia:

View attachment 9


In addition to entertainers showing off the Star bikes at different exhibitions, Smith had John Stout ride down the steps of the Capitol Building in DC to show how immune the design was to "headers"...



Nice to see some things don't change. Pic of the Capital Building today...




From the journal Knowledge, April 6, 1883

Letters to the Editor

AMERICAN STAR BICYCLE.
[785] - I presume you will easily recall to mind the lecture you gave when in the United States [My third visit thereto. R. P.] before a small but delighted audience in Matawan, N.J., of your subsequent games of chess [King's Knight's gambit - regular form - pretty pawn finish. R. P.], and your early departure the following morning (Sunday) for New Brunswick, to reach a town in Maine for Monday evening's lecture. The memory of every item, of course, lingers with me rather than with you. [Nay, but I have the clearest recollection of that pleasant evening. R. P.] I remember my receiving "Our Place Among the Infinities," as a sort of partial kindly return for a Testament with parallel columns of English and German text, to which I saw you took a liking. Your paper interests me much, from whist and chess, to logic, mathematics, and astronomy. The articles on bicycles and tricyles have also interested me, especially since I have become an owner of one of the "American Star" kind.

I had given up the idea, at my time of life, of ever riding a bicycle. I feared the "headers." But when in Washington, D.C., I saw one of the "American Star" pattern, and immediately ordered one (you will see by the enclosed sketch its peculiarities). I received mine in due time, and must say I am delighted with it. It has the little wheel in front, and one cannot take a "header." In going down steep hills, I can apply the brake, as hard as I choose, with perfect safety and no fear of a "header." It is easy to mount and to dismount, the backward dismount (so called) being especially easy. It can be propelled with one foot, or both at the same time, like a treadle, or at different times. In coasting (i.e., running by gravity down hill), the legs rest at full length on the pedals, and this is especially pleasing. The wheel is stronger than ordinary bicycles, as the spokes are put in bracing, not like radii. You may feel like printing some items from the enclosed. From actual practice over rough roads, I can fully endorse its different points. I will say, however, that it is not as graceful in motion as the ordinary bicycle; but this I regard as a minor point. I have known expert riders of the "Columbia" to sell their machines and purchase the "Star," especially after severe "headers."

I had intended giving a little item about spiders in my schoolroom, but the length of this forbids. Charles Jacobus.

Anyway... those Pressey designs from 1880 were looking a little... rustic...

By 1885 Hezekiah had hired on William S. Kelley, originally from the famous Philadelphia-based woodworking machinery maker Richards, London & Kelley

From Spons' Engineers and Contractor's Illustrated Book of Prices of Machines, Tools, Ironwork, and Contractors' Materials For 1876:


(R,L & K partner John Richards literally wrote the book - several - on the development, design and manufacture of wood-working machinery.)


Kelley designed and patented several wood-working machines for Smith, but also a wire spoke machine in 1884:



...and the next year received patents for two flavours of a much improved Star design:

View attachment 4



Advert for Smiths "The Mechanic" journal in Charles C. Fords Newspaper Manual, October 1885:

View attachment 2

Nice pics of a 1885 Star:





continues...

 

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From the Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 27, 1886

The World's Record Lowered.
ST. LOUIS, April 26th. - At Clarksville, Mo., to-day, George E. Weber, of Smithville, N. J., won the fifty-mile bicycle road race in three hours and seven minutes, forty-two and one-quarter seconds, lowering the world's record by nearly half an hour. The second and third men - K. E. C. Kleige, of Smithville, and Percy Stone, of St. Louis - also beat the record.

Just a guess, these guys from Smithville were riding Stars!


Newsy advert for Stars seen in The Cycle, April 30, 1886:



Another Kelley US patent from 1887:



The 1887 Star Bicycles catalogue:




Odd bit of news from 1887. In the New York Times, June 4:

View attachment 2

Patent rights or not, it seems unfortunate that Hezekiah, now a wealthy man and with Star bicycle sales doing nicely, should have tried to cut Pressey out of the royalties loop. No idea how this court action ended up...


Sad news in the New York Times again later that year, November 4th:




Less than six months before he died, Hezekiah filed one last patent application, finally awarded over a year after his death, in 1889...



A steam trike!

 

[Lock]

For any folks rockin' it old school... CaC2 + 2 H2O → C2H2 + Ca(OH)2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccE_0y-56IU
[youtube]ccE_0y-56IU[/youtube]

New, for sale in India:
http://www.jkdey.com/cycle.htm

Cycle Torch
Used In Bi- Cycles For Perfect Lighting.
All Brass Nickel Plated Body.
Robust Construction.
Easy To Maintain.
Full Bright Beam Due To High Gloss Nickel Finish.

Low Handling & Maintenance Cost.
Low Consumption Of Calcium Carbide.
Dependable & Easy To Handle.
Better Than Any Other Cycle Lamp.

Full recharge, less than a minute... :lol:

Real (antique) ones pretty collectible:

 

[Lock]

Seen on Ratrodbikes.com...build thread:
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=32238&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p314928


Sadly, gas, but body looks ready to be stuffed with Li...

 

[Lock]

I posted this pic in this thread back in 2010, a Mercedes-Benz concept fuel-cell vehicle:

...that northernmike said might be "cell-punk"

...so I think M-B has done it again in 2012... This image of their 20th-century horseless carriage design alongside their 21st-century electric bike:


Smart!

 

[amberwolf]

Not sure if this is the best place for them, but I hadn't seen these before:






Original source and details unknown, were forwarded to me by a friend.

 

[Lock]

Not sure if this is the best place for them...

Yes Sir!

Really likin' the gal on the "velocipede" (Sign on bike says "Safety First" but I am suspicious whether those shoes are steel toed...)

These railway bikes regularly turn up while poking around the web for old velocipede stuff - I mean the early road-going bikes. Seems like they're the last of any modern-ish vehicles still being called "velocipedes". Think I've found out why.

Generically they were called "Hand Cars". The Car Builders Dictionary from 1881 had a page to illustrate various configurations...


But it's interesting that in this same Dictionary while they had pages and pages of adverts from numerous suppliers of parts for rail cars and railway equipment there is only one advert for a company selling hand cars:


So turns out George Sheffield from Michigan was selling his own design of hand cars by about 1879 and he called his design "velocipede"... Maybe alluding to the fact his were lighter-weight, three-wheeled machines. His patent from 1879:


Seen here:
http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/sheffield.htm

The Sheffield Velocipede Car Company had its beginnings about 1877, when George S. Sheffield, a Michigan farmer, invented a three-wheeled railroad hand-car propelled by a combination of hand and foot power used in a push-pull fashion (see illustration above). At about 140 lbs., it was light enough to be swung off the tracks to make way for trains, and made an excellent track inspection car.

In Fairbanks Morse: 100 Years of Engine Technology, C.H. Wendel tells the following story about the origin of Sheffield’s invention. (Take it for whatever it’s worth.)

“George Sheffield lived on a farm about seven miles from Sheffield, Michigan [apparently just a cross-roads town near Three Rivers, as it is not listed in our 1880 atlas of the United States, and the only Sheffield, Michigan, known to the United States Geographic Survey’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) was in Kent County, which at its nearest point is 60 miles north of Three Rivers]. The farm was a short distance from the Michigan Central Railroad. Every morning and every evening, George Sheffield walked the tracks to and from work.

“Sheffield conceived the idea of building a small car which could propel him over the railroad tracks. In the winter of 1877 he built a small three-wheeler for this very purpose. After a few experimental models he developed a model which would embody all the salient features of the F-M No. 1 Velocipede car which was sold for many years.

“The homemade Sheffield velocipede had no right to use the rail tracks, so he made his journey in darkness. One night he was headed home and discovered a broken rail. By procuring a lantern and flagging down a train, he prevented a certain disaster. However, Sheffield’s little velocipede was now made manifest to all. In recognition of his valorous act, the company permitted him to run his car between his farm and Three Rivers. Shortly after, a railway company representative called on Mr. Sheffield, asking him to build the velocipede for their own use.”

Sheffield applied for a patent on his hand-car early in 1879, and received Patent No. 213,254 only two months later (11 March 1879).

Looks like George sold a LOT of his velocipedes... Many of the smaller hand cars in museums look like the Sheffield design... One in private hands was up for sale last year:
View attachment 4

Some sites claim George was the first. Maybe so but other examples of pretty rustic-looking circa 1870s bikes have been found


There were other builders after George for sure and things got more bicycle-like fast too:
View attachment 2



100 Years ago ya could roll-yer-own out of the Sears catalogue...



Nice "Cavalcade" of different styles...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-_pJVUxfQ
[youtube]I2-_pJVUxfQ[/youtube]

Teetor quad design sold for decades...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJk5vnwSFNQ
[youtube]WJk5vnwSFNQ[/youtube]

So I'm guessing George Sheffield popularized the small hand cars and his Velocipede name just stuck... as Kleenex is to tissues...

Lock

 

[Lock]

now I'm thinkin' "Gumball Rally" across North America for electric railroad velocipedes... Fully-faired recumbent, super-low rolling resistance aka Wh/km... drafting behind the cho-chos... faster than police radios...





Looks like Canada still has lots of rail off the beaten path...

 

[sk8norcal]

peugeot VLV 1941
http://www.autoconcept-reviews.com/cars_reviews/peugeot/peugeot-vlv-electric-1941-45/cars_reviews-peugeot-vlv-electric-1941-1945.html

new version
http://www.greenlaunches.com/transport/the_velv_is_peugeots_two_seat_microelectric_car.php

 

[Lock]

new version

Yeah Baby!

 

[oatnet]

new version

View attachment 1




Yeah Baby!

I'd buy it.