Dandy horse
The dandy horse, an English nickname for what was
first called a Laufmaschine ("running machine" in
German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French
and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or
hobby-horse,[1] or swiftwalker,[2] is a human-
powered vehicle that, being the first means of
transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is
regarded as the first bicycle.[3] The dandy horse is a
foot-propelled vehicle, powered by the rider's feet on
the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It
was invented by Karl Drais (who called it a
Laufmaschine [German: [ˈlaʊfmaˌʃiːnə], "running Wooden dandy horse (around 1820), a patent-
machine"]) in 1817, and then patented by him in infringing copy of the first two-wheeler
France in February 1818 using the term vélocipède. It
is also known as a Draisine (German: [dʁaɪˈziːnə] ⓘ
in German, a term used in English only for light auxiliary railcars
regardless of their form of propulsion), and as a draisienne (French:
[drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still
known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader
meaning.
History
The dandy-horse was a two-wheeled vehicle, with both wheels in
line, propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with the feet as
in regular walking or running. The front wheel and handlebar
assembly was hinged to allow steering. The dandy horse was capable
of more than doubling the average walking speed, to around 10 mph Original Laufmaschine of 1817
(16 km/h) on level ground.[2] made to measure.
Drais was inspired, at least in part, by the need to develop a form of
transit that did not rely on the horse. After the eruption of Mount Tambora and the Year Without a
Summer (1816), which followed close on the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars, widespread crop
failures and food shortages resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of horses, which either starved to
death or were killed to provide meat and hides.[4][5] "In wartime," he wrote, "when horses and their
fodder often become scarce, a small fleet of such wagons at each corps could be important, especially for
dispatches over short distances and for carrying the wounded.”[4]
Johnson’s Ladies’ Walking Machine, sold in London
1818-1819
The remaining extant Johnson’s Ladies’ Walking Machine, in
the Science Museum, London
Several manufacturers in France and England made their own dandy-horses during its brief popularity in
the summer of 1819—most notably Denis Johnson of London, who used an elegantly curved wooden
frame that allowed the use of larger wheels. In the United States, a patent for a two-wheeled human-
powered vehicle was awarded to W.K. Clarkson of New York on June 26, 1819. However, in 1836, a fire
in the U.S. Patent Office destroyed the only surviving drawings, and a prototype of the invention was
never built by Clarkson.[2]
Dandy horses first appeared on the footpaths of Mannheim, Germany, in 1820. They were heavy and
cumbersome, and as a result, riders preferred to operate their vehicles on the smooth pavements instead of
the rough roads. Their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities worldwide to enact laws
prohibiting their use, and in New York City, a law was passed that banned dandy horses from all
footpaths and public places.[4][2] Later designs avoided the initial drawback of this device when it had to
be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and the stride of its rider. An example is
Nicéphore Niépce's 1818 model with an adjustable saddle for his 'velocipede' built by Lagrange.[6]
However, in the 1860s in France, the vélocipède bicycle was created by attaching rotary cranks and
pedals to the front-wheel hub of a dandy-horse.
Modern adaptation
The dandy horse has been adapted as a starter bicycle for children,
and it variously is called a balance bike or run bike.
See also
Balance bike
Outline of cycling
Velocipede
Literature The modern balance bike borrows
from the dandy horse.
H.E.Lessing: How sophisticated was the draisine? The
Boneshaker #159 (2002)
T.Hadland and H.E.Lessing: Bicycle Design - An Illustrated History, MIT Press, Cambridge;
MA 2014
C.Reynaud: L'Ère de la Draisienne en France 1818-1870, Éditions Musée Vélo-Moto,
Domazan 2015
References
1. Bicycle (https://www.britannica.com/technology/bicycle#ref784128) at Britannica.com
2. Kesteven, Guy, ed. (2014). 1001 Bikes to Dream of Riding Before You Die. Cassell. p. 25.
ISBN 978-1-84403-763-6.
3. Higgins, Melissa (2015). How the Wheel Changed History. ABDO Publishing Company.
p. 15. ISBN 9781629697734.
4. Townsend, Chris (2016-10-25). "Year Without a Summer" (https://www.theparisreview.org/bl
og/2016/10/25/year-without-summer/). The Paris Review. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
5. Javorsky, Nicole (24 April 2019). "How the 'Year Without a Summer' Inspired a
Transportation Invention" (https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/04/bicycle-invent-karl-drais-
dandy-horse-climate-change-history/587719/). Bloomberg. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
6. Nicéphore Niépce Museum, Other Inventions - The velocipede (http://niepce.house.museu
m/pagus/pagus-other.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20051220092838/http://ni
epce.house.museum/pagus/pagus-other.html) December 20, 2005, at the Wayback
Machine
External links
New Scientist issue 2484, 29 January 2005, "Histories: Brimstone and bicycles" (https://ww
w.newscientist.com/article/mg18524841.900-brimstone-and-bicycles.html)(subscription
required)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dandy_horse&oldid=1244986500"
