US Patent: 88,238
|
| Improvement in velocipedes
|
|
Patentee:
|
|
| William Van Anden (exact or similar names) - Poughkeepsie, NY |
| Manufacturer: |
| Not known to have been produced |
|
|
Patent Dates:
|
| Granted: |
Mar. 23, 1869 |
USPTO (New site tip)
Google Patents
Report data errors or omissions to steward
Jeff Joslin
|
|
Description: |
| This patent covers a bicycle drive-axle with a ratchet mechanism that allowed the pedals to remain stationary even as the wheels are turning, which reduces fatigue and would eventually prove to be a major advancement towards what we now recognize as the modern bicycle. The inventor manufactured a prototype of his invention in the form of a bicycle with the front wheel as the driving wheel and driven without gearing or chains by pedals mounted on the front axle, which was of this patented free-wheeling design. This prototype is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.The ethos of cyclists during the late 1860s was toward keeping bicycles as simple as possible, and van Anden's idea did not go anywhere. The idea of a free-wheeling drive wheel was not widely implemented until the late 1890s when Ernst Sachs re-invented the idea and followed up with a series of other improvements to the bicycle, including the coaster brake. It seems that by Sachs' era the cycling world was ready for improvements that made bicycles more efficient and more comfortable to use. |
|
