It often happens that Russians, having overtaken the inhabitants of other countries, forget about the real trifle - to record the fact of such an advance, to document it, having issued the necessary patents and copyright certificates. All over the world it is known that the first radio made Marconi. And who invented the bike? You don’t know? Well, of course, Baron von Dres! These Germans are so smart, so inventive ...
Here it is, the world's first documented bicycle model. The photo shows that he has a wooden frame, there is a steering wheel and a soft seat. In general, if you look from afar, there is some similarity with modern two-wheeled horses, but it looks more like a sidewall of a cart cut off from the rest of it. Nevertheless, he stands in the museum, the fact is clear. The inventor himself in 1817 called it a walking machine, and following modern technical concepts and analogues, such a mechanism could be called a scooter.
Information that can now be called a legend: in 1801 a serf Artamonov from Nizhny Tagil came up with a two-wheeled metal pedal mechanism with a steering and tested it, having traveled about two thousand miles from St. Petersburg to Verkhoturye. The average speed was ten kilometers per hour, it was achieved due to the front wheel, which had a larger diameter than the rear. After this run and demonstration on Khodynka, a motor vehicle was included in the collection of rare and outlandish objects, the serf received freedom and some money as a reward, and after a while this amusing incident was forgotten. Is it worth remembering now who invented the bike?
But progress does not stand still, and we must pay tribute to European craftsmen - they did not borrow any technical ideas from Artamonov. They honestly tried to invent a bicycle. Inventors simply cannot be blamed for plagiarism, because the muscular vehicle that was presented in Paris seven years later had no steering, nor pedals. Despite such individual design flaws, the invention made a splash. By the way, history, by the way, is also silent about who invented the bicycle in France. There were plenty of people who wanted to ride on two wheels, pushing themselves with their feet. It was then that this name arose, consisting of two Latin words meaning “speed” and “legs”.
Now again, about who invented the bicycle, about Baron Karl Drese. His brainchild compares favorably with primitive French crafts by the presence of steering. This fundamental innovation made it possible to crown his forehead with a laurel crown of priority.
In the future, after thirty-five to forty years, the Germans already confidently led in the bicycle industry. Fisher still thought of putting the pedals on the connecting rod mechanism. The front wheel was made large to give speed. Such a kinematic scheme received the conditional name "spider", but in essence it was the same, Artamon layout.
Now it doesn’t matter who invented the bike. Despite the simplicity of the design, he gave impetus to the development of pneumatic tires, which soon began to be installed on cars. This time, the British, Thomson and Dunlop, invented and applied them to bicycle wheels. True, here it was not without ours: the inventor Ivanov proposed to manufacture a separate camera and tire.