Although German born Karl Freiherr von Drais (1785 – 1851) died penniless December 10, 1851, we have him to remember for inventing what we now call the bicycle.  Drais was a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden and employed as a forestry officer.

 

By age 32 he had become an inventor.  Among his inventions; a two-wheeled velocipede, known as the Laufmaschine or “running machine,” also called, draisine –“hobby-horse.”  Drais presented his new invention in Mannheim, June 12, 1817, then rode eight miles in less than one hour on iron shod wheels astride a wooden frame, weighting 48 pounds.  It was said that Drais had the idea to invent the draisine after one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history.  Mount Tambora erupted in 1815 on the island of Sumbawa in the Dutch Indies known today as Indonesia.

The ensuing year was known as the “Year Without a Summer,” and brought devastating crop failures which led to widespread hunger for man and beast alike, resorting to the slaughter of horses for lack of food which were the mode of transportation in the day.  Decades later Pierre Lallement and Pierre Michaux invented pedals which reminds us more of the bicycle we know today.

One wonders what present day bicycles will look like in another 200 years.