hpv`history 2006.10.29
Herlihy 2004` bicycle:
history
the lackey era
1696: french math'ian Ozanam documents dr.Richard` hpv
. typical of the age, the dominant theme for the next (17th) century
was a variant of the jinrikisha, where one human`s carriage
is powered by the labor of another human
. this not an inherently bad design though;
because, they could have shared the labor in order to
make up for the age`s lack of materials technology
. dr.Richard`s design worked by stepping on reciprocating slats
which made the labor appear to be cross-country skiing up-hill
. basically, his design had everything we look for in the ultimate hpv:
(1) a fairing that protects one from the elements (though not the wind
since carriages at that time were too heavy to be concerned with wind
resistance)
(2) a treadle, pedal, or other mechanism that increased the laborer`s
efficiency
and that would also let the laborer`s body parts
remain within the protective fairing (and avoid draisine foot-scooting)
.
1804: american J.Bolton`s geared quadcycle hpv
. gearing allows the labor to move very large loads at a very slow pace;
in the patent spec's, the wagon is shown without a fairing; but it
could easily add one
. proper gearing is vital to being able to remain within the fairing;
and although the Bolton design had only one gear,
it was an all-condition gear, albeit a slow one,
-- and he could always Bolt.on
more !
1813: german Karl von Drais fails to get a patent on a quadcycle hpv
. "(tiller)-steered and powered by multiple humans "(working a cranked
axle with legs and feet)
the draisine (hobby) era
. although Cartwright would introduce the treadle-driven quadcycle,
again it would receive neither the attention -- nor the notoriety --
of the draisine(foot-scooter)
1817: Drais invents the lauf-maschine (running machine)
. having failed at popularizing his version of the communally powered
quadcycle,
von Drais next introduces a personal foot-scooter
. the Draise` lauf-maschine (running
machine) was
referred to by the press at that time
as the hobby
[ hobbyhorse;
horseless carriage;
hob = have; to make do with what you have ]
though, a year later it would be called a velocipede
[perhaps since that name reflects the positive quality of
how to run more efficiently
rather than how to deal with lacking a horse! ]
1818:
. lauf-maschine gets a french patent through an agent, under the name draiseienne;
but it's a fad
1819:
. british Johnson`s hobby gets a patent for minor improvements
that renew interest in the foot-scooter
while also intensifying complaints about
sidewalk hogs, and inciting proto.feminism
"( women wanting to straddle hobbyhorses in
public! )
1820: von Drais denounces the treadle-driven trike
. what Drais liked about his foot-scooter,
is that it allowed the natural act of walking
without the oppressive weight of gravity
. this, he compared to the endurance added when
one lets a horse pull it`s load in a carriage, rather than
having it bear the load on it`s back .
. others, too, shared this view:
twenty years later, gooch`s quadcycle, aeripedus,
would still be using a draisine foot-scooting architecture
. it was only after an extensive outlay of railroads were
in
operation
that von Drais would consider it practical to have pedals or treadles,
since that alone would allow hpv's to be used on railroads .
1821: gomperz` Draisine (ratchet-driven foot-scooter)
. british Lewis Gompertz (Gomperz)
adds a
hand-pedal to the foot-scooter
. forward motions of the handlebars would
pivot a section of gear that would mesh with
another gear fixed to the hub of the front wheel
while the usual rotations of handlebars would still do steering .
1840: Sawyer revises Cartwright`s
treadle-driven quadcycle
. the front wheels have a fixed axle that is bent like a sine wave
to make the treadles reciprocate (one is brought up into position
as the other is pushed back down)
. the steering column is connected to a pulley
the center of which attaches to strings that follow the trough of the
pulley
back to the rear wheels which are connected by a
center-pivoting axle that provides rear steering .
1858: Sawyer quadcycles create suburbanites
. the Sawyer craft got a reputation of sometimes being a practical car;
and was known to help city workers commute to more healthful environs;
however, for use in all occassions,
the quadcycle still needed multiple gears, brakes, and a fairing
. back in those days the roads were so bad
that adding mushy air-filled tired would actually enhance efficiency
because although it increase resistance on smooth pavement,
in a field full of potholes and rocks,
a mushy tire will expand to fill potholes
and compress to accommodate rocks
thereby saving you from a lot of starts and stops .
1868: the french popularize the classic uic bicycle
. there some contention about whether the uic`s classic style of
bicycle
(the 10-speed touring bike with high-pressure tires)
was invented first by the french or the scottish;
but, that point is really moot because,
the next really significant advance in hpv technology
would have to be a wider range of gears, a fairing,
and either better shock-absorber systems or better roads .
1880's: whippet has
mechanical suspension
. the pneumatic tire was about to make mechanical suspension systems
obsolete;
but until then, there would still be a need for alternatives to the
classic diamond frame
such as the english Whippet .
1888: dunlop developes the pneumatic tire
. many new speed records were set
once the pneumatic tire virtually repaved all the roads;
and seeing a chance at huge fortunes to be made
from a now-great product that filled a great need
the was a great amount of capital poured into cranking out cheap bikes
and world-wide advertising
. this industrial boon snowballed into an american dream
until a sudden crash in 1897
. that year altleast one of the manufacturers had sensed that the
market was saturated;
and, in a panic, slashed prices while at the same time
compensating by sharply reducing the quality control
. if the market wasn't already done with them,
it was now -- dumping all that garbage product
had irrepairably ruined our reputation as bike suppliers
. a possible cause for the panic was knowledge that current
patents were virtually expired;
and foreign bike production systems were now up to speed
. finally, the great demand for a bicycle
was really just mass` need for any sort of transportation;
and, since the car really wasn't a common sight then,
the bike quickly became a very massive market, if only they would bring
the price down
. the fatal problem with the market
was that they lost their set of status-seeking consumers
-- the wealthy elite and the young cliques --
because when there is no other market for cheap bikes than the poor
then the best the industry can do is own a chain of thrift stores,
because the poor will fix it rather than upgrade,
or pay extra for conveniences like the sealed drive idea that failed
. one reason for the bike`s loss of status appeal
was mass production`s cheap bike being accessable to the poor (and
stigmatized)
which meant a bike club was no longer a social (class) club,
and that thieves too poor to travel
could now use bikes to ruin the peacefulness of country
life
. an irony of calling bicycles the great social equalizer
is that for a long time the only market for hpv's
were the velocipedes needed by those who found normal walking awkward;
whereas the modern bike tended to make everyone feel equally awkward
atleast when compared to the dignity offered by the motorized car
which happened to be introduced shortly before the decline of the bike
industry .
prof.kyle & wolfgang
gronen 1995:
1913: etienne bunau varilla` bike`s streamliner 
. patented as "( wind-dividing apparatus to
be attached to transprot
vehicles with kinematic equilibrium,
esp'ly bicycles and motorcycles
with a view of diminishing the air resistance
-- facilitate penetrating
the air and to avoid the forming of eddies
at the rear of a moving body
)
-- marcel berthet` velo torpille (velocity from being torpedo-shaped)
. it
boosted speed by 4mph but was very unstable in cross winds
1914: first recorded streamlined biking race (34.63 mph) 
. the Brennabor Fish, and the winning Goricke Bomb
at the Berlin Olympic Track, April 4, 1914
. the uci (internat cycling union) bans all aerodynamic devices
1932: Charles
Mochet `velocar (velocity carriage)
. the velocar enhances rider aerodynamics with a supine position
(the uci had already banned all aerodynamic add-on's earlier,
but the velocar simply repositioned the rider)
1932: oscar egg` velofusee 
. the velofusee is a tail cone strealiner of trivial weight for it`s
impressive spee
gains (48km/hr)
-- the uci would soon ban these too .
1933: streamlined bike"velodyne
. does 49.992 km/hour .
1934: uci (international cycling union) bans recumbents
. after the european`s protectionist uci outcast
virtually all forms of hpv evolution
it would take 40years for the open-design community to
establish their own official record-keeping organization
. the uci`s idea of a bicycle could not possibly evolve into
something that could
serve the public -- and replace the automobile -- (why would anybody
want to?
the world wasn't a smog-hole yet! )
because once you put a fairing on an upright-posture design like theirs
then the side-winds make it very unstable
. the uci was primarily concerned that charles mochet`s velocar
had
made obsolete an already struggling bicycle industry urgently in need of
protection against the wave of cheap american imports .
1938: first 50+ km/hr
. the streamlined velocar (supine
recumbent with aerodynamic fairing)
takes the world`s first
50+ km/hr
1949: amphibious pedal-driven Amphibike
[MARKKU
LAHTINEN]
. the Amphibike in Stockholm had features of a velomobile,
and the pedals could swim as well
. Reino Karpio and Matti Näränen pedal-propelled from
Helsinki to Stockholm
across the Baltic Sea with their amphibike
1974: 40-mph mile
. prof(mech.eng).chester kyle`s streamlined bike does a 40-mph mile
. it
used heat-shrunk dacron aircraft fabric on aluminum
1975: ihpva
(international hpv association) founded
. prof.kyle
and AeroVironment`consultant(aerodynamics of truck
fairings) jack lambie
founded the california`ihpva (international human powered vehicle
association)
for officially recording hpv competitions
under rules that encourage evolution of the hpv
by having an open design policy (in stark contrast to uci,
the pre-existing keeper of official records
that had banned the use of fairings and recumbent frames
. before ihpva, there were no official speed records of hpv's banned by
the uci .
1977.8.23: man-powered flight 
. gossamer condor`s man-powered flight can do a figure eight
1979: single-rider hpv breaks 50mph
. gardner martin` air-over streamlined prone is first single-rider hpv
to break 50mph
. supine tandem trike "(white
lightening) exceeds 55mpg
1979: supine manuped ( front-drive, 4-pedal bike)
. john thomas`manuped ( front-drive, 4-pedal, supine bike with tail
cone)
wins with superior acceleration and cornering in the 27-mile road race
( although it did cornering better than the vector trike,
the manuped`s steering was rather precarious
since the hands were trying to do both the steering and some of the
pedaling )
--[ fighter pilots can tell a navigation system where to steer by
having a laser follow their eye movements
and some quadraplegics can do desk work by holding a tool in their
teeth ]
1979.6.12, 5:51 .. 8:44: pedal-flying over the english channel 
. gossamer albatross`s man-powered flight makes it over the english
channel
1980: voit.vector tandem does 62.92 mph 
voigt`vector single-rider, a streamlined tadpole trike
(ie, with 2 wheels in front beside rider and rear-wheel drive)
does
58.89mph
white lightning tandem does 61.04
voit vector tandem ( with back-to-back riders for a shorter
length )
does 62.92mph
1983: prone single manuped does 54.92mph
steve ball`prone 4-pedal rear-drive single does 54.92mph
. linear drive meant that the pedals were on a rail like a
rack&pinion steering drive
. after this, prone-style recumbents are seen as obsolete
[ with linear drive, it is much easier for the hands to provide both
steering and power ]
1984: supine bike with self-service streamliner
tim brummer`lightning single ( supine bike with self-service
streamliner ) does 57.394 mph
. notable in that it didn't require a pitcrew to
hold the bike up while the driver was sealed in
. at stop lights it could stay upright,
showing that a racing machine could be a commuter .
1984: safe bike contest winner,
prof.Tauber
prof.Tauber`s
bicone, [EnCycleopedia
'97, p27]
and it`s short-wheel-base variant, the
biconette,
have characteristics of both a folding bike and a recumbent
. they are a commercially available examples of
scientifically optimizing the angle of rider lean-back
( the rider`s posture is like having the seat on the bike`s rear rack )
. architer" Pieter Tauber is
winner of a 1984 safe bike contest,
and his winning design was developed by
van raam cycles as the tavara
and made by van raam` engineer" Wim
Hoefman
1815 JN ajkmaar, netherlands
1986:
martin`gold rush 65+ mph[p125]
gardner martin`gold rush ( air-over fairing ) does 65+ mph
don rush`allegro trike (with air-over front-wheel drive, and
front-wheel steering ) does 62.98mph
1987: hpv historian"wolfgang gronen [p111]
hpv historian"wolfgang gronen` prone-version of the voigt`vector does
(56mph @500m , 40.79mph @100km )
1988.4.23: pedal flying (119 km) [front
cover]
. mit`daedalus` man-powered flight goes from crete to santorin (119 km)
1989: LA to NY in 5days+1hr [p133]
. lightening F-40 (single with 24hr riding team) does LA to NY in
5days+1hr (24.5mph)
-- the lightning P-38 is retailed as a touring cycle
1989: 73 km in 1 hour [p125]
martin`gold rush
does 73 km in 1 hour
1989.12.10: pedal helicopter
. human-powered helicopter "(da vinci 3) is airborne for 7seconds
--6.10.18. could still be of use to gliders
1991: san francisco to LA in 18hr 4min [p131
]
. lightening x-2 does san francisco to LA in 18hr 4min
1993: cheetah lives up to it`s name at 68.4mph [
p126]
cheetah does all-time (as of 1995) speed record of 68.4mph
1994: hour gets 55.291 miles
the hour record is 55.291 miles
EnCycleopedia 1997: a look
at recent bike culture 2006.01.12
EnCycleopedia:
the internat buyer`s guide to alt's in cycling (1997 issue)
--. news from the people at bikeculture.com
velomobiles as mobilehomes 
. velomobiles see distance action usually associated only with cars
eg, German artist and street vendor, Tobias
Enke
travels his marketing circuit in a fully-faired Leitra .
-- "(perhaps the smallest mobilehome
in the world)
recumbent trike culti 
. inventor Thomas Poreski and
toolmaker Hubert Meyer
have created a steering mechanism
that leans the rider`s seat and the single front wheel into a
turn
while a pivot allows the set of rear wheels to stay vertical .
sealed-transmission
velomobile berkut b-317 
. Russia get's the gold medal at MUBA 95 in basel, switzerland for the
B-317
. the B-305 -- and another Russian hpv, the S-327 [p86],
use freewheels instead of a differential,
but the B-317 got the award for having a sealed oil-bath gearbox
that provides forward, reverse (3:1), and neutral
.also has hydraulic brakes with std brake shoes
. has an optional fairing of carbon&kevlar composite reinforced
with aluminum stringers
which brought the weight up from 18 to 40 kg .
--. Burkut no longer makes Faired Trikes
(the "(velo) in velomobile --
and the speed --
comes from the provision of a fairing) .
folding recumbent mako 
. except for the zipper fairing, and wheels,
this UK bike fits into 11x16x27 inches .
folding recumbent lepus
. German Marec Hase` trike -- son of easy-glider
--
has a luggage rack in back that pivots underneath the bike
while the front pivots over, so that this 'bent can fold into
something the size of a wheel chair .
Elsdale` procumbent (prone recumbent)
UK`s Tim & son (cool breeze uk ltd) 
made the 1st commercially available procumbent
(where the rider is lying on their stomach)
--. back in 1981..83 I sketched such an idea,
and thought that would be the best design for beating both wind and
obstacles
. jumping potholes would then come from the same motion that does
push-up's
. it was a trike with 2 wheels steering in front
and used a parallelogram to have the wheels leaning into the curve
just as a bike does .
bike compacted with torque coupling (instead
of folding) 
. it's actually a racing bike, but uses break-apart tubing
as a security feature to protect the bike`s titanium frame from theft
. the bike can fit in a briefcase, and stay in the hands of the owner
at all times .
. these breaks in the middle of the tubing require the tubing
to have thicker walls than normal which adds some weight;
but titatinium`s toughness/weight ratio is unsurpassed
-- if you can stay in possession of it !
(gold has been valued as an eternal metal that is
easily worked;
but with today`s expertise in metals,
titanium has the highest utility/availability ratio on earth .)
applying a motorcycle`s full suspension to mountain bikes
began cycling to train for off-road motorcycle racing
( you'll know when they've designed an optimal
suspension system
when they can go back to using reliable, solid tires
-- just a rubber sole on a round rim )
2002: full-suspension B-777 lux
. a modification of the BerkutSpecial
(B-777),
the lux variants has suspension on all three wheels.
. the berkut b-317 is said to
be the bmw of trikes?
google(2006) leads to the Berkut
Spezial 2002 .
2002: Varna Diablo exceeds 80mph
. Sam Whittingham, fastest biology on the planet,
with this wind-invisible fiberglass shell .
2006: what's on the web today
pedicab.com
offers a $400 conversion kit [p33]
. it uses a differential -- known to offer safe, scrub-free cornering
( though adding a freewheel to each
side wheel does the same thing in an opposite way:
instead of applying more energy to the faster wheel,
it applies no energy so that on cornering, the outer wheel is not
locked into going the same speed as the inside tire which has to go
slower )
. Eugene Bicycle Works (541-683-3397)
is a do-it-yourself repair workspace
with personalized instruction available
. We have fully equipped work stations for you to fix your own bike
and a wide selection of used and new parts to browse through
. The hourly fee is $6 for workspace and tool rental—for unlimited use,
become a member for only $48 a year
. If you don't know what to do, our staff will provide useful and
knowledgeable
advice at $1 per 5 minutes of instruction
. We also fix up donated used bikes to sell on the floor
. If you need to get a bike or to get rid of one, drop by
. Eugene Bicycle Works has a
Center for
Appropriate Transport Library
founded by Jan Vandertuin,
who is also owner of Human
Powered Machines
and has designed and fabricated trikes, trailers, and workbikes .
