This Strange Tricycle Was Patented In 1881

 

                                                                                                  Woman in Tricycle.

A strange photo with a woman on a strange tricycle has been making the rounds of the Internet recently. It is a bizarre vehicle with a giant wheel and the most wonderful spokes. The photo of the trike—called "the New Iron Horse" and credited to Charles W. Oldreive—is from the Library of Congress.

                                                                                     Charles W. Oldreive

It's a fascinating thing, but why would anyone want such a big wheel and want to sit inside it? Likely for the same reason that people sat on top of those giant penny-farthing bicycles, before the development of the chain drive when pedals were connected directly to a wheel, one turn of the pedals meant one turn of the wheel. So the bigger the wheel, the faster the bike could go. According to Science Source: "Tricycles were used by riders who did not feel comfortable on the high wheelers, such as women who wore long, flowing dresses. "

According to the patent 245,012, issued to Charles Wood Oldreive of Chelsea, Massachusetts, "it will 'be seen that, owing to the large diameter which may be given to the wheel B, the vehicle can be run at a very high degree of speed and be easily manipulated by a person when within the car."

The rider actually sat inside the wheel in what Oldreive calls a "boat" and instead of pedals, you turned cranks on either side with both hands. For brakes, there were two long arms that you would pull on that would drag on the ground. You steer with two lines that control the rear wheels.

A fascinating feature of the drive mechanism is that it is actually geared, instead of having it driven directly by handles connected to the hubs.

"Each hub of the wheel has fixed to it on its inner side and concentric with such hub a gear, m, which engages with a driving-gear, o, by means of an intermediate gear, a, such gears being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The said intermediate and driving gears are applied to the car so as to be capable of being revolved by a crank, s, fixed on the arbor of the driving-gear."

Had Oldreive used gears differently, he would not have needed the big wheel and might have gone down in history as the inventor of the safety bicycle, the predecessor of the bike as we know it.