BICYCLE - Origin & Invention

The Bicycle in India

The Bicycle derives its origin to the Year 1779 when Blanchard and Margrier invented 'Velocifere'. Its name was published in the Journal De Paris on 27th June 1779. "Velocifere' which differed from the Calerifera said to be proposed by another Frenchman De Sivral much earlier, stated another authority on the subject - invented a Bicycle that could neither be pedalled nor steered; later a German mechanic named K.L. Draise is reported to have designed a Bicycle in the last decade of 18th Century called the 'Laufmachine'. It was capable to achieving a speed of 16 km. (10 miles) per hour. Velocifere consisted of a wooden bar rigidly connecting two wheels placed one in front of the other was propelled by the rider, seated astride the bar pushing against the ground with his feet. The first Bicycle was presented in the Court of Louis XVI in 1779.

The first real Bicycle in 1838 by Kirk Patrick MacMillan of Dunfries. A Scottish Blacksmith, he affixed pedals with connecting rods working on the real wheel to a tricycle in 1834 and then to a Draisene in 1840. He also fixed a comfortable seat and built a handlebar and an armset. Then Mr. Gavin Dalzall, who worked in collaboration with Mr. MacMillan introduced further improvements to the machine and both of them brought out some popular models. These models, however, remained unchanged for nearly two decades.

In 1864, Pierre Lallement of Paris constructed a Bicycle in which the front wheel was driven by pedals and cranks attached direct to its axle through a freewheel. This machine consisting of a wooden frame supported on two wooden wheels was called Bysicle or a 'Boneshaker'. Another source claims that Rowley B Turner introduced the celebrated 'Boneshaker' in the year 1860. Nevertheless this contraption became the sensation of the 1865 Paris Exposition and can claim to be the direct ancestor of the modern day Bicycle.

In 1868, rubber tyres replaced iron tyres. The front wheel of the 'Boneshaker' then measured around 36/38''. A little later 'High' Bicycle was introduced. Its front wheel was 54" in diameter. Between 1870 and 1879, but finally in 1885, James K. Starley, aged above 70 who later came to be known as 'Father of the Bicycle Industry', made 'Rover' Safety bicycles in England - weighing about 50 lbs. In this, the chain and chainwheel were fixed and the sizes of the wheels reduced and their gap narrowed down. This safety Bicycle, more famous as 'Ariel' monopolised the field for sometime. Mr. Starley made many improvements over the French machine and patented the tangented wheel. It was nicknamed 'Penny - Farthings'. In 1874 the first chain-driven bicycle was designed by H.J. Lawson. In 1876 Co. Albert Pope of Boston (USA) set up the Pope Manufacturing Company to produce cycles. Ball bearings were introduced in the year 1877.

The real break came in the year 1889 when John Boyd Dunlop, son of a Belfast Surgeon, introduced the first pneumatic tyre. By putting these tyres in the Bicycle, a great gain in comfort, with remarkable increase in speed, was secured. The height of the bicycle was reduced by 40 per cent. This was a revolution in the history of a Bicycle. The safety bicycle with pneumatic tyres made cycling universally popular, not merely as a pastime but also as a convenient mode of transport for everyday use. Made with the drop frames, it also enabled women to cycle without being confined to a heavy tricycle or otherwise compelled to assume irrational dresses. In Britain the demand of machines had become very great and the makers were unable to meet it.

Tandem (Cycle for two) was originated in England in 1894. It was popularly known as a vehicle of romance - a lovers' bicycle. These were followed by Bicycles for three and even four but all these went off the road leaving the Bicycle for one only as we see it today. So it was in the year 1893 - 94 that the Bicycle design stabilised to a stage at what we find it today.

Bicycle was first seen in India in the year 1890. Import of cycles, however, started in 1905 and continued for more than 50 years. Complete ban on imports was announced by the Government in July, 1953, but cycles kept on simmering in the country till 1961. In 1890, selling price of an imported bicycle was around Rs. 45/-; in 1917, during the First World Was the price jumped to Rs. 500/- but dropped considerably, month by month and came down to Rs. 35/- or so (U.K. makes) and Rs. 15/- or so (Japanese models).

It would be interesting to mention that in 1919, 5 persons in Punjab imported cycles and used them on The Mall, Simla. These included one Bishop, two military men and two contractors including S. Pala Singh Bhogal (Grand Father of Mr. M.S. Bhogal of Ludhiana). Under special permission of the Governor, they were allowed to use cycles on 'The Mall' only for one hour in a day. They imported B.S.A. Cross Bar Cycles from U.K. and it used to be a kind of Mela at that particular hour on the Mall in Simla, the scene watched by hundreds of people everyday. Later, a firm was formed under the name of Singh & Co. with shops on Railway Road, Jalandhar and Bazar Vakillan, Hoshiarpur, which imported bicycles in the year 1930 onwards.

IMPORT OF COMPLETE CYCLES
Year 1942 - 43 1943 - 44 1944 - 45 1945 - 46 1946 - 47 1947 - 48 1948 - 49 1949 - 50 1950 - 51 1951 - 52 1952 - 53 1953 - 54 1954 - 55 1955 - 56 1956 - 57 1957 - 58 1958 - 59 1959 - 60 1960 - 61 1961 - 62 1965 - 66	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Cycles imported (Nos.) 16, 000 28, 000 37, 000 76, 000 2, 12, 000 2, 61, 000 2, 64, 000 2, 63, 000 1, 66, 000 2, 83, 000 1, 98, 000 90, 000 89, 000 1, 30, 000 1, 56, 000 49, 000 7, 321 896 492 477 3