The 200th anniversary of the velocipede: a precursor of the modern bicycle

On June 26, 1819, the first ever bicycle patent was issued in North America to William K. Clarkson, Jr. of New York.

The machine Clarkson patented was very different from our modern bicycles and even went by a different name: the velocipede. The so-called “swift walker” was made of wood and could be propelled by pushing off the ground with one’s feet.

This early forerunner of the bicycle made its way to America via Europe, where it had been conceived two years earlier by the German inventor Karl von Drais.

While the velocipede ended up being a fad, it served as the prototype for the modern bicycle, which emerged — with pedals, chain drive and all — in the 1880s.

On the 200th birthday of its patenting in North America, we celebrate the velocipede for setting the wheels in motion in bringing us the bicycle.