Patent
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. An invention is a solution to a technological problem and is a product or a process. Patents are a form of intellectual property, the procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific property right and these claims must meet relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty and non-obviousness. Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country, the word patent originates from the Latin patere, which means to lay open. More directly, it is a version of the term letters patent.
Similar grants included land patents, which were land grants by early state governments in the USA, and printing patents, a precursor of modern copyright. In modern usage, the term patent usually refers to the granted to anyone who invents any new, useful. The additional qualification utility patent is used to distinguish the primary meaning from these other types of patents. Particular species of patents for inventions include biological patents, business method patents, chemical patents, the period of protection was 10 years. These were mostly in the field of glass making, as Venetians emigrated, they sought similar patent protection in their new homes. This led to the diffusion of patent systems to other countries, by the 16th century, the English Crown would habitually abuse the granting of letters patent for monopolies. After public outcry, King James I of England was forced to revoke all existing monopolies, the Statute became the foundation for developments in patent law in England and elsewhere.
Important developments in patent law emerged during the 18th century through a process of judicial interpretation of the law. During the reign of Queen Anne, patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention for public access. Influenced by the philosophy of John Locke, the granting of patents began to be viewed as a form of property right. The English legal system became the foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand, in the Thirteen Colonies, inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colonys legislature
George Arliss
George Arliss was an English actor, author and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award, born in London and baptised as Augustus George Andrews but commonly listed as George Augustus Andrews, his relatives referred to him as Uncle Gus. He started work in the office of his father but left at age eighteen to go on the stage. He began his career on the stage in the British provinces in 1887. By 1900, he was playing Londons West End in supporting roles and he embarked for a tour of America in 1901 in Mrs Patrick Campbells troupe. Intending to remain in the US only for the length of the tour, Arliss stayed for twenty years and he began his film career with The Devil, followed by Disraeli and four other silent films. Today, only The Devil, $20 a Week, and The Green Goddess and he remade Disraeli in sound, converting successfully at the age of 61 from a star of the legitimate theatre, and silent films, to the talkies. Arliss made ten sound films exclusively for Warner Bros. under a contract that gave the star an unusual amount of control over his films.
Curiously, his casting of actors and rewriting of scripts were granted him by the studio that are not even mentioned in his contract. One of these films, The Man Who Played God, was Bette Daviss first leading role, until the end of Daviss life, she would credit Arliss for personally insisting upon her as his leading lady and giving her a chance to show her mettle. The two co-starred in The Working Man in 1933, Arliss built a production unit at Warners both in front of and behind the cameras. His stage manager, Maude Howell, became an assistant producer and was one of the few female executives in Hollywood at that time. After his first three films, Arliss approved an undistinguished director, John Adolfi, to each of his films from that point on. Adolfi soon found himself regarded as a director of the critically and financially acclaimed Arliss films. Arliss preferred to use the same actors, such as Ivan Simpson and Charles Evans. Yet Arliss had an eye for discovering unknown newcomers, such as James Cagney, Randolph Scott and Dick Powell, despite his extensive involvement in the planning and production of his films, Arliss claimed credit only for acting.
Working closely with Warners production chief, Darryl F. Zanuck, Arliss is remembered primarily for his witty series of historical biographies such as Alexander Hamilton, The House of Rothschild, The Iron Duke, and Cardinal Richelieu. However, he had a string to his bow, a series of domestic comedies such as The Millionaire, A Successful Calamity, The Working Man
Cycle rickshaw
The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport, it is known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, pedicab, cyclo, becak, trisikad, or trishaw. As opposed to rickshaws pulled by a person on foot, cycle rickshaws are human-powered by pedaling, another type of rickshaw is the auto rickshaw. They are a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis, Cycle rickshaws are widely used in major cities around the world, but most commonly in cities of South and East Asia. The first cycle rickshaws were built in the 1880s, and they were first used widely in 1929 in Singapore, six years they outnumbered pulled rickshaws. By 1950 cycle rickshaws were found in south and east Asian country. By the late 1980s there were an estimated 4 million cycle rickshaws in the world, the vehicle is generally pedal-driven by a driver, though some are equipped with an electric motor to assist the driver. The vehicle is usually a tricycle, though some models exist. Some cycle rickshaws have gas or electric motors, the configuration of driver and passenger seats varies.
Generally the driver sits in front of the passengers to pedal the rickshaw, there are some designs, where the cyclist driver sits behind the passengers. In many Asian countries, like India and China, the seat is located behind the driver, while in Indonesia, Malaysia. In the Philippines, the seats are usually located beside the driver in a side car. Similarly, in the trishaw in Singapore and the sai kaa in Burma the passengers sit alongside the driver, the cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport, it is known by a variety of other names, such as, velotaxi and bikecab. Cyclo is used in Vietnam and Cambodia, Pedicab is used in the United Kingdom and United States. In Buffalo, New York, this type of vehicle is known as a bike taxi, becak, trisikad, or trishaw are non-English names used in Indonesia and Singapore. Cycle rickshaws are used in Asian countries, but in countries outside Asia, such as large European, Cycle rickshaws used outside Asia often are mechanically more complex, having multiple gears, more powerful brakes, and in some cases electrical motors to provide additional power.
In Madagascar rickshaws, including cycle rickshaws or cyclo-pousse, are a form of transportation in a number of cities. Rickshaws are known as pousse-pousse, meaning push-push, reportedly for the pulled rickshaws that required a person to push the vehicles up hills. Cycles are more common in the areas, like Toamasina
Folding bicycle
A folding bicycle is a bicycle designed to fold into a compact form, facilitating transport and storage. When folded, the bikes can be easily carried into buildings, on public transportation. Folding mechanisms vary, with each offering a combination of folding speed, folding ease, ride, durability. The choice of model, apart from cost considerations, is a matter of resolving the various requirements, a quick easy fold. There are bicycles that provide similar advantages by separating into pieces rather than folding, military interest in bicycles arose in the 1890s, and the French army and others deployed folding bikes for bicycle infantry use. In 1900, Mikael Pedersen developed for the British army a folding version of his Pedersen bicycle that weighed 15 pounds and had 24 inch wheels and it included a rifle rack and was used in the Second Boer War. In 1941, during the Second World War, the British War Office called for a machine that weighed less than 23 lb, in response, the Birmingham Small Arms Company developed a folding bicycle small enough to be taken in small gliders or on parachute jumps from aircraft.
This British WWII Airborne BSA folding bicycle was rigged so that, when parachuted, the hinges were in front of the bottom bracket and in the corresponding position in front of the saddle, fastened by wing nuts. The peg pedals could be pushed in to avoid snagging and further reduce the space occupied during transit, the bicycle was used by British paratroopers and second-wave infantry units on the D-Day landings and at the Battle of Arnhem. The 1970s saw increased interest in the bike, and the popular Raleigh Twenty. It was, the early 1980s that can be said to have marked the birth of the modern, compact folding bicycle, with competing tiny-footprint models from Brompton and Dahon. Founded in 1982, by inventor and physicist Dr. David Hon and his brother Henry Hon, Dahon has grown to become the worlds largest manufacturer of folding bikes, with a two-thirds marketshare in 2006. Folding bikes generally come with a range of adjustments for accommodating various riders than do conventional bikes.
The wheelbase of many folding designs is similar to that of conventional, non-folding. Some manufacturers are producing folding bikes designed around folding systems that allow them to use 26 wheels, e. g. Dahon, KHS, advantages of smaller wheels include potential for more speed, quicker acceleration, greater maneuverability, and easier storage. For example, the A-bike is similar to the Strida but has tiny wheels, Bikes with smaller than 16 wheels are often called portable bicycles. These forgo the performance and easy ride benefits of their larger counterparts, regardless of how each bike folds, the result is easier to transport and store than a traditional bicycle. Half- or mid-fold Many folding frames follow the classic pattern of the safety bicycles diamond frame
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York City, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836.
The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855.
The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Cruiser bicycle
Cruisers are popular among casual bicyclists and vacationers because they are very stable and easy to ride, but their heavy weight and balloon tires tend to make them rather slow. They are designed for use primarily on paved roads, moderate speeds/distances, one of the first uses of the term “cruiser” for motobikes may have been in the WW2 era, by Mead Cycle Co. The Crusader “Cruiser” model was the high-end men/boy’s bicycle, and included additional features, such as front headlight, rear rack, and most importantly, the motobike tank. The low-end model, was the crusader “chaser, ” and the ladies’ the crusader “clipper” and ‘cutter” models to complete the theme in the product naming scheme. Art work of U. S. Navy Cruiser ships were depicted in the Mead Cycle Co. ads, so cruiser may have originated as one model name used by one distributor of the motorbike style of bicycles. The term beach-ranger never really caught on, like others, copied what they saw going on in Europe. Both Sears and Montgomery Ward had bicycles in 1932 that had balloon tires in the USA, and the streamline movement in bicycles was really pioneered by Sears and Huffman.
The resulting bicycles could endure abuse that could damage others, in 1934, Schwinn successfully re-styled the B-10E, renaming it the Aero Cycle. While the Aero Cycle featured no technical improvements over the original B-10E, its frame, faux gas tank. Modern cruiser bicycles retain these design elements, cruisers were popular throughout the 1930s and 40s and gained greater postwar success. Their combination of weight, single speed mechanicals, and wide tires made the bicycles primarily suited to flat terrain. They were popular with paperboys and bicycle couriers, the Huffy RadioBike® featured an electron-tube radio built into the tank and an antenna and battery pack on the rear carrier. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, bicycles imported from Great Britain and Continental Europe became popular, especially lighter and these models featured three-speed gearing, taller wheels, narrower tires and lighter weight and greater hill-climbing ability. By the late 1950s, U. S. manufacturers such as Schwinn began producing their own version of the English racer, by 1972, a new wave of lightweight derailleur-equipped bicycles led a wave of new consumer interest in recreational bicycling, resulting in the bike boom.
Derailleur-equipped sport bikes or ten speeds inspired by European racing bicycles soon dominated the adult market, while largely obsolete by the late 1960s, the cruiser remained popular for utility and recreational use at the beach, where they soon earned the title of beach cruisers. The term beach cruiser started in 1976 at Recycled Cycles in Newport Beach when Larry McNeely coined the phrase, secondhand cruisers found new life on Americas coastlines as practical transportation for beach bums and surfers. Schwinn registered the trademark Schwinn Cruiser® with the U. S, patent and Trademark Office in November 1979, at or near the end of the bike boom. TRAC International Corporation of Atlanta, registered the trademarks Beach Cruiser® and Street Cruiser® with the USPTO in December 1983, the release of the 1985 film Pee-wees Big Adventure highlighted the main characters cross-country search for his lost custom-built heavily-accessorized horn-tank bicycle
Crank (mechanism)
A crank is an arm attached at a right angle to a rotating shaft by which reciprocating motion is imparted to or received from the shaft. It is used to convert circular motion into reciprocating motion, or vice versa, the arm may be a bent portion of the shaft, or a separate arm or disk attached to it. Attached to the end of the crank by a pivot is a rod, the end of the rod attached to the crank moves in a circular motion, while the other end is usually constrained to move in a linear sliding motion. The term often refers to a crank which is used to manually turn an axle, as in a bicycle crankset or a brace. In this case a persons arm or leg serves as the connecting rod, there is usually a bar perpendicular to the other end of the arm, often with a freely rotatable handle or pedal attached. Familiar examples include, Mechanical pencil sharpener Fishing reel and other reels for cables, ropes, manually operated car window The carpenters brace is a compound crank. The crank set that drives a handcycle through its handles, the crankset that drives a bicycle via the pedals.
Treadle sewing machine Almost all reciprocating engines use cranks to transform the motion of the pistons into rotary motion. The cranks are incorporated into a crankshaft, the displacement of the end of the connecting rod is approximately proportional to the cosine of the angle of rotation of the crank, when it is measured from top dead center. The mechanical advantage of a crank, the ratio between the force on the rod and the torque on the shaft, varies throughout the cranks cycle. The relationship between the two is approximately, τ = F r sin where τ is the torque and F is the force on the connecting rod. But in reality, the torque is maximum at crank angle of less than α = 90° from TDC for a force on the piston. One way to calculate this angle is to find out when the Connecting rod smallend speed becomes the fastest in downward direction given a steady crank rotational velocity. 17615° after TDC. Then, using the sine law, it is found that the crank to connecting rod angle is 88. 21738°.
When the crank is driven by the rod, a problem arises when the crank is at top dead centre or bottom dead centre. At these points in the cycle, a force on the connecting rod causes no torque on the crank. Therefore, if the crank is stationary and happens to be at one of two points, it cannot be started moving by the connecting rod. The eccentrically mounted handle of the rotary handmill which appeared in 5th century BC Celtiberian Spain, a Roman iron crank of yet unknown purpose dating to the 2nd century AD was excavated in Augusta Raurica, Switzerland
Bicycle pedal
The bicycle pedal is the part of a bicycle that the rider pushes with their foot to propel the bicycle. It provides the connection between the foot or shoe and the crank allowing the leg to turn the bottom bracket spindle. Pedals usually consist of a spindle that threads into the end of the crank and a body, on which the foot rests or is attached, pedals were initially attached to cranks connecting directly to the driven wheel. The safety bicycle, as it is today, came into being when the pedals were attached to a crank driving a sprocket that transmitted power to the driven wheel by means of a roller chain. Just as bicycles come in varieties, there are different types of pedals to support different types of cycling. Traditionally, platform pedals were pedals with a large flat area for the foot to rest on. One form of the platform pedal had a flat top area and flat bottom for use with toe clips. They were designed for comfort when using shoes with less than rigid soles. They typically had a smaller cutaway underside giving greater cornering clearance and they were often marketed as being more aerodynamic than conventional quill pedals.
Attaching the shoes to the pedals gives the more control over the pedal movements. In mountain biking and BMX, platform pedals typically refer to any flat pedal without a cage, BMX riders typically use plastic pedals made of nylon, polycarbonate, or carbon reinforced plastic, although aluminum alloy, and magnesium are not uncommon pedal body materials. Mountain bikers tend to use aluminum or magnesium because of the use of metal studs to offer grip while the pedals are wet, muddy. BMXers tend to prefer platforms to cage pedals because they offer more support, cage pedals are more popular in the low end mountain bike range. In general, cage pedals are uncommon in all types of biking, platform pedals are available in a wide variety of types and prices, ranging from disposable plastic units used for test rides on new bicycles to high-end downhill models. Budget models may be made of steel or aluminum and incorporate reflectors for safer riding on streets at night, less expensive platform pedals are generally considered disposable and cannot be rebuilt when worn out.
More expensive platform pedals for the bike market are available with replaceable metal traction pins. Lightweight pedals intended for Freeride and downhill cycling have been made from metals such as magnesium. Toe clips typically are not installed on this type of pedal because they are considered unsafe by some MTB
Cyclo-cross bicycle
A cyclo-cross bicycle is a bicycle specifically designed for the rigors of a cyclo-cross race. Cyclo-cross bicycles roughly resemble the racing bicycles used in road racing, the major differences between the two are the frame geometry, and the wider clearances that cyclo-cross bikes have for their larger tires and mud and other debris that they accumulate. Frame materials are selected with an aim to produce a lightweight, yet stiff, low weight is prized for ease of carrying while running. A cyclo-cross racer may lift or carry his/her bike as many as 30 times in one 60 minute race, aluminum frames were popular in cyclo-cross bicycles long before they became commonplace on the road. Today the most popular material is aluminium with carbon fiber being popular at a professional level, cyclo-cross frames require clearance for slightly wider tires and the debris and mud that is picked up by them. They are typically simple, often eschewing bridges between the rear stays. Compact geometry frames with sloping top tubes are less common than on road due to the need to carry the bicycle easily on the shoulder.
Top tube routed derailleur cables help combat the build-up of mud, some specialist cyclo-cross bikes have a higher bottom bracket to aid clearance over rough ground, extra clearance could prevent toe clips from dragging while re-mounting after an obstacle. This is less common as clipless pedals have become the norm for cyclo-cross, the frame geometry is a bit more relaxed than that of a road bike, not as upright in the seat tube, which allows for more stability in soft ground. Gearing is typically lower, with most common setups using a 46-36 or 48-38 chainring combination with a 12-25 to 12-30 cassette, some riders opt to use a single chainring in the front while retaining multiple sprockets in the rear cassette. Wheels are of the road racing type fitted with knobby tires. A second set of levers on the tops, called top mount or interrupter brake levers, are favored by some competitors. The top tubes of cyclocross bike frames typically have an ovalized or flattened bottom profile to provide greater comfort when riders need to shoulder, in general, with a change of tires and gearing a cyclo-cross bike can double as a perfectly adequate road racing machine.
However, most cyclo-cross racers prefer clipless mountain bike pedals for their easy dual-sided entry, mountain biking shoes provide better traction while running than typical road style shoes thanks to flexibility in the sole and pronounced tread patterns. Mini-Vs are gaining in popularity as they have both the cable pull, and some of the increased power of traditional linear-pull brakes over cantilever brakes. While disc brakes are heavier than cantilever brakes, the trade off is that they allow for later, tire choice is very important in cyclo-cross racing. Tubular tires are very popular, even more so than in road racing. This is, in part, due to their ability to be used at low pressure without increasing the risk of pinch flats, low pressure is desirable because it increases contact patch area which can increase traction on soft surfaces
Road surface
Road surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces and granite setts were extensively used, Road surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic. Today, permeable paving methods are beginning to be used for low-impact roadways and walkways, sometimes called flexible pavement due to the nature in which it distributes loads, has been widely used since the 1920s. The viscous nature of the bitumen binder allows asphalt concrete to sustain significant plastic deformation, most asphalt surfaces are laid on a gravel base, which is generally at least as thick as the asphalt layer, although some full depth asphalt surfaces are laid directly on the native subgrade. In areas with soft or expansive subgrades such as clay or peat. Depending on the temperature at which it is applied, asphalt is categorized as hot mix, warm mix, hot mix asphalt is applied at temperatures over 300 °F with a free floating screed.
Warm mix asphalt is applied at temperatures of 200–250 °F, resulting in reduced energy usage, cold mix asphalt is often used on lower volume rural roads, where hot mix asphalt would cool too much on the long trip from the asphalt plant to the construction site. An asphalt concrete surface will generally be constructed for primary highways having an average annual daily traffic load greater than 1200 vehicles per day. Advantages of asphalt roadways include relatively low noise, relatively low cost compared with other paving methods, in the mid-1960s, rubberized asphalt was used for the first time, mixing crumb rubber from used tires with asphalt. Also, application of rubberized asphalt is more temperature-sensitive, and in many locations can only be applied at times of the year. Study results of the long-term acoustic benefits of rubberized asphalt are inconclusive, compared to traditional passive attenuating measures, rubberized asphalt provides shorter-lasting and lesser acoustic benefits at typically much greater expense.
Concrete surfaces are created using a mix of Portland cement, coarse aggregate, sand. In many cases there will be Portland cement substitutes added and this can reduce the cost of the concrete and improve its physical properties. The water allows the mix to combine molecularly in a reaction called hydration. Concrete surfaces have been refined into three types, jointed plain, jointed reinforced and continuously reinforced. The one item that each type is the jointing system used to control crack development. Jointed plain concrete pavements contain enough joints to control the location of all the expected shrinkage cracks, the concrete cracks at the joints and not elsewhere in the slabs. Jointed plain pavements do not contain any steel reinforcement, there may be smooth steel bars at transverse joints and deformed steel bars at longitudinal joints
Balance bicycle
A balance bicycle, or run bike is a training bicycle that helps children learn balance and steering. It has no pedals and no drivetrain, balance bikes have been made out of both metal and wood. It can be a bicycle with pedals and related parts removed. It can have no brake, or it can have one or two hand-activated rim brakes, to function properly, a balance bicycle must be small enough that the rider can walk the bicycle while sitting comfortably in the saddle, putting both feet flat on the ground. The rider first walks the bicycle while standing over the saddle, the rider feels comfortable enough to run and scoot while riding the bicycle, to lift both feet off the ground and cruise while balancing on the two wheels. Pediatricians say that there is no evidence that children learn to bike faster without training wheels. Training wheels that prevent the bike from leaning prevent countersteering, so that, as with a tricycle, kids learn to turn the handlebars the wrong way, adjusting training wheels correctly, and raising them higher as the childs skill increases, avoids these problems.
Balance bikes with no brakes at all except the riders feet might stop poorly as well, brown recommended simply removing the pedals from a normal kids bicycle, avoiding the extra expense of a balance bike, and parents have had success with this approach. The first balance bicycle was the horse, and was invented by Karl Drais. His first reported ride from Mannheim to Rheinau took place on June 12,1817, Drais was a German inventor and invented the Laufmaschine, later called the velocipede, draisine or draisienne, or nicknamed, dandy horse. This incorporated the principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle
Utility bicycle
The vast majority of bicycles that can be found in the developing world are utility bicycles. As such, utility bicycles are the most common form of bicycle globally, bicycles have been promoted for their utilitarian strengths since before they were technically known as bicycles. The draisine and the boneshaker were hoped to become an inexpensive alternative to horses by their makers. However the inherent danger, cost and restrictive gender roles of the day, kept it popular mainly with wealthy adventurous young men, and mainly for recreation and sport. The development of penny-farthing moved away from the goal of earlier forms, with its less stable ride. It furthered the trend of bicycles to be used by men, willing to take risks, for sport. Despite this, we find the earliest mention of working bikes in 1874, in Paris, as couriers, for a newspaper and the stock market riding penny-farthings. It was the introduction of the safety bicycle that was successful for the first time to build a bicycle that worked well for utilitarian purposes and it was this development that was the cause of the bicycle boom of the 1890s.
In the USA, after the boom, use changed dramatically from sport, by 1902, as the boom was coming to an end, nearly all cyclists were cycling for practical purposes. The price of bicycles dropped dramatically, due to increased competition between makers and more price conscious consumers, profits dried up and many of the cycling manufactures went out of business. Additionally the British makers were able to tap into the developing markets overseas, primarily India and Japan. In countries like the USA, the use of utility bicycles all but disappeared until after the Second World War, since the Second World War, utility bicycles have remained popular in countries like the Netherlands and much of the developing world. Since the 1890s only incremental mechanical advances have taken place for the majority of the worlds utility bicycles, in fact many bicycles in Asia still employ rod brakes. One exception to this was the development of substitute propulsion systems for utility bicycles in the form of add-on gasoline engines.
Developed shortly after 1900 in Europe and the United States, motorized utility bicycles surged in popularity in Western Europe after the Second World War. Typically, a one or two-horsepower, two-cycle engine was fitted with a tire roller-drive mechanism that would convert any standard utility roadster into a motorised bicycle. As they could still be propelled by human power, they were considered as bicycles under most national registration schemes, in 1962, the advent of the Moulton bicycle brought a fresh outlook to the traditional utility concept. During the 1990s, several designs were introduced in an attempts to improve on the traditional utility bike
listen) in German, a term used in English only for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and as a draisienne (French: [drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning.
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