James Starley
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James Starley was an English inventor and father of the bicycle industry. He was one of the most innovative and successful builders of bicycles and tricycles. His inventions include the differential g
James Starley
1876 Coventry Lever Tricycle
Differential patented by James Starley in 1877 and used on tricycles and quadricycles
Coventry University's former James Starley building, seen in 2015
Penny-farthing
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The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle distinguished by its large front wheel and comparatively small back wheel. It was popular in the 1
James Starley
…Velocipedes (cycles) had wheels of increasingly disparate size, with the front growing ever larger than the rear. Notable were the high-wheelers, or penny-farthings, a version of which Starley made with William Hillman. Their Ariel vehicle was all-metal and had wire-spoked wheels, much lighter than wooden-spoke…
A penny-farthing in the Škoda Auto Museum, Czech Republic
Velocipede c.1870 by Eugène Meyer of Paris, Wielermuseum, Roeselare, Belgium, 2012
Advertisement for "Ariel" bicycle, c.1873
Singer "Xtraordinary", 1879, Coventry Transport Museum, 2009