Dandy horse

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Original draisine made to measure.

The dandy horse was invented by Baron Karl von Drais in Mannheim, Germany, patented in January 1818; Drais's name for it was Laufmaschine (German for "running machine"), and it also became known as a velocipede, a draisine (but that term is now used primarily for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and in its French form draisienne.

The dandy-horse was a two-wheeled vehicle, with both wheels in-line, propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with her or his feet as in regular walking or running. The front wheel and handlebar assembly was pivoted to allow steering.

Several manufacturers in France and England made their own dandy-horses during its brief popularity in the summer of 1819 -- most notably, Denis Johnson of London, who used an elegantly curved wooden frame which allowed the use of larger wheels. Riders preferred to operate their vehicles on the smooth pavements instead of the rough roads, but their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities to enact laws prohibiting their use. A further drawback of this device was that it had to be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and the stride of its rider, as none of its manufacturers are known to have built an adjustable version. After its brief moment in the limelight, the dandy-horse quickly faded into oblivion.

However, in 1862 in Nancy, France, 19-year-old baby carriage maker Pierre Lallement saw someone ride by on a dandy-horse, and was inspired to attach rotary cranks and pedals to the front-wheel hub, creating the vélocipède bicycle.

[edit] Trivia

Buster Keaton rides a dandy horse in his film Our Hospitality, which is set in the 1830s. Keaton's technical crew were unable to obtain an actual dandy horse, so they built one to match existing drawings and prints. After the film was released, Keaton complied with a request from the Smithsonian Institution to donate his dandy horse to the Smithsonian museum's collection, which had no authentic examples of this vehicle.