St Nicholas [serial] . ants and a crowd of youngdandies, gathered together atJohnsons Riding Academy inGolden Square, eager to provetheir skill upon the Draisine,the idol of the hour. The caricatures of Cruik-shank and others, though atfirst they discouraged a pas-time that had come to stay,failed in the long run to have any but a goodeffect on the new industry; for we may trace tothem the origin of the tandem, which may havecome from a comic drawing of that period inwhich a young couple are shown upon a hobby-horse; and possibly, too, the idea of the tricycle,which, it is said, was suggested
St Nicholas [serial] . ants and a crowd of youngdandies, gathered together atJohnsons Riding Academy inGolden Square, eager to provetheir skill upon the Draisine,the idol of the hour. The caricatures of Cruik-shank and others, though atfirst they discouraged a pas-time that had come to stay,failed in the long run to have any but a goodeffect on the new industry; for we may trace tothem the origin of the tandem, which may havecome from a comic drawing of that period inwhich a young couple are shown upon a hobby-horse; and possibly, too, the idea of the tricycle,which, it is said, was suggested by a drawingof an apparatus having three wheels with aplace for baggage. The first American appearance of the Drai-sine was made in New York City. The people•of the New World eagerly welcomed the new sport. Small manufactories sprang up all overtown; but the demand for wheels far exceededthe supply. Near Bowling Green these vehi-cles were first exhibited. Around City HallPark and along the Bowery, at all times of the. TEN MILES BEFOKE BREAKFAST. day, riders might be seen. The craze — forcraze it was — soon spread over the land, andthe principal cities each had wheels. However,a reaction soon set in, and as suddenly as theDraisine had risen into favor so suddenly did itfall from grace. Though for many years after the coming ofthis vehicle, different forms with three, four,five, and sometimes six wheels were made, themeans of driving still remained the same. La-salle, a French carriage-builder, invented a giant wheel, through which an axle-tree ex- 448 THE STORY OF THE WHEEL. [April, tended some distance on each side. This ve-hicle, known as the Pedocadere, carried twopassengers, one on each side of the wheel atthe extreme end of the axle. Revis, of Cam-bridge, and B. Smith, of Liverpool, both thoughtof driving the wheels by the feet instead of bythe hands; and each brought out a wheel —the former named his wheel the Alleopode; thelatter chose the name Facilitator. These
Size: 1191px × 2099px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidstnicholasserial251dodg
