Kangaroo (bicycle)
The kangaroo was a penny farthing bike with a chain transmission on the front wheel, which was manufactured from 1884 to 1886. The popularity of the kangaroos was short-lived, the safety low wheel by John Kemp Starley (1885) should quickly replace these wheels.
History and technology
The first chain-driven high bike was developed in 1877 by the French Rousseau in Marseille; the wheel rotated three times with two pedal crank revolutions. Edouard Carl Friedrich Otto and J. Wallis ( Coventry ) patented a similar wheel in 1878. The background to the development was the increase in the diameter of front wheels on high-cycle bikes ( Ordinary ), which reached between 50 and 60 inches (127 to 142 cm), which increased the risk of accidents with high-cycle cyclists (including head falls). The best-known manufacturer was Hillman, Herbert & Cooper in Coventry , whose model "Kangaroo", modified in 1884, became synonymous with "high safety bikes". Other manufacturers were Bayliß, Thomas & Co and Adler in Germany, who made high safety bikes until 1886. The 36-inch (91 cm) front wheel on the Kangaroo had a fork that tilted back slightly, shifting the rider's center of gravity between the front and rear wheels. The translation could be changed with different gear rings. The Timberlake ratchet brake (by turning the handlebars, a brake roller was pressed onto the tire via a rack) on the front wheel provided deceleration.
literature
- Wiebe E. Bijker: Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs. Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 1995, ISBN 978-0-262-02376-4 .
- Nick Clayton: Early Bicycles. Shire Publications Ltd., 1994, ISBN 0-85263-803-5 .
- Wolfgang Gronen, Walter Lemke: History of cycling. Fuchs-Druck und Verlag, Hausham 1987.
- Max JB Rauck, Gerd Volke, Felix R. Paturi: By bike through two centuries. The bicycle and its history. 4th edition. AT Verlag, Aarau u. a. 1988, ISBN 3-85502-038-8 .
- Andrew Ritchie: King of the Road. Wildwood House, London 1975, ISBN 0-913668-42-7 .