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May
20

Mode of transport – Wikipedia

Written on May, 20, 2020 by | No Comments

The How and Why Library 019.jpg

Mode of transport is a term used to distinguish between different ways of transportation or transporting people or goods. The different modes of transport are air, water, and land transport, which includes Rails or railways, road and off-road transport. Other modes also exist, including pipelines, cable transport, and space transport. Human-powered transport and animal-powered transport are sometimes regarded as their own mode, but never fall into the other categories. In general, transportation is used for moving of people, animals, and other goods from one place to another. The means of transport, on the other hand, refers to the (motorized) vehicles necessary for transport according to the chosen mode (car, airplane, ship, truck and rail). Each mode of transport has a fundamentally different technological solution, and some require a separate environment. Each mode has its own infrastructure, vehicles, and operations.

Animal-powered[edit]

Animal-powered transport is the use of working animals for the transport of people and/or goods. Humans may use some of the animals directly, use them as pack animals for carrying goods, or harness them, alone or in teams, to pull sleds or wheeled vehicles.

A fixed-wing aircraft, typically airplane, is a heavier-than-air flying vehicle, in which the special geometry of the wings generates lift and then lifts the whole vehicle. Fixed-wing aircraft range from small trainers and recreational aircraft to large airliners and military cargo aircraft. For short distances or in places without runways, helicopters can be operable.[1] (Other types of aircraft, like autogyros and airships, are not a significant portion of air transport.)

Air transport is the fastest method of transport, Commercial jets reach speeds of up to 955 kilometres per hour (593 mph) and a considerably higher ground speed if there is a jet stream tailwind, while piston-powered general aviation aircraft may reach up to 555 kilometres per hour (345 mph) or more. This celerity comes with higher cost and energy use,[2] and aviation’s impacts to the environment and particularly the global climate require consideration when comparing modes of transportation.[3] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates a commercial jet’s flight to have some 2-4 times the effect on the climate than if the same CO2 emissions were made at ground level, because of different atmospheric chemistry and radiative forcing effects at the higher altitude.[4] U.S. airlines alone burned about 16.2 billion gallons of fuel during the twelve months between October 2013 and September 2014.[5] WHO estimates that globally as many as 500,000 people at a time are on planes.[2] The global trend has been for increasing numbers of people to travel by air, and individually to do so with increasing frequency and over longer distances, a dilemma that has the attention of climate scientists and other researchers,[6][7][8] the press,[9][10] and the World Wide Web.[11] The issue of impacts from frequent travel, particularly by air because of the long distances that are easily covered in one or a few days, is

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May
16

Transportation in Los Angeles – Wikipedia

Written on May, 16, 2020 by | No Comments

complex multimodal regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic

Los Angeles has a complex multimodal transportation infrastructure, which serves as a regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic. The system includes the United States’ largest port complex; an extensive freight and passenger rail infrastructure, including light rail lines and subway lines; numerous airports and bus lines; Transportation Network Companies; and an extensive freeway and road system. People in Los Angeles rely on cars as the dominant mode of transportation,[1] but since 1990 Los Angeles Metro Rail has built over one hundred miles (160 km) of light and heavy rail serving more and more parts of Los Angeles.

Intercity[edit]

Air transportation[edit]

LAX, the fourth busiest airport in the world.

In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, there are five commercial airports and many more general-aviation airports.

The primary Los Angeles airport is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The seventh busiest commercial airport in the world and the third busiest in the United States, LAX handled 61.9 million passengers, 1.884 million metric tons (2.077 million short tons; 1.854 million long tons) of cargo and 680,954 aircraft movements in 2007.[2]

Other major nearby commercial airports include: LA/Ontario International Airport (serves the Inland Empire); Bob Hope Airport (formerly known as Burbank Airport; serves the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys); Long Beach Airport (serves the Long Beach/Harbor area); and John Wayne Airport (serves the Orange County area).

The world’s busiest general-aviation airport is also located in Los Angeles, Van Nuys Airport. Santa Monica Airport is also located near Los Angeles.

Intercity train services[edit]

Major freight rail lines in southern Los Angeles County, including the Alameda Corridor highlighted in pink

Union Station is the major regional train station for Amtrak, Metrolink and Metro Rail. The station is Amtrak’s fifth busiest station, having 1,464,289 Amtrak boardings and de-boardings in 2006.[3] Amtrak operates eleven daily round trips between San Diego and Los Angeles, five of which continue to Santa Barbara via the Pacific Surfliner, the only service that runs through Los Angeles multiple times daily. Two of those trips continue to San Luis Obispo, California. The Coast Starlight provides additional service on the route and beyond to the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and on to Seattle, Washington. Amtrak motor coaches connect from Los Angeles to the San Joaquin Route in Bakersfield with frequent service through the Central Valley of California to Sacramento and Oakland, and eastward to San Bernardino and Las Vegas.

There is also daily service to Chicago, Illinois on the Southwest Chief, and three times a week to New Orleans, Louisiana on the Sunset Limited. Due to the effects from Hurricane Katrina, Sunset Limited service between New Orleans to Jacksonville, Florida has been discontinued, although Amtrak is required by current Federal Law to develop a plan to reinstate the service. The Texas Eagle is a second train to Chicago, which operates thrice weekly. Sunset Limited and

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May
3

Vehicle leasing – Wikipedia

Written on May, 03, 2020 by | No Comments

Vehicle leasing or car leasing is the leasing (or the use) of a motor vehicle for a fixed period of time at an agreed amount of money for the lease. It is commonly offered by dealers as an alternative to vehicle purchase but is widely used by businesses as a method of acquiring (or having the use of) vehicles for business, without the usually needed cash outlay. The key difference in a lease is that after the primary term (usually 2, 3 or 4 years) the vehicle has to either be returned to the leasing company or purchased for the residual value.

Rationale[edit]

Vehicle leasing offers advantages to both buyers and sellers. For the buyer, lease payments will usually be lower than payments on a car loan would be. Any sales tax is due only on each monthly payment, rather than immediately on the entire purchase price as in the case of a loan. Some consumers may prefer leasing as it allows them to simply return a car and select a new model when the lease expires, allowing a consumer to drive a new vehicle every few years without the responsibility of selling the old vehicle, or possible repair costs after expiry of the manufacturer’s warranty. A lessee does not have to worry about the future value of the vehicle, while a vehicle owner does. For a business lessor there are tax advantages to be considered.

For the seller, leasing generates income from a vehicle the seller (or manufacturing corporation) still owns and will be able to lease again or sell through vehicle remarketing once the original (or primary) lease has expired. As consumers will typically use a leased vehicle for a shorter period of time than one they buy outright, leasing may generate repeat customers more quickly, which may fit into various aspects of a dealer’s business model.

Market penetration[edit]

Leasing’s average retail market penetration rate in the United States for new passenger vehicles reached an all-time record high of 26.5% in February 2014.[1] This represents a recovery from a severe drop during the financial crisis of 2007–08. As of 2016, leasing accounted for about 25 percent of total vehicle sales or 31 percent retail sales in the United States.[2]

The prevalence of leasing in the United States for GM, Ford and Chrysler have been rising close to the industry norm since reaching low single digits in 2009, but still lower than BMW and Mercedes-Benz.[3]

Lease agreement[edit]

Lease agreements typically stipulate an early termination fee and limit the number of miles a lessee can drive (for passenger cars, a common number is 10,000 miles per annum though the amount can be stipulated by the customer and can be 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year). If the mileage allowance is exceeded, fees may apply. Dealers will typically allow a lessee to negotiate a higher mileage allowance, for a higher lease payment. Lease agreements usually specify how much wear

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May
3

Service (motor vehicle) – Wikipedia

Written on May, 03, 2020 by | No Comments

Periodic maintenance of a motor vehicle

A motor vehicle service or tune-up is a series of maintenance procedures carried out at a set time interval or after the vehicle has traveled a certain distance. The service intervals are specified by the vehicle manufacturer in a service schedule and some modern cars display the due date for the next service electronically on the instrument panel. A tune-up should not be confused with engine tuning, which is the modifying of an engine to perform better than the original specification, rather than using maintenance to keep the engine running as it should.

The completed services are usually recorded in a service book upon completion of each service. A complete service history usually adds to the resale value of a vehicle.

Scheduling[edit]

The actual schedule of car maintenance varies depending on the year, make, and model of a car, its driving conditions and driver behavior.
Car makers recommend the so-called extreme or the ideal service schedule based on impact parameters such as

  • number of trips and distance traveled per trip per day
  • extreme hot or cold climate conditions
  • mountainous, dusty or DE-iced roads
  • heavy stop-and-go vs. long-distance cruising
  • towing a trailer or other heavy load

Service advisers in dealerships and independent shops recommend schedule intervals, which are often in between the ideal or extreme service schedule.

Common maintenance[edit]

Maintenance tasks commonly carried out during a motor vehicle service include:

Mechanical parts that may cause the car to cease transmission or prove unsafe for the road are also noted and advised upon.

In the United Kingdom, few parts that are not inspected on the MOT test are inspected and advised upon a Service Inspection, including clutch, gearbox, car battery, and engine components (further inspections than MOT).

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]


Source Article …

May
1

History of the automobile – Wikipedia

Written on May, 01, 2020 by | No Comments

Aspect of history

In 1769 the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.[1][2]

In 1803, Hayden Wischett designed the first car powered by the de Rivaz engine, an internal combustion engine that was fueled by hydrogen.

In 1870 Siegfried Marcus built his first combustion engine powered pushcart, followed by four progressively more sophisticated combustion-engine cars over a 10-to-15-year span that influenced later cars. Marcus created the two-cycle combustion engine.[citation needed] The car’s second incarnation in 1880 introduced a four-cycle, gasoline-powered engine, an ingenious carburetor design and magneto ignition. He created an additional two models further refining his design with steering, a clutch and a brake.

The four-stroke petrol (Diesel) internal combustion engine that still constitutes the most prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion was patented by Nikolaus Otto. The similar four-stroke diesel engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel. The hydrogen fuel cell, one of the technologies hailed as a replacement for gasoline as an energy source for cars, was discovered in principle by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. The battery electric car owes its beginnings to Ányos Jedlik, one of the inventors of the electric motor, and Gaston Planté, who invented the lead–acid battery in 1859.[citation needed]

In 1884 the Italian Enrico Bernardi created the first petrol-powered vehicle, a tricycle for his son Lauro. He drove it through the street of Quinzano, a village near the city of Verona.
[3]

In 1885, Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline-powered automobile.[4] This is also considered to be the first “production” vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies. The automobile was powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine[citation needed].

In 1913, the Ford Model T, created by the Ford Motor Company five years prior, became the first automobile to be mass-produced on a moving assembly line. By 1927, Ford had produced over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles.

Power sources[edit]

The early history of the automobile was concentrated on the search for a reliable portable power unit to propel the vehicle.

Steam-powered wheeled vehicles[edit]

17th and 18th centuries[edit]

Cugnot’s steam wagon, the second (1771) version

Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built a steam-powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Kangxi Emperor. It was small-scale and could not carry a driver but it was, quite possibly, the first working steam-powered vehicle (‘auto-mobile’).[5][6]

Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier à vapeur (“steam dray”), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771. As Cugnot’s design proved to be impractical, his invention was not developed in his native France. The center of innovation shifted to Great Britain. By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth [7] and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle

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Apr
28

Boxer (armoured fighting vehicle) – Wikipedia

Written on Apr, 28, 2020 by | No Comments

Type of Armoured fighting vehicle

Boxer
Boxer Land 400.jpg

Boxer configured for Australia’s Land 400 Phase 2 for which the type was selected in March 2018
Type Armoured fighting vehicle
Place of origin Germany/United Kingdom/Netherlands (further details in main text)
Service history
In service 2011–present
Used by See Operators
Production history
Designed 1998–2009
Produced 2009–present
No. built 500 as of January 2019[1] Production continues.
Specifications
Mass 24,000 kg (standard); 36,500 – 38,500 kg (combat)[2]
Length 7.93 m (26 ft 0 in)
Width 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)
Height 2.37 m (7 ft 9 in) (baseline vehicle)
Crew Varies by role. In APC configuration – 3 + maximum of 8[2]
Armor AMAP composite armour

Main
armament

 various, depends on configuration
Engine MTU 8V199 TE20 Diesel rated at EURO 3[3]
530 kW (711 hp) in A0/A1/A2 and 600 kW (805 hp) in A3 (see text for full details)
Power/weight 16.1 kW/t (max weight @ 530 kW))

Operational
range

 1,100 km (684 mi)
103 km/h (64 mph)

The Boxer is a multirole armoured fighting vehicle designed by an international consortium to accomplish a number of operations through the use of installable mission modules. The nations participating in the Boxer program have changed as the program has developed. The Boxer vehicle is produced by the ARTEC GmbH (armoured vehicle technology) industrial group, and the programme is being managed by OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation). ARTEC GmbH is based in Munich; its parent companies are Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH and Rheinmetall Military Vehicles GmbH on the German side,[4] and Rheinmetall Defence Nederland B.V. for the Netherlands.[5] Overall, Rheinmetall has a 64% stake in the joint venture.

A distinctive and unique feature of the vehicle is its composition of a drive platform module and interchangeable mission modules which allow several configurations to meet different operational requirements.

Other names in use or previously used for Boxer are GTK (gepanzertes Transport-Kraftfahrzeug; armoured transport vehicle) Boxer and MRAV (multirole armoured vehicle).[6] Confirmed Boxer customers as of February 2020 are Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Australia and the UK. The Boxer has been produced in A0, A1 and A2 configurations. The UK will receive the A3 Boxer,[contradictory] and Australia is receiving an A2/A3 hybrid.

Production history[edit]

With exceptions for style and ease of reading, the following development and production history is presented in as near-chronological order as possible.

The Boxer is a cooperative European design project, the initial aim of which was to develop the next generation of armoured utility vehicle. The project was originally started as a joint venture between Germany, United Kingdom and France. France left the programme in 1999 and pursued its own design, the Véhicule Blindé de Combat d’Infanterie (VBCI).

Following negotiations, a contract was awarded in November 1999 for eight prototype vehicles, four for Germany and four for the UK. Total value of this contract was £70 million. In February 2001, the Netherlands joined the programme and 12

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Apr
23

Hybrid bicycle – Wikipedia

Written on Apr, 23, 2020 by | No Comments

Hybrid bicycles blend characteristics from more specialized road bikes, touring bikes and mountain bikes.[1] The resulting “hybrid” is a general-purpose bike that can tolerate a wide range of riding conditions and applications. Their stability, comfort and ease of use make them popular with novice cyclists, casual riders, commuters, and children.

Hybrids typically borrow the flat, straight handlebars and upright seating posture of a mountain bike, which many bicyclists find comfortable and intuitive. Hybrids also employ the lighter weight, thinner wheels and smooth tires of road bikes, allowing for greater speed and less exertion when riding on the road. Hybrid bikes often have places to mount racks and bags for transporting belongings, much like a touring bike.

Hybrid bikes have spawned numerous sub-categories satisfying diverse ridership. They are classified by their design priorities, such as those optimized for comfort or fitness — and those offered as city, cross or commuter bikes.[2]

History[edit]

From the early 20th century until after World War II, the utility roadster constituted most adult bicycles sold in the United Kingdom and in many parts of the British Empire. In Britain, the roadster declined noticeably in popularity during the early 1970s, as a boom in recreational cycling caused manufacturers to concentrate on lightweight (23-30 lb.), affordable derailleur sport bikes, actually slightly-modified versions of the racing bicycle of the era. In the 1980s, U.K. cyclists began to shift from road-only bicycles to all-terrain models such as the mountain bike. The mountain bike’s sturdy frame and load-carrying ability gave it additional versatility as a utility bike, usurping the role previously filled by the roadster. By 1990, the roadster was almost dead; while annual U.K. bicycle sales reached an all-time record of 2.8 million, almost all of them were mountain and road/sport models. A different situation, however, was occurring in most Asian countries: roadsters are still widely made and used in countries such as China, India, Thailand, Vietnam and others as well in parts of north-western Europe.[citation needed]

Trekking bike[edit]

Lightweight trekking bike

A trekking bike is a hybrid with all the accessories necessary for bicycle touring – mudguards, pannier rack, lights etc.[3][4]

Cross bike[edit]

Cross bikes use a road bicycle frame similar to a racing or sport/touring bicycle, and are normally equipped with nearly flat handlebars to provide a more upright riding position than a racing or sport/touring bike.[2] As a hybrid bike intended for general recreational and utility use, the cross bike differs from the cyclo-cross bicycle, which is a racing bicycle purposely designed to compete in the sport of cyclo-cross competition. Cross bikes are fitted with 700c (ISO 622) wheels using somewhat wider semi-treaded tires (1.125–1.25 in or 28.6–31.8 mm) than those fitted to most racing or sport/touring models.[1]
The additional tire width and tread is intended to give the cross bike hybrid some ability to deal with rough or littered surfaces that might be encountered on paved or unpaved

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Apr
22

Bicycle Race – Wikipedia

Written on Apr, 22, 2020 by | No Comments

“Bicycle Race” is a single by the British rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album Jazz and written by Queen’s lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a double A-side single together with the song “Fat Bottomed Girls”. The song is notable for its video featuring a bicycle race with nude women at Wimbledon Stadium, which was controversial at the time, with the video being edited or even banned in several countries.

Composition[edit]

The song was written by Freddie Mercury and was inspired by watching the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France passing Montreux, where the band were recording Jazz in the Mountain Studios.[2][3] It starts with a chorus unaccompanied by instruments. The chorus is followed by two verses connected with a bridge, both followed by a chorus. Around the middle of the song is a solo played with numerous bicycle bells. The song has an unusual chord progression with numerous modulations, a change of metre (from 4
4 to 3
4) in the bridge, and multitracked vocal and guitar harmonies.[4]

The lyrics are topical for the time and contain social, political, and pop culture references, such as religion, Vietnam War, Watergate, cocaine, fictional characters (Peter Pan, Frankenstein and Superman), actor John Wayne, and the films Jaws and Star Wars.

Brian May has said that the song was not an autobiographical portrait of Mercury and that Mercury did not particularly enjoy bicycling, also noting that despite the lyric “I don’t like Star Wars”, Mercury was a Star Wars fan.[5]

The song references the band’s song “Fat Bottomed Girls” with the lyric “fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today”. “Fat Bottomed Girls” reciprocates with the lyric: “Get on your bikes and ride!” The two songs were released together as a double A-sided single.

The video was famous for having 65 nude women, all professional models, racing at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium. It was filmed by Denis de Vallance. The group rented the stadium and several dozen bicycles for one day for filming the scene; however, when the renting company became aware of the way their bikes were used, they requested that the group purchase all the bicycle seats.[2][6] The original video used special effects to hide the nudity.[7] However, due to the nudity, the video is age-restricted on YouTube and banned in several countries.

Distribution[edit]

The song was released as a single and is also included in the following albums and box sets: Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, 15 Of The Best, Queen Live In Concert, Greatest Hits and The Singles Collection Volume 1.[8]

The single was mostly distributed in 1978, on 7-inch vinyl records, with “Fat Bottomed Girls” on the B-side and EMI record label. In Argentina, the titles were translated as “Carrera de Bicicletas” and “Chicas Gordas” respectively. The labels were changed to Pepita in Hungary and to Elektra

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Apr
21

Automotive design – Wikipedia

Written on Apr, 21, 2020 by | No Comments

Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.

The functional design and development of a modern motor vehicle is typically done by a large team from many different disciplines included within automotive engineering, however, design roles are not associated with requirements for Professional or Chartered-Engineer qualifications. Automotive design in this context is primarily concerned with developing the visual appearance or aesthetics of the vehicle, though it is also involved in the creation of the product concept. Automotive design as a professional vocation[1] is practiced by designers who may have an art background and a degree in industrial design or transportation design.
Terminology used in the field is found in the glossary of automotive design.

Design elements[edit]

The 2003 Bertone Birusa concept car on display at an International Car Show. In the Background are some concept sketches
Draft of OScar design proposal
A futuristic original sketch for the Ferrari Modulo 512-S concept car by Paul Martin in 1967. There are already many features of the final product, including the reduced height, wheels coved for low drag and the characteristic entry system.

The task of the design team is usually split into three main aspects: exterior design, interior design, and color and trim design. Graphic design is also an aspect of automotive design; this is generally shared amongst the design team as the lead designer sees fit. Design focuses not only on the isolated outer shape of automobile parts, but concentrates on the combination of form and function, starting from the vehicle package.

The aesthetic value will need to correspond to ergonomic functionality and utility features as well. In particular, vehicular electronic components and parts will give more challenges to automotive designers who are required to update on the latest information and knowledge associated with emerging vehicular gadgetry, particularly dashtop mobile devices, like GPS navigation, satellite radio, HD radio, mobile TV, MP3 players, video playback, and smartphone interfaces. Though not all the new vehicular gadgets are to be designated as factory standard items, some of them may be integral to determining the future course of any specific vehicular models.

Exterior design[edit]

The design team(s) responsible for the exterior of the vehicle develops the proportions, shape, and surface details of the vehicle. Exterior design is first done by a series of manual sketches and digital drawings. Progressively, drawings that are more detailed are executed and approved by appropriate layers of management, followed by digital rendering to images. Consumer feedback is generally sought at this point to help iteratively refine vehicle concepts according to the targeted market, and will continue throughout the rest of the design refinement process. After more progressive refinement, industrial plasticine and or digital models are developed from and along with the drawings and images. The data from these models are then used to create quarter-scale and finally full-sized mock-ups of the final design. With three-

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Apr
21

History of the bicycle – Wikipedia

Written on Apr, 21, 2020 by | No Comments

This article is about the history of the bicycle itself. For information about the history of riding bicycles, see history of cycling.
1886 Swift Safety Bicycle

Vehicles for human transport that have two wheels and require balancing by the rider date back to the early 19th century. The first means of transport making use of two wheels arranged consecutively, and thus the archetype of the bicycle, was the German draisine dating back to 1817. The term bicycle was coined in France in the 1860s, and the descriptive title “penny farthing”, used to describe an “Ordinary Bicycle”, is a 19th-century term.

Earliest unverified bicycle[edit]

There are several early, but unverified claims for the invention of the bicycle.

A sketch from around 1500 AD is attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, but it was described by Hans-Erhard Lessing in 1998 as a purposeful fraud.[1][2] However, the authenticity of the bicycle sketch is still vigorously maintained by followers of Prof. Augusto Marinoni, a lexicographer and philologist, who was entrusted by the Commissione Vinciana of Rome with the transcription of Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus.[3][4]

Later, and equally unverified, is the contention that a certain “Comte de Sivrac” developed a célérifère in 1792, demonstrating it at the Palais-Royal in France. The célérifère supposedly had two wheels set on a rigid wooden frame and no steering, directional control being limited to that attainable by leaning.[5] A rider was said to have sat astride the machine and pushed it along using alternate feet. It is now thought that the two-wheeled célérifère never existed (though there were four-wheelers) and it was instead a misinterpretation by the well-known French journalist Louis Baudry de Saunier in 1891.[6][7]

19th century[edit]

1817 to 1819: the draisine or velocipede[edit]

Wooden draisine (around 1820), the earliest two-wheeler
Drais’ 1817 design made to measure

The first verifiable claim for a practically used bicycle belongs to German Baron Karl von Drais, a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais invented his Laufmaschine (German for “running machine”) in 1817, that was called Draisine (English) or draisienne (French) by the press. Karl von Drais patented this design in 1818, which was the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine, commonly called a velocipede, and nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse.[8] It was initially manufactured in Germany and France.

Hans-Erhard Lessing (Drais’ biographer) found from circumstantial evidence that Drais’ interest in finding an alternative to the horse was the starvation and death of horses caused by crop failure in 1816, the Year Without a Summer (following the volcanic eruption of Tambora in 1815).[9]

On his first reported ride from Mannheim on June 12, 1817, he covered 13 km (eight miles) in less than an hour.[10] Constructed almost entirely of wood, the draisine weighed 22 kg (48 pounds), had brass bushings within the wheel bearings, iron shod wheels, a rear-wheel brake and 152 mm

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