Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7765, 17 March 1905, Page 2

Th» Birth of the Cycle I

i'tili . e\r;ie;i.eiit, lull of inUTc.-,t, , i-ill of .Mi-tinge events is bicycle his-t-.ry, and i oventry can toll a tale i'i mum during deeds and breathless escapes on the wheel. .\laru how, after any great, war, any crisis fjin a' nation's history, there comes with peace a rush or invention, a leap forward in industry, a new life in science, and a great expansion of all that is good jin a nation. In 16<i5 we had the 1 first glimmer ,of the ('wheel, when Evelyn tells us in his "Diary" that lie lound "l)r. Wilkins, Sir Win. IVttj and Mr Tlooko contriving chariots, new rigging for whips, a wheel for one to run races in, and other mechanical inventions." iln the aim of 1815 there was a great ieival of industry, men'b inventive powers more busily catering for the requirements of Europe after the war, and there came over to England from France what may be considered to bo the first attempt at a twowheeled machine —the Dandy llorse. It is curious how exactly we can punctuate the progress of the bicycle in tens of years—'74, 'B4, 't)l, 'U4— they are like stepping stones standing out holdlv in the river of time. In 1874 Pan Pudge's name was In every mouth, and his famous bicycle caused an immense sensation. Jn the game year the Annual Register tells us—as* a national event—that a member of the Pickwick Bicycle Club , "accomplished a joumejH>n the bicycle from London to Bath and back in thirty-seven hours, having been on thefl saddle two whole days and ne night, with short intervals for meals and one hour for sleep." , The year 1884 saw the first attempt at a safety, the Kudge Cycle Company bringing out their various kinds ,of rear-driving safety bicycles, and this date really heralded the large popularity of the sale form ol riding, and of Dan Kudge, from - whom, after a lapse of over thirty years, has grown 'the huge manufacturing company known as the Rudgc-Whitworth Cycle Company, so well known throughout the liritish Empire. r