Karl Drais

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Karl Drais

Karl Drais (April 29, 1785 – December 10, 1851) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
inventor

Inventor

An inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find....
and invented the Laufmaschine ("running machine"), also later called the velocipede

Velocipede

The velocipede was a series of human-powered vehicles created in the Victorian age. There were designs with two, three and four wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs used treadles and levers to drive the rear wheels....
, draisine
Draisine

A draisine primarily refers to a light auxiliary train or tram.The eponymous term is derived from Germany Freiherr Karl Drais, who invented his Laufmaschine in 1817, that was called Draisine or draisienne by the press....
(English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) or "draisienne" (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
), or nick-named, dandy horse

Dandy horse

The dandy horse was invented by Baron Karl Drais in Mannheim, Germany, patented in January 1818. Being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, the Laufmaschine is regarded as the forerunner of the bicycle....
. This incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle

Bicycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered transport with two bicycle wheel attached to a bicycle frame, one behind the other....
and motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a Single track, two-wheeled motor vehicle powered by an Motorcycle engine. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as Touring motorcycle travel, navigating Naked bike, Cruiser , Motorcycle sport and Motorbike racing, or off-road conditions....
and meant the beginning of mechanized personal transport.

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Encyclopedia

Karl Drais (April 29, 1785 – December 10, 1851) was a German

Germany

Inventor

Velocipede

English language

French language

Dandy horse

Bicycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered transport with two bicycle wheel attached to a bicycle frame, one behind the other....
and motorcycle

Motorcycle

Typewriter

A typewriter is a Machine or electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that, when pressed, cause Typeface to be printed on a medium, usually paper....
with a keyboard in 1821, later developed into an early stenograph

Stenograph

Stenograph Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer of equipment for court reporters, including stenotype machines and computer-aided transcription software....
machine, and a wood-saving cooker including the earliest hay chest.

Biography

Karl Drais was born in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the States of Germany Baden-W?rttemberg, located near the France-German border.Founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany whose decisions have the force of a law, and the...
, with the aristocratic title Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Christian Ludwig, Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn, but as he was a democrat, he did not use his title. His father was the chief judge of Baden, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Drais. His mother was Margarete Ernestine von Kaltenthal. The Margrave of Baden at that time, Carl Friedrich von Baden, was one of Karl's godfathers.

From 1803 to 1805, Drais studied architecture, agriculture and physics at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg is a public university research university located in Heidelberg, Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386, it is the List_of_universities_in_Germany#Universities_by_age and was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire....
.

He joined the civil service as forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
official and in 1810 received the title of a chief forest ranger

Park ranger

Park ranger is a person in lead of protecting and preserving parklands - national, state or provincial parks. Ranger is the favored term in the United States and Canada; some countries use the term park warden or game warden to describe this occupation....
, but was not yet assigned an adequate position. One year later he was suspended from active service, but continued to receive his salary so that he could devote more time to his inventions.

Drais' most influential invention was the velocipede, the earliest form of a two-wheeler - without pedals. His first reported ride from Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-W?rttemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
to Rheinau (now a section of Mannheim) took place on June 12, 1817. In the same year, he undertook his second trip from Gernsbach

Gernsbach

Gernsbach is a town in the Rastatt , in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. It is located on the river Murg, 7 km east of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest....
to Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden is a town in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe ....
and further ones.

On January 12, 1818, Drais was awarded a Großherzogliches Privileg, similar to our modern patent

Patent

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a term of patent in exchange for a disclosure of an invention....
(Baden had no patent law at that time). In addition, he was appointed Professor

Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
of Mechanics

Mechanics

Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical body when subjected to forces or Displacement , and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment....
by Grand Duke Karl. This was merely an honorary title and not related to any university or other institution. At the same time, he retired from the civil service and continued to receive his salary as a kind of inventor's pension.

From 1822 to 1825, Drais joined a German expedition to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, headed by Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff

Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff

Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, Baron de Langsdorff was a Prussian aristocrat, politician and natural history. He lived in Russia and was better known by his Russian name, Grigori Ivanovitch....
.

It has been posited that the 1816 Year Without a Summer

Year Without a Summer

The Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities destroyed crops in Northern Europe, the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada....
, with starving horses and resulting problems with transportation, has been the reason for Drais's invention of the velocipede.

He died in his hometown of Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

Bibliography

Hans-Erhard Lessing: Automobilität – Karl Drais und die unglaublichen Anfänge. Maxime-Verlag, Leipzig 2003. ISBN 3-931965-22-8
Hermann Ebeling: Der Freiherr von Drais: das tragische Leben des „verrückten Barons“. Ein Erfinderschicksal im Biedermeier. Braun, Karlsruhe 1985. ISBN 3-7650-8045-4
Heinz Schmitt: Karl Friedrich Drais von Sauerbronn: 1785–1851; ein badischer Erfinder; Ausstellung zu seinem 200. Geburtstag; Stadtgeschichte im Prinz-Max-Palais, Karlsruhe, 9. März-26. Mai 1985; Städt. Reiss-Museum Mannheim, 5. Juli–18. August 1985. Stadtarchiv Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe 1985.
Michael Rauck: Karl Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn: Erfinder und Unternehmer (1785–1851). Steiner, Stuttgart 1983. ISBN 3-515-03939-2
Karl Hasel: Karl Friedrich Frhr. Drais von Sauerbronn, in Peter Weidenbach (Red.): Biographie bedeutender Forstleute aus Baden-Württemberg. Schriftenreihe der Landesforstverwaltung Baden-Württemberg, Band 55. Herausgegeben vom Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Umwelt Baden-Württemberg. Landesforstverwaltung Baden-Württemberg und Baden-Württembergische Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt, Stuttgart und Freiburg im Breisgau 1980, pp. 99–109.

External links

by Sigfrid von Weiher
of ADFC Mannheim
by S. Fink and H. E. Lessing (choose English version)
by Hans-Erhard Lessing