Karl Drais

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Karl Drais ca 1820, then still a baron

Karl Drais (April 29, 1785 – December 10, 1851) was a German inventor and invented the Laufmaschine ("running machine"), also later called the velocipede, draisine (English) or "draisienne" (French), or nick-named, dandy horse. This incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle and meant the beginning of mechanized personal transport. He also invented the earliest typewriter with a keyboard in 1821 (although his name is not even mentioned on the corresponding page on typewriters), later developed into an early stenograph machine, and a wood-saving cooker including the earliest hay chest.

[edit] Biography

Karl Drais was born in Karlsruhe, 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.

He joined the civil service as forestry official and in 1810 received the title of a chief forest ranger, 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 to Rheinau (now a section of Mannheim) took place on June 12, 1817. In the same year, he undertook his second trip from Gernsbach to Baden-Baden and further ones.

On January 12, 1818, Drais was awarded a Großherzogliches Privileg, similar to our modern patent (Baden had no patent law at that time). In addition, he was appointed Professor of Mechanics by Grand Duke Karl Friedrich. 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, headed by Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff.

It has been posited that the 1816 Year Without a Summer, with starving horses and resulting problems with transportation, has been the reason for Drais's invention of the velocipede.[1]

He died in his hometown of Karlsruhe in 1851.