Karl Drais

Karl Freiherr von Drais (full name: Karl Friedrich

Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn; Karl Freiherr von Drais
29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851) was a noble
German forest official and significant inventor in the
Biedermeier period. He was born and died in
Karlsruhe. He is seen as "the father of the bicycle".[1]

Bicycle
Drais was a prolific inventor, who invented the
Laufmaschine ("running machine"),[2] also later called
the velocipede, draisine (English) or draisienne
(French), also nicknamed the hobby horse or dandy
horse. This was his most popular and widely
Karl Drais, c. 1820, then still a baron
recognized invention. It incorporated the two-wheeler
principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle Born Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig
and was the beginning of mechanized personal Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn
transport.[3] This was the earliest form of a bicycle, 29 April 1785
without pedals. Karlsruhe, Holy Roman Empire
Died 10 December 1851 (aged 66)
His first reported ride from Mannheim to the Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany
"Schwetzinger Relaishaus" (a coaching inn, located in
Nationality German
"Rheinau", today a district of Mannheim) took place
on 12 June 1817 using Baden's best road. Karl rode his Occupation Inventor
bike;[4] it was a distance of about 7 kilometres
(4.3 mi). The round trip took him a little more than an hour but
may be seen as the big bang for horseless transport. However,
after marketing the velocipede, it became apparent that roads were
so rutted by carriages that it was hard to balance on the machine
for long, so velocipede riders took to the pavements (sidewalks)
and moved far too quickly, endangering pedestrians.
Consequently, authorities in Germany, Great Britain, the United
States, and even Calcutta banned its use, which ended its vogue
for decades.[5] Karl von Drais on his original
Laufmaschine, the earliest two-
wheeler, or hobbyhorse in 1819
Other inventions
Drais also invented the earliest typewriter with a keyboard (1821).
He later developed an early stenograph machine which used 16
characters (1827), a device to record piano music on paper (1812),
the first meat grinder (1840s), and a wood-saving cooker including
the earliest hay chest. He also invented two four-wheeled human
powered vehicles (1813/1814), the second of which he presented
in Vienna to the congress carving up Europe after Napoleon's
defeat.[6] In 1842, he developed a foot-driven human powered
railway vehicle whose name "draisine" is used even today for A Draisine from around 1820, built
railway handcars.[5] with cherry wood and softwood.
Displayed at the Kurpfälzisches
Museum in Heidelberg, Germany.
Time as civil servant
Drais was unable to market his inventions for profit because he was still a civil servant of Baden, even
though he was being paid without providing active service. As a result, on 12 January 1818, Drais was
awarded a grand-ducal privilege (Großherzogliches Privileg) to protect his inventions for 10 years in
Baden by the younger Grand Duke Karl.[7] Grand Duke Karl also appointed Drais professor of
mechanics. This was merely an honorary title, not related to any university or other institution. Drais
retired from the civil service and was awarded a pension for his appointment to professor of mechanical
science.[5]

Upheaval
In 1820, trouble overtook Drais when the political murder of the author August von Kotzebue was
followed by the beheading of the perpetrator, Karl Ludwig Sand. In 1822, Drais was a fervent liberal who
supported revolution in Baden. Drais's conservative father, as the highest Judge of Baden, had not entered
a plea for pardon in the beheading of Karl Ludwig Sand, and the younger Drais was mobbed by the
student partisans everywhere in Germany due to his family ties. Therefore, Drais emigrated to Brazil
where he lived from 1822 to 1827, and worked as a land surveyor on the fazenda of Georg Heinrich von
Langsdorff. In 1827, he returned to Mannheim. Three years later in 1830, Drais's father died and the
younger Drais was mobbed by jealous rivals.[5]

In 1839, after surviving a murderous attack in 1838, he moved to the village of Waldkatzenbach in the
hills of Odenwald and remained there until 1845. During this period, he invented the railway handcar
(later known as the draisine). Finally, he moved back to his place of birth, Karlsruhe. In 1849, and still a
fervent radical, Drais gave up his title of Baron and dropped the "von" from his name. Subsequently, after
the revolution collapsed, he was in a very bad position. The royalists tried to have him certified as mad
and locked up. His pension was confiscated to help to pay for the "costs of revolution" after it was
suppressed by the Prussians.[8]

Death
Drais's undoing had been the fact that he had publicly renounced his noble title in 1848, and adopted the
name "Citizen Karl Drais" as a tribute to the French Revolution.[1]
Karl Drais died penniless on 10 December 1851 in Karlsruhe.[7] The
house in which he lived last is just two blocks away from where at that
time a young Carl Benz was raised.

Tributes
In 1985, West Germany issued a commemorative postage stamp, a
semipostal 50 Pf+25 Pf surcharge, in remembrance of the 200th
anniversary of Karl Drais's birthday.[5]

On 29 April 2010, Google celebrated 225th Birthday of Karl Drais with a

doodle.[9]
Tomb of Karl von Drais,
In 2017, Germany issued a commemorative postage stamp (0.70 Euro) in Karlsruhe

remembrance of the 200th anniversary of Karl Drais's first run of his

"running machine" on 12 June 1817. The stamp shows the machine plus as its shadow, a bicycle.[10]

See also
List of German inventors and discoverers
List of German inventions and discoveries

References
1. Hanlon, Sheila. "200 years since the father of the bicycle Baron Karl von Drais invented the
'running machine' | Cycling UK" (https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle/draisienne-1817-2017-200-
years-cycling-innovation-design). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170705110900/ht
tps://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle/draisienne-1817-2017-200-years-cycling-innovation-design)
from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
2. "200 years since the father of the bicycle Baron Karl von Drais invented the 'running
machine' | Cycling UK" (https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle/draisienne-1817-2017-200-years-cy
cling-innovation-design). www.cyclinguk.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2017070
5110900/https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle/draisienne-1817-2017-200-years-cycling-innovatio
n-design) from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
3. Writer 2017-08-30T02:30:00Z, Elizabeth Palermo-Staff. "Who Invented the Bicycle?" (http
s://www.livescience.com/44765-who-invented-the-bicycle.html). livescience.com. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20140411134943/https://www.livescience.com/44765-who-inve
nted-the-bicycle.html) from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
4. e.V, Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus. "The draisine invented by Karl Drais. The archetype
of the modern-day bicycle" (https://www.germany.travel/en/towns-cities-culture/traditions-an
d-customs/inventions/the-draisine-by-karl-drais.html). www.Germany.travel. Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20200203202959/https://www.germany.travel/en/towns-cities-cultur
e/traditions-and-customs/inventions/the-draisine-by-karl-drais.html) from the original on 3
February 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
5. Karl Drais-The New Biography by Dr. Hans-Erhard Lessing
6. "Did you know that Karl Drais…" (https://wosonst.eu/en/did-you-know-that-karl-drais/). 6
May 2010. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200203203003/https://wosonst.eu/en/di
 d-you-know-that-karl-drais/) from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 3 February
2020.
7. Hüttmann, Gerd. "Karl Drais biography" (https://www.mannheim.de/sites/default/files/page/4
90/en_biography.pdf) (PDF). ADFC Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club. Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20220703090630/https://www.mannheim.de/sites/default/files/page/490/
en_biography.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
8. "Karl von Drais" (https://www.cyclemuseum.org.uk/Cycling-History-Other.aspx?ID=135).
www.cyclemuseum.org.uk. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220703090631/https://w
ww.cyclemuseum.org.uk/Cycling-History-Other.aspx?ID=135) from the original on 3 July
2022. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
9. Desk, OV Digital (29 April 2023). "29 April: Remembering Karl Drais on Birthday" (https://obs
ervervoice.com/29-april-remembering-karl-drais-on-birthday-21008/). Observer Voice.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20230429064927/https://observervoice.com/29-april-r
emembering-karl-drais-on-birthday-21008/) from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved
29 April 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
10. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170730235636/https://philatelie.deutschepo
st.de/out/pictures/wysiwigpro/philatelie/004765_200_Jahre_Fahrrad.pdf) (PDF). Archived
from the original (https://philatelie.deutschepost.de/out/pictures/wysiwigpro/philatelie/004765
_200_Jahre_Fahrrad.pdf) (PDF) on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

Bibliography
Hans-Erhard Lessing: Karl Drais – zwei Räder statt vier Hufe. G. Braun Buchverlag,
Karlsruhe 2010. ISBN 978-3-7650-8569-7
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
"Brimstone and Bicycles" by Mick Hamer of New Scientist, 29 January 2005 (https://www.ne
wscientist.com/article/mg18524841.900-brimstone-and-bicycles.html)
www.karldrais.de (http://www.karldrais.de/?lang=en) by S. Fink and H. E. Lessing (choose
English version)
Karl Drais in Baden-Baden (http://www.bad-bad.de/gesch/drais.htm) by Hans-Erhard
Lessing
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