Episode 1 of 3
Invention of the Laufmaschine
- When
- 1817
- Where
- Mannheim
Karl Drais invented the Laufmaschine, a two-wheeled, foot-propelled conveyance, in 1817.
The machine was called the velocipede, draisine, or dandy horse. It was the earliest form of a bicycle, without pedals. The invention was a practically used precursor to the bicycle, being the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine.
Sources
- Karl Drais Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-17
- Draisine Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-08
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.