Roper steam velocipede
Encyclopedia
The Roper steam velocipede was a steam-powered
velocipede
built by inventor Sylvester H. Roper
of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, United States sometime from 1867–1869. It is one of three machines which have been called the first motorcycle
, along with the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede
, also dated 1867–1869, and the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen
. Enrico Bernardi
's 1882 one-cylinder
petrol-engined tricycle
could claim priority, however.
An 1869 Roper machine is now in the Smithsonian Institution
, and one from 1868 is in the collection of the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine
. An 1894 Roper velocipede was in The Art of the Motorcycle
, Las Vegas, and was in the 2011 Deeley Museum collection in Vancouver
.
, counts as a true motorcycle, and the question of which of the two earliest steam motorcycles, the Roper or the Michaux-Perruaux, was first.
and David Burgess-Wise
, and Motorcycle Consumer News
design columnist Glynn Kerr date the Roper later, to 1868, and the Owls Head museum's example is of that year. The AMA
Hall of Fame
and motoring author Mick Walker
put Roper's steam velocipede at 1869, in accordance with the date of the machine in the Smithsonian. Cycle World
s Alan Girdler dates both at 1868, while Mick Walker also declares a tie, but in the year 1869. Classic Bike
editor Hugo Wilson says even though the dates are almost the same, the Perreaux-Michaux has the better claim because they have patents that verify the dates.
and others, then the two pre-1870 steam cycles are disqualified and the first motorcycle may be Bernardi's 1882 motorized tricycle, or the Reitwagen of Wilhelm Maybach
and Gottlieb Daimler
, patented in 1885.
A somewhat different argument acknowledges while the steam velocipedes might have been motorcycles, they are not the first motorcycles because the technology they used was a dead end, and that the honor should go to the machine which blazed a trail that was taken by the thousands of successful models subsequently built in the 20th century. As Cycle World's Technical Editor Kevin Cameron put it, "History follows things that succeed, not things that fail." Allan Girdler and Glynn Kerr contend the Roper did in fact pioneer successful motorcycle technology, such as the twist grip throttle control and frame geometry and engine placement much more like the motorcycle as we know it, while the Reitwagen was exceedingly crude, failing to employ the well understood principles of rake and trail to remain upright via the front fork and turn by leaning. David Burgess-Wise called the Daimler-Maybach test bed "a crude makeshift", saying, "as a bicycle, it was 20 years out of date."
, who made and demonstrated boneshakers at fairs and circuses. It had a wheelbase of 49 in (124.5 cm) and two 34 in (86.4 cm) diameter wheels made of iron bands on wooden s with wooden spokes. It had a rigid, forged iron fork
and a solid handlebar with wooden grips, which was rotated forward to open the throttle and backwards to apply the spoon brake to the front wheel. The seat doubled as the water reservoir; or the water tank can be described as saddle shaped. A hand pump transferred water from this tank to the boiler
. The boiler was between the wheels with a "nautical looking" chimney from the boiler angling backwards behind the rider, with the firebox in the lower half of this housing, all of which hung from the frame with a spring to absorb shock, while two stay rods attached from the bottom of the housing to the back of the frame. There were three water level cocks on the left side, near the water pump, and a drain valve on the bottom. The two cylinders, with bores of about 2-1/4 in are located on either side of the frame, from the upper part of the boiler near the chimney, connecting to 2-1/2 in cranks on the rear wheel. Exhaust steam was conveyed by tubing to the base of the chimney provided a forced draft.
The original 1868 version of the velocipede is attributed to W.W. Austin of Winthrop, Massachusetts
by some early newspaper accounts, which were taken up in later histories. Motoring author L. J. K. Setright
believes Austin was only the rider or demonstrator of a Roper machine, and had been misidentified as its inventor. Austin is also mentioned as the owner, in 1901, of both the 1867–1969 Roper velocipede and an older four wheeled Roper steam car. The Smithsonian says a "Professor" W.W. Austin had exhibited a Roper steamer of unknown date, leading to the erroneous attrition to Austin instead of Roper. A Roper velocipede was on display at the first New York Auto Show
in Madison Square Garden
in November 1900, and again Austin was sometimes described as the inventor.
The 1867–1969 Roper velocipede, or one like it, was later given to the Smithsonian by John H. Bacon. It is the oldest self propelled road vehicle in the Smithsonian, and the second oldest in America, after the Dudgeon steamer
.
Columbia safety bicycle
, used a single-cylinder coal fired steam engine added to the center of the frame. The bicycle was furnished by the manufacturer for the purpose of investigating its use with steam power. The weight, including coal and water, was 150 lbs. The steam engine normally generated 150 pounds of steam pressure, but could go as high as 185 pounds, which the Boston Daily Globe in 1896 described as equivalent to 8 hp. That machine was on exhibit in the 1960s at Bellm's Cars of Yesterday in Sarasota, Florida
. An 1894 Roper velocipede was lent from the R. J. Boudeman family collection to the Guggenheim Las Vegas The Art of the Motorcycle
exhibition in 2001, and is on view at the 2011 Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition in Vancouver
.
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
velocipede
Velocipede
Velocipede is an umbrella term for any human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle....
built by inventor Sylvester H. Roper
Sylvester H. Roper
Sylvester H. Roper was an inventor from Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, and a pioneering builder of early automobiles and motorcycles. In 1863 he built a steam carriage, one of the earliest automobiles...
of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, United States sometime from 1867–1869. It is one of three machines which have been called the first motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
, along with the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede
Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede
The Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede was a steam powered velocipede made in France sometime from 1867 to 1871, when a small Louis-Guillaume Perreaux commercial steam engine was attached to a Pierre Michaux manufactured iron framed pedal bicycle...
, also dated 1867–1869, and the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen
Daimler Reitwagen
The Daimler Reitwagen or Einspur was a motor vehicle made by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885, and is widely recognized as the first motorcycle. Daimler is often called "the father of the motorcycle" for this invention...
. Enrico Bernardi
Enrico Bernardi
Enrico Zeno Bernardi was an Italian engineer and one of Italian automobile pioneers. He was Professor of Hydraulic and Agricultural Machinery at the University of Padua....
's 1882 one-cylinder
Single cylinder engine
A single-cylinder engine is a basic piston engine configuration of an internal combustion engine. It is often seen on motorcycles, auto rickshaws, motor scooters, mopeds, dirt bikes, go-karts, radio-controlled models and has many uses in portable tools and garden machinery...
petrol-engined tricycle
Tricycle
A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...
could claim priority, however.
An 1869 Roper machine is now in the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, and one from 1868 is in the collection of the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine
Owls Head, Maine
Owls Head is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,601 at the 2000 census. A resort and fishing area, the community is home to the Knox County Regional Airport...
. An 1894 Roper velocipede was in The Art of the Motorcycle
The Art of the Motorcycle
The Art of the Motorcycle was an exhibition that presented 114 motorcycles chosen for their historic importance or design excellence in a display designed by Frank Gehry in the curved rotunda of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, running for three months...
, Las Vegas, and was in the 2011 Deeley Museum collection in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
First motorcycle?
There are competing claims for the title of first motorcycle, depending on whether a steam motorcycle, or only one with an internal combustion engineInternal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
, counts as a true motorcycle, and the question of which of the two earliest steam motorcycles, the Roper or the Michaux-Perruaux, was first.
Date
The earliest date claimed for the existence of the Roper steam velocipede is 1867, but some say the Michaux-Perreaux also could have been made in 1867. Motorcycling historians Charles M. FalcoCharles M. Falco
Charles M. Falco is an American experimental physicist and an expert on the magnetic and optical properties of thin film materials....
and David Burgess-Wise
David Burgess-Wise
David Burgess-Wise is a motoring author, enthusiast, and automobile historian. A motoring writer since 1960, he has written some 25 books on motoring history. He also edits the award-winning Aston, journal of the Aston Martin Heritage Trust.-See Also:...
, and Motorcycle Consumer News
Motorcycle Consumer News
Motorcycle Consumer News is a monthly periodical offering reviews of motorcycles and other information such as motorcycle safety techniques...
design columnist Glynn Kerr date the Roper later, to 1868, and the Owls Head museum's example is of that year. The AMA
American Motorcyclist Association
The American Motorcyclist Association is an American not-for-profit organization of more than 300,000 motorcyclists that organizes numerous motorcycling activities and campaigns for motorcyclists' legal rights...
Hall of Fame
Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association that recognizes individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction and motorcycling in general. It displays motorcycles and riding gear and memoribilia. The museum is located in...
and motoring author Mick Walker
Mick Walker (motorcycling)
Mick Walker is acknowledged as one of the world's leading motorcycle authorities. Walker is a British former motorcycle dealer and racer with a particular interest in Italian motorcycles, who played a key role in popularizing the Ducati marque in Britain, but is also an expert on numerous other...
put Roper's steam velocipede at 1869, in accordance with the date of the machine in the Smithsonian. Cycle World
Cycle World
Cycle World is a motorcycling magazine in the United States. It was founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst, who was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as "the person responsible for bringing a new era of objective journalism" to the U.S. and is now the largest motorcycling magazine in the world...
s Alan Girdler dates both at 1868, while Mick Walker also declares a tie, but in the year 1869. Classic Bike
Classic Bike
Classic Bike is a UK motorcycle magazine. Launched in 1978, it is noted for coverage of all makes of classic motorcycles, including US and Japanese models, and one-off specials. Editor Hugo Wilson, who began riding motorcycles at the age of 11, formerly edited Bike magazine and is the author of...
editor Hugo Wilson says even though the dates are almost the same, the Perreaux-Michaux has the better claim because they have patents that verify the dates.
True motorcycle?
If the definition of a motorcycle requires an internal combustion engine, as asserted by the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
and others, then the two pre-1870 steam cycles are disqualified and the first motorcycle may be Bernardi's 1882 motorized tricycle, or the Reitwagen of Wilhelm Maybach
Wilhelm Maybach
Wilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of constructors"....
and Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
, patented in 1885.
A somewhat different argument acknowledges while the steam velocipedes might have been motorcycles, they are not the first motorcycles because the technology they used was a dead end, and that the honor should go to the machine which blazed a trail that was taken by the thousands of successful models subsequently built in the 20th century. As Cycle World's Technical Editor Kevin Cameron put it, "History follows things that succeed, not things that fail." Allan Girdler and Glynn Kerr contend the Roper did in fact pioneer successful motorcycle technology, such as the twist grip throttle control and frame geometry and engine placement much more like the motorcycle as we know it, while the Reitwagen was exceedingly crude, failing to employ the well understood principles of rake and trail to remain upright via the front fork and turn by leaning. David Burgess-Wise called the Daimler-Maybach test bed "a crude makeshift", saying, "as a bicycle, it was 20 years out of date."
1867–1869 version
According to the Smithsonian, Roper's first velocipede of 1867–1869 used a purpose built frame rather than adapting an existing velocipede frame by retrofitting a steam engine, but one contemporary newspaper account does assert that Roper repurposed a velocipede frame, and Setright and motoring author Roland Brown say Roper used a hickory wood frame built by the Hanlon BrothersHanlon-Lees
A group of pre-Vaudevillian acrobats founded in the early 1840s, the Hanlon-Lees were world-renowned practitioners of "entortillation" – that is, tumbling, juggling, and an early form of "knockabout" comedy A group of pre-Vaudevillian acrobats founded in the early 1840s, the Hanlon-Lees were...
, who made and demonstrated boneshakers at fairs and circuses. It had a wheelbase of 49 in (124.5 cm) and two 34 in (86.4 cm) diameter wheels made of iron bands on wooden s with wooden spokes. It had a rigid, forged iron fork
Motorcycle fork
A motorcycle fork connects a motorcycle's front wheel and axle to its frame, typically via a pair of triple clamps. It typically incorporates the front suspension and front brake, and allows the bike to be steered via handlebars attached to the top clamp....
and a solid handlebar with wooden grips, which was rotated forward to open the throttle and backwards to apply the spoon brake to the front wheel. The seat doubled as the water reservoir; or the water tank can be described as saddle shaped. A hand pump transferred water from this tank to the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
. The boiler was between the wheels with a "nautical looking" chimney from the boiler angling backwards behind the rider, with the firebox in the lower half of this housing, all of which hung from the frame with a spring to absorb shock, while two stay rods attached from the bottom of the housing to the back of the frame. There were three water level cocks on the left side, near the water pump, and a drain valve on the bottom. The two cylinders, with bores of about 2-1/4 in are located on either side of the frame, from the upper part of the boiler near the chimney, connecting to 2-1/2 in cranks on the rear wheel. Exhaust steam was conveyed by tubing to the base of the chimney provided a forced draft.
The original 1868 version of the velocipede is attributed to W.W. Austin of Winthrop, Massachusetts
Winthrop, Massachusetts
The Town of Winthrop is a municipality in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Winthrop was 17,497 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is an oceanside suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor and is very close to Logan International...
by some early newspaper accounts, which were taken up in later histories. Motoring author L. J. K. Setright
L. J. K. Setright
Leonard John Kensell Setright was an English motoring journalist and author.Born of Australian parents in London, his father Henry Roy Setright, was an engineer who invented the Setright ticket machine used on buses and trams. Setright studied Law at the University of London and practised for a...
believes Austin was only the rider or demonstrator of a Roper machine, and had been misidentified as its inventor. Austin is also mentioned as the owner, in 1901, of both the 1867–1969 Roper velocipede and an older four wheeled Roper steam car. The Smithsonian says a "Professor" W.W. Austin had exhibited a Roper steamer of unknown date, leading to the erroneous attrition to Austin instead of Roper. A Roper velocipede was on display at the first New York Auto Show
New York International Auto Show
The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show held in New York City in late March or early April. It is usually held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first Sunday after Easter...
in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden (1890)
Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the second by that name, and the second to be located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan...
in November 1900, and again Austin was sometimes described as the inventor.
The 1867–1969 Roper velocipede, or one like it, was later given to the Smithsonian by John H. Bacon. It is the oldest self propelled road vehicle in the Smithsonian, and the second oldest in America, after the Dudgeon steamer
Dudgeon (steam automobile company)
Dudgeon was an American steam automobile company active in the middle of the 19th century.In 1855, inventor Richard Dudgeon astounded New Yorkers by driving from his home to his place of business in a steam carriage...
.
1884–1896 version
The later version, first built in 1884 and developed up to Roper's death in 1896 while riding a version using an 1893 PopePope Manufacturing Company
Pope Manufacturing Company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope in Hartford, Connecticut. The company began with the introduction of the "Columbia High Wheeler" bicycle in 1878.-History:...
Columbia safety bicycle
Safety bicycle
A safety bicycle is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing or ordinary and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were known as safety bicycles because they were noted for, and marketed as, being...
, used a single-cylinder coal fired steam engine added to the center of the frame. The bicycle was furnished by the manufacturer for the purpose of investigating its use with steam power. The weight, including coal and water, was 150 lbs. The steam engine normally generated 150 pounds of steam pressure, but could go as high as 185 pounds, which the Boston Daily Globe in 1896 described as equivalent to 8 hp. That machine was on exhibit in the 1960s at Bellm's Cars of Yesterday in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
. An 1894 Roper velocipede was lent from the R. J. Boudeman family collection to the Guggenheim Las Vegas The Art of the Motorcycle
The Art of the Motorcycle
The Art of the Motorcycle was an exhibition that presented 114 motorcycles chosen for their historic importance or design excellence in a display designed by Frank Gehry in the curved rotunda of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, running for three months...
exhibition in 2001, and is on view at the 2011 Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.