The earliest and verifiable claims for a bicycle design go
back to 1817 and can be credited to the
German Baron Karl von Drais, a civil servant to the
Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais’ bicycle was
named
by
the
press
as
Draisine
(English)
or Draisienne (French). The design was patented in
1818 and was the first commercially successful twowheeled,
steerable,
human-propelled
machine,
commonly called a velocipede, and nicknamed hobbyhorse or dandy horse. Since [