Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 4 on 9/9/2002.

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The wheel thing

Brigid James goes round and round attempting to unravel which Scotsman really invented that indispensable mode of transport, the bicycle

According to common myth, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith at Courthill Smiddy, Keir Mill, Dumfriesshire, invented the bicycle somewhere between 1839 and 1842. His velocipede was made of wood and had iron-bound tyres, an extremely heavy contraption. It worked through a system of levers at the front of the machine attached to cranks which drove the rear wheels. The real story is not as simple as that however; the inventor of the bicycle will never be known for sure, although there are several contenders.

Let's begin with Macmillan's story. He is said to have been working in the smithy when a hobbyhorse (a bicycle-shaped frame with no mechanism, propelled by the rider using a running motion to push forwards) was brought in to be repaired. Macmillan copied it and used his model for short journeys, with his shoes rapidly wearing out as a result.

Consequently, he added levers to the front which could be used to drive the back wheels. Macmillan undertook an epic journey to Glasgow, supposedly to visit family, on the velocipede. The trip was not without incident, as this piece from the Glasgow Argus on 9th June 1842 reports:

Yesterday, a gentleman, belonging to Dumfries-shire was placed at the Gorbals police bar, charged with riding along the
pavement on a velocipede, to the obstruction of the passage, and with having, by so doing, thrown over a child. It appeared, from his statement, that he had on the day previous come all the way from Old Cumnock, a distance of 40 miles, .....

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By Brigid James

Section : Scottish Innovators

Page number : 82