Eruption to Bicycle

Eruption to Bicycles

The bicycle is conceivably the simplest yet revolutionary invention to date. It serves as a reasonable mode of transport and a fun way to burn calories.

However, the invention of bicycles has a very "dark" story behind it. Read along.

Mt. Tambora, Indonesia, is notorious for the 1815 eruption, which led to widespread famines, slaughter and carnage.

The explosion on 10th April 1815 was so severe that the eruption could be heard up to 2600 kilometres away. This also brought with it a lot of smoke of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and ash, which was dispersed in the atmosphere. This resulted in dark brown clouds occupying the sky for the better part of the year. Such was the extent of the eruption that the average global temperate dropped by 3°C. The year 1815/16 was dubbed as "The Year without Summer".

Europe at the time is still recovering from the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars. So things weren’t exactly great, to begin with.

The year without summer witnessed failed crops and famines. Without any options left, peasants and commoners alike were forced to slaughter their farm animals for meat and hide. Most particularly horses. With little to no fodder to feed horses, the only option left was to kill them for meat.

The Dandy Horse

I am sure that the above image must have provided you with the story behind bicycles. 

Transportation needs at that time were mostly met using horses. With an acute shortage of horses, people found commuting very challenging. And this leads to the invention of the very first bicycle, the Dandy Horse.   

This device was invented by Karl Draise and was appropriately named the "Laufmaschine". Riders would have ridden it similar to a skateboard, the only difference being, you have a saddle to sit upon. The locomotion was provided by gastrocnemius, aka the calf muscles. 

This idea picked up very quickly and became quite popular. People used it immensely to ride, especially downhill. 

This idea later slowly faded away when everything became normal. This idea of Brais was further perfected by a french mechanic, who added pedals and cranks to improve speed and efficiency.

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