Karl Drais

Karl Freiherr von Drais (1785 to 1851) was a German forest official and inventor working in the Biedermeier period. He is regarded as the father of the bicycle for his invention of the Laufmaschine, or running machine, which he first rode publicly in 1817. The two wheeled, steerable wooden device had no pedals and was propelled by the rider pushing off the ground with their feet, but it introduced the balance and steering principles that every later bicycle design built on. Drais patented the machine and it spread quickly across Europe and North America as the draisine or velocipede, though its popularity faded within a few years as roads proved unsuitable and it drew ridicule and local riding bans. He also worked on other mechanical inventions in his forestry role, including an early typewriter and a device for recording piano music, but the running machine remains his lasting contribution to transport history as the direct ancestor of the pedal bicycle developed decades later.