Zhao Danian
For Chinese people who were once a big country for bicycles, everyone seems to have had the experience of riding a bicycle. The just-passed Car-Free Day in the City has made people miss bicycles even more. ——
What is a car? The answers may vary: Fast transportation? A sign of affluence and modernity? Oil king? Sources of noise and air pollution? The culprit behind blocked roads? The iron tiger who has injured more people than all other traffic accidents combined? ...There are even scholars in the West who believe that the car is the worst invention of mankind.
What is a bicycle? There are many definitions of it: a two-wheeled vehicle driven by human pedals, no noise, no pollution, light weight, simple structure, low cost, easy to use and maintain, and widely used for transportation, carrying goods, physical exercise and competitions. I am not an expert, but I would like to add a few words: the bicycle is the best invention among means of transportation. It has been developed by the private sector for a hundred years and has been popularized all over the world for a hundred years. It has been almost squeezed out of modern cities by cars. Now it has returned with a high profile due to the charm of its ecological civilization.
Bicycles are not designed by any professional institute; their ingenuity comes from the private sector. According to legend, the earliest bicycle appeared in the works of an Italian painter. In 1790, Count Sifulac of France encountered a traffic jam on a narrow street and was splashed with mud and water by a carriage. He was not angry, but suddenly thought: If the carriage was cut in half from the middle, wouldn't it be easier to pass when the carriage met? ? So he put wooden wheels on the front and back of the wooden horse and rode it forward on the ground. Onlookers found it very interesting and called it "wooden horse wheels". Baron Von Drais added a handlebar to the "Trojan Wheel" to become a wooden two-wheeled vehicle with controllable direction, and applied for an invention patent in the UK in 1818. In 1839, Scottish blacksmith Macmillan built an iron two-wheel bicycle on this basis with a crank connecting rod structure driving the rear wheel. When riding on it, your feet leave the ground and pedal the crank to move forward. But he didn't know how many falls he had and how much ridicule he suffered. Onlookers said that this two-wheeled bicycle cannot stand on its own. How can anyone not fall while riding it? MacMillan believes that a two-wheeled bicycle will fall over when it is stationary, but it can prevent it from falling over by adjusting its direction at any time while in motion. He kept practicing, practice made perfect, and finally he was riding his bicycle on the road!
Since then, many smart people who are enthusiastic about inventions have continued to improve the bicycle. The Frenchman Michaud equipped it with rotating pedals, and the Irish veterinarian Dunlop added pneumatic rubber tires. Until 1888, the British It was the master of mechanical engineer Staley who made the first modern bicycle with "the front fork controls the direction and the chain drives the rear wheel", and it was mass-produced and quickly spread all over the world.
The invention of the bicycle has two major characteristics: two wheels are arranged longitudinally in the front and rear, and the power comes from the rider himself. Both of these points are "unprecedented" initiatives. Because various vehicles such as carriages and cars, with two wheels, four wheels or more, are arranged horizontally on the left and right, the body is wider and takes up a larger area of ????the road, while bicycles are also single bicycles, occupying the smallest width of the road, and can also pass through the narrow paths. . Furthermore, carriages rely on animal power, cars and trains consume oil, coal and electricity, rickshaws also rely on drivers, and riding a bicycle requires your own strength. Cycling is great because it can provide transportation, exercise, save energy, and protect the environment.
Bicycles also bring us two associations: First, we attach importance to the inventions and creations of the masses. Folks contain intelligence and rich imagination, such as "clairvoyance", "ears to the wind", "Chang'e flying to the moon", " Many myths such as the "Magpie Bridge Society" can be inspired and turned into reality with the help of science. Second, all kinds of inventions, creations and even construction projects must pay attention to ecological civilization, save energy, save land, save raw materials, and protect the natural environment that human beings rely on for survival.