I Hereby Declare January 26th to be International Kirkpatrick MacMillan Day
People, be jubilant! Kirkpatrick MacMillan Day is coming. I hereby declare January 26th to be international Kirkpatrick MacMillan Day
I can just see it now. To celebrate Kirkpatrick MacMillan Day, people will buy each other Kirkpatrick MacMillan Day gifts and send each other Kirkpatrick MacMillan cards. Kids will have Kirkpatrick MacMillan pagents in school, and sing songs about Kirkpatrick MacMillan.
Who is Kirkpatrick MacMillan you ask, and why is he worthy of such adoration?
Kirkpatrick MacMillan was a Scottish blacksmith who lived from 1812-1878. Back in 1839, he was out watching people "riding" bikes, which at that time were driven by kicking the ground with your feet. Essentially hobby horses on wheels. Thrilling, eh? Seemed like there must be a better way.
MacMillan mused over that matter a bit, and came up with an idea for the first pedal set-up that could more effectively drive the bike. Using his blacksmith tools, he put his idea into place, and voila! bicycling suddenly took a giant leap forward.
Macmillan's contraption had a wood frame and iron-rimmed wooden wheels. The front wheel, which provided limited steering measured 30 inches (760 mm) in diameter, while the back had a 40 inch (1016 mm) wheel and was attached to pedals via connecting rods. In total, Macmillan's bike weighed 57 lb (26 kg). His creation gathered a lot of attention, and Macmillan helped generate additional publicity when he rode the bike 68 miles to visit his brothers in Glasgow. Copies of his invention produced by other firms soon appeared on the market, and Macmillan saw little profit from his innovation.
Kirkpatrick Macmillan died January 26th, 1878, and so to honor his contributions to bicycling, we hereby observe and commemorate Macmillan on the 130th anniversary of his death. Otherwise, we'd all still be skooching around like a bunch of dopes, trying to propel our bikes with our feet on the ground.
Images: Future Museum of Southwest Scotland
Comments
i second that
sorry to have missed The Kirkpatrick Macmillan Day , i am the Great Grandson of Bicycle Pioneer Thomas McCall Who Always Gave Mr MacMillan The Credit For Inventing The First Bicycle , My Great Grandfather Was The First Person To Sell Rear Driven Bicycles From His Workshop in Kilmarnock in The Mid 1800″s…………….Jack
I made a replica of Kirkpatrick Macmillan bike and sold it, regretably. Would like to locate it!! All I can remember is that the gentleman was of German nationality living in Spalding.
Reasearch and drawings are now complete. Replacement has commenced.