There are inventions that win the favor of the public and others end up labeled as eccentricities. You will see them very occasionally, they will inspire other inventions but they remain in the anecdote. This is what happens with the single wheel.
Inventions arise from trial and error. You create a prototype, test it, and, depending on the results, tweak it until you get its best version. Along the way, we can find other inventions that emerged from this trial and error process, with different names. Some will develop in another way, others will fall into oblivion. This is what happens with what began as a unicycle or velocipede and ended up evolving into today's bicycles or motorcycles, depending on whether or not they have a propulsion engine.
Before the advent of the automobile, which precisely originated in the mad rush to invent motor bicycles or motorcycles, inventors from all over the world sought to create vehicles powered by human energy or with engines consisting of one or more wheels. Precisely, in the 19th century, an involuntary career began in which the today curious velocipedes arose, some of them with gigantic wheels and that have come to our days as a rarity of times past, although at the time it had its usefulness. However, the bicycle was the winner for years, a means of transport that would only be replaced by the car. Along the way, eccentricities like unicycles or like the invention that we will talk about on this occasion, the single wheel.
On paper, a large self-propelled wheel that acts as a body or chassis, placing the rider or driver inside it next to the handlebars, a saddle or chair, and, in modern versions, an engine. Interestingly, this invention was developed over decades from the last nineteenth century to the present day. And in different countries, apparently unrelated to their different inventors. From the United States to communist Russia, through the United Kingdom or Italy. And surely we forget other corners of the planet. This is the story of the single wheel.
The velocipede. The United States, 1869
First stop, United States. Specifically, New Haven, Connecticut. From there is the American inventor Richard C. Hemmings. On July 13, 1869, he obtained a patent on his rolling invention. The patent with the number 92,528 has the name velocipede, without more. Hemmings is not the inventor of the velocipede, but he is an interesting mechanical version that improves the rolling contraption he refers to.
If the original velocipede was invented by the German Karl Drais in 1817 and named a velocipede by the French Nicéphore Niépce, better known for being the father of photography, the velocipede proposed by RC Hemmings placed the rider inside the wheel itself. A large wheel, made of wood or metal, was attached to a system of internal wheels that made it possible for the pilot to keep his head up and to handle the vehicle with some comfort.
And to move this modern velocipede, it was necessary to run or walk a short distance on the ground. "Once the start has been achieved, the movement is easily maintained by turning the pulleys with the hands, " according to the patent. That is, as a current motorcycle. Feet still on the pedal. Of course, the hands had to rotate the corresponding wheel or pulley.
The Garavaglia. Italy, 1904
One more version of the many that we are going to see was presented at the Turin salon and at the Milan fair in 1904. We can call it a single wheel in a generic way, but as we will see, it had many names. In the Italian case, it was called Garavaglia. It was a single-wheel vehicle with a motor or unicycle, one of the first made in the world.
Its wheel, made with a lined rubber tire rim, was about two meters in diameter, enough for the driver to travel inside. Also inside was a belt-drive vertical single-cylinder engine with pinion and final crown. The engine, controls, and seat were fixed. Its speed could reach 10 kilometers per hour.
Although it surprised many in its presentations in Turin and Milan, unfortunately, it did not have the necessary support to manufacture it and put it on sale. More improvements would have to arrive for its implementation.
The unicycle. The United States, 1914
Having your invention featured on the cover of Popular Mechanics Magazine is an honor. It is a centuries-old publication specializing in inventions, gadgets, and other mechanical and electronic machines and technologies that you can imagine. At the time, it was one of the first publications to show technology that we use today and that was just science fiction at the time.
Well then. In the April 1914 issue, Popular Mechanics featured an illustration of the unicycle by Alfred D'Harlingue, an American inventor based in Saint Louis, Missouri. Inside the publication, we could see more illustrations and some real photography. This curious invention was a hybrid of an airplane and a single wheel since a propeller connected to an airplane engine was used to move the gigantic wheel.
D'Harlingue's unicycle or unicycle underwent several changes or improvements. Three years after its initial announcement, it was on the cover again, this time in Popular Science from September 1917. This second version was no longer a single wheel as such, as a second smaller wheel had been added to the main wheel. as a front wheel. And the pilot was no longer inside the wheel. There were the engine and other elements. The pilot was placed in a seat in the rear part of the wheel, on the outside. Although this more complex prototype was patented in May 1917, it did not go long, but it laid the foundations for various fields of automotive and aeronautics.
The gyroscope. The United States, 1923
EJ Christie, of Marion, Ohio, also has his footnote on the history of the single wheel. In the April 1923 issue, Popular Science published on the cover an illustration of a prototype of a single wheel by the name of a gyroscopic wheel or gyroscope. Its appearance attracted attention since it was a huge wheel with two side wheels, a central axis, and spokes that covered the engine, in the lower part of the main wheel, and the pilot.
To get an idea of the dimensions of this invention, the wheel was about four meters in diameter. According to the inventor, the vehicle could reach about 400 kilometers per hour, although it had a 250 horsepower aircraft engine. Only illustrations are shown in the Popular Science article, so we do not know if the invention came to fruition.
The Velocita. Italy / France, 1924
It was a great year, 1924, for the Italian Davide Cislaghi. That year he patented his invention in France. A single-wheel vehicle that he called a Velocita but also became known as a motorbike. His own company, Motoruota, made several versions. This same 1924, the December Popular Science magazine published on the cover a very inspiring illustration of the Italian speed bump.
The wheel had a diameter of 1.45 meters. The engine was 175 cubic centimeters and consisted of up to three-speed changes. This single wheel was the basis for those that came from then on since its control was easier to handle and it had a tilt system that facilitated driving. In 1930 the first commercial versions of this single wheel were put on sale.
The Dynasphere. The United Kingdom, 1932
John Purves, an English inventor, created what is known as a Dynasphere in 1932. We could translate it as a Dynasphere, a dynamic sphere. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, he created a single-wheel motor vehicle that could fit up to two people.
Instead of a wheel like the previous ones, Purves designed a structure more typical of today's tires, with holes that facilitated vision and aerodynamics. Like previous inventions, if we know of the existence of the Dynasphere, it is thanks to the fact that it was on the cover of Popular Science in May 1932.
The Dynasphere could reach speeds of 40 kilometers per hour thanks to its 2.5 horsepower engine. Despite its design, allowing two or more occupants, and having a rear protective structure for the pilot, it was difficult to drive.
The Introcycle. USSR, 1976
In Soviet Russia, there were also those who gave the single wheel a chance against the popular motorized bicycle or motorcycle. Little has come of what was known as Introcycle, Introcycle in English. Just a couple of photos. Its person in charge was the Russian Eduard Melnikov, of whom there is hardly any information despite being known in the USSR.
In 1976, he introduced his introcycle, a one-wheel vehicle driven by a motor via a pinion. Inside the steering wheel were the pilot, the engine, the fuel tank, the steering and the seat. To maintain balance, it consisted of lateral weights.
The introcycle could reach 70 kilometers per hour on asphalt. On country roads, he could run about 20 kilometers per hour.
The McLean wheel. U.S
We end this review of the history and evolution of the single wheel with a project that began in 1971 but continues today to manufacture single-wheel motor vehicles. Its manager is Kerry McLean, based in Walled Lake, Michigan, United States. As we said, since 1971 it has created several versions of the single wheel.
It currently has several models, such as the 5-horse McLean wheel. Its size makes it easy to handle. Inside the wheel are the saddle, the motor, and the handlebars, as well as pedals to place the feet. In 2011 he made a larger version, the McLean V8 Drag Wheel Monocycle.
Along the way we have left several examples, some as curious as to the Dynowheel Bus, a bus integrated into a giant wheel. A single wheel was even designed for military use.
And what about the dozens of homemade or amateur monowheels that circulate around the world today. But the space of this article is finite and it would be practically impossible to mention them all.
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