Friday 6 October 2017

Keeping To A Water Based Theme,

but this time on it, not under it,


the water velocipede dates back to 1868, according to author Caroline Rochford, when it was reported to have been used “by pleasure-seekers on Lake Enghien on the outskirts of the capital.” think a pedal boat with a bicycle seat, various inventors came up with different ideas, but it was in 1891 that the Pinkert Navigating Tricycle, which used balloon-like tires and was featured in Scientific American when Georg Pinkert tried to cross the English Channel on it, according to the magazine, Pinkert was hard at it and about halfway across when “the tide turned.” He realised he would be carried out to sea, “so he hailed a passing vessel and was taken on board,” the magazine recorded, “He will probably make further experiments.” So the next time You see a pedalo at sea, think back to Georg Pinkert and his attempted channel crossing, but nowadays the peddles powering paddles, not tyres, well think of the problems of getting a flat tyre at sea!


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