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Kirkpatrick MacmillanKirkpatrick MacMillan (1818 - 23 January 1878) was a Scottish blacksmith who invented the rear-wheel driven bicycle. He completed construction of his pedal driven bicycle in 1839. It had iron-rimmed wooden wheels, a steerable 30 inch wheel in the front and a 40 inch wheel in the rear which was connected to pedals via connecting rods. The entire machine weighed 57lb. In 1842 he rode this machine from his home in Keir, Dumfriesshire to Glasgow a distance of 68 miles. En route he was fined 5 shillings for speeding (8mph) and knocking down a girl who ran into the road. He never patented his invention, and it was widely copied. A copy of the machine is on exhibit at the Science Museum, London, England. A plaque on his smithy home reads "He builded better than he knew." (see http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~dfsgal/Keir/kr-old-5.htm for an image) External links - BBC Biography
- http://www.webscot.co.uk/greatscots/kirkpatrickmacmillan.htm
MacMillan, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, Kirkpatrick
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