The Svea Velocipede was an early

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

type invented in the 19th century by the Swedish brothers

Fredrik Ljungström Fredrik Ljungström (16 June 1875 – 18 February 1964) was a Swedes, Swedish engineer, Industrial design, technical designer, and industrialist. Considered one of the foremost inventors of Sweden, Fredrik Ljungström accounted for hundreds ...

and Birger Ljungström. The bicycle employed the today well-established

bicycle frame A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles: a main triangle ...

but the drive of the wheel worked according to a completely different principle. The inventors used

lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam (structure), beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '':wikt:fulcrum, fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, l ...

Stubs Iron Wire Gauge The Birmingham gauge, officially the Birmingham Wire Gauge and often abbreviated as ''G'' or ''ga'', is unit or wire gauge used to measure the thickness or diameter of wires and tubing, including hypodermic needles and other medical tube products. ...

and eccentric instead of

chainring The crankset (in the US) or chainset (in the UK) is the component of a Bicycle drivetrain systems, bicycle drivetrain that converts the reciprocating motion of the rider's human leg, legs into rotational motion used to drive the bicycle chain, ...

, since the bicycle chains used at the time often cracked for a variety of reasons. The bike was driven by pressing the pedal en levers alternately, braked by stepping both pedals at the same time. The

freewheel image:Freewheel en.svg, Freewheel mechanism In mechanical engineering, mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission (mechanics), transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driv ...

of the Svea Velocipede was patented in 1892. In connection with

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( ; ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes. He also m ...

, the project was further developed and the product sold in a limited quantity of units in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, under the company name The New Cycle Company, to which also George Spaak was connected. It remained in serial production on the market for about 10 years until hitherto technological problems in the production of bicycle chains were overcome. Although the general preference for circular pedal mechanisms became clear with time, later bicycle models on the market would adopt its foot-operated

bicycle brake A bicycle brake reduces the speed of a bicycle or prevents the wheels from moving. The two main types are: #Rim brakes, rim brakes and #Disc brakes, disc brakes. Drum brakes are less common on bicycles. Most bicycle brake systems consist of thre ...

s as well as its free wheeling hubs. The Svea Velocipede won a Gold Medal of the General Art and Industrial Exposition of Stockholm in 1897, and a Silver Medal of the Exposition Universelle of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1900. The model has units represented at the

Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology The National Museum of Science and Technology () is a museum in Stockholm. It is Sweden’s largest museum of technology, and has a national charter to be responsible for preserving the Swedish cultural heritage related to technological and in ...

, and the

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Literature

* Sigvard Strandh: ''Die Maschine: Geschichte, Elemente, Funktion. Ein enzyklopädisches Sachbuch.'' Herder Verlag, 1980. P. 220 and Fig. 221 * Fredrik Ljungström 1875-1964 Uppfinnare och inspiratör (1999) by

Olle Ljungström Lars Olof "Olle" Gustaf Ljungström (12 August 1961 – 4 May 2016) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, and musician. Ljungström grew up in Vaxholm. He was vocalist and guitarist in the group Reeperbahn from 1979 to 1984; since the early 1990s he ...

, Sveriges Mekanisters Riksförening,

External links

{{commons
Website '' The brothers Ljungström '' of the '' Tekniska museet, Stockholm '' (Swedish, with photo Svea bicycle). Retrieved on May 22, 2011.
* https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026305443/cykel * https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026363810/cykel * https://newsroom.notified.com/regionmuseet-kristianstad/posts/pressreleases/upp--och-nedtramparen-svea-visas-i-minnesluck * https://riksarkivet.se/nobelutstallning * http://cykelhistoriska.se/old/svea.htm * https://abandowest.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/onodigt-att-veta-del-11-ej-saxat-ur-var-jord/ Bicycle models History of cycling Cycle manufacturers of Sweden Swedish inventions

See also

Literature

External links