Denis Johnson (inventor)

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Probably Denis Johnson's son John Johnson riding a hobby-horse, Lithograph 1819. This period illustration shows how riders propelled the machine by striking the ground with their heels.

For Denis Johnson the author, see Denis Johnson

Denis Johnson a coachmaker of Long Acre, London created an improved version of Karl Drais's dandy horse in 1819. Johnson's patented version featured an elegantly curved wooden frame, allowing the use of larger wheels and was commonly called "hobby horse" or "pedestrian curricle" or "swiftwalker". [1] [2]

In Johnson's model of dandy-horse, like Drais's, the transmission was human-powered transport using the "natural" methods of walking or running, with the rider striking the feet on the ground alternately, left and right. But it led directly (albeit after a long delay) to the invention of the bicycle in 1863, when Pierre Lallement attached rotary cranks and pedals to the front-wheel hub of a machine modeled exactly after Johnson's.