The Wrights’ Stuff

In his article Tom Crouch presents a fine synopsis of the evolution of the ordinary through the safety bicycle. However, the bicycle shown in an accompanying photograph (on page 12) has been wrongly identified. It is certainly an antique, but it is not an ordinary. The bicycle is a Star, an unusual early safety bicycle, with the large wheel in the rear and pedals that are actually spring-loaded levers driving a ratchet-wheel mechanism. It was probably built between 1883 and 1886, by the H. B. Smith Machine Company, of New Jersey.