A Scottish blacksmith
who lived in Courthill, Dumfriesshire who is believed by many to have
built the first pedal-powered bicycle in 1839. According to legend, a
customer brought in a swiftwalker for repair and Macmillan made a copy for
himself, later, he added treadles, rods, and cranks to supply power to the
rear wheel.
Born to a blacksmith,
Macmillan held a variety of positions as a young man, before settling into
the trade himself in 1824 and eventually returning to work with his
father. At around that time he saw a hobbyhorse being ridden along a
nearby road, and decided to make one for himself. Upon completion, he
realised what a radical improvement it would be if he could propel it
without putting his feet on the ground. Working at his smithy, he
completed his new machine in around 1839.
This first pedal
bicycle was propelled by a horizontal reciprocating movement of the
rider's feet on the pedals. This movement was transmitted to cranks on the
rear wheel by connecting rods; the machine weighed almost exactly half a
hundredweight and the physical effort required to ride it must have been
considerable. Nevertheless, he quickly mastered the art of riding it on
the rough country roads, and was soon accustomed to making the
fourteen-mile journey to Dumfries in less than an hour. His next exploit
was to ride the sixty-eight miles into Glasgow in June 1842. The trip took
him two days and he was fined five shillings for causing a slight injury
to a small girl who ran across his path.
He never thought of patenting his
invention or trying to make any money out of it, but others who saw it
were not slow to realize its potential, and soon copies began to appear
and be sold for six or seven pounds. Gavin Dalzell of Lesmahagow copied
his machine in 1846 and passed on the details to so many people that for
more than fifty years he was generally regarded as the inventor of the
bicycle. However, Macmillan was quite unconcerned with the fuss his
invention had prompted, preferring to enjoy the quiet country life he was
used to.
