Tricycle, Patent Model

Fowler, Francis · 1880

Francis Fowler of New Haven, Connecticut, submitted this model with his patent for a tricycle equipped with a ratchet connection in the hub of each driving wheel. The patent was issued patent number 224,165 on February 3, 1880. The allowed the outer of the two driving wheels to rotate freely on the crankshaft when the machine was making a sharp turn, thus d the function of a modern automobile differential unit. This model of the Fowler tricycle was transferred from the U.S. Patent Office to the Smithsonian in 1926. It is not known that this tricycle was ever manufactured.