165
Man with "Takypod" roller-skates, 1910
(media.kbin.social)
If you would like to become a mod in this community, kindly PM the mod.
Relive the Past in Jaw-Dropping Detail!
HistoryPorn is for photographs (or, if it can be found, film) of the past, recent or distant! Give us a little snapshot of history!
Rules
Pictures of old artifacts and museum pieces should go to History Artifacts
Illustrations and paintings should go to History Drawings
Related Communities:
Guessing, but what else could it be - the main spring lifts the shoe/foot/sole part, this brings the wheels closer making the string loose, which then gets rolled around the hub of the back wheel (by a second spring inside). When the smooth operator presses down with their weight, the string turns the rear wheel.
However, design like this would make for a fairly limited top speed that can be achieved by the mechanism alone. Needs gearing.
This is the clearest example I could image search (gif):
... actually:
This thing also operates in the same way, just without the gravity assist: