# Did The Nazis Invent The Bicycle Reflector?



## leo healy (Sep 12, 2021)

Something I came across while looking for something totally un connected 😲,?.  
  Fair dues to who ever did invent them ,wish they enforced the law on the illuminating of bicycles the world over as 
a lot a P?@,>,@;L are still riding around with nothing.
And its not as if costs alot for a set a lights,,,,,,, ARRRRGGGGGHHHHG.

https://www.berlinexperiences.com/did-the-nazis-invent-the-bicycle-reflector-mythbusting-berlin/ .

Few pics of some reflectors i was cleaning from a set a pedals a while back, was going to post them in the macro section at the time . 

   In the pics you can see the tolo in the shape of a bicycle .


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## GTs58 (Sep 12, 2021)

I highly doubt the Nazis invented anything. Did the Nazis invent the Volkswagon? 😜 It's all in the wording. Invented under Nazis rule, inventions of the Nazi period etc.. 
Have you dated those reflectors?


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## lgrinnings (Sep 12, 2021)

I’m pretty sure the Nazis invented this stuff… or maybe Satan…


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## cyclingday (Sep 12, 2021)

Couldn’t have done it without the Nazi’s.




However, there was a little American ingenuity involved to kick things off.


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## New Mexico Brant (Sep 12, 2021)

What a strange article, well researched in one sense but totally lacking from a world perspective.  He doesn't seem to have done any research outside of Germany.  Persons was selling bicycle reflectors in 1916 and likely before (see below).  Interesting they call these tail lights and not reflectors.  Torrington signal pedals were offered on the 1939 Zep.  Does anyone know when they filed the patent on these pedals, and when they first appeared?






						Everything Bicycles - : c.1916 Persons-Majestic Mfg Co of Worcester, Mass, Book of Saddles, Pedals and Other Fittments (Original): Catalogs-Antique, Parts Mfgrs.
					






					proteanpaper.com


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## cyclingday (Sep 12, 2021)

If I’m not mistaken, Stimsonite invented the reflector.


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## New Mexico Brant (Sep 12, 2021)

cyclingday said:


> If I’m not mistaken, Stimsonite invented the reflector.



I would not be surprised if an American patent exists in the 19th century that did not catch on.  Stimson's patent just improved the reflective capabilities of reflectors in the mid 1920's according to this:








						Stimson Reflector
					

Reflectors are small fixtures that outline vehicles, signs, and road surfaces and help prevent collisions at night. In the mid-1920s, Jonathan Cass Stimson, a St. Louis inventor, patented an improved “central triple reflector” with angled, cube-shaped cells that reflect light rays back to their...




					americanhistory.si.edu


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## cyclingday (Sep 12, 2021)

Stimson invented the reflector that actually reflected light back to its source.
In other words, he made the type that actually worked. Lol!


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## leo healy (Sep 13, 2021)

Hi All
 I don t think the writer is saying that its the reflector that was invented ,more to the use of reflectors on pedals?

  from article,///////.
Complicated as it seems – the evidence seems to indicate that Anton Loibl did NOT invent the bicycle reflector – rather he filed for a patent for the arrangement of the reflector on a bicycle pedal, and clashed with the two inventors from Dresden who had already filed for patents for both the arrangement and the actual material to be used./////////


Although the activities of the Ahnenerbe came to an abrupt end in 1945 – the section of the traffic order which relates to reflectors, introduced by Himmler in November 1938, is still part of Germany’s street law for bicycles – the _Straßenverkehrszulassungsordnung_.

Along with two sets of functioning brakes and lights for travelling at night, all riders are required to display two yellow reflectors on each wheel – pedal reflectors – one white reflector on the front of the bike and one red reflector on the rear.//////////.


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## dnc1 (Sep 13, 2021)

leo healy said:


> Hi All
> I don t think the writer is saying that its the reflector that was invented ,more to the use of reflectors on pedals?
> 
> from article,///////.
> ...



This is still in use for all new bicycles sold in Europe in theory, plus side reflectors on the wheels.
The French and the British also had red rear reflectors in the first couple of decades of the 20th century.


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Sep 13, 2021)

GTs58 said:


> I highly doubt the Nazis invented anything. Did the Nazis invent the Volkswagon? 😜 It's all in the wording. Invented under Nazis rule, inventions of the Nazi period etc..
> Have you dated those reflectors?



Nazis invented the magnetic tape recorder, made for Hitler’s speeches. American military brought the technology to US manufacturing.
Also the Horten brothers flying wing aircraft.


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## mr.cycleplane (Sep 13, 2021)

I always cringe when I hear the word Nazi! The actual word Nazi is a short abbreviation for the National Socialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (NSDAP)-a political power/movement that was formed in1920 and came to full power in 1933-1945 in Germany under Hitler. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld used the term 'soup-nazi's' regularly in his sitcom and many stand up acts-this seemed tasteless(no pun here!). The Nazi's didn't invent anything-it was someone in Germany at the time that may have invented or improved on an idea. But to give credit to a political movement for inventing a reflector seems like a stretch to me.


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## bikejunk (Sep 14, 2021)

Lea & Francis a British bicycle company had a reflector in the very early teens that they had a patent on


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## Beach Bum III (Sep 18, 2021)

Are these reflectors laying on top of a dirty old pair of tighty whiteys ?!


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