# 1897-1914 Peugeot Captain Gerard Folding Bicycle



## Wing Your Heel (Jan 18, 2012)

And here's the bike

























From the New York Times, 27th September 1896








Quite a few historical texts claim that the French military invented the first folding bike.  In particular, a French military officer named Captain Gérard is given credit.  This simply was not true but there is an fascinating story behind this misnomer.  A complete telling of the story is in a book entitled ”Charles Morel – constructeur dauphinois sous la troisième république”.  Since it is in French, here’s the short version:  Charles Morel, a wealthy French industrialist, became enamored with the relatively new bicycle craze and devised of a folding bicycle and built a prototype in 1892.  Independently, in 1893, a French army lieutenant named Henry Gérard imagined the use of a folding bike by the army and filed a patent for one through his father-in-law Henri Noêl on June 27, 1893.  The problem was that this bike was deeply flawed and basically didn’t work.  While looking for help to fix the design flaws he was introduced to Charles Morel.  Mr. Morel showed his prototype bike to Gérard and suggested that he meet with one of his mechanics named Dulac and get his help in perfecting a working folding bike design.  Dulac was successful in this endeavor so on Oct. 5, 1894 Charles Morel and Lieutenant Gérard entered into an agreement to manufacture and commercialize a folding bike. Morel would finance and oversee the manufacturing and Gérard would promote it.  Production of the bike began in April of 1895 and it was an immediate success with orders quickly exceeding production capacity.  In October of 1895 a retail store was opened in Paris to sell the bike to the public.  Gérard was tasked to market to the French military which were subsequently supplied with 25 test bikes.  The Romanian and Russian armies placed orders as well.  Lieutenant Gérard was successful in selling the idea of using folding bikes to the army and was ultimately put in charge of a regiment of folding bike equipped soldiers and was eventually promoted to the rank of Captain, largely because this folding bike.  Charles Morel let Gérard become the public face of their folding bike joint venture, leading everyone to believe that Captain Gérard was the father of the idea when in fact Mr. Morel had the idea first and completely financed the venture.  After a while Captain Gérard started to believe this hype himself and sued Mr. Morel for what he though was his fair share of the profits.  This caused a falling out between the two men culminating in the dissolution of the partnership.  The patents for the folding bike were eventually sold to a consortium of Peugeot, Michelin, and the French army and they took over production of the bike in 1899.  This folding bike first appeared in the Peugeot sales catalog in 1899, which has led some historians to erroneously believe that it was invented by Peugeot.

So what became widely known as the “Captain Gérard folding bike” was not actually the first folding bike, since Emmit Latta’s bike preceded it by a number of years, nor was it actually invented by Captain Gérard.  However, it probably was the first folding bike manufactured in relatively large volume. I was able to find a patent application made in England for the “Captain Gerard folding bike” dated January 18, 1896 (two years later than the French patent mentioned).  Henry Gérard is listed as the co-inventor on the patent along with Charles Morel.

[This info thanks to - http://www.foldingcyclist.com/folding-bike-history.html]













More photos of my Captain Gerard (and also my friend's earlier Capt Gerard for comparison) on this page -

http://bsamuseum.wordpress.com/1898-1914-peugeot-captain-gerard-folding-bicycle/


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## jpromo (Jan 18, 2012)

Wow, that is a wonderful bicycle. The folding mechanism is a work of art in itself. Is that a rifle clamp on your friend's bike on the website?


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## sam (Jan 18, 2012)

I'd like to add for those interested in Military bicycles to look for the Book"Bicycles"(le biciclette) by Galbiati & Ciravegna






and several more military bikes from europe.


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## Andrew Gorman (Jan 18, 2012)

Great bike, and it is a great little book too!


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## Wing Your Heel (Jan 18, 2012)

That book looks interesting Sam. What's that fireman's bike in the first picture?


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## sam (Jan 18, 2012)

What's that fireman's bike in the first picture? It's a 1905 BSA


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## Wing Your Heel (Jan 18, 2012)

Mmmmm do they really say it's a 1905 BSA? 

BSA didn't sell complete bikes until 1910, only components

Until 1910 they were BSA Fittings bicycles, like this one



1904-1907 Light Roadster Bicycle built from ‘B’ pattern BSA fittings


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## sam (Jan 18, 2012)

The book does say 1905 on the BSA fireman's bike
But your talking to the wrong Sam about when BSA started building bikes ---Another SAM says they were selling frames in 1900.


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## Wing Your Heel (Jan 18, 2012)

Yes, they sold spring frames, and also normal frames. Spring frames in particular were exported to Australia, where they were fitted with Minerva engines to help start the country's motorcycle industry. 

But BSA did not build their own bicycles. 

They would just supply frames if required, as well as components, all in parts, for other companies to build 'BSA' bicycles


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## sam (Jan 18, 2012)

Then I guess BSA made the fireman's frame in 1905?Have you ever seen one?Says they were for Petro factories.
Didn't mean to get off topic of your wonderful French Folding Military.A frame was sold on Ebay a year or so ago---out of Lavita I think---was that yours?


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