Miss Patricia Valentine and her High Wire Unicycle

[Jesse McCauley]

I labored over where to place this thread, a few categories almost fit, despite being decidedly not a bicycle, it is pre-33 and it at least was built with bicycle parts?

Anyway, check this-

Miss Patricia Valentine was a member of the “3 Valentines” circus act in the Chicago area in the early part of the 20th c.

I was fortunate enough to purchase one of her original unicycles, a machine that predates the act and is specially designed to be rideable on both flat surface and a high wire without any changing over if hardware.

This uni came with period photographs of both the act and the performer as well as an original handbill.

The bearings appear to be Aeolus “ordinary” style.
Seat-tube cut to allow mounting of a stem collar and modified seat-post.
The saddle is a modified Troxel leaf spring I believe.

I believe the photo of her practicing on the high wire and the image on the handbill showing all three performers both feature this unicycle I now own.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bikebozo]

Nice ,I have never seen that plate on the bearing ,with the lock or groove in it , it also has Victor type round cotters, .sure would be nice , to locate a family member , and see if they have any information . Keep up the good forensic work ,

 

[Jesse McCauley]

Following up on this old post and unicycle.
I found an awesome photo on ebay today featuring Miss Pat Valentine and this very unicycle.

 

[mike cates]

Unicycles are amazing in their design.
I met a guy named Kit Summers who lived in San Diego in the 1970's (probably in his early 20's then as I was 7 years older). He was a juggler and street/circus performing artist with unusual talents.
He rode a unicycle that was 14 feet from the ground to the top of the seat.
Most unicycles, that are of the taller variety, use transfer sprockets wth elliptical crank bearing housings (like tandem bicycles use) connecting pedaled crank to driven wheel to maintain shorter chains that can be tensioned to eliminate the "slop" you feel when riding since you are riding a fixed gear wheel below you.
Kit built his own unicycle that used one run of chain from pedaled crank sprocket to driven wheel sprocket (so about 10 feet of chain going upwards and 10 feet of chain going downwards.
To tension this long span of chain he would insert separate various diameter crank sprockets into the chain runs at spaced out locations along the run with the largest diameter sprocket being placed in the middle of the run about 7 feet above the ground.
Besides it's height, it looked almost magical with the floating tensioning sprockets placed in the chain run when he was riding.
He was really on top of his game because if you have ever ridden a unicycle, when you start to tip forward or backward you have to pedal quickly to keep your center of gravity to stay upright. You can imagine how reactive he had to be if the seat is 14 feet above the ground and your head at about 17 feet!
He would have to find something tall enough to mount and it usually was a second story of a building or a roof of a house.
The dismount was something to see as he had mastered slowing to a stop, balancing like a two wheeled bike would do a track stand, then either start the slow tipping forward or backwards and holding his pedals tight until he got at about the 10 foot mark in his controlled fall and would then instantly remove his feet from the pedals and drop to his landing. He had another performer that would catch the falling unicycle before it hit the ground.
Since then unicycles have gotten even taller at 31 feet.
Ahhhhhhh...to be in your 20's again.
Enjoy and click on the links below.
Mike Cates, CA.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwia6p-ovcKAAxX9ODQIHVEcCFAQFnoECB4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fkitsummers.com%2Fabout-kit%2F&usg=AOvVaw0AbvONA0UJCfUawZf5OYzP&opi=89978449

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiL5fbqvsKAAxXzFjQIHXzkCckQwqsBegQIEBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40guinnessworldrecords%2Fvideo%2F7193355563516873990&usg=AOvVaw05MF0xRfCY1KiabjYODO96&opi=89978449

 

[cyclingday]

There was a street performer in Huntington Beach, that would ride a tall unicycle like that, while juggling two running chainsaws.
I can’t imagine how you would learn to do something like that, without some serious mishaps.
But that’s what makes those feats of daring so spectacular.
Super cool, to have the actual high wire unicycle that Miss, Pat Valentine rode.
Thanks, for the update, Jesse.

 

[Uni-Bike Lou]

Jesse an excellent find. You’re right about the unicycle being made from bike parts. The frame/fork fits a larger wheel. Compare her giraffe unicycle in the photo to your unicycle to see the difference.