Classic & Vintage - Very small bike from 1920. Any info on the bike and the guy on photo?

From about 1920 they writes in the picture comment.

How do they know? And where is it taken and the guy on the pic
did he just buy it or is he the maker of this unique very small bike?

http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/IH181109/man-with-very-small-bicycle

Okay it looks ridiculous unsafe to ride. one small obstacle and you fall head down
and hurt yourself or lean a bit too much when it is a hill and you fall on your back
and really need a strong helmet.

But it looks cool to someone as naive as I am. I mean no parking problems
you can take it inside and put it in a corner or in a closet.

Now what can the wheel dimension be. is it really 8" or more realistically 10" wheels
They do look smaller than 12" to me? And suppose they are 10" then the wheelbase
would be about 3 times plus so close to one yard then? At least 30 inces?

I own a small bike named Smart of Easy depending on whom import it.
That one have 12" wheels and the wheelbase is about 63Cmtr which is about
24.56 Inches :)

I don't feel safe when I ride that one on rough streets.
I only use it on well maintained inner city streets.
It is more like a toy really and not a real bike.

The one from 1920 do looks much smaller. Smartbike maybe don't have pictures on the internet anymore? here are my old pictures on
another forum.
http://www.abikecentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=969

SmartBike looks like a big version of HandyBike not sure if they payed for
using same concept. Very close mimicking the HandyBike way of folding.

So back to the Vintage miniVelo?

Do we know anything about that old bike? Is it a unique one of it's kind made
by him and none else found it worth the effort or did they sell many of them
and then gave up on it? Is the guy on the picture known to have made other
bikes or was he just a model used by the photo guy?

Have you posted this in the folding bikes forum? The people who post there are generally more interested in small wheeled bikes.

These wheels look to me to be about 9", maybe 23 cm but what do I know.

I would assume the date was determined from the rider's costume more than anything else.

The wheels being small and probably very hard, it would probably have a bumpy ride. I don't think it would be so dangerous; the riding position is so close to walking that should anything happen to the bike the rider would be on his feet rather than on his head.

I would speculate it was made for use indoors, for example in factories or on ships, rather than on cobblestone streets.

+1 looks like a factory bike

Looks to me like the clown bikes still available off-and-on today, intended for riding around in circles on a stage or just goofing off.

I love it when the cranks are larger than the wheels.

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-IH181109.jpg?size=67&uid=4013affe-5400-4fa9-8653-574706ab2244

RHM, yes factory bike more then like a clown bike. Clown bikes add more absurdity to them So a factory is most likely. If one look at background and especially the floor it sure looks like it is used indoors and never get into bumpy things outdoor.

Not being a folder only being very small I doubt the Folder guys would resonate with it.

They love Brompton and Dahon and such. Okay a few post about miniVelo bikes but not so often.

This one does not fold so I don't want to force it on them :) it sure looks Vintage to me :)

Ooops not thinking it through. I am not used to how "Sidewalks" do look like in England or US or where ever it can be from. But it does not have to be indoor it can be at some Sidewalk outside at a Factory or even a town but the back ground with that typical steel thing on the wall that do look like a factory thing to me.

By accident I found who he is and a patent from 1921 he filed it 1919 but got it 1921.
Google for "US patent US1381281" here is a link to a site that led me to it.
http://www.foldingcyclist.com/folding-bike-news-page-2.html


In 1919, Charles Haskell Clark filed a patent (granted in 1921) for a portable bicycle that was easy to carry onto trains or street cars. Below left is a photo of Mr. Clark from the December 1919 issue of Scientific American with his "city bicycle" and below right is his patent drawing.

"The December 1919 issue of Scientific American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_American) had an article describing Mr. Clark's "city bicycle"."

If one are lucky maybe some University Library have old SciAm mags still in the Cellar
so one can read about it. I would want to know how it felt. If it where very twisty
and too easy to fall backwards of forward. Such a short wheel base? Maybe The patent
mention dimensions?

I love small bikes as long as they are fairly safe to use. I have a "Smart or Easy" bike
they had different names depending on which country one bought them in :)

Wheel base only 630 mm/25 inches and 300mm/12" wheels and that is short.
but even I who are very clumsy and bad at balance can use it. But it looks crazy.
People laugh when they see me on it. I'm 6feet 5"? I'm 76" tall so it do look funny