Originally Posted by
Bob Barker
well, I tried your new search, and still no date. I did find a US patent date of an earlier French design, but that's as close as I got.
Okay, I remember Presta valves from the early 1950s. The common bicycle tire valve then was the Woods (Dunlop) valve, but Presta valves were found on lightweight bikes using High Pressure or Tubular tires. Over time, the Schrader (car type) valve replaced the Woods on common bikes, while the Presta remained the standard valve on high quality bikes.