Wikijunior:Famous Inventors/Inventors in Transportation/James Starley

Picture of the Inventor

When, Where, and to whom was he or she born?

He was born in 1830 to Daniel, a farmer in Albourne, Sussex, England.

What was his or her childhood like?

His first job after leaving home was as an under-gardener.

Did You Know?

• He began working at age 9.
• His first job was on the farm.
• An early invention he made was a rat trap.

Why did this person become interested in science?

He mended watches in his spare time and a sewing machine for his employer.

Where did this person go to school?

He ran away from home as a teenager and went to London.

What problem did he or she uncover that needed solving?

Velocipedes (bicycles) were dangerous.

What solutions had already been tried that did not solve the problem? Why wasn't it working?

Velocipedes (bicycles) had wheels of increasingly varying sizes with the front wheel larger than the rear.

What did this person invent that solved the problem?

Bicycles with differential gears and the same sized wheels at the front and back.

How did the invention solve the problem?

An 1880 penny-farthing (left), and a 1886 Rover safety bicycle with gearing

Bicycles became safer. Rover bicycles became synonymous with safety bicycles.

How has this inventor changed people and the world?

Modern bicycles have wheels the same size at the front and back. High wheelers disappeared.

What happened to this inventor in the end?

He died in 1881.

If you could ask this inventor one question, what would you ask?

What does he think of electric bicycles and modern bicycle shapes and materials.

If you could bring this inventor to today and tell him or her one thing, what would you tell him or her about the effect of his or her invention?

High wheelers never returned in any serious popularity.