Inventions in Everything: The Bicycle Sleigh

Friday, January 21, 2022 4:33

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

It’s January, which means the airwaves are cluttered once more with advertisements for weight loss programs and physical fitness equipment. But in much of the world, icy and snowy winter weather makes it difficult for those suddenly obsessed with weight loss to go outside to pursue the physical activities they’re counting on to fit back into the clothes they wore before the holidays. If only there was a patented invention that could help!

You’re in luck, because not only is there such an invention, it’s 101 years old! Inventor Tom Doroszuk was issued U.S. Patent 1,324,342 for his innovation combining bicycle technology with sleigh technology to produce the Bicycle Sleigh:

Doroszuk’s invention merges a bicycle frame onto a larger structure supported on a tricycle of skis. When the rider peddles the bicycle sleigh, it turns a paddlewheel mounted in place of the rear bicycle to provide propulsion on snow-or-ice-covered surfaces. So not only can you can you get exercise on the Bicycle Sleigh, you can get to where you’re going when the roads are covered with snow and ice!

Or rather, you could theoretically get exercise and get to where you’re going, if only the Bicycle Sleigh existed in today’s world. We couldn’t find so much as a single TikTok or YouTube influencer willing to bring their version of the now public domain-invention to life.

We did however find the next closest thing: ski bikes, which are really a thing, if only useful for going downhill!

Time will tell if the 21st century see a bicycle sleigh revival.

Inventions in Everything: The Archives

But wait, there’s so much more! Our archives, now fully updated through 2021, celebrate inventions ranging from the whimsical to the inspired in reverse chronological order!