Newspaper article
No longer a problem, "hey Grok, tell me about the Pedespeed"
The **Pedespeed** (also known as the "Pedespeeder" or wheel skates) was a 19th-century personal locomotion device invented in the United States during the Victorian era. It consisted of a pair of small wheeled attachments secured to the feet or boots, functioning as an early precursor to inline skates or roller skates but with a distinctive design that placed a single large wheel beneath each foot rather than multiple smaller wheels in a line.
### History
The Pedespeed was patented on May 4, 1869, by American inventor **Thomas L. Lüders** (sometimes spelled Luders; 1821–1903) of Olney, Illinois, under U.S. Patent No. 89,833. Lüders described it as an improvement over existing velocipedes (early bicycles) and other foot-powered devices, aiming to provide a more graceful and efficient means of personal transport.
Contemporary accounts from 1870 portrayed the invention with considerable enthusiasm. Publications such as the *Australian Town and Country Journal* (July 23, 1870) described it as rendering traditional velocipedes obsolete, likening the experience to adding wheels to one's toes for swift, elegant gliding:
> "If Mercury had wings on his heels, we can add wheels to our toes, and by means of them travel faster than ever the great Olympian pick-pocket did, if not with more grace and elegance. It is said that ladies and gentlemen thus mounted on wheels can glide about the streets and along pathways with perfect ease and considerable velocity, while their progression appears to observers both graceful and elegant."
Similar coverage appeared in *Scientific American* (March 19, 1870) and the *English Mechanic* (1870), highlighting its novelty as a pair of unicycles for foot propulsion. The device emerged during a period of rapid innovation in personal mobility, shortly after the popular "boneshaker" velocipedes and before the widespread adoption of safety bicycles in the 1880s–1890s.
Despite initial publicity, the Pedespeed did not achieve lasting commercial success or widespread adoption. It remained a curiosity of the era, overshadowed by more practical wheeled vehicles.
### Design and function
The Pedespeed featured a large central wheel (typically 12–18 inches in diameter) mounted under a footplate or boot attachment, with stabilizing elements to prevent tipping. Users propelled themselves by striding or skating motions, similar to modern rollerblading or off-road wheel skating. Advertisements and illustrations from the late 1800s emphasized its use on streets and pathways, with claims of speed and elegance surpassing earlier roller skate designs.
Modern reproductions and similar devices exist under names such as **Chariot Skates**, **Wheel Skates**, or **Off-Road Skates**, which retain the single large wheel per foot concept for rougher terrain.
### Legacy
The Pedespeed represents an early attempt to create human-powered wheeled personal transport beyond traditional roller skates or bicycles. While it did not influence mainstream skate or cycling development directly, it is occasionally cited in historical discussions of Victorian-era inventions and the evolution of inline and roller skating technology.
Today, images and accounts of the Pedespeed circulate on social media and history-focused accounts as an example of quirky 19th-century ingenuity, often evoking amusement at its ambitious yet impractical design compared to modern equivalents.
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