Two-wheeled terror and "Back to the Future" personal electric vehicles
Welcome to the pages of the blog iCover ! Among the articles Geektimes you can often find references to the book of the British journalist Alvin Toffler “The Shock of the Future”. Although the book was written in the 1970s, it has not lost its relevance today.
We are familiar with historical examples when individual communities “overtook the future” - this is both Singapore in the 70s of the 20th century, and mobile communication between tribes in Africa and other cases when a group isolated from the achievements of civilization was somehow “acquainted” with the achievements civilization. Do you think this happened only on the outskirts of civilization? Not at all. Today, we’ll tell you why you shouldn’t be afraid of personal electric transport, because people used to fear ... bicycles instead!
In fact, concerns about personal electric transport and the panic that has arisen around the first bike has much in common. Look at the headlines 136 years ago:
')
Publication in the New York Times, June 11, 1880
Like electric scooters, the bike was not based on new technology. But then for many people, the bike felt like a real innovation! He was fast and maneuverable. And therefore very scary. Governments around the world have seen this a threat. The same situation is with the hoverboard. The British have banned cycling on sidewalks using the law of 1835, and you know what? Moving on hoverboard on the sidewalk in the UK is prohibited - on the basis of the same law.
In 1881, bicycle enthusiasts went to court to protest the ban on cycling in Central Park in New York. They lost the lawsuit in court, perhaps because the witnesses believed that bicycles were a two-wheeled terror.
Publication in the New York Times, July 15, 1881
If a cyclist participated in an accident at that time, more often than not he was recognized as the culprit of the accident. In 1880, the New York Times published a story titled "Bike Sacrifice," although the tragedy for a young girl was caused by a horse’s death blow. The cause of the tragedy was a heart attack? And then the bike is to blame!
Publication in the New York Times, April 9, 1887
A few years later, the head of the recruiting commission of the US Army in Chicago refused to accept several cyclists. Dr. Stanton said that those who like to skate quickly, figuratively "burn out", and therefore unsuitable for service in the army, the cause of unfitness is "bicycle hearts".
Later, the fear was replaced by a sharp hostility - and not necessarily go for examples in the United States. For example, she wrote about the cyclists in the city of Kiev, the newspaper “Worldwide Illustration” in 1895: “The driver often turns the horses in front of the cyclist’s nose or presses him to the right. In either case, the cyclist is in grave danger . ” Meanwhile, the cab drivers demanded that all cyclists overtake their carts exclusively on the right side! The ban on movement on bicycles in Kiev was lifted only in 1891.
The movement of bicycles was legally regulated by the Decree of the City Duma "On the order of cycling around the city" dated 1899. This regulatory document noted that it was possible to drive only in conventional suits, in which the arms and legs were completely closed. From other unusual remarks it is possible to note the need to go off the bike when meeting with the procession and continue the journey on foot. This concerned the Orthodox, and Kiev Jews on Saturdays were generally forbidden to sit on a bicycle.
Of course, now the headlines have changed, no one has been afraid of bicycles for a hundred years, and hygroscopes and other exotic types of personal electric vehicles have come to the front pages. For example, the tragic story of how in Florida, when falling from a hoverboard, a weapon was discharged and the cousin of the unlucky “hoverboard driver” suffered. Some publications about the danger of electric scooters are thoughtlessly replicated in the press, although their primary source turned out to be a site for young parents, with a scary article about as many as 8 incidents with hoverboard in the USA in three months. Eight incidents across the country in three months? Let's recognize that this is a drop in the ocean.
Finger-sucked stories were also in the 1890s, for example, such a wonderful headline linking the sale of bicycles and books:
Publication in the New York Times, June 7, 1896
Not far from them, modern media have also gone, for example, a report about an intruder who “fled from pursuit on a hoverboard”:
You can not even comment on the effectiveness of "escape" on a vehicle that accelerates only to 10-12 km / h.
Here is the heading about the danger of loud bicycle calls:
Headline on loud bicycle calls, Boston Evening Transcript, September 12, 1893
Scared readers of the past and the unreliability of design:
Now the same empty fears apply to the hoverboard. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating "dozens" of incidents in which the hoverboard caught fire, possibly due to faulty electronics or improper operation. The danger seems real, but in reality it’s just as modern as all the others. Improved battery safety standards successfully address this issue.
In the end, all the same lithium batteries are used inside smartphones, laptops and even electric cars - it is enough to comply with the operating requirements and in most cases your devices do not even think of igniting themselves. Therefore, one should consider with a fair degree of skepticism publications about "poor-quality gyroscopes, and those waiting for the moment to burn." Giroskuter is not you bears! ;)
The reasons for which the battery can catch fire are well known - violation of operating conditions (shocks, overheating) or problems with the charger (defective, incorrect connection). We are talking about the devices of 2015-2016, collected according to a unified scheme using quality components. Should it be said that after assembling the batteries and gyroscopes must be checked and tested?
To avoid damage to the battery, pay attention to the maximum permissible weight and load:
Fortunately, in most cases, scooters have a "safety margin", up to 120 kg of maximum load. The basis of the strength of a modern scooter is a frame with a swivel mechanism, the protective cover itself is made of lightweight plastic. All this is done so that the weight of the scooter itself does not exceed reasonable limits. Agree, an all-metal gyroscooter with the weight of a whole person would be simply inconvenient to transport.
After this excursion into history and returning to the modernity, you should ask yourself a simple question - why do people’s fears turn specifically to hoverboard? After all, before them were the Segways, and indeed there are many other types of electric transport. The reason is very simple - it is gyroscooters that have become a mass phenomenon and belong practically to the golden mean. They are three times lighter than the Segways, several times cheaper, and (subjectively) many times steeper and more maneuverable.
We are already surrounded by the world of the future, in which technology can be your best friend or worst enemy. The media constantly bombard us with messages that are plausible. We hope our story about the “shock of the future” in the past inspired you to think about the vehicles of the future. You can always find a personal electric vehicle with us in iCover .
For the most patient readers who have reached this place, we give an excellent discount on all Novelty hyro-scooters for the noveltywow promo code.
Sources used in the material of historical facts and illustrations: the first and second
Other iCover articles and events
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/369073/
All Articles