However, in 1836, a fire in the U.S. Patent Office destroyed the only surviving drawings, and a prototype of the invention was never built by Clarkson. Dandy horses first appeared on the footpaths of Mannheim, Germany, in 1820. They were heavy and cumbersome, and as a result, riders preferred to operate their vehicles on the smooth pavements instead of the rough roads. Their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities worldwide to enact laws prohibiting their use, and in New York City, a law was passed that banned dandy horses from all footpaths and public places. Later designs avoided the initial drawback of this device when it had to be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and the stride of its rider. An example is Nicéphore Niépce's 1818 model with an adjustable saddle for his 'velocipede' built by Lagrange. However, in the 1860s in France, the vélocipède bicycle was created by attaching rotary cranks and pedals to the front-wheel hub of a dandy-horse. Modern adaptation The dandy horse has been adapted as a starter bicycle for children, and it variously is called a balance bike or run bike. Literature H.E.Lessing: How sophisticated was the draisine? The Boneshaker #159 (2002) T.Hadland and H.E.Lessing: Bicycle Design - An Illustrated History, MIT Press, Cambridge; MA 2014 C.Reynaud: L'Ère de la Draisienne en France 1818-1870, Éditions Musée Vélo-Moto, Domazan 2015 See also Balance bicycle Outline of cycling References External links New Scientist issue 2484, 29 January 2005, "Histories: Brimstone and bicycles" Cycle types Vehicles introduced in 1818 1818 in Germany