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Overview | Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden 1817

The second spin become known went from Gernsbach over the hill to Baden-Baden in July, also on a good road, but much slower due to surmounting a hill of 800 feet - at an average of 4 mph.

Bild: Grand Duchess Stephanie
Grand Duchess Stephanie
This time father Drais' help is visible in the correspondence to protect the invention. Instead of a privilege on exclusive sales an invention patent (like in the US) on the use of the machine was applied for. Since Baden had no patent law at all, the application was left to stew in its own juice, until the Grand Duchess, young Stephanie Napoleon, patronized it, after Karl Drais had written a letter in French to her. The compulsion to buy a licence, achieved by the patent of 1/30/1818 for ten years, was in force within the Grand Dukedom of Baden only - outside pirated copies were feasible. Draisine riders riding without a licence badge were fined 10 Reichsthalers and the running machine was confiscated. The licence badge would propagate via the headset badge of bicycles to the radiator badge of automobiles. As a white-collar inventor Drais did not build the running machines himself, but procured requests for a running machine at cartwright Frey in Mannheim.


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