Sylvester H. Roper : Automotive Pioneer

  • Jul 18, 2013
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Take a journey down memory lane to read the story of Sylvester H. Roper, the man who is credited with invention of the motorcycle

Sylvester H. Roper poses with his machine

Sylvester H. Roper was an inventor who hailed from Boston. Born on 24 November 1823, Sylvester was the second oldest child in his family. He seemed to have been blessed with mechanical talent from an early age and when he turned 12 years old he made a stationary steam engine without ever having seen one ever before in his life! At the age of 14, he built a locomotive engine, again without actually ever having seen one. After spending a few years moving around, Sylvester finally returned to Boston in 1854 as a married man. It is here that he set about tooling and tinkering with his ideas and came up with a slew of inventions which include his handstitch sewing machine, a hot air engine, a shotgun choke and revolver repeating shotgun! Roper also set up a factory that produced equipment to make screws with. 

In his pursuit to invent machines, Sylvester built one of the earliest automobiles that ran on steam in 1863. He was also responsible for the invention of the Roper steam velocipede between 1867-1869 which may have been the world’s first motorcycle. Essentially, The Roper steam velocipede is one of three machines to garner the title of being known as the first motorcycle. The other two include the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede from the same time and the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen. While historians disagree over which one is the first; primarily arguing over the fact whether a steam powered cycle could truly be called a motorcycle or not, Sylvester Roper got inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2002 as the inventor of the first motorcycle.

One of the nine motorcycles made by Sylvester H. Roper

In 1884, Sylvester Roper decided to build a revised version of his steam powered prototype. The new version was based on a then state of the art safety bicycle frame and was capable of a higher top speed. He continued to work on this design and on the 1st of June 1896, Sylvester took one of his latest models, namely a steam powered Pope Manufacturing Company Columbia bicycle, to the Charles River bicycle track located near Harvard Bridge, Massachusetts. It is said that he got on the track and was seen pacing bicyclists. Sylvester was even clocked doing a 2 minute 14 second flying mile and attaining a top speed of 64 kilometers per hour (40 mph)! It was then that his bike was spotted wobbling and then finally falling of the track. Sylvester Roper had a head wound and was found dead. The autopsy report stated the cause of death as heart failure; however in his last moments he managed to shut off the steam thus turning off the engine; almost as if he knew it was the end of the road for him. He was 72 years old at the time of his untimely demise.

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