New Jersey inventor Arthur Hotchkiss came up with the bike railroad, and this bike, before ordinary bicycles were invented

Before the modern bicycle (technically called the safety bicycle) came along, New Jersey inventor Arthur Hotchkiss came up with a very different kind of idea for making bike commuting practical: the bike railroad. His 1892 invention was essentially a fixed metal track that riders could pedal specialized bikes along.

He soon convinced inventor and manufacturer Hezekiah Smith to finance and built a prototype — a two-mile rail stretching from the latter's HB Smith Machine Company in Smithville, New Jersey to Mt. Holly, the home of many of the company's employees. Smith and Hotchkiss spent $10,000 on the track and charged workers two dollars for monthly passes, which allowed them to get to work in roughly six minutes.

Found on http://www.vox.com/2015/6/30/8861327/bike-lanes-history  via https://www.facebook.com/historyprizeludington