Isaac R Johnson

Due to the media attention the Bicycle Corps of the 25th Infantry garnered from their amazing ride interest in bicycle touring grew. In 1899, an African American inventor by the name of Isaac Johnson filed a patent for a unique bike frame. Johnson’s frame was designed to be folded compactly for storage or transport.

His design was unique due to a steering-head section and a frame having a slot-and-stud connection for detachably uniting and a bicycle-frame having a front and rear sheath or tube-section, and a steering-post sleeve and seat-post tube to which the sheaths are removably connected.

Isaac R. Johnson, inventor of a patented form for a folding bicycle frame that is recognizable as the common contemporary bicycle.