Roper steam velocipede

1867–1869 version

According to the Smithsonian, Roper's first velocipede of 1867–1869 used a purpose-built frame rather than adapting an existing velocipede frame by retrofitting a steam engine, but one contemporary newspaper account does assert that Roper repurposed a velocipede frame, and Setright and motoring author Roland Brown say Roper used a hickory wood frame built by the Hanlon Brothers, who made and demonstrated boneshakers at fairs and circuses, although the Smithsonian's Roper has an iron frame. It had a wheelbase of 49 in (1,200 mm) and two 34 in (860 mm) diameter wheels made of iron bands on wooden felloes with wooden spokes. It had a rigid, forged iron fork, and a solid handlebar with wooden grips. Unlike the modern twistgrip, where the grip on only one side is a sleeve that rotates around the handlebar to open the throttle, the Roper velocipede's entire bar was rotated with both hands, and it had a dual function. When turned forward, the throttle opened, and when turned backwards it applied the spoon brake on the front wheel. The seat doubled as the water reservoir; or the water tank can be described as saddle shaped. A hand pump transferred water from this tank to the boiler. The boiler was between the wheels with a "nautical looking" chimney from the boiler angling backwards behind the rider, with the firebox in the lower half of this housing, all of which hung from the frame with a spring to absorb shock, while two stay rods attached the bottom of the housing to the back of the frame. There were three water level cocks on the left side, near the water pump, and a drain valve on the bottom. The two cylinders, with bores of about 2+1⁄4 in (57 mm) were located on either side of the frame, from the upper part of the boiler near the chimney, connecting to 2+1⁄2 in (64 mm) cranks on the rear wheel. Exhaust steam, conveyed by tubing to the base of the chimney, provided a forced draft.

The original 1868 version of the velocipede is attributed to W.W. Austin of Winthrop, Massachusetts by some early newspaper accounts, which were taken up in later histories. Motoring author L. J. K. Setright believes Austin was only the rider or demonstrator of a Roper machine, and had been misidentified as its inventor. Austin is also mentioned as the owner, in 1901, of both the 1867–1869 Roper velocipede and an older four wheeled Roper steam car. The Smithsonian says a "Professor" W.W. Austin had exhibited a Roper steamer of unknown date, leading to the erroneous attribution to Austin instead of Roper. A Roper velocipede was on display at the first New York Auto Show in Madison Square Garden in November 1900, and again Austin was sometimes described as the inventor.

The 1867–1869 Roper velocipede, or one like it, was later given to the Smithsonian by John H. Bacon, and is currently in the America on the Move exhibit in the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. It is the oldest self-propelled road vehicle in the Smithsonian, and the second oldest in America, after the Dudgeon steamer.

1884–1896 version

Roper's second steam cycle was apparently constructed in 1884, and was further developed in 1896, when Colonel Albert Pope, owner of Pope Columbia bicycles safety bicycle, commissioned Roper to build a 'pacer' for his bicycle racing team. Motorized bicycle pacers had recently emerged with crude deDion-based gasoline engines, but these were unreliable and often disappointed racing fans. Pope supplied a Columbia frame to Roper, who added an improved single-cylinder coal fired steam engine to the center of the frame. The weight, including coal and water, was 150 lb (68 kg). The steam engine normally generated 150 pounds of steam pressure, but could go as high as 185 pounds, which the Boston Daily Globe in 1896 described as equivalent to 8 hp (6.0 kW). Roper was known to regularly ride this machine, which he called his 'self propeller', from his home at 299 Eustis Ave in Roxbury to the Boston harbor, a distance of 7 miles, the engine's maximum range. Roper claimed his machine could 'climb any hill and outrun any horse', and American Machinist magazine noted, "the exhaust from the stack was entirely invisible so far as steam was concerned; a slight noise was perceptible, but not to any disagreeable extent.".

Roper was asked to demonstrate his 'self propeller' at the Charles River velodrome, a banked concrete bicycle racing track, where he first paced the racing cyclists, then raced professional rider Nat Butler, easily outpacing the bicyclists with timed laps at around 30 mph (120.2sec/mile on the 1/3mile track). He was then encouraged to give a demonstration of maximum speed, and was timed at over 40 mph, when a 'sudden pallor' was seen on his face, and his machine wobbled to a stop, Roper falling off his cycle. He died at the track-side with his son Charles, of 'natural causes', at age 72.

This machine was on exhibit in the 1960s at Bellm's Cars of Yesterday in Sarasota, Florida. An 1894 Roper velocipede was lent from the R. J. Boudeman family collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's 2001 expansion, Guggenheim Las Vegas, where The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition was the only show there until the expansion closed in 2003. It was the fourth venue for the motorcycle design show which had first opened at the Guggenheim New York in 1998, where the Michaux-Perreaux velocipede had been the first machine viewers saw upon entering the rotunda of the museum. Later, the Boudeman Roper velocipede was on view at the 2011 Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition in Vancouver. An 1894 Roper was offered for auction in January 2012, with a claimed high bid of $425,000.