Some companies do truly strange things to get attention, but few reach the level of building a giant tricycle. At the end of the 19th century, the young Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company built a tricycle as part of an advertising campaign for its VIM tire line. Standing three and a half meters tall and requiring eight men to move it, it was impossible to ignore that mechanical beast.
It is 1896, and tires are a novelty in many parts of the world. History tells us that the first patents date back to the mid-19th century, but it was John Boyd Dunlop who created the first practical design in 1888 for his son's tricycle (who suffered headaches when pedaling on hard surfaces). From there, tire development advanced by leaps and bounds, and not a few companies sought to present their virtues to the public.
The Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company
One of those companies was the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, founded by Theodore Ayrault Dodge. Its tire brand carried the name VIM, and perhaps as a reference to Dunlop's original design (I'm afraid there's no way to confirm it), the company built a giant tricycle.
The diameter of the largest wheels defined the maximum height of the tricycle, reaching 3.35 meters, while the front wheel measured 1.8 meters in diameter. The images reveal that the tires had no tread pattern, and they worked well on hard surfaces, but the tricycle was more difficult to maneuver on wet roads (e.g., mud).
The tricycle weighed about 660 kilograms, although it comfortably exceeded a ton once its eight crew members boarded. Two groups of four men on each wheel were responsible for pedaling, but judging by the photos, the tricycle received some modifications, as in one of them a crew member can be seen driving at the top. Who knows where that tricycle ended up, but one thing is certain: When it circulated through the streets of Boston, people were hypnotized.
Source: Vintage Everyday
