The dandy horse is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the forerunner of the bicycle. Powered by the rider's feet on the ground in lieu of the pedals of later bicycles, the dandy horse was invented by Karl Drais—who called it a Laufmaschine —in Mannheim, Germany, and patented in France in February 1818. It is also known as a draisine, the French form draisienne (French: [drɛzjɛn], or by the broader designation velocipede.