A demonstration of a four-person bicycle litter, with a horse-drawn ambulance in the background

Bicycle litters were first used in the 1890s, particularly by the military. This photograph shows an example, where four bicycles positioned at the four corners of a stretcher were joined together to form a method of improvised patient transport. In locations that motorised or horse-drawn vehicles could not reach, this bicycle litter would have been an ingenious (although potentially uncomfortable) option.