BicycleCinema.org

1921 to today

A patent at one end, this site's September 2026 verification at the other, and one EU regulation still pending beyond it.

Horizontal timeline graphic from the 1921 Gaumont patent to the 2027 mercury-lamp exemption expiry
From Gaumont's 1921 patent to the 2027 mercury-lamp ban Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus

Each node carries its own source and confidence label, like a specification row on a profile, and links to the profile it documents; where only a year is known, the node says so.

The line opens with Gaumont's 1921 Lumicycle, a patented pedal generator for school film projection and the only patent located in this research. It runs through China's standardized rural network of the 1960s–1980s, the largest deployment documented in this corpus 1. The modern field's founding decade clusters between 2007 and 2019 — Magnificent Revolution, CycleCinemaClub, Cinécyclo, Efecto Pedal and KLAK's funded project in Germany, whose published manual remains the most complete engineering record in this corpus 2. A 2016 Wuhan University study sits alongside them as the one instrumented measurement in the corpus 3.

The line closes with two dates that are not organizational at all. One is this site's own: 9 September 2026, when its six-language research sweep verified every status shown here. The other is regulatory and still open. 24 February 2027 is the nominal expiry of the EU RoHS exemption that permits mercury in projector lamps above 2,000 lumens. LightingEurope applied in August 2025 to prolong it, and an exemption with a renewal request pending stays valid until the European Commission decides; Epson expects that decision to take 18 to 24 months and to end either in a new expiry date or in a 12-to-18-month transition period 4. The direction is not in doubt — Epson says laser light sources are now its focus — but the date is 4.

Timeline

  1. Gaumont's 'Lumicycle' pedal-generator patent for school film projection — the field's earliest documented antecedent5

    Antecedent Documented Cinécyclo

  2. China: 8.75 mm rural projection with pedal generators standardized1,6

    Historical Documented China's Rural 8.75 mm Pedal-Projection Network

  3. Qimen County, Anhui: the first commune film team uses an 8.75 mm projector with a pedal generator, because mountain electrification lags1

    Historical Documented China's Rural 8.75 mm Pedal-Projection Network

  4. Yichuan County, Shaanxi: fourteen 8.75 mm projector-and-pedal-generator units form fourteen commune film teams with twenty-eight projectionists6

    Historical Documented China's Rural 8.75 mm Pedal-Projection Network

  5. Magnificent Revolution founded in London; Cycle-In Cinema debuts at the Big Chill festival7

    Founding Documented Magnificent Revolution
    Magnificent Revolution pedal-powered cinema event, London (archive)
    Photo: Magnificent Revolution (archive) (timeout.com)

  6. Incheon Green Federation runs a bike-generator movie event for Earth Day, South Korea8

    Historical Documented Incheon Green Federation — Earth Day 2008

  7. Electric Pedals' Colin Tonks tells the UK cycling press that "an average human can maintain 40 to 50 watts for an hour"9

    Publication Operator-stated Electric Pedals

  8. Bespoke Gear publishes its open 'no-welding' pedal-powered generator plans, the DIY field's most-copied reference10

    Publication Documented Bespoke Gear / Renewable Energy Innovation

  9. CycleCinemaClub founded in Vienna, converting e-bikes into generators11,12

    Founding Documented CycleCinemaClub
    CycleCinemaClub open-air pedal-powered screening, 2026 season
    Photo: CycleCinemaClub (cyclecinemaclub.at) — via cyclecinemaclub.at

  10. Berlin's ufaFabrik begins its Pedal Power Cinema, a real-time load-balancing topology with no battery13

    Founding Documented ufaFabrik — Pedal Power Cinema

  11. Electric Pedals' 'DJ Derby' charity event: 25 adult and 9 child bikes power 205 artists over 6 hours — the largest quantified pedal-event energy budget in this research14

    Deployment Operator-stated Electric Pedals

  12. Magnificent Revolution's last documented activity, October 2012 (Thames Festival), before the collective goes quiet7

    Status Documented Magnificent Revolution

  13. Gap Filler's cycle-powered cinema opens on an earthquake-cleared lot in Christchurch, New Zealand15

    Founding Documented Gap Filler — Cycle-Powered Cinema

  14. Cinemateca Uruguaya founds its 'Cine a Pedal' festival in Montevideo16

    Founding Documented Cinemateca Uruguaya — Festival Cine a Pedal

  15. The British Embassy unveils a UK-built pedal-cinema unit for off-grid Lao villages, December 201317

    Deployment Documented British Embassy Vientiane — Pedal Cinema Unit

  16. Cinécyclo founded as an association in Dijon, before its first Senegal expedition18,5

    Founding Documented Cinécyclo

  17. Open Air Cinema develops the Cinebike project after its screens are used at the Maidan barricades in Kiev, January 201419

    Founding Documented Open Air Cinema ("Cinebike")

  18. Kyiv: during the Maidan protests, The Square is shown from a bicycle generator opposite Khreshchatyk metro in a Ukrainian version dubbed in four days; six screenings before the organiser is barred from Ukraine on 22 January20,21

    Deployment Documented Open Air Cinema ("Cinebike")

  19. Market Chile runs a licensed Electric Pedals system in Santiago, 6–8 November 2014 — one month before Efecto Pedal's launch22

    Deployment Documented Market Chile — Efecto Pedal, Santiago

  20. Efecto Pedal launches in Montevideo with ten generator bikes and twelve public docking stations23

    Founding Documented Efecto Cine / Efecto Pedal
    Night audience at an Efecto Pedal pedal-powered screening
    Photo: Efecto Pedal (pantalla-inflable.blog) — via pantalla-inflable.blog

  21. Society of Wilderness runs its Earth Hour 'starlight cinema' relay in Taipei, Taiwan24

    Deployment Documented Society of Wilderness — Starlight Cinema

  22. Cine2Ride premieres at TU Berlin's Energieseminar25

    Founding Documented Cine2Ride (TU Berlin)

  23. Cinécyclo's Senegal expedition runs 15 November 2015 to 1 June 2016: 3,000 km, about 100 screenings, over 10,000 spectators26

    Deployment Documented Cinécyclo SénégalCinécyclo

  24. A Wuhan University study measures a pedal-generation chain at about 58% efficiency against a 58.2 W projector load3

    Publication Measured Wuhan University Bicycle-Generator Study

  25. Cine Pedal Brasil's national tour: 10 bikes plus 10 bases, an organizer-stated 1,300 W, across five Brazilian capitals27

    Deployment Operator-stated BikeCine / Cine Pedal Brasil

  26. The KLAK project begins in Freiburg, funded under Germany's National Climate Initiative2

    Founding Documented KLAK / Solare Zukunft e.V.

  27. KLAK's Fahrradkino tour reaches sixteen German cities2

    Deployment Documented KLAK / Solare Zukunft e.V.

  28. CicloCinema founded in Trentino by Andrea and Federico Bertoldi28,29

    Founding Documented CicloCinema

  29. Cinemateca Uruguaya's 'Cine a Pedal' festival pauses after its 2019 edition, per its artistic director16,30

    Status Operator-stated Cinemateca Uruguaya — Festival Cine a Pedal

  30. The funded KLAK project ends; regional Fahrradkinos and the Swiss VéloKino builds carry the manual forward2

    Status Documented KLAK / Solare Zukunft e.V.

  31. Kino Rowerowe (Grupa Impel) debuts in Wrocław with a 20-bike commercial touring cinema31

    Founding Documented Kino Rowerowe (Grupa Impel)

  32. Schaeffler's Free Drive bike-by-wire system enters production, February 2023 — the only viable purpose-built pedal-generator e-bike lineage32

    Deployment Documented No linked page

  33. Bespoke Gear updates its pedal-cinema and generator plans, October 202410

    Publication Documented Bespoke Gear / Renewable Energy Innovation

  34. Helmholtz-Gymnasium Karlsruhe reports needing about 30% of its buffer battery for a KLAK-system school screening33

    Deployment Operator-stated KLAK / Solare Zukunft e.V.

  35. Kaiserslautern holds its first municipal Fahrradkino, an 8-Ökotrainer fleet from KL.digital34

    Deployment Documented Oekotrainer.de

  36. BicycleCinema.org's research corpus is verified: a six-language sweep across 233 sources, statuses current to this date

    Status Documented This site's own verification date. No linked page

  37. Nominal expiry of the EU RoHS exemption for mercury in projector lamps above 2,000 lumens (4(f)-II); a renewal application filed in August 2025 keeps the exemption valid until the European Commission decides4

    Regulation Documented No linked page

Sources

  1. [1]Qimen County government — local historywww.ahqimen.gov.cn
  2. [2]klimaschutz.de (NKI) — KLAK KlimaAktionsKino project pagewww.klimaschutz.de
  3. [3]Journal of Wuhan University (Engineering Science), '自行车动力发电系统分析', 2016www.xml-data.cn
  4. [4]Epson Europe, Epson mercury lamps RoHS Directive statement (FAQ KA-01938)www.epson.eu
  5. [5]Mémoire M1 — Le cinéma itinérant en milieu rural français (2025)cinema-itinerant.org
  6. [6]Shaanxi provincial gazetteer — Yichuan County annalsdfz.shaanxi.gov.cn
  7. [7]Time Out London — Magnificent Revolution's Cycle-In Cinemawww.timeout.com
  8. [8]Incheon Green Federation, 2008greenincheon.org
  9. [9]road.cc — Cyclists power family home on BBC show (2009)road.cc
  10. [10]Bespoke Gear — DIY 'No-welding' pedal-powered generator plansbespokegear.co.uk
  11. [11]CycleCinemaClub — official site (seasons 2024–2026)www.cyclecinemaclub.at
  12. [12]Die Presse — Kino aus den Wadeln (2017)www.diepresse.com
  13. [13]ufaFabrik Berlin — Pedal Power Cinemawww.ufafabrik.de
  14. [14]Powerful Thinking — The Power Behind Festivals, Edition 3www.powerful-thinking.org.uk
  15. [15]Gap Filler / Architectural Record / Trigger Marketingen.wikipedia.org
  16. [16]ICAU — 6º Cine a Pedal, 25/02/2019icau.mec.gub.uy
  17. [17]GOV.UK — British Embassy brings pedal powered cinema to Lao PDRwww.gov.uk
  18. [18]Cinécyclo — Le conceptwww.cinecyclo.com
  19. [19]Open Air Cinema — Revolutionary Bicycle Cinema Systems (blog, 2019)www.openaircinema.us
  20. [20]Країна №5 (208), 6 February 2014, pp. 24–26 — Катерина Кисельова, «Часом у людей немає іншого вибору, ніж стати революціонерами» (print; owner-supplied PDF)gazeta.ua
  21. [21]Open Air Cinema blog — Open Air Cinema Foundation Ukraine Participated in Maidan Anniversary Events (06/12/2014)www.openaircinema.us
  22. [22]El Mostrador (CL) — Market Chile event (2014)www.elmostrador.cl
  23. [23]Presidencia de la República Uruguay — Efecto Pedal launch (2014)www.gub.uy
  24. [24]Society of Wilderness event page, 2015www.sow.org.tw
  25. [25]Tempelhofer Feld — Radwerkstatt THF (Cine2Ride origin)www.tempelhoferfeld.de
  26. [26]France 24 Observers, 09/06/2016observers.france24.com
  27. [27]Cine Pedal Brasil coverage (ativo.com et al., 2016)www.ativo.com
  28. [28]CicloCinema — live homepage (2026)ciclocinema.org
  29. [29]CicloCinema — Chi siamociclocinema.org
  30. [30]Ciclosfera — interview with Alejandra Trellesciclosfera.com
  31. [31]wroclaw.pl — Kino Rowerowe, 27/06/2022www.wroclaw.pl
  32. [32]Schaeffler press releasewww.schaeffler.com
  33. [33]Helmholtz-Gymnasium Karlsruhe — Fahrradkino school report (event 12.01.2026)www.helmholtz-karlsruhe.de
  34. [34]Stadt Kaiserslautern, Pressemitteilung 28.05.2026www.kaiserslautern.de