Photograph

The kick scooter, an efficient mode of transportation for getting from here to there in the neighborhood, makes good use of ingenuity and workshop scraps. The earliest scooters required little more than two wheels, two lengths of 2 x 4, and two hand grips. For the wheels, old roller skates worked fine attached to the underside of one of the 2 x 4s. The wheeled platform, or deck, secured the handle, an upright 2 by 4; Any old orange crate worked too. The hand grips attached to the top of the upright gave the rider maximum control. The rider supplied the power for the vehicle: as one foot remained on the deck, the rider propelled herself forward by pushing off the ground with the other foot. Homemade scooters have shared sidewalks with pedestrians for more than a century, and toy manufacturers have, for nearly as long, produced many variations on the basics of the vehicle. Scooters make dandy props for humorous family photographs.