The Bearings, Vol 12, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Louisville correspondence covers a marathon day of camp news at Fountain Ferry: Johnson equals then lowers the paced mile record to 1:50 1/5 despite botched pacemaker changes, Miller sets a world standing-start five-mile record of 10:07 2/5 and Cox lowers the flying two-mile record to 3:48 in his first ride as a Class B man, Searle's 24-hour attempt is rained off, Berlo and Windle agree to ride exhibition miles, the Barnes team plans stops at Nashville and the Atlanta exposition, and a meeting of professional racers is called to demand League recognition and curb track gambling.
- New York's bridge trustees vote to cut the toll for wheelmen crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to one cent, after lobbying by Alfred Reeves of the Quill Club Wheelmen with a sixty-five-foot petition, with hopes the state legislature will eliminate the toll for cyclists entirely.
- R. P. Searle finally starts his twenty-four-hour record attempt at 4 p.m. once the weather moderates, paced by the entire Morgan & Wright team, and rides 100 miles in 4:22:22 before quitting on account of leg cramps and heavy air.
- Buffalo correspondent reports the season's road-record fever ending amid suspicion that L. H. George's claimed Erie-to-Buffalo record was faked, since watchers posted along the route never saw him pass, and also covers League membership recruitment, a proposed Buffalo-to-Niagara-Falls cycle path, handicapper A. G. Batchelder's possible Racing Board candidacy, and a police officer's mostly futile attempts to catch scorchers.
- St. Louis correspondent reports J. B. Sheridan's affidavit in the Cabanne-Titus-Murphy case was returned unaltered and a Racing Board decision is expected within the week, and covers the Associated Cycling Clubs' plans for a February cycle show and Bert Harding and Alex Laing's planned 700-mile tandem ride from St. Louis to Atlanta timed for St. Louis Day.
- An editorial recounts how the Pope Mfg. Co.'s 1895 push to force agents to sell only Columbia and Hartford wheels backfired, with agents now able to demand the agency on their own terms, and warns that rigidly reviving the rule for 1896 will only cost Columbia agents and profits.
- A satirical editorial mocks a New York paper's claim that a nine-seat "nontuplet" could cover a mile in twenty seconds, riffs on water cycles becoming the next craze, and notes an unconfirmed rumor that Zimmerman lost a five-mile race to Parsons in Australia.
- In Salt Lake City's municipal election the Rocky Mountain Cyclist ticket, drawn from both parties, seats ten of its fifteen council candidates and helps elect republican mayoral candidate James Glendenning, a result wheelmen credit to their five-hundred-strong voting bloc.
- A Washington correspondent describes L. V. Moulton's patented "water bicycle" anchored off the Arsenal wharf—twin cigar-shaped pontoons fitted with bicycle-style pedals, saddle and steering—and recounts operator G. W. Shook towing a becalmed yacht to its anchorage with it.
- French government figures show bicycles paying the national tax rose from 132,276 in 1893 to 203,029 in 1894, yielding $396,537.54 in tax revenue, with the Seine department leading and Corsica trailing all others.
- An essay likening the racing world to a pawnbroker who grudges credit to all but the top stars argues for class racing on the national circuit, airs Tom Eck's proposal that every rider must lead at some point in a race (debated over dinner in San Jose by Murphy, Bald, Cooper, Wells and Windle), and closes with Eddie Bald denying firm plans for a European trip with Titus next season.
- A season prize-points table shows Bald leading with 184 points and $6,790 in prizes, followed by Cooper, Murphy, Cabanne and Titus, alongside a second table ranking the coast-circuit field from MacDonald through Butler.
- F. Ed Spooner reports on the season-opening California circuit meet at San Jose before over 2,000 spectators, where Bald wins the mile open from Murphy and Wells, Kiser and Cooper battle in the handicap, and the correspondent details the new San Jose track's banking compared with Louisville and Manhattan Beach.
- At San Jose's second day of racing, Charley Murphy wins the five-mile national championship over Bald and Cooper, Wells is awarded a disputed third-mile open after Murphy and Wells crash together with Kiser, and a five-Chinaman novelty race amuses the 5,000-strong crowd.
- A joint session of the L. A. W. transportation committee and the National Cycle Board of Trade produces only a conciliatory resolution to confer with the Trunk Line Association, but Chief Consul Potter and others vow to press railroads' bicycle-carriage obligations into the courts if necessary.
- A Philadelphia wheelman's presumptuous "Good evening" to an unescorted lady rider on Montgomery Avenue backfires when she wittily claims to be "one of the Benner boys" and rides off, leaving him in a state of perplexity.
- A lengthy dialect poem gives voice to an aging saddle horse musing wryly on being displaced first by the bicycle and soon by the "motocycle," resigned to being sold off to the country to finish out its days. The printed heading for this poem did not survive the scan, so the bracketed title is editorial; worth a human check against the original.
- London correspondent C. W. Hartung reports the National Cyclists' Union narrowly voted down Percy Low's proposal to let amateurs and professionals race together, covers A. W. Gamage's $500 deposit accepting the Simpson chain challenge on Michael's behalf, Chinn's new European half-mile record at Catford, and notes on the Pneumatic (Dunlop) Tire Co.'s reported profits and Lily Langtry taking up cycling.
- Louisville correspondent reports only R. C. Kinkead of the wheelmen-backed candidates was elected, as park commissioner, but praises the bicycle messenger service that let local newspapers gather and publish election returns from outlying precincts in record time.
- Boston correspondent details Councilman Charles P. Hall's $300 civil suit against Boston Wheelmen officers after the club voted to bar Kittie Knox and other Black riders from its advertised century run, with club captain William Handy defending the color line as a membership vote rather than his own decision.
- Los Angeles correspondent reports racer Casey Castleman faces new professionalism charges over his win against Tom McAleer, covers the tight Gates-Monaghan race for L. A. W. chief consul, and notes the young Citrus Wheelmen club's track improvements and the Bicycle Road Association's growing membership and road-building fund.
- San Francisco correspondent reports a new friendliness between the Olympic Cyclers and Bay City Wheelmen after a poorly attended smoker, a proposed city ordinance to regulate bicycle speed and lighting, and candy manufacturer C. C. Sparrow's surrender to police after a fatal collision with a pedestrian.
- Milwaukee correspondent covers moves to revive the defunct Associated Cycling Clubs with support from the North Side and Badger Wheelmen, rumored wholesale transfers of local Class A racers to Class B, plans for a big winter cycle show, and a pending city ordinance limiting speed within city limits that would force road races to finish outside town.
- Minneapolis correspondent describes inventor Schaefer's new bicycle-sleigh design, mounted on steel-shod runners with an independently sprung driving wheel, and his belief that a gasoline-powered version could also be built.
- Philadelphia correspondent details the nearly finished wooden bicycle track being built inside the old Driving Park Association horse course—a banked third-mile oval designed by architect George I. Lovatt with a movable grand stand—expected to host a Thanksgiving Day race meet.
- Paris correspondent reports Jacquelin beats a nervous George Banker in the Grand Prix de Madagascar final at the Velodrome d'Hiver benefit meet, Bouhours wins the fifty-kilometer handicap, and covers the Michael-Gougoltz match at the Buffalo track in which Michael takes the deciding ten-mile heat after each rider won one of the first two.
- Cleveland correspondent describes a reunion run to Elyria organized in honor of visiting L. A. W. co-founder Alfred Ely, with former Cleveland Bicycle Club captain J. D. Pugh riding tandem for the first time in seven years.
- Western railroads announce that from December 1 bicycles will no longer be carried free but charged excess-baggage rates of at least twenty-five cents, citing the strain of accommodating the surge in cyclist traffic.
- A dialect monologue in the style of E. M. Townsend's "Chimmie Fadden" character has a fictional cyclist gossip about opening a bike shop and riding school with "der Duchess," recount a prank played on tire salesman Herrick, gripe about the bloomers-versus-skirts debate, and dismiss reports of an Australian rival threatening to beat Zimmerman. The actual printed heading did not survive the scan, so the bracketed title is editorial; worth a human check.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs table a proposal to bring Chicago road racing under its control and abolish Sunday racing after North Side and West Side clubs report unanimous support, while a life-insurance company's offer to fund a $15,000 clubhouse in exchange for 1,500 member policies is held over.
- Los Angeles policeman Scott L. Reynolds patents a bicycle ambulance with the patient's cradle slung between two attendant-ridden wheels, though Chicago city physician Dr. Colton and other doctors doubt its practicality for crowded accident scenes and rough roads.
- The Bearings rebuts the Irish Cyclist's claim that a 23.5-pound Cleveland (Lozier) machine proved American "featherweights" impractical on hills, arguing the Irish editor's test wheel had been fitted with unsuitably light tires and rims contrary to instructions, and that genuine high-grade American road wheels average nearer 21 pounds.
- A technical survey by J. W. Anderson illustrates recently patented rear-axle chain-tensioning mechanisms, including worm-screw, set-screw, ratchet-lever and cam-washer designs, continuing an October 17 survey of earlier patents.
- Philadelphia correspondent reports two rival cycle shows are likely this winter—one by the Wissahickon Wheelmen and a larger Trade League show—alongside notes on the arriving '96 Spalding model and a vandalism spree at Hill & Lyster's Humber agency that slashed tires without stealing anything.
- Rouse, Hazard & Co. of Peoria unveil a new Overland quadruplet bicycle built for four of the firm's traveling salesmen, with a Sylph quad also under construction.
- The Remington Arms Co. leases a Fulton Street building in Brooklyn for its first bicycle branch store, to be managed by Seymour F. Frasick.
- London correspondent "Will o' the Wisp" covers a new Stanley Show patent-protection certificate, the Elswick-Centaur hub patent merger, a proposed unbreakable cycle tube from the Central Engineering Co., the Quadrant Cycle Co.'s flotation as a public company, and skepticism about Fontaine's hand-geared record machine and renewed aluminum-frame claims.
- A digest of new bicycle-trade incorporations and openings nationwide, including Chicago's King-O'Hara Mfg. Co. and Diamond Pedal Co., Syracuse's Empire Cycle Co., Grand Rapids' Peninsular Bicycle Co., and factory expansions at Toledo's Dauntless Bicycle Co. and Highlandville's Union Cycle Mfg. Co.
- A list of newly issued cycling patents including pneumatic tires, a spring-wheel, a handle-bar, a combined pump-and-saddle-post, and a bicycle lock and support.
- Longtime trade salesman H. F. Howard is named general western manager of the Richards Mfg. Co. of Brooklyn, maker of drill presses and cycle sundries.
- A feature uses the Lu-Mi-Num factory's combinatorics of frame heights, pedals, handle-bars, tires, seat-posts and gears to show a single maker can offer 14,336 distinct bicycle patterns from standard stock.
- A feature describes Parkhurst & Wilkinson's new single-tube North American tire with a reinforced "Banker tread," which layers three plies of fabric where wear is greatest while keeping the sidewalls soft and resilient.
- Newark's new Aladdin Lamp Co. introduces a lightweight kerosene bicycle lamp with a ground-glass lens that burns for nine hours without going out under rough riding.
- Tacoma inventor S. S. Weeks patents a combined seven-ounce instrument that rings a bell when a rider reaches a preset speed, doubling as a dustproof aluminum cyclometer good for 1,000 miles.
- New York correspondent covers the Palmer Tire Co.'s patent-infringement suit against the Newton Rubber Works, the Whitehead & Hoag Co.'s new celluloid name-plate, Davy Post's brisk cyclometer sales, and the newly arrived Windle model bicycle.
- San Francisco correspondent reports a rush of manufacturers securing coast agencies, including "Crimson Rim" appointing Clarence Martling in Oakland, Hooker & Co. hiring Wilbur Knapp for the Barnes "White Flyer," and the Columbia branch building a new riding school near the park.
- The Bridgeport Gun Implement Co.'s adjustable Brooklyn bicycle stand, usable for either men's or women's wheels, proves popular for the coming cycle shows.
- The Morse Spring Co. of Trumansburg, N. Y., renames itself the Morse Mfg. Co. to better reflect its growing roller-joint bicycle chain business.
- Milwaukee correspondent describes the nearly complete D. D. Warner Bicycle Co. plant at Madison, expected to turn out 5,000 wheels for next year under manager D. D. Warner.
- The Eclipse Bicycle Co. of Elmira, N. Y., hires Syracuse cycling organizer Fred Hazleton to cover New York state, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
- Monarch Cycle Co. trick rider Lee Richardson returns from the western racing circuit to become general agent for the Brown-Lipe Gear Co., soliciting orders for its "Bi-Gear" alongside his Monarch duties.
- Toledo correspondent reports the incorporation of the new Maumee Cycle Co. under J. L. Yost and partners to build the "Volant" wheel, the opening of the Yost Mfg. Co.'s riding school and downtown store, and updates on the Toledo Tube Co. and Gendron Wheel Co.'s brisk order books.
- A. C. Field's new Czar detachable crank uses a pear-shaped bolt hole to let riders remove the crank without a cotter-pin, drawing favorable comment from those who have examined it.
- The Palmer Pneumatic Tire Co.'s three infringement suits against the Newton Rubber Works produce a restraining order that the court agrees to lift only if Newton posts a $10,000 indemnity bond, with the injunction hearing moved to December 3 at Wheeling, W. Va.
- Strongman Eugene Sandow's own exercise-developer machine, sold in Chicago by the Independent Electric Co. along with the Whitely exerciser, is recommended for wheelmen wanting to keep in training over the winter.
- Chicago's Grace Varnish Co. demonstrates its near-indestructible "Marine Bicycle Enamel" by hammering an enameled tube without cracking the finish, and also sells a companion marine varnish for wood rims.
- The Hoffman Bicycle Co. moves into a new three-story, 250-foot Cleveland factory roughly double its old capacity, planning to expand its workforce from 125 to 250 men and turn out 6,000 wheels next season.
- Miss Myrtle M. Snow of Minneapolis wins a $35 ladies' costume prize for most graceful cyclist at the Minnesota state fair riding a high-frame Warwick Model 22.
- Morgan & Wright charters the palace car "The Wanderer" to send ten tire "missionaries," led by R. C. Lennie, on a cross-country promotional tour of some two dozen cities before converging on the Chicago and New York cycle shows.
- The new Defender Cycle Works of Chicago, run by former Parkhurst & Wilkinson man I. J. Wightman, introduces its marine-blue, 22-pound Defender wheel listing at $85.
- The Liberty Cycle Co. of New York contracts the Wheeler & Wilson Mfg. Co.'s sewing-machine agency network to distribute Liberty bicycles across the west, southwest and southeast, adding roughly 2,500 agents to its books.
- Veteran trade figure Fred Patee resigns from the Indiana Bicycle Co. to head a new $200,000 manufacturing concern staffed by established trade people.
- A fire at 177-181 Division Street, Chicago, destroys four clothing concerns and the Munson Typewriter & Bicycle Exchange, which alone loses about $10,000 in stock and machinery.
- A digest of trade briefs including the Spalding-Bidwell Co.'s new 42nd Street New York store, the Simmons Hardware Co. becoming western distributor for 2,000 Iver Johnson cycles, and the Gendron Wheel Co. sending sample half-ground cones to agents as a quality-control demonstration.