The Bearings, Vol 12, No 18
Articles in this issue
- A Wellington correspondent recounts Zimmerman's Australian tour: he wins the half-mile scratch but is outsprinted in the five-mile scratch by J. W. Parsons at the South Australian Cycling Association's Adelaide carnival on October 26, with Parsons crediting Zimmerman's below-par condition; Zimmerman is also entered fifty yards behind scratch for the two-mile handicap and the half-mile championship of Australia at Sydney on November 16 and 23.
- The Cycle Corps of the National Guards plans a 249-mile relay from Washington to New York on December 1, with ten relay stages and pairs of riders on each leg to demonstrate the bicycle's military utility for carrying dispatches in wartime.
- Dave Shafer's team, including Rigby and Hamilton, is in Denver preparing for another attempt on the unpaced mile record, recently tied by Sanger, before the party travels to the Pacific coast for the winter circuit.
- A Milwaukee dispatch reports the easy election win of W. A. Brown and M. C. Rotier as the Wisconsin Division's new officers, with Milwaukee, Appleton, La Crosse, Neenah, and Kenosha all competing to host the 1896 state meet; the division has passed 1,000 members and a committee is drafting a constitution for the new Associated Cycle Clubs.
- A London letter reports the Simpson-Gamage lever-chain match negotiations collapsing over race format, the Catford Club's proposed three-class scheme for the N.C.U. council at Hull, rumors the Amateur Athletic Association may relent on mixing amateurs and professionals, George Hunt and Jaap Eden turning professional, the International Ladies' Races opening at the Royal Aquarium, and the ongoing Clincher-versus-Gormully & Jeffery tire lawsuit.
- At the Good Roads Association's Brooklyn annual meeting, Alex Schwalbach unexpectedly defeats incumbent Michael Furst for first vice-president after the meeting is packed by his supporters, with A. H. Angell re-elected president and a bill planned for a Coney Island cycle path.
- Chairman Gideon's Racing Board is reported to have permanently suspended Cabanne, Titus, and Murphy for breach of League rules, ending the track careers of three of the season's best riders even though Cabanne had already announced retirement.
- The Century Road Club of America ratifies a batch of road records, including R. P. Searle's Chicago-New York course record, H. Kohl's Elgin-Aurora century mark of 5:57:30, and new ten-mile and twenty-mile state records for Earl, Knowland, Wood, Kostomlatsky, and Borton.
- A Louisville rumor holds that the Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. has approached trainer Tom Eck to handle its 1896 racing team, though O. G. Formhals at the Chicago factory would not confirm it.
- A San Francisco letter reports George Hamlin of the San Francisco Road Club lowering the Pacific coast five-mile record to 11:11 2/5 in a paced run-off with L. S. Leavitt on the Fruitvale-Haywards course, plus plans for a new bicycle track, clubhouse, and annual bicycle show in the city.
- A Louisville dispatch describes the Fountain Ferry track closing for winter as the Morgan & Wright touring party (Herrick, McNeal, Eck, Ziegler, Coulter, and others) scatters to Chicago, San Jose, Nashville, and El Paso, with updates on the injured rider Gardiner and word that the California winter racing circuit has disappointed its promoters.
- An editorial notes that A. G. Spalding again declined to affirm or deny The Bearings' report that he is working to seize control of American cycle racing, and argues the Amateur Athletic Union is unequipped to take over racing if the League of American Wheelmen abandons it.
- An editorial is skeptical of the Cycle Board of Trade racing committee (George Pope, C. W. Dickerson, E. C. Stearns, and H. E. Raymond), which has circulated a six-question survey to manufacturers on whether to continue or abolish Class B racing teams for 1896.
- An editorial argues American makers lag English ones in fitting gear cases to protect chains from dirt, mud, and rain, and pledges that The Bearings will keep pressing manufacturers to adopt them.
- A headless editorial miscellany pokes fun at cycling nomenclature (tandem, triplet, quadruplet, and a claimed six-seat "septet"), distinguishes resilience from elasticity in tires, reports an English inventor's magnetic puncture-preventing device dragged in front of the wheel, and jokes about the origin of "bicycle face."
- A bloomer-clad waitress in a Nassau Street, New York restaurant draws such a crowd that police intervene and the proprietor is charged with maintaining a nuisance, prompting him to post a sign abandoning the reform-dress waitstaff.
- A Los Angeles letter follows the national racing circuit wintering in southern California, including a Southern Pacific Railroad-sponsored trip to inspect the new Santa Monica track, November surf bathing at the beach, and a smoker thrown by the Citrus Wheelmen for visiting racers Bald, Murphy, Cooper, Kiser, and others.
- Detailed summaries of the three-day Los Angeles race meet describe Kiser's pace-tandem spill wrecking the mile invitation field, Bald's quarter-mile-track record win over Murphy, Randall's half-mile upset on day two, and Charley Wells outsprinting Murphy on the final day.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago votes 18 to 8 to take control of all city road racing and to bar Sunday racing, over the objections of the Post Office Cycling Club's Mr. Whittaker, and hears that the Garfield Park cement track will be finished by the 1896 season.
- Only 726 of 2,385 New Jersey Division members vote in an uncontested annual election that returns Robert Gentle as chief consul, with Frank Kireker as vice-consul and J. C. Tattersall as secretary-treasurer.
- Trainer Tom Eck recounts the history of world's-record speed skating and the rise of his skater John S. Johnson, whose team (Johnson, Rudd, Nelson, Davidson, and Hulse) held every world record from 100 yards to ten miles by the end of the 1894 season, including Johnson's 2:42 3/5 mile against Peter Oustlund.
- A New York dispatch has L.A.W. chief consul Isaac B. Potter denying any role in the rumored Spalding racing-control scheme, reports John C. Wetmore replacing S. Wallis Merrihew as New Jersey's handicapper, and quotes Massachusetts chief consul Sterling Elliott's plan to strip the League presidency of its $1,000 salary.
- A headless fiction feature follows farmer Josiah Wheatacre, a bitter opponent of bicycles, bloomers, and county road taxes, whose visiting niece Grace Oatfield -- a cyclist who saves his life with an emergency tourniquet after a farm accident -- and a neighboring farmer's letter about the profits of graveled roads convert him into an active good-roads campaigner who is elected town supervisor.
- A Paris letter reports the Farman brothers beating the Underborg team's tandem in world-record time at the winter track, Jacquelin winning a 2,000-meter scratch race paced by a triplet, and George A. Banker sailing home from Southampton after an 83-race European season that included the Grand Prix de l'Union world's mile championship.
- A Philadelphia dispatch weighs L.A.W. presidential prospects ahead of the National Assembly, judging that Pennsylvania will likely back incumbent A. C. Willison over Sheridan, Potter, or Sterling Elliott, while criticizing Chairman Gideon's Racing Board for still not ruling on the Cabanne-Titus-Murphy case.
- A two-hour fire in Chicago's Warren Springer Excelsior building destroys the new Continental Cycle Co. factory and Geo. E. Lloyd & Co.'s plant, with combined losses near $750,000; both firms say they will be back in production within days.
- The Pope Mfg. Co.'s 1896 Columbia line brings minor detail changes to Models 40-44, a lengthened tandem frame, and plans for a new North Side Chicago salesroom with a riding academy and ladies' parlors.
- A. G. Spalding & Bros.' 1896 road wheel is shown with tapered tubing for added strength at the joints, a new crank retainer and screw chain adjustment, a redesigned single-flange hub, and a tubular fork-crown, fitted with Morgan & Wright or Palmer tires.
- The Monarch Cycle Mfg. Co.'s 1896 line gets heavier-gauge tubing, barrel hubs with oil-retaining caps, a new screw chain-adjustment device, and a one-piece forged crank axle with a three-arm spider, though a factory driveshaft breakdown briefly idled the plant.
- The Thorsen & Cassady Co. previews 1896 Victor road wheels with a shortened wheelbase, horizontal backbones, 32 rear spokes instead of 28, a new front fork and hub, and single- and double-tube tires in two widths.
- The Buffalo Wheel Co.'s 1896 Niagara line, shown by representative F. E. Drullard, features 1 3/8-inch main-frame tubing, a threaded pedal-pin fastening for a flush crank connection, and barrel hubs with Fairbanks rims.
- The Henley Bicycle Works of Richmond, Indiana shows a 1896 wheel with a finely adjustable T-head handlebar, cycloidal sprockets matched to the chain pitch, and a modified Perry crank fastened to an octagonal shaft end.
- The Davis Sewing Machine Co.'s 1896 road wheel keeps its large-tubing frame but adds tubular hubs with ball retainers, a tapered-and-keyed crank fastening, and Kundtz built-up rims, finished in maroon enamel.
- The Lindsay Bicycle & Mfg. Co. of Lafayette, Indiana debuts a $125 wheel with a novel high-speed gear -- an 8 3/4-inch, twelve-tooth front sprocket driving an 1 3/4-inch, eight-tooth rear sprocket -- so the crank axle turns faster than the pedals.
- E. C. Stearns & Co. reports its 1896 Yellow Fellow output nearly sold out on advance orders before a single sample has been shown to agents, while George N. Pierce & Co. names Holbrook, Merrill & Stetson its Pacific coast distributors and the Mead Cycle Co. ships a carload of wheels to Kobe, Japan.
- A Minneapolis-St. Paul dealer roundup finds Heath & Co., Kennedy Bros., Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co., and F. M. Smith & Bro. all ordering heavily for 1896 after losing sales to shortages in 1895, with Deere, Webber & Co. expanding for the Imperial and Deere lines and the Columbus Buggy Co.'s 200-member uniformed Spalding Club drilling on Spaldings.
- The Spaulding Machine Screw Co. of Buffalo begins running its factories twenty hours a day to keep up with 1896 orders, while the Lu-Mi-Num works reports strong early bookings for its high-priced aluminum wheel.
- A tour of the Cotton States and International Exposition's transportation building finds elaborate bicycle exhibits from Monarch, Warwick, Pope Mfg. Co.'s Columbia, H. A. Lozier's Cleveland (with the electric-powered mannequin "Katie"), the Davis Sewing Machine Co.'s Dayton, the Western Wheel Works' Crescent, Spalding, Peerless, and Overman's Victor, whose sales are reported brisk despite the exposition's earlier near-collapse for lack of funds.
- A technical roundup illustrates French and English cycling inventions including a Dunlop tire valve used in France, a fork-mounted French cyclometer, the ball-driven Lejeune chainless transmission system, a pneumatic saddle and pneumatic hub, a celluloid gear case, an automatic wire mudguard by M. August Kegelman of Offenbach, and an armored anti-puncture tire liner.
- W. W. Shoe of the Star Nickel Plating Works introduces the $4 Shoe saddle, featuring a front clock-key screw adjustment for seat tension and a flattened seat-post to stabilize the saddle spring, with U-shaped pommel springs on ladies' models.
- Chicago will host a second cycle show, run by the Associated Cycling Clubs at the Battery D and Second Regiment Armories December 11-17 for the benefit of the Waif's Mission charity, with 125 society patronesses, manufacturer exhibits, and a stage performance of "living pictures."
- Ames & Frost Co. opens a new downtown Chicago salesroom for its Imperial bicycle at 325 Wabash Avenue under O. W. Snyder, expecting to build about 35,000 wheels for 1896.
- The American Waltham Mfg. Co.'s $110-$125 Comet wheel is built around treasurer E. C. Howe's patented "inverted bearing," which the company says halves friction and adds leverage compared with conventional ball bearings.
- The Safety Mfg. Co. of Chicago markets the Shannon bicycle lock and holder, a compact wall-mounted device whose single key both locks the wheel to the holder and the holder to the wall, concealing its fastening to defeat theft.
- The Waltham Mfg. Co. leases a store at 268 Wabash Avenue for a Chicago branch selling its Orient cycle, to be managed by Percy W. Armstrong and Henry A. Jameson.
- Superintendent Van Wagoner's Barnes Cycle Co. factory, running twenty-three hours a day, nears completion of its first 5,000 machines toward a 10,000-wheel season, headlined by a new White Flyer tandem frame with an adjustable steering connection and the improved "out-of-sight" Barnes joint.
- A Dayton dispatch quashes rumors that the National Cash Register Co. is entering the bicycle business, reports the Davis Sewing Machine Co.'s new dedicated bicycle factory reaching 600 wheels a week under superintendent Pat Hussey, and notes A. W. Gump handing off his jobbing business to W. F. Haas & Co. to make bicycles at Shelby, Ohio.
- Philadelphia's Cycle Board of Trade re-elects "Pop" Brewster president, with B. F. Keith as vice-president and H. G. Fitler as secretary, and votes to skip a citywide exhibition this year in favor of the Wissahickon Wheelmen's own show.
- George N. Pierce & Co. of Buffalo leases a large store at 105 Chambers Street running through to 89 Reade Street for its New York operations, to remain under longtime manager S. J. Thompson.
- R. H. Graves of Grand Rapids, Michigan invents a felt bicycle mitt designed to keep riders' hands warm in winter, mounted permanently on the wheel, and is also making a version for motormen and car drivers.
- A. L. Arnot & Co. of Cincinnati moves to a larger, better-equipped store with a riding school, dressing rooms, and reading room, reflecting the growth of its bicycle trade.
- Philadelphia dealers report brisk early orders for 1896 wheels -- Rambler, Columbia, Dayton, Fowler, and Spalding samples already on view -- with Weise, Bowen & Derr adding a new partner, the Relay Mfg. Co. taking over a new Reading factory, and W. S. Emerson's twin-Fowler float drawing crowds in a bicycle parade.
- A profile of Barnes Cycle Co. manager Arthur R. Peck credits him with building the White Flyer's national reputation, recounts his earlier career manufacturing the Peck cash register, and notes his election as a Syracuse alderman.
- E. I. Horsman of New York introduces the Horsman tire, a single-tube design with a cemented cork segment in the tread meant to resist punctures and keep its shape even if deflated.
- Humber & Co.'s Westboro, Massachusetts factory keeps hundreds of mechanics busy from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. refining its cycles, though the company is not yet disclosing details of its 1896 models.
- E. C. Potter closes new agency deals for George N. Pierce & Co. wheels with the Knight-Atmore Clothing Co. of Denver for Colorado and R. M. Evans of Salt Lake for Utah, while F. T. Cannon completes a successful sales trip through Indiana.
- The Capitol Mfg. Co. of Chicago adds the 10,000-mile Climax cyclometer to its Loew line, featuring watch-style white enamel dials and an independent trip-mile register that does not disturb the long-distance count.
- A Toledo dispatch reports a new cycle-fittings company (backed by political figure "Big Jim" Ashley) leasing the old Glassboro factory meant for the Brewer Tube Co., the Toledo Tube Co. booking wholesale tubing orders, and the H. J. Young Co. incorporating for $30,000 to expand Yale wheel output.
- The National Cycle Board of Trade, meeting in New York under president A. G. Spalding, votes to cut the standard manufacturer's guarantee to six months and to sanction local dealer-run cycle shows, while Spalding again declines to deny The Bearings' story about a scheme to control cycle racing.
- Western Wheel Works president R. Lindsay Coleman hosts chartered trainloads of wheelmen and cycling-press representatives from Chicago and New York for a 500-cover birthday banquet at Atlanta's Kimball House, timed around a race meet during the Cotton States Exposition.
- The National Cycle Exhibition Co. secures one-and-a-third-fare certificate-plan excursion rates on numerous rail lines for the Chicago show (January 4-11) and the New York show at Madison Square Garden (January 18-25).
- A. W. Gump sells his Dayton bicycle store to take over management of the newly capitalized Shelby Cycle Mfg. Co., which will build a $50-$75 Ideal bicycle line with Gormully & Jeffery and Thomas B. Jeffery as backers.
- George M. Hendee sells a half-interest in his Springfield, Massachusetts bicycle business to E. A. Nelson, forming the Hendee & Nelson Mfg. Co. to build the Silver King and Silver Queen wheels at a planned rate of twenty-five machines a day.
- A New York roundup covers preparations for the Coleman banquet trip to Atlanta, George N. Pierce & Co. and L. C. Jandorf & Co. both moving into larger downtown stores, and a story about the Duke of Marlborough coasting his Columbia into a run-in with Central Park police.
- A Bearings reporter in Buffalo finds Lucien Barnes, Sr. and his nephew Charles O. Barnes struggling to organize a rival "Barnes improved" bicycle company, risking litigation from the Barnes Cycle Co. of Syracuse over the shared name and Charles's inventions made under contract there.
- Haas & Co., Chicago wholesale jewelers, organize the National Duplex Cyclometer Co. to build an all-metal, dustproof cyclometer with an oscillating vibrating-arm mechanism that registers up to 10,000 miles without reverting when the wheel is turned backward.
- The Shirk company's 1896 ladies' wheel specifies a 23-inch frame, 1 1/4-inch tubing, a 43 5/8-inch wheelbase, detachable sprocket, and a choice of four handlebar styles, finished in black or purple.
- A dense column of short trade items reports Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works running until 9 p.m. with 725 hands, the Eclipse Bicycle Co. shipping wheels to China, Walter F. Foster's :48 half-mile record accepted by the Racing Board, the Union Mfg. Co. shipping over 100 Vikings to New Zealand, and the F. F. Ide Mfg. Co.'s claim of 527 distinct parts in its wheel, alongside notes on Hulbert Bros.' new Majestic and Mesinger-saddle business in France and the Pope Mfg. Co.'s new riding school at Florida's Alcazar Hotel.