The Bearings, Vol 12, No 23
Articles in this issue
- Union Cycle Manufacturing Co. promotes its flagship Crackajack model as the finest high-grade bicycle known, identifying it by its bronze serial number and announcing its presence at the Chicago and New York cycle shows.
- B.F. Goodrich promotes its three grades of single-tube bicycle tires — Goodrich, 999, and Tecumseh — urging dealers and riders to insist on quality tires backed by a liberal guarantee.
- Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co. vows to "throw a bomb at the shows into the camp of all inner tube tires," teasing a major new single-tube tire announcement ahead of the Chicago and New York cycle shows.
- Davidson and Sons announces the debut of its new 20th Century bicycle at the Chicago Cycle Show, with the firm keeping open house at the Great Northern Hotel to show the machine to dealers and the public.
- Waltham Manufacturing Co. promotes the Orient bicycle at the Chicago and New York shows, emphasizing it as the finest high-grade wheel with samples available at the Palmer House.
- Marion Cycle Co. advertises its wood rims to bicycle dealers at the Chicago and New York cycle shows, listing a network of regional sales agents covering most of the United States.
- Richmond Bicycle Co. invites agents to inspect its wheel at the Chicago Cycle Show, claiming it is unexcelled in quality of material, design, workmanship, and general excellence.
- Royal Cycle Works of Marshall, Michigan, announces its range of bicycles and tandems for the 1896 season at the Chicago and New York shows, promising models that are a little ahead of the times.
- R.B. McMullen and Co. promotes Garford saddles featuring a truss saddle design with a spring cantle for elasticity and comfort on long distance road riding and track racing.
- Sager Manufacturing Co. publishes a list of sixty-two high-grade bicycle manufacturers who have ordered its saddles in quantities of one thousand or more, including Spalding, Sterling, Orient, and Columbia, positioning Sager as the dominant saddle supplier to the trade.
- The Wolff-American is promoted as the finest wheel on earth, highlighting its spring temper frame, self-oiling tubular hub, eccentric chain adjustment, and other proprietary features.
- The New York Tire Co. touts its New York Light Tires as the highest-grade tire ever made, crediting them with the era's top long-distance and century-ride performances, with branches in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Boston.
- Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. of Chicago advertises fourteen new 1896 Ajax Cycles models priced from $40 to $100, inviting the trade to its Lake Street salesroom since it could not secure enough space at the Chicago Cycle Show.
- Miami Cycle Co. of Middletown, Ohio, introduces the Racycle's "Tri-Gear" two-speed hub, letting a rider shift between high and low gear or coast by moving a small handlebar lever without dismounting.
- G. M. Richardson of Chicago advertises the Gordon bicycle from his Washington Street works, inviting dealers to write for information.
- Congress Cycle Co. of Hartford City, Indiana, promotes its Senator model for men and Gipsy Queen for women, urging dealers to write for terms.
- Gladiator Cycle Works of Chicago, under president Frank Wenter, advertises its Model 40 bicycle and invites dealers to secure agency terms and territory ahead of its Chicago Cycle Show space.
- A. G. Spalding & Bros. advertises its cycling sundries line alongside the Christy Anatomical Saddle, molded to relieve pressure on the perineum, and the Spalding Cyclometer, which registers up to 1,000 miles.
- Queen City Cycle Co. of Buffalo, New York — maker of the Erie and Seneca bicycles — advertises its $100 line as embodying advanced principles unmatched at the price, and seeks agents.
- Central Cycle Mfg. Co. of Indianapolis reprints an unsolicited testimonial from a St. Paul dealer, D. W. VanVleck, praising the construction, finish, and new handle-bar of its Ben-Hur bicycle.
- Western Wheel Works of Chicago promotes its Crescent bicycles, citing the top merit award at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta and its status as the world's largest bicycle factory.
- Henley Bicycle Works of Richmond, Indiana, advertises its highest-grade 1896 Henley bicycle, represented in the east by the Peerless Mfg. Co. of New York.
- The Brown Saddle Co. of Denver quotes racers E. C. Bald and Tom Cooper endorsing its saddles, with Cooper pledging to ride them through the 1896 season.
- The Adams & Westlake Co. of Chicago, maker of "Adlake" bicycle fittings, advertises its exhibit spaces at the Chicago Cycle Show.
- An advertisement for the National bicycle claims it was "the success of the West" in 1895 and touts increased manufacturing capacity for expansion east in 1896, naming distributing agents in St. Paul and Denver.
- The Fox-Smith Cycle Co. of Chicago advertises itself as the only concern building bicycles exclusively to measure and custom order, guaranteeing perfect fit.
- Keating Wheel Co. of Holyoke, Massachusetts, runs a comic dialogue advertisement in which a mother credits her son Joe's racing medals and injury-free riding to his new Keating bicycle.
- The Bridgeport Gun Implement Co. advertises its drawn-brass Tally-Ho bicycle lanterns, listing four finishes and patented features including a locking wick and removable reflector.
- Peoria Rubber & Mfg. Co. introduces its first annual catalogue and the Patee bicycle line, models A and B plus a tandem and carrier, promising money-back satisfaction to dealers.
- The Tinkham Cycle Co. of New York advertises its 1896 Tinkham Carrier No. 2, priced at $150, with Chicago and New York show spaces listed.
- Safety Mfg. Co. of Chicago advertises its patented Shannon Bicycle Lock and Holder, which holds a wheel upright and locks it securely while on display.
- Czar Cycle Co. of Chicago advertises its Czar bicycles as unexcelled, highlighting a narrow-tread racer and seeking agents in unoccupied territory.
- Union Mfg. Co. of Toledo, Ohio, urges Chicago Cycle Show visitors not to leave without seeing its Viking exhibit at the Auditorium, billed as the most complete high-grade bicycle display in the city.
- G. M. Shirk Mfg. Co. of Chicago runs an acrostic advertisement for its Shirk bicycle, praising its ball bearings and listing agents from San Francisco to Boston.
- Bolte Cycle Mfg. Co. of Milwaukee advertises its new revolving vise for bicycle-frame construction and its patented tubular hub with only eight spoke holes for thirty-two spokes.
- Hunter Arms Co. of Fulton, New York — best known for its L. C. Smith shotguns — advertises its Hunter bicycles, featuring an adjustable handlebar and detachable crank.
- Standard Cycle Clothing Co. of Chicago advertises its "Standard" bicycle suits, sweaters, hosiery, caps, and shoes, claiming over three hundred patterns for the 1896 season.
- Eugene Arnstein of Chicago advertises his portable enameling ovens for bicycle manufacturers and repair men, offered in three sizes with gas or gasoline burners.
- The Bearings announces it will convert from newspaper to magazine format, promising an enlarged size and new features, and quotes trade figures welcoming the redesign.
- Albert Mott of Baltimore previews rule-change amendments he will push at the League of American Wheelmen's annual convention in Baltimore in February.
- A London dispatch reports that the Prince of Wales, a former Cheylesmore tricycle owner who had been inactive in cycling, has ordered a new tricycle from Singer & Co.
- A Paris dispatch reports that racer Michael, "the Little Wonder," was injured in a collision with a quad and triplet at the Velodrome d'Hiver, while veteran Scottish rider Lumsden broke a long losing streak with a win.
- A feature profiles the racing circuit's camp-following characters, offering an interested observer's account of the habits of the men who trailed the professional race circuit.
- A photo feature shows prominent Class B racers posed to display their physiques after finishing the California circuit, noting that champion Bald's muscles were less prominent than expected.
- A sprawling, booth-by-booth preview of the Chicago Cycle Show at Tattersall's details the models, features, and staff planned by dozens of manufacturers — including Avery, the Barnes Cycle Co.'s White Flyer, the Monarch Cycle Mfg. Co. (with racers Tom Cooper and A. E. Lumsden), Royal, Richmond, and Miami — running across dozens of pages.
- Frank W. Wood, cofounder of the Indiana Chain Co., is profiled for a career that ran from a record-setting week of Waverley sales to now selling out his chain company's entire 1896 output.
- Toledo trade notes ahead of the cycle shows cover the Truman Cycle Co.'s rush of completed wheels, Joseph L. Yost's factory art gallery, and H. A. Lozier & Co.'s new Toronto Junction plant.
- The Syracuse Specialty Mfg. Co. enters bicycle manufacturing with a new high-grade Frontenac model finished in a distinctive russet brown.
- An English lubrication expert recounts years of experiments that led him to mix mineral and sperm oils for a superior bicycle-bearing lubricant, and reviews rival theories on oil viscosity and rancidity.
- The March-Davis Cycle Co.'s fifth annual catalogue details its crank and sprocket adjustment system across a five-model 1896 line with invisible-joint, large-diameter tubing.
- Baltimore swindlers R. D. Uhthoff and Max Cohen face federal fraud charges after bilking cycle manufacturers nationwide, including Davis & Stephens and Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett, with bogus mail orders.
- The 1896 Ariel debuts a new tubular reinforced fork-crown, barrel hubs, and a modified Perry-patent crank at Chicago agents Hales & Anderson.
- Racing man M. F. Dirnberger Jr. becomes secretary and manager of the Iroquois Cycle Mfg. Co. of Buffalo, which will build the new $100 Cayuga bicycle.
- A roundup of new 1896 catalogues covers the Toledo Metal Wheel Co.'s juvenile Rugby line, the Davis Sewing Machine Co.'s Dayton, the Czar, the Gendron and Reliance, and the Ralph Temple Cycle Co.'s Temple Scorcher.
- Shapleigh Hardware Co. announcer Gus Pleus is "kidnapped" for a joyride aboard the touring Morgan & Wright private rail car after his piano-accompanied singing wins over the car's crew.
- The Glidden Varnish Co. of Cleveland details the dedicated bicycle-finishing department it built under J. F. Glidden to supply enamels and rim cements to the trade.
- Cleveland dealers report brisk juvenile-wheel sales and a well-attended Y.M.C.A. cycle show, while H. A. Lozier & Co.'s riding school stages trick-riding and bicycle-polo exhibitions.
- The Excelsior Supply Co. previews a redesigned 1896 Thistle with larger tubing, a nickeled Maltese-cross head badge, and a remodeled Chicago showroom.
- A nationwide roundup of new cycle-manufacturing incorporations includes the Western Union Bicycle Mfg. Co. of Chicago and the Staten Island Bicycle Mfg. Co.
- Detroit dealer William Metzger reports back from touring the English cycle shows, noting American wheels are criticized there as "too light" while gear-cases remain nearly universal on English machines.
- Inventor A. B. Holson's centrifugal-force speed gauge for bicycles, which reads a rider's pace from a liquid-filled rotating tube, is profiled ahead of its Chicago Show debut.
- Hotelling Brothers of Chicago introduces a borax-replacement brazing compound that manufacturers say produces cleaner joints and saves about $1 per frame.
- The Hall-Shone Co. of Rochester, holder of patents on detachable rubber mud guards, reports strong growth as it enters its second season under president E. H. Hall.
- The new Knickerbocker Cycle Mfg. Co. of New York, backed by J. Miller and A. Levy, plans a 10,000-machine-capacity factory and a $100 flagship Knickerbocker wheel.
- Sweet & Johonnot host a multi-manufacturer cycle show in their Buffalo store, featuring the Decker Cycle Mfg. Co.'s new models and the D. H. Lewis Cycle Co.'s new Main Street store.
- Sixty-one polishers strike at the Overman Wheel Co.'s Chicopee Falls plant over the company's refusal to discharge a non-union employee, and are permanently replaced.
- Twenty Louisville cycle dealers organize a local cycle board of trade, electing Prince Wells president to promote fellowship and advance the city's cycling interests.
- Paris's third Salon du Cycle draws praise as the finest cycle show yet held in Europe, with American makers Cleveland, Sterling, Columbia, and Morgan & Wright drawing attention among 1,667 exhibited machines.
- New York trade correspondents report a quiet pre-show lull, with the Tinkham Cycle Co. shipping Stearns wheels to Paris as Christmas gifts and the Spalding factory running at 125 machines a day.
- Windsor T. White is elected vice-president of the White Sewing Machine Co.'s bicycle department, with W. A. Henderson named assistant manager over sales and advertising.
- Short items report the Barnes Cycle Co. signing Cleveland's Collister & Sayle as agents and the Pope Mfg. Co. finally securing an Indianapolis agent in Lilly & Stalnaker.