The Bearings, Vol 9, No 7
Articles in this issue
- The L.A.W. executive committee fired Isaac B. Potter as editor of Good Roads magazine after an all-day Sunday session in New York, appointing Sterling Elliott at $2,000/year in his place; Potter announced plans to sue the League, claiming $2,600 still owed under his contract through November 1894.
- The Badger Racing Club was organized at W.C. Wegner's home in Milwaukee, limiting membership to twelve riders with a record of 2:30 or better, including president W.A. Bremer and Willie Sanger (Walter Sanger's brother), with plans to send four riders to the Denver meet.
- Brooklyn correspondent reports the Kings County Wheelmen's upcoming annual meeting with contested officer elections, Frank Waller and Ashinger's departure for Paris with trainer W.F. Murphy to follow, and dealer J.W. Bates offering a gold medal for the Brooklyn cyclist with the best mileage from March 1 to December 31.
- Boston letter details the Perkins-Potter controversy: L.A.W. Second Vice-President Perkins publicly admitted introducing the order temporarily suspending Good Roads magazine, contradicting President Luscomb's denial; includes an anecdote of Officer Gleason of Division 1 borrowing a bicycle to run down and capture pickpocket Dennis Dorgan on Sudbury Street, and news of Boston's spring meet plans at Waltham.
- Philadelphia correspondent reports that George D. Gideon's reappointment to the L.A.W. racing board is widely welcomed in Pennsylvania; notes the Tioga Athletic Association's track is threatened by debt, the proposal to use the Brotherhood Ball Park as an alternative, and at least 400 Philadelphians planning to travel to the Denver meet in August.
- The Bearings announces it will become a semi-weekly titled The Bearings and L.A.W. Bulletin: a 32-page Tuesday riders' edition at $1/year and the existing Friday trade edition at $3/year ($4 for both), splitting to comply with U.S. postal rules governing second-class periodicals.
- Editorial argues A.Z. Zimmerman should resist French inducements to turn professional, warning that once he abandons his amateur standing he will quickly lose public favor as other celebrated riders such as W.A. Rowe have done, and noting he cannot plead poverty since he has invested his prizes in New Jersey real estate.
- The editors celebrate Chairman Raymond's new rule requiring all racing men to register a color combination with the racing board before competing, crediting years of Bearings advocacy for the reform and noting that distinctive colors allow spectators to follow individual riders throughout a race.
- Short-item department: Chairman Raymond denies a sanction to any meet mixing amateur and professional races on the same day; The Bearings surprisingly receives more subscriptions from France than from England; a well-known trainer predicts Zimmerman will drop out of sight like W.A. Rowe the moment he turns professional.
- Syracuse correspondent describes the Century Cycling Club's elaborate 'Hard Times' smoker organized by Mr. Ford, where members dressed as grotesque characters including Grover Cleveland, Boss McKane, and Billy Murphy for four hours; trainer T.W. Eck publicly accuses Walter Sanger of fearing John S. Johnson and calls on Zimmerman to also meet Johnson before the season ends.
- Feature on Thomas John Shepherd, aged four, of Roslindale, Mass., who began riding at age three on a converted three-wheeled velocipede, completed a 25-mile run at 8-9 mph on a 29-pound wheel, and wears the sweater of the Roslindale Bicycle Club; he holds a medal as 'the youngest known rider in America.'
- Official L.A.W. racing board department: clarifies that the two-class amateur rule applies to road races with prizes over $50; grants the Jacksonville Cycle Club a special sanction for a horse-vs.-bicycle race; announces color applications must specify the full combination; reports Michigan State Fair has promised to pay outstanding cycling prizes; and lists new sanctions for clubs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Ohio.
- Chicago's Associated Cycling Clubs deadlocked after eight ballots at the Grand Pacific over the Decoration Day road race route, with North Side (Evanston via Sheridan Drive, 20 miles), West Side (Halsted to Riverside, 23 miles), and South Side (old Pullman course) proposals each failing to gain a majority; an adjournment was taken to the following Monday.
- Department covering: Minnette Cycle Corps ladies' night with entertainers Ed. Russell and Jack Tucker; Illinois Cycling Club's upcoming 'hard times' party; Minnette officer elections including captain J.J. Mundy; Emil Ulbrecht opening Ulbrecht & Kitchen in Los Angeles to handle Thistle wheels; Sterling Cycle Works reportedly signing A.D. Kennedy and E.C. Bode for their racing team under Culver; and Fred Nessel of the Columbia Wheelmen set to represent America in German races.
- Louisville, Ky. correspondent reports Prince Wells has moved his annual road race from June 13 to July 7, offering $1,500 in prizes across road and track events at the Auditorium including a two-mile Derby for a $50 silver cup; Bliss, Dirnberger, and Zimmerman are expected, and 'Tom' Jefferis plans to return to the path with a new racing wheel being built for him.
- Vice-Consul J.B. Reed proposes reorganizing the Maryland division's debt-ridden cycle track as the 'Druid Cycle and Athletic Association' stock company, paying off debts in stock and expanding into a general athletic ground; Baltimore correspondent also notes Zimmerman's local visit, where he expressed preference for racing in America this season over going to Paris.
- London letter by C.W. Hartung: Newcastle proposes a prize-banking scheme requiring race promoters to deposit prize money with an N.C.U. official; the Essex Cycling Union's Walthamston track may collapse for lack of subscriptions; the Sport and Play Easter Tournament excludes professionals; Lacy Hillier quarrels with the Anerley Club over a misused county dinner ticket; and the Stanley C.C. holds its opening run in bright sunny weather.
- New York city letter: C.H. Dennison crashed through the ice in Prospect Park and lost his bicycle at the bottom of the pond; Southampton Beach life-saving crews experiment with bicycles to halve their four-mile patrol time; trainer Tom Eck claims to be only 32 and backs Charley Callahan of Buffalo to sprint past Dirnberger and Bald; W.B. Troy sails for Paris to arrange a $5,000-plus Zimmerman match race; the Riverside Wheelmen are criticized for enrolling racing celebrities and then expelling them for dues they were never notified of.
- The Idler's weekly humor column: a Cycle Row salesman and manager between them talk an exhausted non-cycling friend into buying two bicycles; a mock interview with actress Fanny Davenport at the Auditorium Hotel ends in rapid expulsion; comic anecdotes of spectacular cycling falls; and the discovery of a pristine 1880 copy of 'The American Bicycler' in a Madison Street bookshop prompts reflection on how 1894 riders will themselves be laughed at in fourteen years.
- Caustic column signed 'Harold A. Moore' questioning how Dan Canary retained amateur status after giving professional trick-riding exhibitions on the national circuit; mocking the inconsistent use of 'tread' across bicycle catalogues; and satirizing race-meet promoters who provide one cot per five contestants, lock away prizes after the races, and recommend buying prizes cheaply from racing men before the season.
- Brief profile of the Thorne brothers, formerly the most prominent racing family in the West: James manages the Montgomery Ward & Co. exhibit at the Midwinter Fair, Charlie is now very ill, W.C. Thorne (former king of western safety riders) is too busy running M. Ward & Co. to ride, and George A. Thorne is gradually losing interest in the sport.
- Editorial in The Fowler Truth insert (The Hill Cycle Mfg. Co.'s weekly publication) attacks the practice of cycle manufacturers sending self-promotional 'trade notes' to cycling journals for free publication, arguing editors should instead fill that space with paid technical articles by mechanics on subjects like bearing steel, enameling, and nickel-plating.
- Brief feature on Amos G. Moore, holder of the double century record on the Elgin-Aurora course, who converted his Fowler bicycle into a tricycle with a simple arrangement, rode it satisfactorily over tough country roads, and plans to pursue American tricycle records in 1894 on a Fowler trike.
- Full account of the dispute between A.G. Spalding & Bros. and the Overman Wheel Co.: left with nearly 1,000 unsold 1893 Victor bicycles worth $100,000 after Overman refused to answer letters, Spalding threatens to dump the stock at $75 retail; C.R. Overman counters that Spalding broke a five-year 1891 contract to take 40% of production and failed to pay their share of national advertising costs.
- A. Kennedy Child confirms the National Association of Cycle Manufacturers is well advanced in organization, with its name chosen and constitution and by-laws in the hands of the association's lawyers and ready shortly.
- The Chicago branch of the Quadrant Cycle Co. is about to close and the company is rumored to be withdrawing from the American trade; a related agreement makes Elliott Burris the exclusive manufacturer of Simplicity 47 under combined patents, with the American Dunlop Co. continuing to make Dunlop tires.
- Wide New York trade round-up: A.G. Spalding & Bros. consolidating into what will be the world's largest sporting goods house; Bronson Supply Co. showing 24 Rudge models at 72 Beekman Street; Roy Oiler Mfg. Co.'s non-leaking pin-point oiler at 25 cents; Schoverling, Daly & Gales' new S.D. & G. Special built on Beeston-Humber lines at $100; and Snell Cycle Fittings Co. of Toledo erecting a new lamp factory to employ 60 additional hands.
- London correspondent 'Will o' the Wisp' provides an extended trial of the Crypto Cycle Co.'s Bantam front-driving safety—a 24-inch, 20-pound machine with 66-inch gearing rated the best front driver yet—reports price-cutting by small agents undermining the English trade, and describes Rudge & Co.'s engineering advance of centering the chain drive on their tricycle crank bracket to eliminate cross strain on the bracket.
- H.A. Lozier & Co. publishes a legal opinion from attorneys Wm. A. Redding and Wm. A. Skinkle refuting the Palmer Pneumatic Tire Co.'s published claim that a Huss victory in the pending patent interference would not affect Palmer's tire rights, arguing the contested invention is 'absolutely essential' to the Palmer tire and could be enjoined if Huss prevails.
- Baltimore trade correspondent reports all local dealers have more orders than stock; Will Cline has taken charge of the Cline Bros. Washington branch formerly operated by Charles Overman, and E.D. Loane Jr. has opened a fine new store on Baltimore Street in partnership with Maryland division Secretary-Treasurer W.J. Unverzagt.
- Indianapolis firm Ribble & Fisher built an experimental pneumatic-tired buggy with 28-inch front and 30-inch rear bicycle-style wheels on ball-bearing hubs, weighing 120 pounds complete on a buckboard frame; claimed to eliminate jolting on rough roads, the partners plan to patent the ball-bearing hub before commercial manufacture.
- The long-delayed bicycle test between the St. Louis Refrigerator & Wooden Gutter Co. (Lu-mi-num) and E.C. Stearns & Co. will proceed with R.H. Thurston, professor of mechanical engineering at Cornell University, serving as the agreed fifth and deciding judge.
- Feature on a tandem constructed by E.A. Loosely of the Birmingham Arms Co. for Chief Consul W.C. Harris Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., by adding heavier rear frame tubes and extra Victor sprockets, cranks, and crank shafts to a standard '93 Victor flyer; the completed 46-pound machine has interchangeable gears and a novel ball-bearing handle-bar at the rear seat.
- Standing directory of recent bicycle trade changes across approximately 30 states, recording chattel mortgages, business dissolutions, new incorporations, fires, and ownership transfers from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and elsewhere.
- Feature on a wooden home cycling trainer devised by Amos G. Moore of Chicago, where the bicycle's rear wheel presses against a spring-loaded ball-bearing roller to simulate outdoor riding, listing at $3.50 ($5.50 with a cyclometer that rings a bell every quarter mile); Moore and Arthur Bronson plan to form the Chicago Home Trainer Co. at 1235 Jackson Street.
- Boston trade round-up: Pope Treasurer notes a good season ahead with the standard Columbia reduced to $125; Lovell Arms expects to sell 10,000 wheels from their seven-story Broad Street building; C.C. Morgan reports healthy business east of the Mississippi for the Overman branch; Sterling Cycle Works is turning out 15 wheels per day with 200 shipped the past week.
- Comprehensive Chicago factory notes: Western Wheel Works employs 1,200 men on 12.5-hour days producing 200 wheels daily toward a 40,000-wheel season and plans to add a full story to the factory; Warman-Schub Cycle House received a 1,000-wheel order from St. Louis; Monarch Cycle Co.'s polishers are on strike with non-union men working under police protection; and Ralph Temple, recovered from a recent fire, is handling Halladay-Temple Scorchers, Royal Limited, and his own Temple Special.