The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 21, No 45
Articles in this issue
- John F. Palmer transferred all Palmer tire patents and the goodwill of Palmer Pneumatic Tire Co. to B. F. Goodrich Co. of Akron for a consideration believed to approach $400,000, with the Goodrich company expected to continue manufacturing the tires while retaining the Palmer name and Chicago office.
- The Cycle Age noted that the Palmer-Goodrich transaction was less surprising than it appeared, since Goodrich had manufactured Palmer tires since 1892 and was already fully conversant with every detail of the formula, with less than one-half of one percent of output returned for repairs under guarantee in the previous two years.
- Shortly before the sale, Palmer's attorneys filed infringement suits against Newton Rubber Works and L. C. Chase and Co., with these suits passing to Goodrich along with the patents, and an additional suit filed by Goodrich against National India Rubber Co.
- A San Luis Potosi correspondent described how one dealer was successfully selling American shoes at three times their American price alongside bicycles, while another was poised to move into acetylene gas lighting systems for homes and factories as his primary winter side line.
- Kansas cycle dealers organized effectively to prevent auction sales of bicycles in their territory, demonstrating a more aggressive local response to the cut-price auction trend than had been achieved in most eastern cities.
- The bankruptcy sale of Marion Cycle Works was confirmed by court and a new company incorporated by Indiana and Pennsylvania investors was formed with $30,000 capital to resume production at the Halliday plant under Philip Matter as president and manager.
- The issue documented continued difficulties arising from department stores handling bicycles, including the erosion of established price structures, the handling of warranty claims with no service infrastructure, and the long-term damage to brand reputations when stores dumped inventory at season's end.
- Hub and pedal manufacturers met to discuss coordinated pricing, with letters of support from major producers read into the record and a resolution passed to form a more permanent organization at a follow-up meeting in Rochester.
- Springfield, Massachusetts bicycle exporters reported that foreign purchasers—particularly in Europe—defrauded American creditors with little compunction, and urged the trade to restrict credit to foreign buyers or investigate them more thoroughly before shipping goods.
- The editorial examined whether sundry jobbers could assist dealers in selecting and stocking winter side lines, arguing that jobbers who understood the dealer's situation were better placed than manufacturers to identify and supply the novel goods that cycle stores could successfully handle during the off-season.
- The venture of certain department stores into bicycle manufacturing was analyzed, with the Cycle Age predicting that stores lacking engineering expertise, quality control, and service infrastructure would encounter serious difficulties that dedicated cycle manufacturers had spent years learning to manage.
- The final installment of the dealer letter series showed striking agreement across correspondents from different regions on a core set of grievances, including manufacturer over-production, inadequate guarantee support, and the difficulty of competing against department stores receiving the same wholesale prices as specialty dealers.
- New patents covered a saddle construction using a spring wire base for improved resilience, a concealed crankshaft brake that hid the braking mechanism within the bottom bracket shell, and the Eclipse coaster brake which received a broad patent covering its key operating principles.
- Experimental motor vehicle engines running on wheat flour dust or fine wood dust suspended in air were described, with inventors claiming the dust-fuel mix offered a cheaper and less explosive alternative to gasoline for applications where the weight of the fuel store was a limiting factor.
- The new Duryea engine design was described, with Frank Duryea credited with a combustion chamber configuration that ensured more complete burning of the gas charge, reducing power loss from unburned fuel and allowing the elimination of the variable-speed gear system used in earlier Duryea vehicles.
- Racing news covered the season's closing weeks, with track blacklistings and circuit disputes continuing to disrupt the program, and results from the remaining open meets compiled alongside standings in the championship point tables.
- The wholesale suspension of leading professional riders from the national circuit was reported, with the scale of the blacklistings sufficient to threaten the viability of the remaining circuit meets and raise serious questions about the future organization of professional bicycle racing.
- Gardiner defeated Major Taylor in the point race at Trenton, narrowing Taylor's lead in the championship standings, with the result adding to the uncertainty about the final championship outcome as the season's last scheduled races approached.