The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 21, No 48
Articles in this issue
- Buffalo's 1898 season ended with the lowest second-hand bicycle inventory in the city's trade history, as conservative dealer policies prevented the usual accumulation of traded-in machines, and a western buyer arriving to purchase 25 used bicycles could find only five in the entire city.
- Buffalo dealers including the Eclipse agents and Buffalo Wheel Co. closed or consolidated their branch stores for winter, shifting to showrooms in their factories or turning their territory over to independent agents to reduce overhead during the off-season months.
- A Buffalo dry-goods store that bought 500 end-of-season bicycles in the belief it could move them quickly sold nearly 200 in the first two weeks but was left holding hundreds of machines when the season closed, with months of insurance costs ahead.
- The committee managing Overman Wheel Co.'s affairs announced plans to manufacture 25,000 bicycles of the highest possible grade for 1899, with early orders already covering more than 10 percent of planned output, positioning the company for a cautious but focused recovery.
- A. Featherstone and Co. of Chicago announced it would supply all dealers directly from Chicago and New York branch houses without using jobbers, appointing exclusive territorial agents and using a large traveling force to cement closer manufacturer-dealer relationships.
- A Glasgow consular report described Coventry employing 4,000 fewer workers than the previous year and anticipated significant price cuts for 1899 English bicycles, though the consul attributed much of the slump to the growing use of American machines despite determined dealer resistance to stocking them.
- An American consul's report from Birmingham identified systematic failures in US cycle export shipping, particularly the practice of failing to notify consignees promptly of shipments, causing costly customs delays; an association of makers was recommended to adopt the notification practices used by English and Continental houses.
- The Cycle Age solicited reader views on effective methods for protecting American cycle trade interests in foreign markets, and reported the departure of H. E. Raymond as vice-president of Sterling Cycle Works along with the relocation of Sterling's offices under a new management arrangement.
- Observed that sundry jobbers were preparing unusually elaborate catalogues earlier than in previous years because competitive pressure had consolidated the wholesale trade among fewer jobbing houses, each carrying a wider variety of goods and thus requiring more comprehensive and artistically produced trade catalogues.
- A technical article examined the steel alloy specifications needed for high-quality bicycle ball bearings, discussing how hardness, carbon content, and heat treatment affected wear life and resistance to pitting under the cyclic loads of normal road use.
- Argued against absolute rigidity in bicycle frame design, showing through examples that properly managed frame resilience could reduce vibration transmission to the rider and improve handling on rough surfaces, while reducing side-slip tendency compared to completely rigid frames.
- The issue described field-testing methods for bicycle frame joints, including brazed lugs and welded connections, with criteria for distinguishing joints that would last a normal service life from those likely to fail prematurely under repeated road loading.
- Described recent cycle patent grants including a metal-plug puncture mending device, a stiffening web construction for the drop frame, and a cushion tire lamp-holder using a horizontal pivot pin to produce a rocking lamp motion that absorbed road vibration instead of transmitting it to the lamp body.
- Described A. T. Cross's kerosene-powered steam wagon built in Providence from 1897 to 1898, which employed oscillating cylinders and a 200-foot spiral surface condenser to exhaust steam invisibly and silently, while a gauge board, eight-day clock, and cyclometer kept the operator informed.
- Contended that the poor quality of American roads compared with European highways required domestic motor vehicles to be built lightly, and examined the adaptation of small gasoline engines to achieve the power-to-weight ratio and handling agility that American road conditions demanded.
- Surveyed recent American patent office grants covering mechanically propelled vehicles, noting that inventors found the problems of devising effective driving mechanisms more challenging than motor construction itself, with attention to patents arising from the Times-Herald contest.
- Described the construction of Chilion wood frames by M. D. Stebbins Manufacturing Co. of Springfield, Massachusetts, in which hardwood rods were inserted into aluminum-bronze connections by driving fit, then aligned on a jig before clamping, producing frame alignment unobtainable by hand methods.
- Reported E. A. McDuffee's victory in the opening night of fall racing at the Atlanta coliseum over Bert Repine and Bob Walthour, described the proposed grand circuit of fifteen weeks for the following season, and discussed the League of American Wheelmen's control over racing matters.