The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 24, No 103
Articles in this issue
- The American Bicycle Company formed a Canadian branch capitalized at $2,500,000 to acquire existing Canadian bicycle factories and build a new plant capable of producing 30,000 bicycles per year, aiming to circumvent import duties.
- Independent bicycle manufacturers and trade suppliers formally organized the Cycle Trades Protective Association at Buffalo, with forty-four member firms signing an agreement to cooperate in defending patent suits threatening the interests of the majority.
- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company denied knowledge of any combination to regulate cheap tire prices, but noted that rising rubber fabric costs had forced the company to raise tire prices.
- American Bicycle Company president Spalding declined to confirm or deny reports about the rubber deal, but said he hoped to establish a regular channel for providing company news to the press.
- A long-standing dispute between H.A. Lozier & Co. and the International Union of Bicycle Makers was resolved, with the union reporting that the American Bicycle Company appeared inclined to deal fairly with organized labor.
- Editorial arguing that both dealers and manufacturers share responsibility for the chronic spring delivery shortage. Dealers frequently delay sending specifications until the riding season opens, creating a shipping rush that overwhelms factories already behind. Manufacturers in turn find excuses to delay fall production, and the article called on both parties to plan and commit earlier.
- Southern and western dealers pressed manufacturers to begin shipping 1900 models by December, with Colorado Springs agents requiring deliveries to start by November 15-30. Dealers in mild climates enjoy year-round riding and brisk holiday bicycle trade, making early access to new models essential to avoid losing holiday sales to competitors carrying up-to-date machines.
- Technical article discussing the use of carborundum and silicon carbide abrasives in bicycle manufacturing, particularly for grinding hardened cups, cones, and steel balls to precise tolerances. The article explained how accurately ground bearing components made the bicycle the most mechanically efficient vehicle of its weight, and distinguished between calcium carbide for acetylene lamps and the abrasive carbides used in precision grinding.
- Detailed account of how electrolytic frame cleaning was adopted by the bicycle industry as a replacement for expensive manual brass-removal after brazing. Professor Burgess of the University of Wisconsin developed the electrolytic process to strip superfluous brass from frames chemically, which proved faster and cheaper than traditional methods and arrived at a moment when the trade was already investigating immersion brazing to reduce costs.
- Weekly trade news covering fire damage to the Brown-Lewis Cycle Co. stock in Chicago, John Newby of New Castle joining Ames & Frost to cover Ohio and Indiana, the Geneva Cycle Company planning 25,000 machines for next year, A. Featherstone & Co. assembling a twenty-five-man traveling force, and Arnold Schwinn & Co. preparing new models ahead of their salesmen taking to the road.
- Providence correspondent reported the successful road trial of the first steam carriage manufactured by the Baldwin Automobile Company, which designer L.F.N. Baldwin said exceeded expectations in speed and hill-climbing. The article also noted the rising price of gasoline and described various new mechanical devices for motor vehicles.
- Cycling club news including the disbanding of the Englewood Wheelmen and the Ramblers Cycling Club of Denver — the oldest organised bicycle club in that city — reflecting a general and regretted decline in cycle club life across the country.