The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 24, No 105
Articles in this issue
- Prominent figures from the American Bicycle Company, tire manufacturers, and New York banking firms incorporated the Single Tube Automobile & Bicycle Tire Co. with $1,000,000 capital to acquire and operate the Tillinghast single tube tire patent.
- Colonel Dodge clarified that while the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Company had acquired Colonel Pope's interest in the Tillinghast Tire Association, he remained the legal owner of the patent and intended to continue fighting the United States Rubber Company until it paid royalties.
- The Tillinghast tire license required manufacturers to pay a 25-cent royalty per pair of tires monthly, adhere to a set price scale, and crucially to acknowledge the validity of the patent and never contest it — provisions that bound nine manufacturers through to the court's decision.
- Professor Freeman at the Armour Institute in Chicago discovered a new continuous process for manufacturing calcium carbide using a hollow electric arc lamp fed with lime and coke powder, promising to cut production costs significantly.
- Editorial observing that the success of American bicycles in export markets had forced European manufacturers to abandon their indifference and study American methods. English, French, and German makers had adopted American machine tools and were recruiting American bicycle managers and shop workers, recognising that Yankee methods in manufacturing, managing, and selling underpinned American competitive strength.
- Report from the Leipzig cycle show found the exhibition larger and better organised than the previous year, but concluded that German machines still appeared clumsy compared to American bicycles. The deficiency stemmed from insufficient manufacturing specialisation: German workshops assigned one workman to multiple tasks whereas American factories employed dedicated workers and machine tools for each individual part.
- Weekly trade round-up including plans by the Flour City Cyclists Association of Minneapolis to hold a cycle show in March, the Berlin Wheel & Cycle Bar Company renaming itself the Berlin Wheel Company, Cincinnati aldermen exempting a proposed Brown & Smith bicycle lamp factory from taxes, and the Cycle Workers' Union seeking an indictment against the manager of the Toledo Tube Works for discharging union members.
- Reports on the U.S. postal service considering automobiles to carry Chicago mail, with Assistant Postmaster Shallenberger calling for proposals for motor vehicle delivery. The article also covered new hub-motor carriage designs and discussed why early American inventors lacked commercial incentive to develop practical motor vehicles sooner.
- Announcement of the Stearns, Barnes, and Syracuse bicycle lines' marketing policy for the 1900 season, confirming that all three brands would retain their individual names, identities, and management teams, with each line to be expanded and improved rather than merged.
- Racing and club news including a significant cable from I.C.A. Secretary Sturmey requesting the N.C.A.'s membership application immediately, signalling movement toward international recognition of the American racing organisation following declarations of support by the French and Italian racing unions.