The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 24, No 119
Articles in this issue
- The Cycle Trades Protective Association trustees met in Chicago with their attorneys to plan the defense of the H.P. Snyder Mfg. Co. patent suit, declaring they had an abundance of evidence and would urge every statutory defense available, while suggesting the Eagle case would be of limited precedential value compared to a Snyder decision.
- A.B.C. attorney Redding confirmed that many of the trust's patents had not yet been individually transferred in the form required for litigation, temporarily preventing further infringement suits beyond the Eagle and Snyder cases already filed.
- The American Bicycle Company's Milwaukee factories were operating with skeleton crews of 350-400 men out of a normal 900-1,100, with stockrooms crowded and layoffs continuing, while independent factories like Julius Andrae & Sons were working overtime on strong orders.
- Philadelphia's 'Cycle Row' dealers staged a coordinated spring opening week with decorated showrooms, music, and refreshments to demonstrate they were alive and competitive despite the consolidation of the trade under the A.B.C.
- New York bicycle dealers north of Fourteenth Street held a general spring opening on Washington's Birthday, with showrooms decorated and packed with visitors who showed particular interest in higher-priced machines, giving dealers an optimistic outlook for the season ahead.
- Washington, D.C. dealers agreed to hold a joint spring opening the week of March 12 with individual and joint newspaper advertising, while R. C. Jones & Co. reported that nightly graphophone recitals added to its bicycle line have been drawing crowds and generating extra sales.
- Buffalo dealers reported markedly slower trade than the year before despite installment payment plans, with large carried-over stocks of high-priced 1899 patterns expected to be dumped at cut prices; two-thirds of current orders called for coaster brake equipment, and a cyclist injured by a street defect was awarded $300 in damages from the city.
- The American Saddle Co. began taking testimony in its Wheeler-patent infringement suit against the Sager Mfg. Co., a case seen as an attempt to harass Sager even though it had already stopped making the saddle in question after refusing to join the saddle combine.
- An editorial warns dealers against over-relying on the trade's unusually confident mood, noting record amounts of capital tied up in bicycles and materials over the winter, and pointing out that the American Bicycle Co.'s roughly $4,000,000 real-estate valuation and restrictive bond terms make a rumored $5,000,000 real-estate loan impossible.
- A short editorial pushes back on reports that some parts suppliers expect a return to one-inch frame tubing, arguing manufacturers had settled on the sturdier one-and-one-eighth-inch standard after years of experimenting and that reverting would chiefly benefit parts makers rather than riders.
- Cleveland dealers' annual open house drew crowds despite deep snow, with Collister & Sayle debuting Iver-Johnson alongside Yale and Tribune, Otto Konigslow's Bullis-gear chainless O.K. models drawing admiration, and the Lozier, G.&J. and George Worthington sales departments showing off new coaster-brake and chainless lines.
- Atlanta's 1900 bicycle trade will be handled by just four houses -- W. D. Alexander & Co. (Columbia, Rambler, Tribune, Hoffman, Monarch), H. A. Thornton (Orient, National, Eagle), F. G. Byrd (Combination) and the Georgia Bicycle Co. (Iver-Johnson) -- with dealers expecting their best season yet after a very profitable 1899.
- Boston's Columbus Avenue 'Cycle Row' held a rain-soaked Washington's Birthday spring opening, with Sprague & Bell, the Union store's new Union racer, the Pope store's bevel-geared chainless, the Fowler store's 18.5-pound King Bee racer, and C. J. Bailey & Co.'s 19-pound-11-ounce Wolff-American racer among the displays that drew crowds of racing men.
- Dissatisfied with the old French board of trade's annual election, Paris bicycle manufacturers led by A. Clement -- with makers of the Phebus, Gladiator, Peugeot and La Francais -- formed a rival board of trade limited to bicycle makers, aiming to secure better freight rates, higher customs duties and protection against bad customers.
- Grand Rapids Cycle Co. manager L. T. Wilmarth publicly denied rumors that the Clipper factory would close, writing that the company was employing more men than in 1899, running long overtime hours, had five new 1900 models, and was so far behind on its most popular chainless model that a sales-department representative refused to leave until assured of more output.
- Butler Co. manager Rooke reported the best business of his career, having closed between 500 and 600 agencies in under two months, laid off most of the traveling sales staff, and put the factory on an eighteen-hour day while planning to expand the plant to keep up with orders.
- S. B. Davega drew winners for prizes offered at the January cycle show at his 32 East Fourteenth Street store, awarding an Iver Johnson cushion-frame bicycle to H. C. Manheim of Brooklyn, a second Iver Johnson to Sarah Wood of Elizabeth, N.J., a graphophone to G. Hackett of New York, and twenty-five bicycle lamps to other winning ticket holders.
- This trade-notes column reports Geneva, Ohio makers' January shipments of over $100,000, a $10,000 breach-of-contract suit by L. C. Laishley against the Gould Bicycle Co. of Toronto, more than 1,000 pounds of rubber stolen from the Morgan & Wright factory, and large South American orders -- over $1,000 from Ecuador plus a Barcelona order -- received by the financially troubled Liberty Cycle Co. of Bridgeport, Conn.
- This patents column covers Arthur R. Colburn's Washington-patented spring-frame bicycle, a chainless coaster brake from British inventors James Allen and Frank Moore, Paul Goldsmith's toe-clip-and-counterpoise patent, and Louis S. Burbank's device for 'rowing' a stationary bicycle on land.
- Chicago considered building free public open-air roller-skating rinks with concrete floors in its parks, reflecting a broader revival of roller skating among adults over the previous three winters even as milder weather has shortened the city's ice-skating season.
- This motor-vehicle supplement covers plans for a large 1901 Philadelphia automobile exposition led by William P. Wilson with $20,000 in French racing prizes, a November 1900 automobile show planned for New York's Grand Central Palace, an amusing account of actress Rose Coghlan racing her Waverly automobile against a horse and sleigh in Rochester, and a report of a 30-mph motor cycle patrolling the railroad at Sterkstroom during the Transvaal war.
- This buyers' column details the Bridgeport Brass Co.'s redesigned Search Light gas lamp, S. C. Reed's account of the Morrow coaster brake surviving fifty-five miles of hilly Pennsylvania riding on a tandem, the Meyercord Co.'s new Scotch-plaid and wicker-work transfer frame finishes, and new lines from the Frontenac Mfg. Co. and the Kelly Mfg. Co., winner of the top adjustable handle bar award at the Omaha exposition.
- This sport and club column covers the L.A.W.'s move toward relocating its headquarters from Boston to New York, the International Cyclists' Association's vote in Paris to admit the N.C.A. as the L.A.W.'s successor amid a walkout by British delegates, Minneapolis's push for a bicycle license ordinance to fund cycle paths, and continuing debate over Major Taylor's suspension by the American Racing Cyclists' Union.
- Reprinted from Farm Implement News, this editorial urges dealers to always carry adequate fire insurance, arguing that going without it not only risks a merchant's own ruin in a fire but also harms creditors, and that credit managers should investigate an applicant's insurance coverage before extending credit.