EVOLUTION IN THE TRADE.
Evolution works not only in the cycle itself, but in the methods of production and sale, in the ranks of the producers themselves, and in all included in the term “the trade.” The swift rise of the bicycle as an article of merchandising importance, together with sensational attempts by uninformed press writers to expose the alleged exorbitant profits, has produced a natural effect within the last three years. To make a bicycle for $20 and sell it for $100 was so sure and easy a method of amassing a fortune within, say, five years’ time, that the imagination of our ever-quick Americans was fired.
It is not necessary just now to point out the defects of this picture, sketched and held up; the most serious defect was that it was untrue to fact. There was, however, a rush to get into “the swim” while there was time. People without capital, without experience, without mechanical training, without even any knowledge of the materials of which bicycles are constructed, hastened to advertise themselves as bicycle makers, and for a full year the news columns went on announcing the building of new factories. Thus the bargain counter got its supplies, and the natural reaction followed, the news columns soon having items of quite another character.
It must not be supposed, however, that recent reductions in price mean simply relinquishment of former profit margins, whether those were large or small; some of the decline in price does mean a lower rate of profit, partly atoned for by larger sales, but a great deal is covered by economies in handling and marketing, and notably by reduced costs of production, which are made possible by various means as above suggested, one of the chief of these being automatic machinery. The disturbed condition of the bicycle market has been adjusting itself and will continue to do so—all the sooner and better for all concerned if volunteer assistants will remember that “it is better not to know so much than to know so much that isn’t so.”
CHAPTER IV.
FRAME AND FORK CONSTRUCTION.
THE KEATING.
It is a trite but true remark that the modern bicycle is a marvel of mechanical construction, and certainly no part of it has received more attention during the past decade than the frame. The frame, with its braces, rods, diagonal struts, chords and ties, is really a bridge on wheels built to carry man over the ground. The frame usually consists of eight pieces of tubing, brazed to either drop-forged or sheet steel connections; but the latest fads of up-to-date construction vary even this rule by making the rear forks and also the back stays of a continuous one-piece construction, these, however, being connected to the frame by short lugs projecting from the crank-hanger bracket and seat-pillar bracket. This style, here illustrated, is used by the makers of the Manson, Iroquois, Hudson, Globe, Colton, and is known as the three-crown construction. This style of frame has become very popular.
There are no striking novelties in frame construction for ’98, the few changes made being in the line of refinement rather than of newness. High frames are altogether out of style, low frames being the proper thing, cyclists evidently preferring to ride a low frame with a short head and dropped crank-hanger and getting the necessary reach by raising the seat-post.
Originally all bicycles were built with drop-forged connections, or connections made from steel stampings. During the last three years sheet steel stampings have been very largely used, but after the frame is enamelled it is impossible to say what these connections are. On the old “[Ordinary]” construction the use of large tubing for the backbone necessitated the insertion of the forgings into the backbone, thus producing flush joints. When the lowly Safety came in, with its tubing of small diameter and thick gauge, external connections were used altogether, and the tubing was inserted into the connections; but with the growing use of large tubing, flush joints came into vogue again, and they are undoubtedly the most popular today.
THE UNION.
The joints used in bicycle frame construction are of three kinds, the most popular at present being the flush or butted joint, outside joints and lapped joints. The flush joint, as its name indicates, is one showing no connection on the outside, being perfectly smooth and apparently jointless, and is made by brazing the tube over the connections, which are made of forgings or stampings. The outside joint is produced by inserting the tube inside of the connecting lugs or brackets, which are therefore necessarily larger in diameter than the tubing. When large tubing is used it does not make as neat a joint as when tubing of smaller diameter is used, hence the outside joint, although a good one, has fallen into disfavor since the advent of large tubing. The lapped joint is made by splitting the tube and cutting away the centre portion of the tube where split and cutting and brazing it to and around the other tubes of the frame. All three of the styles of joints described are pinned or riveted before brazing to hold them in place while being brazed, and they all are usually reinforced internally, especially the flush and lapped joints.
THE VICTOR.
As noted in the previous article on “Tendencies for ’98,” the use of the dropped crank-hanger bracket is universal. It might be said, in addition, that if this crank-hanger drop is carried to a much greater extreme, it will necessitate reversion to the old type—that is, not having the upper tube horizontal or parallel with the ground. In fact, there are some signs of that reversion in both directions now, two or three of the makers not making the upper tube entirely horizontal, slanting it from the head to the seat-pillar bracket. One or two of the makers have taken a backward step and slant the upper tube from the seat-pillar bracket to the head, which has the effect of throwing the weight of the rider where it does not belong. With the drop of the crank-hanger has come, however, a shortening of the head. This was necessary, of course, in order to maintain the horizontal position of the main tube. As is usual, however, in American bicycle construction, a few of the makers are carrying this shortening of the head to an extreme point. The use of flush joints has brought about a refinement, so to speak, in the method of joining the cluster of tubes at the seat pillar bracket, the rear stays being offset and cranked, or tapered in many instances, at this point, which produces a very neat cluster or group.
Frame construction has passed through many eras of faddism. We have had the heavy-weight fad, the narrow tread fad, and the light-weight fad, which might strictly be called a craze. The frame, however, has survived all these, and ’98 frames are to be commended for their medium weight and medium tread, the only prominent fad on them being a dropped crank-hanger and short head. For a long while a great deal of discussion went on both in this country and in England as to the merits and demerits of a long wheel base. Wheel bases in 1898 have settled down to from 42½ to 45½ inches, a fair average being about 43½ inches.
THE CYGNET.
The first rear driving safety bicycle constructed, the [Rover], was built out of parts such as were used in constructing the “[Ordinary],” as will be noted by referring to the illustration of the Rover used in a previous article. For three or four years after that the cycle makers of England and America used the most fantastic shapes and curves in frame construction, one of the most popular of the straight line variety being that known as the T-shape; a single bar or stem ran from the head (which was usually an open one) and was connected to another bar which crossed it at right angles in front of the rear wheel, the upper part of this last-named bar or diagonal being used for the seat-pillar bracket, and the lower part carrying the crank-hanger bracket, the main tube continuing but divided to form the rear forks. Necessarily there were no back stays or braces connecting the seat-pillar with the rear forks.
But all the various forms and shapes were superseded when, in 1891, Thomas Humber brought out the type which has since then been known as the Humber diamond frame. This type of frame was first shown at the cycle show in 1892 by the makers of the Liberty, and it attracted an enormous amount of attention. At that time the frame was, of course, much heavier than it is now. Round tubes were solely used; the rear forks were not offset or cranked; and the upper or main tube did not run horizontal or parallel with the ground. In 1893 and 1894 the crank-hanger bracket was slightly raised, the original Humber frame having a dropped crank-hanger bracket, such as is now so popular. With the raising of the crank-hanger bracket at that time came the making of the upper part of the frame horizontal. That style has prevailed ever since.
THE LIBERTY.
The makers of the Cleveland introduced the use of large tubing in 1895, and in 1896 at the New York Cycle Show the makers of the Singer, the only English bicycle represented at that show, exhibited a bicycle having D-shaped rear forks and back stays, and it was predicted at that time by the experts of the trade that in 1897 this D-shaped tubing for use in the back part of the frame would be the coming thing. This prediction, however, was not as fully realized as anticipated, but in 1898 the prediction has come to a full realization, a careful census of the makers showing that more than 50 per cent. of them use D-shaped tubing for either rear forks or back stays, and some of them use it wholly in the rear part of the frame. Among the variations in frame construction might be mentioned the aluminum frame, which is cast in one piece from an aluminum alloy. Nothing, however, has been gained by this construction excepting peculiarity, as the frame is no lighter and is no stronger (if it is as strong) than the regular frame made of tubing; the makers also produce a frame having a gear case as part of the frame.
VICTOR SINGLE LOOP.
The [Chilion frame] is of wood, with steel connections, and built of solid rods of seasoned second growth hickory, oak, ash or maple, and the connections are made of aluminum-bronze of a special composition, which the makers think is a metal lighter and tougher than steel. The wooden rods are rivetted to the connection with phosphor bronze rivets. The principle of the joint is similar to a shovel handle, and it is here to be noted that no one ever yet saw a shovel handle work loose. The makers claim that no shocks or vibration will affect the frame, because the wood fibre absorbs the vibration, and that the frame will stand up under treatment which would ruin a steel frame, it being impossible to bend, crush or buckle the wooden rods, and that should the frame be broken repairs can be made at a fraction of the expense necessitated by the steel frame.
While all this may be true, somehow or another the wood frame has not caught on, and we are still in the “steel age” of cycle construction. The coming of the gear case has evidently caused the makers of the [Racycle] to adapt their frame to it. They have, therefore, produced a frame in which the gear case is an integral part of the frame, since the frame of the gear case consists of a loop of D-shape tubing brazed on and made part of the frame in place of the rear fork on the chain side, which is thus dispensed with. They claim that this gear case also adds greatly to the strength of the entire frame.
THREE CROWN FRAME.
The makers of the Andrae make their entire frame out of tapered gauge tubing, which is 18-gauge at each end for two inches, then tapered to 22-gauge through the intermediate portion, while the exterior surface is uniform in diameter. They make the following claims for this:
“At the very inception of cycle construction, cycle engineers were aware that a straight tube of uniform thickness was not right when made up into a cycle frame, as such a tube is apt to be thin at the connections because of the operations of filing a brazed joint and cleaning it by the use of a sand blast before going to the filer. The consequence is that a thin tube, when brazed and cleaned up at the joints, may be cut away to a mere film at some portions of its circumference, and so made liable to break under a very light portion of the load which the tube at its original thickness could safely sustain. Until the idea of tapered-gauge tubing was conceived, mechanics were forced to use the ordinary tubes and had no means of reducing the total weight of the frame without at the same time reducing its strength, because the only lighter tube obtainable was one thinner in every part, and it is not considered safe to make a braze on tubing much less than 18-gauge in thickness. The tapered tube avoids all this and gives a distribution of metal perfectly adapted to the manufacture of bicycle frames, as all structures designed to bear the maximum of a load with the minimum of weight must have their long members of varying thicknesses of metal.”
CHILION WOOD FRAME.
The makers of the Eagle still continue to use what they call their cold-swaged process in all the joints of the tubing they use. The process consists of placing a tube inside of a tube, and then cold swaging the double tube to the required thickness and length. The Eagle people say that through this method they know exactly how thick their tube is at every point, and which the makers of tubing as ordinarily swaged do not.
The Luthy frame is made with outside lap-joint, taper-tongued reinforcements, which extend along the sides of the uprights and reaches and brace the frame against both perpendicular and colliding strain and prevent granulation at the corners by transmitting the vibration to the centres of the reaches, where the vibrations are thrown off.
The Iroquois frame is fitted with three-inch eccentric chain adjuster at the crank-hanger group. The rear wheel is always centred and provided with two sprockets to allow a change of gear. A peculiar feature of this frame is that while it is of the three-crown construction, with forged arched crowns front and rear, and D shape tubing in the backstays and rear forks, the joints are not flush but outside joints and nickel-plated.
WOLFF-AMERICAN
FLUSH JOINT.
A few makers are still making cushion frames, which were largely shown by a number of makers at the cycle shows of 1897. Before the advent of the pneumatic tire there was some reason for the use of cushion and spring frames, but certainly with the comfortable seats now made and the pneumatic tire in addition, cushion frames of any sort are uncalled for.
The Carlisle Manufacturing Company, in order to give increased drop to the hanger, are producing a cycle having a thirty-inch rear wheel. The makers of the Rambler are making a man’s heavy-weight roadster having thirty-inch wheels both front and rear.
CRESCENT
FLUSH JOINT.
The makers of the Clipper show a variation of the three-crown construction, inasmuch as they do not use the continuous one-piece rear fork construction, and use what they call a blade reinforcement straight tapered rear fork, the rear forks being brazed to a lug which forms part of their patent elliptical truss crank-hanger, and they claim that through this construction they have sufficient clearance for a tire as large as 1⅞ inch, that a front sprocket as large as twenty-five tooth can be used, fitted to a 4⅜-crank axle, with ball races three inches apart, and with tread 4¾ inches over all. They claim that this method of construction is an improvement over the old method, where in order to get a tread less than 5⅜ inches the rear forks must be bent, which prevented properly reinforcing a vital point and consequently weakened the frame. They also claim that under the old method the crank bracket would have to be extended, a process which is undesirable because more length must be added to the chain, and the wheel base must also be lengthened, thus adding weight without strength; also that there was a coming demand for larger tires and sprockets, neither of which could clear the forks of a wheel with forty-four-inch wheel base and straight forks, both of these last being, for good reasons, mechanical features of no little value.
The [Keating frame] curves the diagonal stay just before it reaches the crank-hanger and the Racycle also show one model of this style.
In the Luthy frame the diagonal stay instead of being brazed to the crank-hanger bracket is brazed forward of it, on the lower main tube.
COLUMBIA FORK
CROWN.
The makers of the [Wolff-American] and the Howard do not believe in raking the diagonal stay as much as some others do. Both of these makers make the head of the frame at an angle of twenty degrees from the perpendicular in order to produce easy steering qualities, and they bring the angle of the diagonal stay only sixteen degrees from the perpendicular, thus bringing the rider more directly over the pedals, which is the popular position at present.
CRESCENT
FORK CROWN.
The truss frame, as used on the Fowler and America, is produced by dividing the diagonal stay midway between the seat-pillar bracket and crank-hanger bracket into two parts, these two parts running down to the crank-hanger bracket.
The Cygnet is another peculiar frame, and is best described by the illustration, but is interesting mainly as a novelty. It makes a very taking and graceful looking ladies’ wheel, the entire frame having two tubular connections, as against twelve in the old diamond frame. The rear portion of the frame is constructed of two sections of tubing only. No wood or metal chain or wheel guards are necessary on it, the rear wheel and all the driving mechanism being within two sections of frame, so that the skirts of the rider are fully protected.
The makers of the Wolff-American still continue to use their process of spring tempering to which every frame is subjected. The process has not been publicly revealed, but they state that the finish and temper are the same as they put upon the finest clock and watch springs; that their frames are treated with the same care and delicacy as those springs are, and that repeated tests have proved the increased strength resulting from this process of spring tempering, which also renders every tube in the frame (their tempers always varying originally) of an equal temper and gives life to the frame and at the same time preserves its rigidity.
The makers of the Northampton claim to drop the top tube one inch from seat-post to head, their only claim for this being that it enables the rider to use a high frame if desired, and gives a very graceful appearance to the wheel.
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