The Lyndhurst makers, by the way, while using the cup adjustment strictly at the crank bracket, with an admirably made sleeve having the cones slipped thereon, lay great stress—as relating to accuracy of fit—upon making bearing parts “from the centre” in the old-fashioned screw lathe, as against the monitor or automatic lathe; they aver that the special hardness of tool steel forbids working it on the automatic lathe, and that “there are not over six makes of bicycles in the United States with centred axles, cones and shells turned from tool steel.” Especial significance here attaches to the word “centred;” and every cone is separately ground in a lathe upon its own axle.
The makers of the National of Bay City, Mich., have all bearings on their best models, removable by sliding out intact, using also a peculiar form of cup adjustment.
At the 1897 cycle shows, the Indiana Bicycle Company, makers of the Waverley bicycles, exhibited their bicycles with cones sliding on the axles instead of threading and screwing the cones or cups for adjustment in the usual way. They used this system during the past year upon many thousand Waverley bicycles, and the results have demonstrated that this method is one by which absolutely true bearings can be obtained; the cones and cups remaining always in the precise relative positions in which they were ground, the cones in adjustment sliding to or from the cups. In this season’s construction they have made a slight change, however, and which may be regarded as a good step toward the long sought for interchangeability in construction. The change consists in having universal cones fitting either side of the front or rear wheel hubs and having a double face with two ball races they can be put on the axles in eight different places or ways, thus making it impossible to assemble the bearings incorrectly. The construction is also such that the bearings are as nearly dust proof as it is possible to make them without binding friction. A bicycle adjusting cone or cup that is threaded, no matter whether the thread be fine or coarse, must necessarily have some sort of a spiral twist to it which prevents the cone or cup from setting perfectly true as ground. The sliding method, however, obviates this difficulty.
It is worth noting—especially as being a step toward simplicity and uniformity in construction—that the Humber is now made with the bearing cups of the rear wheel interchangeable with those of the crank hanger.
Another novelty in its way is the insertion of ball retainers in pedals made by the American Watch Tool Co. The Sartus pedal, made by the Warwick & Stockton Co., also uses a somewhat peculiar retainer.
CHAPTER X.
CRANKS, PEDALS AND AXLES.
Second only in importance to the bearings, sprockets and chain of the modern bicycle, as affecting the smooth running qualities of the machine, are the axles, cranks and pedals. Many have been the changes and rapid the march of improvement in these points within the past three years, until, with the advent of the season of 1898, there seems little that is desirable left for attainment in this direction.
“The hub is composed of two parts, viz., the axle and the collars or flanges. The former is a stout bar of iron or steel, forming the true centre of the wheel. It varies from ½ inch to 1 inch in thickness, and should not be less than 10 inches in length. The collars are circular plates of metal, varying in thickness from 3⁄16 to ½ inch at the edges and from ¾ inch to 2 inches in the centre. These are firmly secured to the axle by different methods. In some makes both collars and axle are one solid piece; but most are constructed separately, and are firmly united by brazing, increased facilities being thereby obtained for case-hardening the axle. For nutted spokes the collars are generally of steel or iron, wide at the edges in order to take the width of the nipple; out when direct-action spokes are used they are usually of gun-metal or brass (some few use steel), thin at the edges and gradually spreading out inward until they reach the axle. This is in order to give a large surface against the axle, as, unless a firm hold is obtained and the brazing well done, they are apt to work loose. These gun-metal flanges have, or ought to have, the exterior lower portion recessed to the depth of about ¼ inch, the indentations extending some 1½ inches around the axle, and the holes for the spokes drilled right through. By this a little weight is saved, and the spokes may easily be tapped out in case of breakage on the worm and a portion remaining in the hub. The pedals are thus brought closer together without decreasing the distance between the flanges, which should never, unless on very small wheels, be less than six inches apart, as, with a less amount of ‘dish,’ as it is called, the wheel is liable to buckle. The hubs for the back wheel are usually constructed solid, of either steel, iron or gun-metal, but occasionally they are complex. They are hollow, simply having a hole drilled longitudinally through them for the reception of the back wheel pin. If composed of gun-metal or brass, they should have a steel core to receive the friction, or they will soon wear out.”