Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1895 — HOW BIKES ARE MADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW BIKES ARE MADE.

PRACTICALLY NEW INDUSTRY QF VAST MAGNITUDE. TT Fine Material* Used la the HighGrade Wheel*—Simplicity, Llghtneee, StrepEth and Durability Prime Hequieitea—Why They Coat So Much. Demand Exceeds Supply. Why do bicycles cost $100? Lots of folks ponder over that question every day, and fall to find a satisfactory answer. Many people think that wheels are made like sewing machines and turned out Just as easily. That isn't so a bit A trip through a bicycle factory shows where some of the heavy cost comes in, and a talk with the manufacturer, who tells of the enormous amounts spent In advertising and mar-

ketlng his product, makes up the rest of the hundred. And there Is no denying the fact that the same competition that has brought the price of wheels down from the $l5O mark of two years ago has also made the expense of putting them on the market considerably greater than it was. The making of bicycles is an interesting process to watch even for the layman who knows nothing of mechanics, patents and such like things. Some of the machinery employed In the make of wheels is almost human. It is mostly special and very expensive. That is another reason why wheels cost as much as they do. The fact that the best skilled labor Is employed In turning them out Is another reason. Labor, in fact, is the greatest item. The difference between the cost of the

best material and the poor Is said to besoi slight that, except In the cheapest grade wheels, there is little object lit Using the poorer kind. V . Parts of the Bicycle. r Just where to start in telling how a wheel Is made is a. difficult thing. In the making they start in a dozen places or more at once. In a general way there are four different parts to a bicycle—the wheels, the frame which gets as the connecting support for all, the running gear and the steering apparatus. Carrying the analysis farther, the wheels are made up of spokes, hubs, rims, tires, spoke nipples, ball valves, cups and cones, and the washers that .go with them. The frame is composed of the diamond-shaped set of tubes that join the wheels together, the head through which runs the steering tube, the rear fork, the seat post and the crank hanger. The steering apparatus includes the handles, the steering tube, the fork sides around the front wheel, the fork crown and

the balls, cup apd, cones on which the steering tubes turn. The running gear takes in the pedals and crank which operate on the sprocket wheels, the chain which connects them and carries theldrlving power and the ball bearings on which these things revolve. The, saddle is also a necessity which properly belongs with the frame. These are the minute parts of the whdel, and each separate piece, whether big or little, requirea separate handling many times before it finally enterw into the make-up Of a complete wheel. Each-piece passes through numerous bands before it id finished, each person who handles it taking it a little lijLJHaking the rims for wheels, for insfcincefethe workman finds hts materi»Hn of.rteel four feet broad,

perhaps, and twenty feet long. He puts It Into a cutter that rips It into proper widths and then cute it to requisite lengths. From there each piece is sent through < -machine that bends it Into circular form and on through others that turn up the edges into concave shape to hold the rubber tire. When that is done the two ends are brazed together, holes are drilled for the spokes and the rim is complete except for the nickeling and polishing. The spoke, spoke nipples, hub and washers are all handled separately. With the new method of making the frames comes the greatest reduction in the weight of wheels. Instead of using small bars of solid steel, as formerly, lighter hollow steel tubing is employed. This lessens the weight without sacrificing the strength, for a tube of steel is said to be stronger than a solid of the same weight In making the joints, too, there Is a great saving of weight. Instead of the old heavy castings and reinforcements, the Joints are now brazed, one piece into the other, which adds strength and decreases the weight In place of the heavy castings used, for Instance, in the fork-crown, a vital part of the machine, drop forgings are now employed to the increase of strength and safety and the decrease also of weight. In making the running gear the greatest care is exercised, both in workmanship and the selection of material. Each piece Is handled a dozen times, made with the utmost precision, tested for every possible strain, and not put into a wheel without every assurance that It will be able to perform its functions properly. Special machinery Is used for most of it, and the best of skilled workmen are employed. If there Is but one part about a wheel that requires particular treatment it is the running gear, and it gets it.

Some of the Machinery Used. A great deal of machinery used Is automatic, and can be operated by boys and girls. The making of oil cups, for Instance, and the many nuts and rivets used In a wheel is done by machines that bite off pieces of steel, turn them about a few times on automatic lathes, and then throw them out finished and complete. Sprocket wheels are made in this way. First they are cut in circular form from a plate of steel by a heavy drop hammer, then strung together in lots of a dozen or more in a machine whose teeth «<at out spaces In the rims and make the notches, one row at a time, on which the propelling chain turns. Saddles are first cut out of bit sides of leather, soaked and put through a lot of forms, till they are pressed into the proper shape. Most of the work is done by girls. Putting the spokes in hub and wheel Is a puzzling job, which has been well learned by ai lot of boys, and they do it as well as

men. Putting tires in the rims Is simply a trick, too, but they tell you at the factory they will give anyone a wheel who can pull an inflated tire away from the rim. The enameling, nickeling and polishing of the different parts are done by the same processes always used in finishing the same sort of material in the same way. The assembly room is the place where all the parts come and are put together. Each part is there tested again for every kind of strain it will have to bear.

MACHINE FOR TRUING UP RIMS.

DROP PRESS AT WORK CUTTING COLD SHEET STEEL.

SETTING UP A TANDEM FRAME.