Leading into the 1920’s, bicycle sales had greatly declined in North America due to the mass production of the automobile; the preferred means of transportation. At this time, bicycles were marketed as a popular toy for children. Designed with bright colours and deco pinstripes, they were the envied item among kids in the schoolyard.
riding was a widely enjoyed activity among North American residents. Although it was mainly considered children’s toy.
Leading into the 1940’s, bicycle riding was a widely enjoyed activity among European residents. With it’s simplistic engineering and ease of use, the bicycle grew from its humble beginning to a prized belonging for people of all ages. To meet the rise in demand, new bicycle companies began to emerge, offering models that fit the needs for a wide range of riders. Grand store displays and billboards promoting new road, cruisers and racer bicycles sprung up along downtown strips. With new competition between manufactures, the drive to produce the ultimate bicycle pushed through many patented innovations in mechanical design. Front lighting systems, breaking mechanisms, electric bells became staples throughout design offices.
By the 1930’s, the great depression set in. Bicycle design went through a refinement era.
-collectors
-montage of design evolution
– era of streamline design
-streamline design definition
– a new era of bicycle design, heavily influenced by the art deco movement that originated in France just a short time before world war I but later refined post-war at the height of the great depression.
stream·line
verb
1. design or provide with a form that presents very little resistance to a flow of air or water, increasing speed and ease of movement.
Application for patent filed on October 23, 1935.
Patent no. 358849 granted on June 30, 1936.
The Invention:
The principal objects of this invention are to provide a bicycle of an unusual novel and attractive appearance which will have a distinct appeal to the eye in conformance with the line adopted in the streamlining of vehicles and further, to utilize the streamline effect of design to accomplish a very distinct improvement in the riding qualities of the bicycle to effect the absorbing of road shocks and further, to provide a very desirable form of bicycle having a distinctly novel appeal. The principal features of the invention consist in the novel construction of the main frame whereby the upper bar is curved to meet the rear ends of the lower fork and to form a continuous part therewith and the front forks are curved downwardly with their lower ends bent rearwardly to form a resilient front support corresponding in part with the resilient rear fork.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is the side elevational view of my improved streamlined resilient bicycle. Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view through the fork head of the front fork. Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the frame connections at the juncture of the top bar and upper end of the rear fork. Figure 4 is a sectional front elevational view of the upper rear fork connection shown in Figure 3. Figure 5 is an enlarged side elevational detail of the rear wheel support.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view through the structure illustrated in
Figure 5.
In the manufacture of bicycles, it has been the practice for many years to construct the frame in accordance with a “standard” pattern which in side elevation is substantially diamond-shape or of a rhomboid formation with the rear forks extending substantially horizontally from the crank bracket and mating the rear braces or upper forks at an acute angle where the axle of the wheel is mounted in slotted brackets and the front forks of said “standard” type of bicycles slope straight down from the head or front end of the frame having a slight curve forward for the castor effect. In the “standard” type of bicycle, the frame and forks are perfectly rigid and the shocks and vibrations of road travel are carried directly through the frame and transmitted to the rider. It is the dual purpose of this invention to devise a bicycle which will be easier to ride, its construction being such as to eliminate most of the minor vibrations and many of the major ones, or at least to greatly soften the transmission of such to the rider and further, to provide a bicycle which will appeal to the eye as conforming to present day standards of streamlining effects. In carrying these ideas into practice, I have constructed a bicycle as shown in the accompanying drawings.
Harvey W. Peace
Assignor to Canada Cycle and Motor Limited