Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-08
HOW BIKES ARE MADE.
THE PROCESS IS INTRICATE AND COSTLY
Big Plants Required-A New But Enormous distinguishing the Parts by Ma chinery-Thirty Men to Make
 Wheel.

sands of bicycle riders in this country, and a majority of them have each paid something close to $10O for his or her wheel,s but not one in thousand of them Knows anything about the making of the>wheel or the why and wherefore of dts costing so much.
 Just how the bicycle is made is a mighty interesting question if the pro- cess can be seen in one of the large fac tories, where great care is taken to turn out only absolutely perfect machines.
 There are 126 good sized wheel manu- factories in this country today, and if all the small concerns are considered, 5Oo would about cover the total number. The total number of wheels turned out during 1885 will amount to 100000 At an average cost of $75 to the buyer, this means S34,- 500,000; figures which show that the bi- cycle craze is very substantial thing viewed in monetary light. Of course this does not cover the total expenditure of the nation in bicycling. There are a dozen more little articles, like lamps, re- pair tools, costumes and other etceteras which would swell the total to S50,0OO,OOo
 Besides making millionaires of the man ufacturers, this sum supports an indus try which gives employment to thousands of bread-winners. The manufacturers are inclined to claim, however, that there Is no great money in the making
  bined with their arguments, Will almost make the novice believe that they are telling the truth. Still the fact that the number of factories is constantly grow ing. and all seemingly prospering, for the failure of a bicycle concern is rarely heard of, is good proof that there is mint of money in the business. Where there are 300 factories in the country to- day, there will probably be 450 at this time next year.
 One of the reasons that the prices of wheels have not declined to any extent is the incessant race between the compet- ing concerns to produce the strongest ana at the same time the lightest machine. Here are some facts which will better ex- plain the matter: All mechanical pro- ducts have what is called the safety factor. Thus in the great hgh-pressure modern guns the safety factor Is twenty, or, in other words, the gun is made twenty times stronger than the strain to be put upon it. Ordinarily, guns have safety factor of ten, boilers have six, bridges five and other mechanical pro- duets about four The bicycle of the old style. weighed sixty pounds; the high grade machine of today weighs eighteen pounds, and the safety factor has been reduced to 1.25
 With this narrow margin the various parts of the bicycle must be absolutely perfect and capable of standing exactly their proportion of the whole strain. There are 800 parts in the bicycle, count ing each spoke separately, and the 15O and odd miniature steel balls in the bearings. The rivets of the chain, the 1inks nuts and bolts number 1SS sepa- rate pieces. The old saying of chain only being as strong as its weakest link holds good in the bicycle. Any little i'm perfection in any of its parts might cause an accident and do much to hurt the name of the maker.
 In one of the factories visited there was machine which had been made ex- pressly for the purpose of testing the va rious parts of the bicycle. This ma chine was kept in constant operation and was about the hardest worked thing in the place. As rapidly as the other machines turned out spokes, rims, sprockets. etc, they were brought into the testing room. Each of these parts had to sustain a strain that had been figured out to a nicety. This machine could make a tension or compression of from few ounces up to ,000 pounds. When the full power was turned on its great jaws could tear apart solid bar of steel as easily as a child peals a ban ana.
 Each spoke has to stand so many pounds, the frame must do the same, the rim. the chain, the sprockets, hub, the front fork pedals, cranSs, handle-bar, and even the ball bearings must show that they are absolutely right. The coasting ability of bicycle depends up- on the true" character of the bearings.
 
 it will only be necessary to say that in one shop there is machine which makes the parts true down to 1-1O OOOOths of an inch. This is getting bicycling down to. a fine point, but the race for precedence among the big makers is fierce and seem- ingiy out of keeping with the general hilarity of the sport.
 The plant of a big concern represents an n,outlay of $500 900. Bicycle machinery ds "a comparatively new thing and costs a great deal of money. Improved ma chinery is constantly being invented, and as soon as utility is proved 1t is in- troduced in the plant or the big con cerns The old dealers say that the new men have certain advantage over them because they can begin with the improved machinery without tying up lot of money in machines which the march of improvement has made use
 Six hundred men is the usual number employed in the large factories Some of these are now running twenty-tWo hours out of the twenty-four, with two shifts, of men, and turning the parts of 100 bicycles a day. This, of course is an exceptional case but it goes to show what big thing in commercial way the bicycle has grown to be.
 It takes thirty skilled mechanics, each skilled in a different way, to turn out the complete bicycle, aided by the most i'm proved machinery. The big machine shop is divided into a dozen different depart ments. In one the spol1es are cut out of the bars of steel. In another the steel tubing used in the frame is cut. The making of the rims is still another de- partment and is an interesting process. Sheets of steel feet wide and 20 feet long are run into the cutter, which slices them up with nice accuracy into the required widths and lengths. An other machine cuts each strip, and the third bends them into the required shape for attaching the rubber tire. The ends are then brazed together. Castings have gone out of date for the fastening of joints. brazing being the method largely used now. When this has been done holes are made for the spokes, and then the rim passes on to the department where the spokes are adjusted.
 The sprocket wheels are first cut in circular form out of sheets of steel and then piled up in heaps of dozen each. Another machine handles one of these heaps at a time, and it only takes a few seconds for its sharp teeth to make the