Columbia Tandem Bicycle, 1896
date: label: date made
content: 1896
name: label: maker
content: Pope Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This Model 43 Columbia tandem bicycle was manufactured by the Pope Mfg. Co. of Hartford, Connecticut in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Goldwin Goldsmith purchased this bicycle in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1896 for $150. They used it for a honeymoon tour through Europe. The invention of the step-through or drop frame made the bicycle very popular with women, and the combination bicycle soon
label: Description
content: followed as a bike ideal for couples.
label: Description
content: This tandem bicycle is formed by the combination of a diamond frame in the rear and a drop frame in the front. The frame is made of high-carbon steel and nickel-steel tubing, the handlebars are tubular with vulcanite- tipped cork handles, and the wheel rims are of laminated wood. The diameter of each wheel with tire is the same, 28 inches, the front wheel containing 36 tangentially laced steel spokes and the rear, 44. The rear- wheel sprocket, on the right side of the hub, is driven by a block chain from the larger of the two-center sprockets. Another block chain connects the smaller sprocket of the center pair to the front sprocket. Tension of the rear chain is adjusted by moving the rear axle backward or forward in slots at the rear ends of the rear fork and that of the front chain by turning the eccentrically mounted front-crank bearing bushing in the frame, thus moving the front sprocket backward or forward.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Bicycling
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Goldwin Goldsmith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.309506 [dup1]
label: catalog number
content: 309506
label: accession number
content: 102595
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Bicycle, Tandem, 1896
label: Other Terms
content: Bicycle, Tandem, 1896; Road
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 47 in x 20 in x 97 in; 119.38 cm x 50.8 cm x 246.38 cm