C
On Fri, 11 May 2007 04:07:17 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]>
wrote:
[snip]
>I posted here a little while ago about how and why I think Shimano
>innovates. It ends up that a lot of their big ideas go over badly and
>end up in remainder bins fast (AX pedal eyes, we hardly new ye...).
[snip]
Dear Ryan,
AX pedals were an innovation?
Pshaw!
Shimano merely copied Ramsey's $5 Swinging Pedal of 1898:
"Ramsey’s Swinging Pedal is one of the decided novelties for 1898,
designed primarily to add to the ease of controlling a bicycle through
its driving mechanism, to render it less difficult than formerly to
catch a slipped pedal, and to allow the freest ankle motion. In
action, it transmits automatically, in conformity with the arc of the
circle described by the pedals, the applied power of the rider, thus
maintaining the full leverage of the crank over an increased arc of
that circle, converting the straight push into an improved and
automatic ankle motion. It is claimed to entirely obviate the 'dead
center,' thus avoiding the hammer blow and back lash of the chain,
developing more propelling power than can be obtained by the best
ankle motion with the ordinary pedals. The pick-up of a Ramsey pedal
is instantaneous, and momentum is gained at once; the pedal is always
right side up, and consequently the toe-clip is always ready for the
foot. With so little depth of pedal beneath the foot, the rider is
enabled to sit nearer the ground without decreasing the distance
between the ground and the pedal. Manufactured by the Ramsey Swinging
Pedal Company, Philadelphia, Pa."
Price, $5.00.
See the illustration on bottom right of page 104 and read the rest of
Interbike 1898 for more exciting innovations . . .
New gears tested to run well even when smeared with sand:
"The Victor straight-line sprocket, illustrated and described in
Outing for January, has since been proven in practical service, as
well as in the laboratory, to possess a very high efficiency, the
tests at Cornell University in February showing a propelling
efficiency of 98.1 per cent. of the power applied to the pedals. The
diagram of these tests showed that the Victor gear, when smeared with
wet sand, ran practically as evenly as a perfectly clean chain of the
ordinary type. This gear is perhaps the most notable departure in the
driving mechanism of the new models, aside from the chainless
patterns."
Cork belts in tires, forerunner of Kevlar belts!
"This tire has a crescent-shaped strip of solid cork between the inner
tube and the outside tube, all of which are vulcanized together in the
process of making the tire. The vulnerable tread is narrowed by means
of the crescent-shaped strip of cork and is fortified internally by
the cork. Thus the trick is done, not theoretically, but practically
and actually. Every conceivable test of non-puncturability on the road
has been applied to 'the Corker' tire, and they have come through not
only successfully, but triumphantly."
Bailey's Won't-Slip Tire fights dreaded road suction with its tread
pattern!
"As the rubber teeth form a cushion to the tire, it passes easily over
uneven surfaces, while the method of construction gives an air space
between the road surface and the tire, destroying any possible suction
between them."
Wooden-armor tires!
"The puncture-proof quality of the Dreadnought tire, the product of
the Dreadnought Tire Co., of New York, is due to an articulated tread
band of wood lying between the inner and outer surfaces, with rubber
and fabric on either this effect be produced nor will the tire drag or
creep. The protector prevents cutting on the rim, and, while not proof
against sharp knives or other wilful injury, is proved by abundant
tests to afford a practically safe guarantee against nails, thorns,
glass, and the common objects of punctures."
Puncture-proof tire manufacturers admit a certain sluggishness!
"'Vim Cactus' is designed to be practically puncture-proof, though at
a frankly acknowledged slight loss of speed and elasticity."
Tire pumps that produce a staggering 35 psi for only 65 cents!
"The Vimair pump lists at 65 cents, and is especially designed for
the easy inflation of Vim tires. To inflate a tire to 35 pounds riding
pressure, requires a pressure on the handle of the Vimair pump of less
than 20 pounds, while the common floorpump requires several times that
pressure. At 35 pounds riding pressure the resistance to inflation is,
of course, 35 pounds to each square inch of area on the plugger, yet
this area in the Vimair pump is but 518/1000 of one square inch."
[Who can doubt a pump with such precise statistics?]
Plus other hot new tires, improved bells, better seats, superb lights,
and other innovations!
http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_32/outXXXII01/outXXXII01ze.pdf
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
wrote:
[snip]
>I posted here a little while ago about how and why I think Shimano
>innovates. It ends up that a lot of their big ideas go over badly and
>end up in remainder bins fast (AX pedal eyes, we hardly new ye...).
[snip]
Dear Ryan,
AX pedals were an innovation?
Pshaw!
Shimano merely copied Ramsey's $5 Swinging Pedal of 1898:
"Ramsey’s Swinging Pedal is one of the decided novelties for 1898,
designed primarily to add to the ease of controlling a bicycle through
its driving mechanism, to render it less difficult than formerly to
catch a slipped pedal, and to allow the freest ankle motion. In
action, it transmits automatically, in conformity with the arc of the
circle described by the pedals, the applied power of the rider, thus
maintaining the full leverage of the crank over an increased arc of
that circle, converting the straight push into an improved and
automatic ankle motion. It is claimed to entirely obviate the 'dead
center,' thus avoiding the hammer blow and back lash of the chain,
developing more propelling power than can be obtained by the best
ankle motion with the ordinary pedals. The pick-up of a Ramsey pedal
is instantaneous, and momentum is gained at once; the pedal is always
right side up, and consequently the toe-clip is always ready for the
foot. With so little depth of pedal beneath the foot, the rider is
enabled to sit nearer the ground without decreasing the distance
between the ground and the pedal. Manufactured by the Ramsey Swinging
Pedal Company, Philadelphia, Pa."
Price, $5.00.
See the illustration on bottom right of page 104 and read the rest of
Interbike 1898 for more exciting innovations . . .
New gears tested to run well even when smeared with sand:
"The Victor straight-line sprocket, illustrated and described in
Outing for January, has since been proven in practical service, as
well as in the laboratory, to possess a very high efficiency, the
tests at Cornell University in February showing a propelling
efficiency of 98.1 per cent. of the power applied to the pedals. The
diagram of these tests showed that the Victor gear, when smeared with
wet sand, ran practically as evenly as a perfectly clean chain of the
ordinary type. This gear is perhaps the most notable departure in the
driving mechanism of the new models, aside from the chainless
patterns."
Cork belts in tires, forerunner of Kevlar belts!
"This tire has a crescent-shaped strip of solid cork between the inner
tube and the outside tube, all of which are vulcanized together in the
process of making the tire. The vulnerable tread is narrowed by means
of the crescent-shaped strip of cork and is fortified internally by
the cork. Thus the trick is done, not theoretically, but practically
and actually. Every conceivable test of non-puncturability on the road
has been applied to 'the Corker' tire, and they have come through not
only successfully, but triumphantly."
Bailey's Won't-Slip Tire fights dreaded road suction with its tread
pattern!
"As the rubber teeth form a cushion to the tire, it passes easily over
uneven surfaces, while the method of construction gives an air space
between the road surface and the tire, destroying any possible suction
between them."
Wooden-armor tires!
"The puncture-proof quality of the Dreadnought tire, the product of
the Dreadnought Tire Co., of New York, is due to an articulated tread
band of wood lying between the inner and outer surfaces, with rubber
and fabric on either this effect be produced nor will the tire drag or
creep. The protector prevents cutting on the rim, and, while not proof
against sharp knives or other wilful injury, is proved by abundant
tests to afford a practically safe guarantee against nails, thorns,
glass, and the common objects of punctures."
Puncture-proof tire manufacturers admit a certain sluggishness!
"'Vim Cactus' is designed to be practically puncture-proof, though at
a frankly acknowledged slight loss of speed and elasticity."
Tire pumps that produce a staggering 35 psi for only 65 cents!
"The Vimair pump lists at 65 cents, and is especially designed for
the easy inflation of Vim tires. To inflate a tire to 35 pounds riding
pressure, requires a pressure on the handle of the Vimair pump of less
than 20 pounds, while the common floorpump requires several times that
pressure. At 35 pounds riding pressure the resistance to inflation is,
of course, 35 pounds to each square inch of area on the plugger, yet
this area in the Vimair pump is but 518/1000 of one square inch."
[Who can doubt a pump with such precise statistics?]
Plus other hot new tires, improved bells, better seats, superb lights,
and other innovations!
http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_32/outXXXII01/outXXXII01ze.pdf
Cheers,
Carl Fogel