Identifier: wheelcy18211896121897newy (find matches)
Title: The Wheel and cycling trade review
Year: 1888 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: Cycling Bicycles Cyclists
Publisher: New York : Wheel and Cycling Trade Review
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ourth floor is the saddle and pedal-making department, and in a separate wingthe working of metals is dropped for a fewmoments to inspect the wood rim plant. Itseems odd to step from the greasy floors ofthe machine-room directly into sawdustankle-deep, but E. C. Stearns & Co. wereamong the pioneers in the wood-rim business,and in the early days offered their surplusstock to the open market. A birdseye view of the third floor is inter-esting. It is filled in with immense auto-matic machines, whirring shafting, clatteringtools and a horde of the busy workmen givingan air of industry that must be seen to beappreciated. Much of the machinery used isof special design, and the manner in whichit performs its tasks makes it appear almostof human intelligence. The floor below is the shipping-room, whilethe basement is devoted to the storing ofsurplus stock; here are also located two pon-derous presses of immense power, whichpunch out at one blow sprocket wheels fromstock a half-inch thick.
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ing, strict attention to the many details ofbusiness and a keen foresight into the futuresoon brought the erstwhile infant to the veryfront rank of cycle manufacture. E. C. Stearns and H. E. Maslin were themaster hands, and they guided their craftwith subtle skill. They were among thevery first to enamel their product a brighthue, and this was turned to an excellent ac-count; the novel title of The Yellow Fellowsoon became a byword wherever the bicyclewas used. As in all else there had to be a beginning,and it was small. E. C. Stearns & Co. werewell known fixtures in the hardware trade,and it was in a corner of their hardware es-tablishment that the original Stearns bicy-cle first saw the light of day. Like the lit-tle peach of the song, the factory grew andgrew, so that to-day, on the banks of theOnondaga, almost in the very heart of Syra-cuse, they can point with pride to one of themost complete bicycle plants in the country.With the possible exception of tires andhandlebar grip

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