Page 7 Advertisements Column 1

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 21, 24 July 1897, Page 7

JjICKEL STEEL TUBING Over a yeai* ago (25th June, 1896) Messrs. Lewis and Kellow, of Melbourne, agents for the Brantford Red Bird Bicycles, published in thSir advertisement in the Australian Cyclist, page 29, the following artiole:— • ♦' A NEW STEEL' TUBING. " Thero ia pow being oonstrnoted in some faotories in America a new tubing for bicycles prepared from nickol steel, a material similar 1 to that with wnioh warships of the United States are armoured, It is claimed for thia steel that it is practicably unbreakable, and will stand, when made up into bicycle tubing, a much greater strain than the ordinary tube. The following are interesting particulars of a test of vie tubing given by an American paper :— ' At first glance, the machine used for testing appears similar to an ordinary turning lathe. A piece of tubing is introduced between the supports, trhioh are 83in apart, and caused to revolve at the rate of 400 revolutions per minute. A, weight is suspended from the middle of the tubing, whioh deflects it about $in, and as the tube revolves the strain due to this distortion is, felt successively on all sides. A piece of ordinary tnbing is able to stand about 200 A OOO revolutions before breaking ; but a piece of nickel' steel tubing, similar m every respect to the ordinary tubing except for the introduction of 4i per cent.* alloy of nickel, has withstood the efforts of this machine to break it for two weeks, making in that time over 2,000,000 revolutions, at the end of whioh the piece pf tubing in question was removed from the machine still unbroken.' " ." A wink is as good as a nod to the wise." " All Branford frames are constructed of these tubes, whioh, with our special rolled niokel steol connections and secret tempering process, make the strongest frames built. Only another point of Brantford superiority." We did not believe this at that time, and 89 wtota to America, and in due time re* ceived information which confirmed ouf, osrnm."ThTrßjhaptiS facfr, is ,tsSCTffle above ( i*t*ly in'exwact'from the Scientific Ame-' rican, describing the testing 'by .the Pope Manufacturing Company of the tubing used, by them-in Columbia Biovcles. In the New Zealand Wheelman (29th June, 1897, page 16), published in Christohurch, is another extract front the same article, inserted .by the .Red, Bird people', as follows :—: — <-'"-tßea4'wbnt the Scientific Amerioan has* to say on Red' Bird construction : — ''Nickel' steel will h sooner or. later, be used in the construction of all the best bioyles. . Of course it will, at any J"ate for a timpj be more costly, tut one great feature in its favour is found in' its property for resisting the weakening" effects of heat. The average steel now used for cycle tubing loses nearly one-third of its strength after being brought to a brazing heftY, while nickol steel, besides being] stronger, weiebt for weight, is 1 practically as strdng after 'being: raised to this heat as it was before. As every tube in a bicycle i 3 heated at least in one part, and most of the bicycles ire so weakened in two places, the advantage of the use of nickel steel can be seen at once, for the. strength of a tube, and therefore'o? a frame (assuming the }oints and braaintr to be perfect),, is, broadly speaking, that of its weakest part.". It" will be' noticed that the article does not refer to the Red Bird in any way. In "various. papers, and far and wide, the Red Bird, pedple have advertised that their tubing contained " over 5 per cent, of niokel." liv the Evening Post only a few days ago they made the statement " Red Birds are built of Nickel Steel, and in this respect are copier! brail Standard Bluffers as well as by a tew others." . We mention all this so fully to Rhow the public to what an extent this claim has been, made. The claim may have been made ifanocentlv in 'Some cases by the sub-agents, but the principals must have known the truth. The, one problem that forced itself Upon our rainda was this— lf the Red Bird isi constvncted of Niokel Steel tubing, which is the most expensive and up-to-date feature put infc| any bicycle, why in the name of reason does it not contain some other up-to-date features also ? Knowing that the manufacture of nickel steel tnbing is confined to one mill, and that the entire outp*utwas secured for Colnmbias, we believfid ' it our duty tq the firm we represent, and more especially the public whose lives nre entrusted to the wheel they ride, to pr&be the question to the bottom. Some few weeks aaro (Evbniko Post 29th Mav> we challenged the Wellington agents of the Bed Bird as follows :— "If the tubing" in your Red Bird is made of 7f pet cont. niokel steel, we challenge, yon . to ,let the- Government Analyst analyse 1 it, ' and ;if your statement proves to be true, we will pay for the cos>t of testing it, and in addition, will publish over our signatures in both.pap'etfs in this oity an apology, and be- ( sides, give a donation of -.£lO to any charity yon'inay mention." " ' They did not accept this, but some time after the following" appeared : — " PUBLIC NOTICE. v 'Mes9rs'.' YBRlex & Jones have publicly stated that one of the machines they handle is the only machine in the world built of niokel steel, and, further, that they do not believe Red Birds contain any nickel steel. We now* give them the opportunity tq sub« sttuntiate their claim, and hereby challenge' the above firm to buy one of our machines (they can have their pick) and have it tested by xhe Government Analyst. If our tubing does not contain more nickel than they claim is an their machine, we will refund them the purchase money of the Red Bird, and will pay all costs of the analysis. This offer to remain open till noon on Monday, 21st mat. " Goold Bicttole Co. (Ltd.), " Manufacturers of the Red Bird Cycle, " Harris-street,' Wellington." Kindly note that this was published in Saturday's Evening Post. We did not see the' paper ■ till after dark that evening, and Monday was a holiday (Record Reign), and- were consequently unable to accept the challenge. Delays occurred. Our Mr. Yerei was'cdmpelled to take several trips in the country ; but a few days ago we purchased a " Red Bird" .(No. 44685), and with it we got the following guarantee :—: — <l Wellington. 16th July, 1897. "The Brantford Cycle, No. 44685, is guaranteed to be free from imperfections in material and workmanship for five years from date. This guarantee does not cover defects caused by accident, use, or misuse. "The tubing is guaranteed to contain an average of from 5 to 1\ per cent, of Nickel Steel. „ *' (Signed) The Goold Cycle Co., ,1 . , ■ "Brentford, Ontario, ' "PerA. B. Pownall." The machine was taken to onr r6oms, and in the presence of witnesses was taken to pieces, and * piece of tubing sawn fr&nt the frame and? taken- fo the. Government Ax^lyst to be analysed", ' Tlfis is the result :— ■'! ; "I, Robert Orr,' of the City of Wellington, Solicitors .Mwflging Clerk, do hereby certify that on the 22nd July ingt., I, at the request of th£ Yer.« & Jones Company, of 48, Willisstrerti cut out a piece of, the tubing of the top bar of the bicycle No. 44685, manufactured by ' * The GooM Bicycle Company, Limited, Brantford. Ontario, Canada, and had the same "lit, cleaned, and flattened into a sheet ; that I thereupon .wrote the following letter:— • ' ■ > Wellington, 22nd July, 1897. ' The Cnder'SecTetaryfoT Mines, Wellington. SirVlTflrowith I have the honour to en" clos° you a piece of metal which I am desirous of having analysed by the ; Government Analyst in order to>diacoYer whether it con* ■ taina niokel or not, ..•,( 'J v I am prepared fi{. p£y< ti# of the analysis on boing^infojteed of the amount. I have the honour to be, Sir, - • Your obedient servant, Robert Orr, Encl6sure — 1 piece of sheet metal. > Th,at I took personally the said letter and the said piece of tubing to the Under Secretary for Aline.vand obtained from him the necensary authority to have the aaid piece of tnbing analysed by the Government Analyst. That I then took and delivered the said letter and tho aaid piece of tubing personally to Mr. William Skey, the Government Analyst ; that 1 received the following I reply to my said letter ;— , [CoyT.l New Zealand Mines Department. Laboratory. Result of analysis of specimen No. 7858. Forwarded by Mr. Robert' Ore .' • » Locality, Wellington. Received 22ad Jujy, 1897. Reported on 22nd July, 1897. ' *