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History: Schwinn's Notebook on Post-War Hubs

Inventors and companies often turn to making detailed notebooks as a way of supporting a patent application and developing marketing strategies for new inventions. Bicycle inventors and companies are no exception to that. 

In this case, let's look at Frank W. Schwinn's notebook, made during World War II, in preparation for hubs after the war. The first couple pages are devoted to dural hubs for lightweight bikes, while other pages are devoted to more common front hubs for post-war balloon tire models.

 


Page 1 shows us basic drawings of the hubs. This includes the dural hourglass front and the single speed rear. The drawings were made in 1945. Schwinn also included a "consumer spiel" - a summary of what the marketing literature might say. Schwinn emphasizes the quality parts and lightweight of the hubs.

 


Page 2 continues the spiel and indicates that consumers and and bicycle trade professionals will receive the same kind of descriptions.

 


Page 1 of this section tells us about a new front hub for use with certain bikes, including the DX balloon tire models. Hourglass front hubs were also used on the lightweight bikes, but in dural and steel shells. This page gives us the consumer spiel and the trade spiel touting durability and quality in the hub.



Page 2 discusses the specifications for the part. This section was written in 1945.

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