Shaft-driven Bicycle - History

History

The first shaft drives for cycles appear to have been invented independently in 1890 in the United States and England. A. Fearnhead, of 354 Caledonian Road, North London developed one in 1890 and received a patent in October 1891. His prototype shaft was enclosed within a tube running along the top of the chainstay; later models were enclosed within the actual chainstay. In the United States, Walter Stillman filed for a patent on a shaft-driven bicycle on Dec. 10, 1890 which was granted on July 21, 1891.

The shaft drive was not well accepted in England, so in 1894 Fearnhead took it to the USA where Colonel Pope of the Columbia firm bought the exclusive American rights. Belatedly, the English makers took it up, with Humber in particular plunging heavily on the deal. Curiously enough, the greatest of all the Victorian cycle engineers, Professor Archibald Sharp, was against shaft drive; in his classic 1896 book "Bicycles and Tricycles", he writes "The Fearnhead Gear.... if bevel-wheels could be accurately and cheaply cut by machinery, it is possible that gears of this description might supplant, to a great extent, the chain-drive gear; but the fact that the teeth of the bevel-wheels cannot be accurately milled is a serious obstacle to their practical success".

In the USA, they had been made by the League Cycle Company as early as 1893. Soon after, the French company Metropole marketed their Acatane. By 1897 Columbia began aggressively to market the chainless bicycle it had acquired from the League Cycle Company. Chainless bicycles were moderately popular in 1898 and 1899, although sales were still much smaller than regular bicycles, primarily due to the high cost. The bikes were also somewhat less efficient than regular bicycles: there was roughly an 8 percent loss in the gearing, in part due to limited manufacturing technology at the time. The rear wheel was also more difficult to remove to change flats. Many of these deficiencies have been overcome in the past century.

In 1902, The Hill-Climber Bicycle Mfg. Company sold a three-speed shaft-driven bicycle in which the shifting was implemented with three sets of bevel gears. While a small number of chainless bicycles were available, for the most part, shaft-driven bicycles disappeared from view for most of the 20th century. There is, however, still a niche market for chainless bikes, especially for commuters, and there are a number of manufacturers who offer them either as part of a larger range or as a primary specialization. A notable example is Biomega in Denmark.