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Corbin & New Departure Hub Dating Project - Need everyone's help pre-1933
- Thread starter Gary Mc
- Start date
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Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
It sure looks that way doesn't it!!!!!!!!!!
I do get obsessed over unanswered questions as they drive me crazy til I have answers and no one seemed to know this timeline or at least wanted to share what they knew except a few of us here. I think I have the timeline and all the models nailed except New Departure licenses for others such as Pope & Pierce to make their own ND coaster brakes. The 1901 Pierce-ND Model A being an example. That may take at least a cursory look at patent infringement lawsuits. Also there are 2 models I have found nothing on, yet. Been working on 1901 Pierce but nothing noteworthy yet.....
I also plan to email Gary Sanderson, can you PM me his email address?
The question will be if I take on all the collusion & patent infringement lawsuits, I estimate that could take 6 to 10 months of research/reading. That's why I'm not sure I want to go there but I am contemplating it since I've gone this far plus I now know many sources to go to. So I have a decision to make..........
Just FYI, I probably have at least 20 more posts of data queued up I haven't even shared yet, so more to come.......
Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Patent on 1900 Columbia & 1898 White Chainless Brake - US643085
Here is the Patent US643,085 on the 1900 Columbia & 1898 White Chainless Brakes; Filed Jul 21, 1899 - Issued Feb 6, 1900 - JAMES S. COPELAND - THE AMERICAN BICYCLE COMPANY
This is not the patent the "Coaster Brake Wars" was over but rather another of Copeland's patents which New Departure eventually won over Pope. It is a very interesting design of the same period.
Interestingly, Columbia in 1900 has abandoned the ND brake and gone to this:
Here is the Patent US643,085 on the 1900 Columbia & 1898 White Chainless Brakes; Filed Jul 21, 1899 - Issued Feb 6, 1900 - JAMES S. COPELAND - THE AMERICAN BICYCLE COMPANY
This is not the patent the "Coaster Brake Wars" was over but rather another of Copeland's patents which New Departure eventually won over Pope. It is a very interesting design of the same period.
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Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
"COASTER BRAKE WARS" Patents - 1,069,603 (Copeland) & 850,077 (Townsend)
Below you will find the two primary patents that led to the "Coaster Brake Wars".
Patent #1,069,603, "Driving and Braking Mechanism for Vehicles", was filed on April 29, 1898 by J.S. Copeland, inventor, on behalf of the American Bicycle Company but eventually assigned to the New Departure Manufacturing Company when the patent was finally granted on August 15, 1913 fifteen years later. This fifteen year period is what I term the "Coaster Brake Wars".
Patent #850,077, "Driving and Braking Mechanism for Cycles", was filed on October 10, 1898 by H.P. Townsend, inventor, on behalf of the New Departure Bell Company but eventually assigned to the now named New Departure Manufacturing Company when the patent was finally granted on April 9, 1907 nine years later. During the coaster brake wars the major issue became which was designed first and in the end this was deemed to be the first coaster brake design having begun development in 1897. I noted in an earlier post that New Departure was rarely mentioned in "The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review" from 1902 to late 1907 and I suspect the granting of their patent first of the two, forced many hands behind the scenes to bring New Departure back into view in this bicycle trade weekly.
There were arguments on both sides of their designs development in late 1897 during numerous lawsuits and patent infringement cases that kept both from being patented for years.
The "Coaster Brake Wars" began in 1899 and continued until 1913 from what I have found so far. It would take a lot more research to determine the details of all the various parties during this timeframe but the biggest standoff was probably Pope Manufacturing's Colonel Albert Pope against New Departure's Albert Rockwell from the little details I have read.
Copeland's Patent #1,069,603
Townsend's Patent #850,077
Below you will find the two primary patents that led to the "Coaster Brake Wars".
Patent #1,069,603, "Driving and Braking Mechanism for Vehicles", was filed on April 29, 1898 by J.S. Copeland, inventor, on behalf of the American Bicycle Company but eventually assigned to the New Departure Manufacturing Company when the patent was finally granted on August 15, 1913 fifteen years later. This fifteen year period is what I term the "Coaster Brake Wars".
Patent #850,077, "Driving and Braking Mechanism for Cycles", was filed on October 10, 1898 by H.P. Townsend, inventor, on behalf of the New Departure Bell Company but eventually assigned to the now named New Departure Manufacturing Company when the patent was finally granted on April 9, 1907 nine years later. During the coaster brake wars the major issue became which was designed first and in the end this was deemed to be the first coaster brake design having begun development in 1897. I noted in an earlier post that New Departure was rarely mentioned in "The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review" from 1902 to late 1907 and I suspect the granting of their patent first of the two, forced many hands behind the scenes to bring New Departure back into view in this bicycle trade weekly.
There were arguments on both sides of their designs development in late 1897 during numerous lawsuits and patent infringement cases that kept both from being patented for years.
The "Coaster Brake Wars" began in 1899 and continued until 1913 from what I have found so far. It would take a lot more research to determine the details of all the various parties during this timeframe but the biggest standoff was probably Pope Manufacturing's Colonel Albert Pope against New Departure's Albert Rockwell from the little details I have read.
Copeland's Patent #1,069,603
Townsend's Patent #850,077
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Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Still using the friction coaster brake and have developed their own coaster
The 1901 Columbia Coaster Brake design is Patent #1,069,603, "Driving and Braking Mechanism for Vehicles", was filed on April 29, 1898 by J.S. Copeland, inventor, on behalf of the American Bicycle Company but eventually assigned to the New Departure Manufacturing Company when the patent was finally granted on August 15, 1913 fifteen years later.
See details in Post #237 above.
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Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Dean, This is a model 8 and probably came to market in very late 1908/early 1909.
Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Dean, I believe this is a P.&F. Corbin "New Departure Automatic Coaster & Brake"" designed model and I believe it is associated with:
Patent #691,541
Inventor: C. Glover (later became President of Corbin Screw Corp.)
Assignor: P.&F. Corbin
Filed: June 11, 1901
Granted: June 21, 1902
You can throw the dates out on all these patents as they were often filed later and always granted later/much later. I suspect this is the P.&F. Corbin redesign of the "New Departure Automatic Coaster & Brake" that P.&F. Corbin did in 1899 making alterations to the Townsend patent version in order to sell their own version. They continued to call it the same name. The question is who made it, did they license Pope to make their own or did Corbin make it. I say this only because I do not see the usual stampings of P.&F. Corbin on it. If I am correct I notice the coaster brake arm side spokes attach much higher than the drive side requiring longer spokes on the drive side, this is a feature I've only noted on this model. Here's the patent:
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