GiovanniLiCalsi
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
Crescent Bicycles in Sweden
Cykelhistoriska Freningen
- From USA to Sweden -
The American company Western Wheel Works in Chicago was a big manufacturer with a production yearly of 50.000 bicycles in 1894. Adolph Schoeninger, the founder came from Germany. He had the idea of making "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people and of widening the market by massive exports. He used sheet-metal stamping and other production methods aimed at lowering costs. In many ways he was preceding Henry Ford and mass production. Due to that the export from the United States generally lowered prices in Europe. And the bicycle boom was a fact. In Sweden few manufacturers was at hand in the middle of 1890ies. As the demand was great – the interest for the new method of transportation was rising enormously - a stockholder company was formed called Aktiebolaget Amerikansk Cycle Import, Eli Pettersson & August Lindblad in 1896. August & Eli decided to import and sell, among other brands, the Crescent and Miami bicycles, and also had agencies of several bicycle accessories. They were no beginners in the business, although both were young men. August (born 1864) was importing among other bicycles the American brand Eclipse and some English brands. His hardware store in Stockholm was selling bicycles as a side-line. Eli (born 1868) was a renowned racing man and managed a small bicycle store selling the Humber from England and also repaired bikes.
In 1896 August and Eli imported 6.000 Crescent bicycles. Stockholm was a rather small city at the time with 200000 inhabitants. In only a half year all bikes were sold, either to the countryside or in their own shop. With the purchase of a bike followed a free lesson in a bicycle school (Östbergs Velocipedskola). The following year they had 38 employees, and got the agency for Dunlop in Scandinavia.
Crescent Amerikansk Cycleimport also sold the American Snell in black or green, and the German bicycle Allright with Dunlop tires and yellow mudguards made of wood
Around the years 1907-1908 AB Amerikansk Cycleimport started to produce bicycles with the name Crescent in their own factory. How they could use the earlier so well-known American name is unclear. As a comparison the name from Gormully Jeffery, Rambler was registered by Albert Öhman around this time and used on Swedish made bicycles for a long time.The factory was actually more like a large forge, 10 men working with tools and machines of old-fashioned types. The frames were made during the autumn & winter and were assembled in the spring & summer. An ordinary working day was between 8 am and 8 pm, except during high season (April-October) when they worked until midnight. Between 1500 to 2 000 bicycles were made each year. As fashion influences from abroad.dictated the bikes had a long basic frame with a height of 24(60cm) inch but also 22(55cm) or 26(65cm) inch were possible. For the exceptionally long gentlemen they could make a 28(70cm) inch frame on special order. In the primitive storage were supplies for American Crescent and Rambler, English B.S.A., German Dürkopp, and Austrian Styria.The request for more and more bikes and frames made it necessary to move the manufacturing to larger space. In the autumn of 1910 the company moved to Tunnelgatan 10 and the business changed the name to Velocipedaktiebolaget Lindblad. For unknown reasons the partners Eli Pettersson and August Lindblad went separate ways. Eli Pettersson moved and started business at Birger Jarlsgatan 9 in 1914. He was selling the New-Hudson motorcycle.
The company Lindblads Velocipedfabrik had a number of users among the competitive men in Sweden. The long and demanding road races were most popular as velodromes were scarce. One rider using Crescent during the Olympics on the July 7 1912 in Stockholm was Henrik Morén. He was expected to be the best Swedish rider since he had won the distance 10 times. Against the toughest competition the Swedish team won the gold medal. The individual gold went to the completely unknown Rudolph Lewis from South Africa who won his biggest victory. The race had individual start and Lewis was second out from the start. Henrik Morén and many others suffered in the morning heat and he was only the fifth Swede far away from the medals. Still Sweden and Morén had hopes for the next Olympic Game.The first world war changed many things and the Olympic games were no exception. Even though Sweden didn't participate in the war it had its effect - tires and other bicycle parts were extremely hard to get.
After the war Lindblads had a good time where new machines were bought and branch departments was opened in Malmoe and Gothenburg. Lindblads sold, together withtheir own makes Crescent and Drott, the Torpedo hubs from the German company Fichtel & Sachs and motorcycles from Harley-Davidson. The Danish racer Henry Hansen went to Sweden 1924 and for a long time during the 1920's he was competing more in Sweden than in Denmark.He managed to take the Olympic gold in Amsterdam 1928 on a Crescent and became the world champion in Copenhagen 1931. With those victories the bicycle brand Crescent showed its capacity. Even though the brand Crescent was successful in competition and the times were good, a deal of cooperation between Lindblads in Stockholm and Nymans in Uppsala was discussed. In the autumn 1931 the manufacturing went to AB Nymans Verkstäder in Uppsala, with Lindblads as a sales organization. This deal came about mainly because the factory in Stockholm had old machinery and no possibility of expanding. Already the same year the production of Crescent and Drott moved to Nymans Verkstäder and also the agency for the Torpedo hub. Gustaf Grahn who had been an employee of Lindblads since 1910 and had shown his skill, got a head position in Nymans Velocipedfabrik. Later he become the president and worked for the company until Monark purchased Nymans in 1960.
Written by Åke Stenqvist
Cykelhistoriska Freningen
- From USA to Sweden -
The American company Western Wheel Works in Chicago was a big manufacturer with a production yearly of 50.000 bicycles in 1894. Adolph Schoeninger, the founder came from Germany. He had the idea of making "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people and of widening the market by massive exports. He used sheet-metal stamping and other production methods aimed at lowering costs. In many ways he was preceding Henry Ford and mass production. Due to that the export from the United States generally lowered prices in Europe. And the bicycle boom was a fact. In Sweden few manufacturers was at hand in the middle of 1890ies. As the demand was great – the interest for the new method of transportation was rising enormously - a stockholder company was formed called Aktiebolaget Amerikansk Cycle Import, Eli Pettersson & August Lindblad in 1896. August & Eli decided to import and sell, among other brands, the Crescent and Miami bicycles, and also had agencies of several bicycle accessories. They were no beginners in the business, although both were young men. August (born 1864) was importing among other bicycles the American brand Eclipse and some English brands. His hardware store in Stockholm was selling bicycles as a side-line. Eli (born 1868) was a renowned racing man and managed a small bicycle store selling the Humber from England and also repaired bikes.
In 1896 August and Eli imported 6.000 Crescent bicycles. Stockholm was a rather small city at the time with 200000 inhabitants. In only a half year all bikes were sold, either to the countryside or in their own shop. With the purchase of a bike followed a free lesson in a bicycle school (Östbergs Velocipedskola). The following year they had 38 employees, and got the agency for Dunlop in Scandinavia.
Crescent Amerikansk Cycleimport also sold the American Snell in black or green, and the German bicycle Allright with Dunlop tires and yellow mudguards made of wood
Around the years 1907-1908 AB Amerikansk Cycleimport started to produce bicycles with the name Crescent in their own factory. How they could use the earlier so well-known American name is unclear. As a comparison the name from Gormully Jeffery, Rambler was registered by Albert Öhman around this time and used on Swedish made bicycles for a long time.The factory was actually more like a large forge, 10 men working with tools and machines of old-fashioned types. The frames were made during the autumn & winter and were assembled in the spring & summer. An ordinary working day was between 8 am and 8 pm, except during high season (April-October) when they worked until midnight. Between 1500 to 2 000 bicycles were made each year. As fashion influences from abroad.dictated the bikes had a long basic frame with a height of 24(60cm) inch but also 22(55cm) or 26(65cm) inch were possible. For the exceptionally long gentlemen they could make a 28(70cm) inch frame on special order. In the primitive storage were supplies for American Crescent and Rambler, English B.S.A., German Dürkopp, and Austrian Styria.The request for more and more bikes and frames made it necessary to move the manufacturing to larger space. In the autumn of 1910 the company moved to Tunnelgatan 10 and the business changed the name to Velocipedaktiebolaget Lindblad. For unknown reasons the partners Eli Pettersson and August Lindblad went separate ways. Eli Pettersson moved and started business at Birger Jarlsgatan 9 in 1914. He was selling the New-Hudson motorcycle.
The company Lindblads Velocipedfabrik had a number of users among the competitive men in Sweden. The long and demanding road races were most popular as velodromes were scarce. One rider using Crescent during the Olympics on the July 7 1912 in Stockholm was Henrik Morén. He was expected to be the best Swedish rider since he had won the distance 10 times. Against the toughest competition the Swedish team won the gold medal. The individual gold went to the completely unknown Rudolph Lewis from South Africa who won his biggest victory. The race had individual start and Lewis was second out from the start. Henrik Morén and many others suffered in the morning heat and he was only the fifth Swede far away from the medals. Still Sweden and Morén had hopes for the next Olympic Game.The first world war changed many things and the Olympic games were no exception. Even though Sweden didn't participate in the war it had its effect - tires and other bicycle parts were extremely hard to get.
After the war Lindblads had a good time where new machines were bought and branch departments was opened in Malmoe and Gothenburg. Lindblads sold, together withtheir own makes Crescent and Drott, the Torpedo hubs from the German company Fichtel & Sachs and motorcycles from Harley-Davidson. The Danish racer Henry Hansen went to Sweden 1924 and for a long time during the 1920's he was competing more in Sweden than in Denmark.He managed to take the Olympic gold in Amsterdam 1928 on a Crescent and became the world champion in Copenhagen 1931. With those victories the bicycle brand Crescent showed its capacity. Even though the brand Crescent was successful in competition and the times were good, a deal of cooperation between Lindblads in Stockholm and Nymans in Uppsala was discussed. In the autumn 1931 the manufacturing went to AB Nymans Verkstäder in Uppsala, with Lindblads as a sales organization. This deal came about mainly because the factory in Stockholm had old machinery and no possibility of expanding. Already the same year the production of Crescent and Drott moved to Nymans Verkstäder and also the agency for the Torpedo hub. Gustaf Grahn who had been an employee of Lindblads since 1910 and had shown his skill, got a head position in Nymans Velocipedfabrik. Later he become the president and worked for the company until Monark purchased Nymans in 1960.
Written by Åke Stenqvist
