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Indiana Bicycle Company

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Indiana Bicycle Company
IndustryManufacturing
Founded1885; 139 years ago (1885) in Indianapolis, U.S.
FounderCharles F. Smith
Headquarters
Indianapolis
,
United States
Products
  • Bicycles
  • Carriages
  • Electric cars
OwnerCharles F. Smith
Number of employees
1071 (1896)

Indiana Bicycle Company was a bicycle and automobile company in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The company made carriages, bicycles and electric vehicles under the name Waverley Cycles. By 1896 the company was producing 350 bicycles every ten hours.

History

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Bicycles

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1896 Indiana Bicycle Company

In 1885 Charles F. Smith started the Indiana Bicycle company.[1][2] The Indiana Bicycle company consisted of 8 buildings which produced tools, a forging shop for manufacturing sprockets and cranks, and other buildings for the assembly and manufacture of bicycle parts. In 1896 the company employed 1071 people and turned out 350 bicycles every ten hours.[3] In 1895 the company produced three different bicycles: the Scorcher, the Belle, the Ladies Special Diamond.[4][1] The company produced in excess of 50,000 bicycles a year.[5]

American Bicycle Company (1899-1903)

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In 1899 the company joined a trust which was set up to control the bicycle market in the United States. Forty-two factories were part of the trust; the major barrier to organizing it was the manufacturer of rubber tires. It was decided that tires would be purchased from the "Rubber King", Charles R. Flint.[6] The trust which formed under the name American Bicycle Company only lasted a few years. Historians have not determined why the company failed but they have several theories. One idea was that the company was poorly organized, and another theory is that the various manufacturers involved in the company had different objectives. After the breakup the many different companies went back to competing.[7]

Automobiles

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The company manufactured carriages, cars and bicycles. From 1897 to 1916 the Waverley company produced electric cars which looked like carriages.[8][5] In 1913 the Silent Waverley Front-Drive Four was priced at $2900[9] which would equate to $81,419.11 in 2021.[10]

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  • 1897 Waverley cycles
    1897 Waverley cycles
  • 1896 Waverley ad
    1896 Waverley ad
  • 1895 Waverley women's bike
    1895 Waverley women's bike
  • 1913 Waverley electric car
    1913 Waverley electric car

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Bicycle Trust". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. 29 July 1899. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Pioneer In This City". The Indianapolis Journal. 28 April 1895. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  3. ^ Indianapolis of Today. Indianapolis Indiana: consolidated Illustrating company. 1896. p. 96. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  4. ^ The Iron Age - Volume 55. 3 January 1895. p. 136. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Automobile Industry in Indianapolis Started with Purchase of Waverley Electric Vehicle". The Indianapolis Star. 31 December 1924. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  6. ^ "The Bicycle Trust". Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. 29 July 1899. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  7. ^ Epperson, Bruce D. (1 November 2011). "'The finances stagger these fellows': the Great American Bicycle Trust, 1899–1903". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 28 (18). Taylor Francis Group: 2633–2652. doi:10.1080/09523367.2011.611408. S2CID 153677588. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  8. ^ Hostetler, Joan (20 June 2013). "Indianapolis Then and Now: The Waverley Company, 139 S. East Street". Historic Indianapolis. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  9. ^ "The Waverley Silent Electric". Indianapolis Star. 26 October 1913. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Value of $2,900 from 1913 to 2021". In 2013 Dollars. Official Data Foundation. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
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