PREFACE
The manufacture of bicycles can be truly described as one of the most important industries of the country. The bicycle is also a common commodity, and it is for these two reasons that this book was undertaken. An attempt has been made in the following pages to give a brief outline of the history of the manufacture of bicycles in this and other countries from the introduction of the velocipede to the present day mechanically propelled machine, the motor cycle.
The author has endeavoured to describe some of the more important processes of manufacture and to embody with those descriptions particulars of the numerous other trades on which the cycle manufacturer is dependent.
In conclusion, the writer would like to thank those who have so kindly provided him with illustrations of the machines they make. His thanks are also due to Messrs. Bell & Sons for their kind permission to reproduce illustrations of by-gone models from the late Mr. H. Hewitt Griffin's book, Cycling. At the same time he wishes to make the fullest acknowledgments to all who have in any way assisted him with information in any form.
