News
CCM & Flyte Patents
I was at the patent office in Ottawa some years ago and did this research. Here is a list of all bicycle related patents taken out by CCM (except the first one) throughout their existence, including year, patent holder, number, patent title, and my notes in brackets:
- 1907 A.J. Musselman 106391 (not CCM patent but coaster brake used by CCM)
- 1923 CCM 232593 Pedal (the famous Gibson pedal I believe)
- 1926 CCM 257805 Coaster Brake
- 1926 CCM 262791 Pedal
- 1936 CCM 358849 Bicycle (Flyte)
- 1937 CCM 367918 Coaster Brake for Bicycles
- 1939 CCM 382145 Coaster Brake for Bicycles
- 1952 CCM 481636 Handlebar Mounting for Bicycles
- 1952 CCM 483725 Machine for Tensioning Wire Spoked Wheels (see J. McKenty's book pgs. 208, 209)
- 1953 CCM 496102 Bottom Bracket of Bicycle Frame
- 1959 CCM 581571 Bicycle Axle
The cushion frame used by CCM was patented by C. Travis of Minneapolis in 1896.
Here is the first paragraph from the June 30, 1936 patent of the "Flyte Streamlined" bicycle featuring a "New Design Shock Absorbing Frame and Fork":
"The principal objects of this invention are to provide a bicycle of an unusual novel and attractive appearance which will have a distinct appeal to the eye in conformance with the line adopted in the streamlining of vehicles and further, to utilize the streamline effect of design to accomplish a very distinct improvement in the riding qualities of the bicycle to effect the absorbing of road shocks and further, to provide a very desirable form of bicycle having a distinctly novel appeal."
CCM was granted a patent for the Flyte in the United States and Great Britain by 1937; Belgium, Italy, France, and Australia by 1838; and New Zealand and Denmark by 1939. A patent was still pending in Holland in 1940.
It's notable that the Flyte was the only whole new bicycle design that CCM ever patented, and no bicycle patents were taken out after 1959. I do not remember the details of the 1926 pedal, 1952 handlebar mounting, 1953 bottom bracket, and 1959 axle. If anyone has practical experience with CCMs around those years and know what the design changes were, it would be interesting to hear about them.
I've tried to find out if these patents are now available online in addition to the dusty volumes that I had to flip through, but their site is currently down. I will check later.
-Brian R.
These patents are all listed in an Appendix in Mckenty's book and 232593 is the Gibson pedal patent.
There should also have been numerous bicycle patents acquired by CCM when it bought the National Cycle & Automobile Co. in 1902, as it should have acquired the rights to all the Canadian patents filed by the companies that formed National (i.e. Evans & Dodge, Columbia, Stearns, Tribune, Scotsman, 20th Century).
Notable is the lack of a patent for the Triplex crankset, indicating that it was not novel enough to warrant a patent and possibly even manufactured under license. Ceritainly there were many cotterless, two and three piece cranks long before the Triplex and Iver-Johnson is known to have used a three-faced, tapered spindle several years prior to the Triplex.
IIRC, the 1926 pedal patent was a simplified design intended for Joycycles and Joyriders.
The 1953 patent was for the Cycosonic drive which allowed one piece cranks to be used with a special, smaller diameter (1-7/16") bottom bracket shell due to a blister between the chain stay collars of the shell.
I don't recall the exact nature of the handlebar mounting patent and only have a vague recollection of the axle patent possibly pertaining to an oversize diameter on a portion of the axle.
Thanks for the info T-Mar. Yes they are in the book. I thought it they weren't or didn't see them, and then came across them the day after my post - doh. Murphy's Law I suppose. My post did have some tidbits that weren't in the book.