I will try and post pictures of the different CCM hubs I have. The first is the armless New Hercules. Thanks To T-Mar I know they used this hub from early1900's to 1926.
The first hub was the CCM Morrow from 1899 to around 1907 or 1908. This was built under license by CCM and was an American hub. The brake arm and hub are stamped "C.C. & M. Co.". After this, CCM introduced the friction drive Hercules hub (1908), without a brake arm. These hubs could be troublesome if the rear wheel nuts were not kept very tight. As well, when the friction drive parts of the hub were worn, there was no drive. Around 1918, the "New Hercules" hub appeared with an internal clutch, but no brake arm. A brake arm was added by about 1924. In 1926, another version of this hub appeared which has 1926 stamped on the hub shell. In 1937, CCM introduced what is known as the "CCM 37" hub with changes to the drive clutch, brake wedges, etc. This was the coaster brake hub used on all CCM's until 1956 when another hub was introduced.
1937 hub. It looks like the chrome hub with no markings other than Pats Pending and patent number. I have not opened the hub to see if it is the same as the 37 hub inside.
I know that CCM did offer the New Departure hub as an option before 1910. Otherwise, someone may have just spoked it in, especially if the original Hercules hub (friction drive) without a brake arm had failed.
1. The original Hercules hub has the Musselman patent number, which was filed in April 1907 and issued in July 1907. However, I've very recently discovered that CCM didn't trademark the Hercules name until October 26 1908, so while they could have been introduced anytime during 1907-1909, I'm leaning towards a 1909 model year on the basis of the trademark. I've also always assumed that they were manufactured under license from Musselman.
2. I wasn't aware of the timeline for the first version of the New Hercules hub. Thxs.
3. The 1924 cataloques still show the armless New Hercules. While I was aware of the armed version with the redesigned stationary cone, I wasn't sure if it preceded the '26 hub or was implemented afterwards and just used on budget and private label brands. There seemed to be a very small window of opportunity for it being spec'd as an OEM hub on any of the premium CCM brands. Do we know for fact, that it was spec'd in 1925?
4. The '56 hub has always been a mystery to me. While the late 1950s catalogues mention the '56 hub in the bicycle specs, the component sections of the catalogue only show the old '37 hub. Then when you look at the mid-1960s catalogues, after the introduction of the '64 hub, they only show the '64 hub and the '37 hub. I've never seen a parts diagram or list for a '56 hub. Can you describe the changes in the '56 hub? TIA.
Somewhere I have a piece of CCM literature dated 1908 which shows the Hercules hub sporting a 1" pitch sprocket. I will see if i can answer your other questions later.
CCM's original application to trademark the Hercules name states that its first use was only 6 days earlier, on October 20, 1908. I guess you could call it 1908 but the industry generally goes by model years and that's late enough in the calendar year to be considered a 1909 (model year) introduction.
Thanks for clarifying this. I have not found my CCM ad with the Hercules hub on it yet. I am going to get some information together and post some pictures and information about the various hubs. I have alot of CCM coaster brake hub shells (50+) with various markings and patent info. on them. I have some Morrow hubs and Eadie, New Departure, etc. CCM offered the Eadie and New Departure hubs as an option early on. I am still not sure of the date for the transition from the original Hercules to the New Hercules. I am also not sure of the year when CCM added the brake arm to the New Hercules (1924-1926?). Some hub shells have 1926 on them and this may be the year. The CCM 37 went through several variations (brake arms, plating, oil port, serial no. etc.) The 1956 hub mentioned in the catalogue may just be a CCM 37 with a modified hub shell. The 64 hub is definitely different. More later.
Submitted by Wayne.Gillies on Sat, 03/14/2015 - 23:51.
Locomotion: Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I was in retreat at the cottage.
ND hubs are marked, sometimes very lightly. Model A ran from 1899 to 26, yours had one of the early brake arms which could be affixed in two ways to the chain stay, and that too may have a patent date on it, Model C from 27 to 33 and Model D from 37 into the 60s..To the Yanks the Model D was the old stand by as was our bulletproof model 37, but the 37 was better...
If any of you come across a New departure Model B rear hub, I would be interested on acquiring it,,hey were used for motorcycles
John, I believe I've found the piece of literature you were referring to for the orignal Hercules hub. It states that CCM started selling the hub in 1908, which does not refute the late October 1908 dates mentioned in the Hercules trademark application and could still be a1909 model year introduction.
I have two hubs from the 1909-1917 era. Both are armless and both say HERCULES BRAKE PAT.No 106391 PAT. PENDING. But in the ring in the hub shell where the drive clutch makes contact to drive the wheel, one is smooth while the other one has little "teeth". The smooth one is completely smooth like it had been machined that way. My question is, did the smooth one start off with teeth and become worn down with use, or was the smooth one perhaps an earlier version until CCM realized the the hub needed the "teeth" on both the cluth drive and the hub shell to work properly? See photos:
Submitted by Dave Brown on Thu, 09/28/2017 - 19:31.
Hi Brian
The smooth one is the earlier one,but iwould say very worn. The other one with teeth is the next step up. And a lot better,also a little more beef around the bearing ends. The early ones i have seen all have bad cracks.
Thanks Dave. Any guess for around what year the change was made? The toothless hub is from a ladies bike with a 1" pitch chain and no front fender, so definitely an early one, maybe c.1910.
I've been spending the winter building wood rim wheelsets. I was hoping to use as many NEW HECULES hubs as possible, using HERCULES parts as necessary, but discovered that these hubs have more differences between them than I had thought. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the evolution of the 1909-1937 hubs and post my observations here.
My earliest HERCULES hub has a 1" pitch sprocket. Stamped on the hub shell in front of "HERCULES" is: Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Limited, Toronto Canada. The driving clutch has spindles but the place on the hub where it meets is smooth (see earlier post from me). The brake sleeve is long and thin with a long and thin wedge, and has X patterns of grooves. The brake spool is long. The axle is 5 3/4" long. The sides of the adjusting cone are angular.
The post above was for #1 in my first photo. I think this hub must have been made around 1910.
Sometime in the early to mid teens, CCM switched to 1" pitch chains and sprockets and added splines to the hub shell drive surface where the driving clutch contacts. #2 in first photo (in my post above I meant to type splines, not spindles!). In the 1918 catalogue online, they mention the improved Hercules hub but not "NEW HERCULES". I think this must refer to the addition of the splines on the shell.
Hub #3 in my first photo is a NEW HERCULES, which came out sometime after 1918 to the early 1920s. There were a surprising number of changes. The biggest improvement of course was the change from "friction drive" using splines, to a driving clutch that uses little teeth or cogs to engage with corresponding teeth in the shell. The driving worm was lengthened to 1 7/8" (from 1 19/32) to enable it to reach the thin, flat driving clutch. On the reverse side of the driving worm has a space for ball bearings that was narrowed. The old adjusting cone was 1 9/64" overall diameter, but the NEW HERCULES adjusting cone was 1 5/64" O.D.. By this time the outer end of the adjusting cone had sloped edges. The brake sleeve and brake wedge were made shorter and thicker, and the brake spool that they sit on was made shorter too. The axle on my examples are 6 1/4" long and are stamped "CCM Heat Treated".
#4 in the photo shows a minor change in the stationary cone and brake sleeve. At some point the metal blocks on the cone that engage with the sleeve changed from two blocks of equal size and two slots on the sleeve, to one short block and one long block and only one slot on the sleeve. "Blocks" are my words, not the catalogues - I don't know what else to call them. The grooves on the sleeves changed as well, to 8 linear grooves on each side.
The NEW HERCULES also saw changes to the hub shell. The flanges were larger in diameter, and the shell was slightly thicker at the bearing ends (to prevent the cracking that Dave mentioned above).
#5 in my first photo is for reports of a brake with an arm appearing around 1924 or 25. It has an empty space next to it because I don't have one and have never seen one. I have a 1927 catalogue that fails to show the new Pat. 1926 improved hub. Interestingly, it still describes the Hercules as an armless hub. I imagine it was likely printed in 1926 before the new version of the hub was ready, but why wouldn't it mention an arm?
I've received some images scanned from CCM catalogues - thank you Ron! The first year showing the NEW HERCULES hub with the little cogs on the driving clutch instead of splines is 1920. The description states that all 1920 bicycles are fitted with the new hub.
Hello,
The first hub was the CCM Morrow from 1899 to around 1907 or 1908. This was built under license by CCM and was an American hub. The brake arm and hub are stamped "C.C. & M. Co.". After this, CCM introduced the friction drive Hercules hub (1908), without a brake arm. These hubs could be troublesome if the rear wheel nuts were not kept very tight. As well, when the friction drive parts of the hub were worn, there was no drive. Around 1918, the "New Hercules" hub appeared with an internal clutch, but no brake arm. A brake arm was added by about 1924. In 1926, another version of this hub appeared which has 1926 stamped on the hub shell. In 1937, CCM introduced what is known as the "CCM 37" hub with changes to the drive clutch, brake wedges, etc. This was the coaster brake hub used on all CCM's until 1956 when another hub was introduced.
John Williamson
New Hercules with brake arm, nickel plated.
No name on this one, just the patent, CCM on the arm. It is chrome plated.
This one has New Hercules in writing and 1926 on it.
Pics didn't get attached. Hope they are here now.
1937 hub. It looks like the chrome hub with no markings other than Pats Pending and patent number. I have not opened the hub to see if it is the same as the 37 hub inside.
where does my New Departure hub from my 1916 CCM Cleveland fit in all this wonderful story?
Is it a Model A, C or D. Looks like an A
I know that CCM did offer the New Departure hub as an option before 1910. Otherwise, someone may have just spoked it in, especially if the original Hercules hub (friction drive) without a brake arm had failed.
John Williamson
how do you tell if it's an A, C, or D?
and i am pretty sure that it's original to the bike
John, thank-you posting.
1. The original Hercules hub has the Musselman patent number, which was filed in April 1907 and issued in July 1907. However, I've very recently discovered that CCM didn't trademark the Hercules name until October 26 1908, so while they could have been introduced anytime during 1907-1909, I'm leaning towards a 1909 model year on the basis of the trademark. I've also always assumed that they were manufactured under license from Musselman.
2. I wasn't aware of the timeline for the first version of the New Hercules hub. Thxs.
3. The 1924 cataloques still show the armless New Hercules. While I was aware of the armed version with the redesigned stationary cone, I wasn't sure if it preceded the '26 hub or was implemented afterwards and just used on budget and private label brands. There seemed to be a very small window of opportunity for it being spec'd as an OEM hub on any of the premium CCM brands. Do we know for fact, that it was spec'd in 1925?
4. The '56 hub has always been a mystery to me. While the late 1950s catalogues mention the '56 hub in the bicycle specs, the component sections of the catalogue only show the old '37 hub. Then when you look at the mid-1960s catalogues, after the introduction of the '64 hub, they only show the '64 hub and the '37 hub. I've never seen a parts diagram or list for a '56 hub. Can you describe the changes in the '56 hub? TIA.
Hi T-Mar,
Somewhere I have a piece of CCM literature dated 1908 which shows the Hercules hub sporting a 1" pitch sprocket. I will see if i can answer your other questions later.
John
CCM's original application to trademark the Hercules name states that its first use was only 6 days earlier, on October 20, 1908. I guess you could call it 1908 but the industry generally goes by model years and that's late enough in the calendar year to be considered a 1909 (model year) introduction.
Hi T-Mar,
Thanks for clarifying this. I have not found my CCM ad with the Hercules hub on it yet. I am going to get some information together and post some pictures and information about the various hubs. I have alot of CCM coaster brake hub shells (50+) with various markings and patent info. on them. I have some Morrow hubs and Eadie, New Departure, etc. CCM offered the Eadie and New Departure hubs as an option early on. I am still not sure of the date for the transition from the original Hercules to the New Hercules. I am also not sure of the year when CCM added the brake arm to the New Hercules (1924-1926?). Some hub shells have 1926 on them and this may be the year. The CCM 37 went through several variations (brake arms, plating, oil port, serial no. etc.) The 1956 hub mentioned in the catalogue may just be a CCM 37 with a modified hub shell. The 64 hub is definitely different. More later.
John Williamson
Locomotion: Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I was in retreat at the cottage.
ND hubs are marked, sometimes very lightly. Model A ran from 1899 to 26, yours had one of the early brake arms which could be affixed in two ways to the chain stay, and that too may have a patent date on it, Model C from 27 to 33 and Model D from 37 into the 60s..To the Yanks the Model D was the old stand by as was our bulletproof model 37, but the 37 was better...
If any of you come across a New departure Model B rear hub, I would be interested on acquiring it,,hey were used for motorcycles
Interesting info, John & Tom
CCM Morrow hub pictures I how they are pretty poor pictures . Brake arm says CC & M CO Morrow
Hub Says Made In Canada C C & M Co Patented Toronto Junction Ontario Spoked into a real nice wood rim with inside metal liner
Hello Dave is it forsale yet. ?
gt
Hi GT
Find me the parts am looking for the Goold branford 1897 I just got and we can talk about thr hub.
Hub and rim?
Gt
And rim
John, I believe I've found the piece of literature you were referring to for the orignal Hercules hub. It states that CCM started selling the hub in 1908, which does not refute the late October 1908 dates mentioned in the Hercules trademark application and could still be a1909 model year introduction.
I have two hubs from the 1909-1917 era. Both are armless and both say HERCULES BRAKE PAT.No 106391 PAT. PENDING. But in the ring in the hub shell where the drive clutch makes contact to drive the wheel, one is smooth while the other one has little "teeth". The smooth one is completely smooth like it had been machined that way. My question is, did the smooth one start off with teeth and become worn down with use, or was the smooth one perhaps an earlier version until CCM realized the the hub needed the "teeth" on both the cluth drive and the hub shell to work properly? See photos:
Hi Brian
The smooth one is the earlier one,but iwould say very worn. The other one with teeth is the next step up. And a lot better,also a little more beef around the bearing ends. The early ones i have seen all have bad cracks.
Thanks Dave. Any guess for around what year the change was made? The toothless hub is from a ladies bike with a 1" pitch chain and no front fender, so definitely an early one, maybe c.1910.
I've been spending the winter building wood rim wheelsets. I was hoping to use as many NEW HECULES hubs as possible, using HERCULES parts as necessary, but discovered that these hubs have more differences between them than I had thought. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the evolution of the 1909-1937 hubs and post my observations here.
My earliest HERCULES hub has a 1" pitch sprocket. Stamped on the hub shell in front of "HERCULES" is: Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Limited, Toronto Canada. The driving clutch has spindles but the place on the hub where it meets is smooth (see earlier post from me). The brake sleeve is long and thin with a long and thin wedge, and has X patterns of grooves. The brake spool is long. The axle is 5 3/4" long. The sides of the adjusting cone are angular.
The post above was for #1 in my first photo. I think this hub must have been made around 1910.
Sometime in the early to mid teens, CCM switched to 1" pitch chains and sprockets and added splines to the hub shell drive surface where the driving clutch contacts. #2 in first photo (in my post above I meant to type splines, not spindles!). In the 1918 catalogue online, they mention the improved Hercules hub but not "NEW HERCULES". I think this must refer to the addition of the splines on the shell.
Hub #3 in my first photo is a NEW HERCULES, which came out sometime after 1918 to the early 1920s. There were a surprising number of changes. The biggest improvement of course was the change from "friction drive" using splines, to a driving clutch that uses little teeth or cogs to engage with corresponding teeth in the shell. The driving worm was lengthened to 1 7/8" (from 1 19/32) to enable it to reach the thin, flat driving clutch. On the reverse side of the driving worm has a space for ball bearings that was narrowed. The old adjusting cone was 1 9/64" overall diameter, but the NEW HERCULES adjusting cone was 1 5/64" O.D.. By this time the outer end of the adjusting cone had sloped edges. The brake sleeve and brake wedge were made shorter and thicker, and the brake spool that they sit on was made shorter too. The axle on my examples are 6 1/4" long and are stamped "CCM Heat Treated".
#4 in the photo shows a minor change in the stationary cone and brake sleeve. At some point the metal blocks on the cone that engage with the sleeve changed from two blocks of equal size and two slots on the sleeve, to one short block and one long block and only one slot on the sleeve. "Blocks" are my words, not the catalogues - I don't know what else to call them. The grooves on the sleeves changed as well, to 8 linear grooves on each side.
The NEW HERCULES also saw changes to the hub shell. The flanges were larger in diameter, and the shell was slightly thicker at the bearing ends (to prevent the cracking that Dave mentioned above).
#5 in my first photo is for reports of a brake with an arm appearing around 1924 or 25. It has an empty space next to it because I don't have one and have never seen one. I have a 1927 catalogue that fails to show the new Pat. 1926 improved hub. Interestingly, it still describes the Hercules as an armless hub. I imagine it was likely printed in 1926 before the new version of the hub was ready, but why wouldn't it mention an arm?
I've received some images scanned from CCM catalogues - thank you Ron! The first year showing the NEW HERCULES hub with the little cogs on the driving clutch instead of splines is 1920. The description states that all 1920 bicycles are fitted with the new hub.
Still more to come...