1881-1900
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By 1881, Jeffery brought in his friend R. Philip Gormully to handle the "front end" of the business. The venture was called Gormully and Jeffery Manufacturing, or as it was advertised,
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G & J. The brand quickly rose to the top of the trade, and the American Rambler was well known for its fit and finish, as well as durability and handling. They costed in the 100 dollar range, a good sum at the time.
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In 1882, Thomas B. Jeffery was awarded a patent for what became known as the "clincher" tire design, in which the tire's own air pressure holds the tire on the rim. Interestingly, though Jeffery spent years as a patents modelmaker, on his own patent there is a note of "no model". They called the tire the "G & J" and integrated its marketing with the Rambler bicycle. This is the same design in common use today, not just on bicycles, but on virtually all pneumatic tire designs.
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When Thomas B. Jeffery and R. Phillip Gormully went into the bicycle business, they were paying licensing fees on the Lallement Patent, purchased by Colonel Albert Augustus Pope. Pope was the largest bicycle maker in the country, manufacturing the Columbia. At first, on Gormully's advice, G & J paid the licensing fees, but in 1886, Jeffery re-examined the crank-and-pedal patent, and decided that it was indefensible, as it represented no real invention, merely evolution.
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Gormully issued a declaration of independence from the blanket patent. Pope immediately pressed suits, all of which were defended successfully by Gormully and Jeffery Manufacturing, in 1891. The striking down of this patent almost single-handedly removed the major restriction in the bicycle industry in North America
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Jeffery also successfully prosecuted his own patents. He won a case for his tire patent in the United States, but lost another in England after taking his case to the House of Lords.
In November 1895, Jeffery witnessed an automobile race in the snow, sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald, to be run from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois and back. The distance was 54 miles. Entered were the Duryea brothers' motorwagon, three Benz automobiles, and two electric-powered cars. J. Frank Duryea won the event, but not before most of the entrants had broken down repeatedly. Jeffery was not impressed by the reliability of these machines, which took over seven hours to make the trip.
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Thomas Buckland Jeffery had a running automobile by 1897. It was designed and built in his works at the Rambler bicycle plant on Franklin Street in Chicago. There was some experimentation for a couple of more years, returning more power, along with some refinement in design. Some refinements noted are steering wheels instead of tiller steering, engine placement in front instead of under the cockpit, and seating of the driver on the left. One design actually mounts passengers in front of the driver!
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R. Philip Gormully passed away in 1899, and in 1900, Jeffery sold out of the Gormully & Jeffery bicycle business, to Pope, at which time the Rambler Bicycles took a precipitous dive in price, dropping from the 100 dollars they had been at for years, down to as low as 40 dollars.
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In 1900, as a new era in American industry was dawning, Thomas B. Jeffery & Company purchased the Sterling Bicycles plant in Kenosha WI. Sterling was owned by the American Bicycle trust. Yes, Pope again.
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From the Open Library Project-
"A Family in Kenosha"- A magazine article by Beverly Rae Kimes, detailing some of the early Rambler history. Appeared in the 2nd Quarter 1978 issue of
Automobile Quarterly Magazine. Scanned and kindly contributed to my effort by a friend in Alberta.
Rambler Web Linkage:
The building shown here is the Thomas B. Jeffery & Company factory, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In 1900 it was purchased from the American Bicycle Trust controlled by Pope and Columbia. Pope had taken over Sterling Bicycle Co., and this had been the Sterling plant.
An 1887 Rambler American Ideal bicycle by Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing.