Doug,
What a fantastic account! A lug notching press. Like you said, ingenious . That also goes a long way in explaining how some of the wonderful Engl ish classic frames were built.
Doug, you're priceless. Thanks for taking the time to relate this piece of historical information to us. My mind is already thinking about how t o apply this concept. Keep it up.
Maybe the framebuilders book project would contain information like this , no? If it doesn't get recorded while we're still living; it will be lo st when we all pass.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
Dale asked several questions about the lugs used on Ellis Briggs frames like the one on eBay right now. Since I have had personal experience with th em, I thought I should stop my busy work schedule long enough to write what I recall. The lug puncher that Norris described was a press with what I remember to have 17 different male and corresponding female dies. A han dle activated the plunger that held these interchangeable dies with differen t patterns on the end which lined up with a same shaped hole that was plac ed on a round dole coming out of the body of the press at 90 degrees that h eld the lug. There was a typed set of steps in a protective cover next to t he press that described in what order to punch out the blank lugs. I don't
remember who made these lugs (Chater Lea?) but in know they weren't Hade n nor Nervex that also made blank lugs (plain squared off ends without sculpted sides). I believe they were English made. Because Jack Briggs
knew I liked cutting out patterns in blank lugs, he gave me most of the rest of the stash left over from the old days. These now are part of my inventory of lugs in my shop. They are what I use when I make a fancy c ut out lugged frame.
This tool got relegated to the paint room on the 2nd floor and I would p lay with it while eating lunch with Rodney and Bill the enamellers and Andre w the frame builder/apprentice. The windows overlooked the Leeds Liverpoo l canal. On the first and second frames I made there, I used one of the d ies to punch out a pattern on the side of my Prugnat lugs. This pattern I u sed is not on the Suberbe model frame Hillary is selling but is on the more elaborate International model. I remember it was hard to position the l ug just right because it was hard to see where the punch actually landed. It had been damaged some and one or two of the dies were either lost or bro ken in 1975. I remember looking for it when I was there the last time in 20 00. I took my daughter to see the place I learned to build frames when we we re coming back from Ukraine. By that time it had been scraped to who knows
where. I felt a bit of loss with it gone. I remember one other time wh en I visited after I was there and thinking how could I get this thing to the
states?
I think that device represented a cleverness that Briggs frames had. Qu ite a bit of engineering and thought went into making a distinctive pattern in a cost effective manner. It was a unique design unlike the thousands of frames made with Nervex Pro (including some E-B frames) lugs. It does n ot represent to me a short cut or cheap way of doing something fancy but ra ther ingeniously. It was a significant outlay of capital to make nice frames
better. In a small way, this example illustrates whey I have always bee n extremely thankful to have been able to learn at Ellis Briggs. They had/have a very nice system with excellent tooling for frame building an d I was very fortunate to have started under people that not only made very good frames but were very good people themselves. My timing was right becaus e Richard Sachs still has his rejection letter (as I still have my accepta nce letter) from them. Fortunate indeed my request came just a little later .
My memory is not the best but what I do recall Jack telling me is that i t was Jack Brigg's father that started the business in 1934 with Mr. Ellis and Jack began building in 1938. Briggs had two sons that still own the pla ce and the younger one is named Paul (not Peter). In 2000, Jack's wife wou ld still stop in to see how things were going in the store. Jack died Christmas time in 1999.
Remembrances of cycling around that area including on the moors will hav e to wait for another time. It is not like southwest Michigan. It is very n ice country but not a place tourists go. My thanks to Derek Davis of Phoeni x, AZ who mentioned this listing to this list today. He was the one Americ an I saw at Briggs when I was there in 1975 when he came up to pick up his fr ame.
Doug Fattic Niles, Michigan (but for a time lived in Esholt while working in Shipley
which is 3 miles from Bradford which is near Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK