Marten Gerritsen wrote:
Cotterless cranks existed way back before aluminium cranks, only in aluminium something else than the popular cotter was needed.
I've got a reprint of a 1913 catalogue which shows a square tapered axle with nuts. Cleveland used a tapered axle with two flats ca 1905
And Joe Bender-Zanoni commented:
Iver Johnson made tapered triangular cotterless cranks at a very early date, at least before 1930 and possibly well before. Just the right hand arm, as the left was integral with the axle. So as a patent attorney and as is very current in patent law, going from three sides to four is "obvious" so I doubt there was a patent issue, at least in the US. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I once owned an 1898 "Davis Sewing Machines of Dayton," a forerunner of Huffy. It had cotterless steel cranks. Since it was a triplet, it had 3 sets of them. Slender and very handsome, but I never took them apart. The bike has been restored and is at the Carillon Park, Dayton, OH (thanks to a gift from the Huffman family).
harvey sachs
mcLean va usa