Kevin Sayles and Barrie Carter make some important points I'd like to comment on.
RENAMING: "The term High Flange is wrong and a recent renaming." HS: I'm sure you're right, but I think the renaming is helpful, though. I think it was pushed by Sheldon Brown. "LF" could be either low flange or large flange, while HF and SF are perfectly clear.
FASHION v. FUNCTION: here is no evidence for greater strength or stiffness for high flange hubs. Jim Papadopoulos ran the equations real hard. In a blind test, the difference between HF and SF is like a tire pump stroke or two. Just can't tell it. Same, as I recall Jim's work, about the difference between radial and all the way to 4-cross - except for needing some tangentiBut, there are opinions.
But, fashion matters in understanding what they did, and why, and thanks for the explanations!
harvey sachs
mcLean va