Ignaz Schwinn

German American mechanical engineer

• Born: April 1, 1860
• Birthplace: Hardheim, Baden (now in Germany)
• Died: 1948
• Place of death: Chicago, Illinois

Through his own innate ability, hard work, and hardheadedness, Schwinn advanced from a poor German immigrant to the head of a bicycle manufacturing company that became an exemplar for bicycle makers in the United States for nearly a century.

Primary fields: Automotive technology; manufacturing; mechanical engineering

Primary invention: Streamline Aerocycle (Schwinn bicycle)

Early Life

Ignaz Schwinn (IHG-nahts SHVIHN), born April 1, 1860, in Hardheim, Baden (now in Germany), was the son of a piano and organ factory owner, who died when young Schwinn was eleven years old. Being next to the oldest in a family of seven children, Schwinn was required to leave school and help support the large family. He began an apprenticeship to a machinist, showing remarkable talent in this endeavor, and later began looking for work repairing high-wheeled bicycles and bicycle parts.

Life’s Work

While working in bicycle factories, Schwinn learned about the new “safety,” a rear-wheel, chain-driven bicycle with two wheels of similar size that was invented in 1885 by John Starley in England. Seeing possibilities in the new design, Schwinn set out to interest bicycle makers in it, but they preferred to continue producing the older high-wheel bicycles. Schwinn also saw advantages in the new pneumatic tire, which had a softer rubber than the hard tire, but most factories rejected it as an unrealistic novelty.

In Frankfurt, Schwinn worked in a machine shop that supplied parts to Heinrich Kleyer, a high-wheel bicycle manufacturer, who met and hired Schwinn. Kleyer was pleased with Schwinn’s designs for the improved safety bicycle that Schwinn had worked on privately, and he gave Schwinn the opportunity to develop the bicycle. Schwinn soon became designer and works manager for the company, which produced some of the first safety bicycles in Germany. Schwinn supervised the building and equipping of a new factory for Kleyer’s prospering business, which later became Adler Works of Germany.

In 1889, Schwinn arrived in the United States, settling in Chicago, where he hoped to observe the latest technical advances at the World’s Fair in 1893. He worked briefly for a company that made Fowler bicycles; later, he designed the bicycles and established the bicycle factory of the International Manufacturing Company. Dissatisfied with the management, he left there in 1894 and formed a partnership with Adolph Arnold—Arnold, Schwinn & Company—in 1895. Arnold, the president of a meatpacking business and the Haymarket Produce Bank, provided the capital but allowed Schwinn to design the products and the tools, purchase machinery and equipment, hire personnel, and essentially set up the factory.

Schwinn’s new bicycle factory took its place alongside thirty other bicycle factories on Lake Street and began to turn out superior merchandise. In 1896, bicycle racing was a sport sensation, and riding the Schwinn-built World Racers that weighed nineteen pounds complete, the Arnold, Schwinn & Company’s team set numerous records. The world racing team won races in Italy, France, and England and set new records for the half mile and the kilometer. By the year’s end, Schwinn’s factory had more winners than any other bicycle factory. Racing clubs for prosperous Americans were quite popular, and tracks were built quickly. In 1902, the racing bicycle sold for $150, about $27,450 in 2000 dollars.

In the early years of the century, largely because of overexpansion and overproduction, the bicycle boom collapsed. Bicycle sales dropped to a fraction of those sold even five years earlier. Only twelve bicycle factories remained on Lake Street, as competition for parts and sales outlets was fierce. In the process of building a new factory in western Chicago, Arnold and Schwinn bought out failing factories and continued business. In 1902, Schwinn designed and built four experimental motorcars; the last one, in 1905, featured a four-cylinder, water-cooled, four-cycle engine—all furthered by the great strides of the company’s forerunner, the bicycle.

In 1908, Schwinn bought out Arnold’s share of the company, and although the company retained its name, Schwinn became its sole owner from that point. Schwinn’s first child, Frank, was born that same year. In 1911, Schwinn bought the Chicago-owned Excelsior Motorcycle Company that, under his direction, soon became ranked with Indian and Harley-Davidson as the top three American motorcycle manufacturers. Schwinn’s company sponsored famous racing stars until World War I, sending Schwinn sales skyward. Schwinn purchased the Henderson Motorcycle Company in 1917, continuing to make motorcycles until the Great Depression, when he was forced, in 1931, to discontinue his motorcycle line.

When the advent of the automobile decimated bicycle sales, Schwinn turned his attention to the manufacture of bicycles for children. The lighter, more expensive bicycles of the 1890’s were neglected in favor of the sturdier bicycles required for children and for delivery services. Mud flaps were added to the bicycles to attract youngsters, but the bicycle industry was devastated. In the early 1930’s, Schwinn created a new department in his factory, one filled with workers from his defunct motorcycle line, whose duties were to search for possible improvements in the bicycle that would not include a large increase in price. In this attempt to break away from standardization, Schwinn not only weathered the Depression but also established himself as an innovative leader in the American bicycle industry.

In 1933, Schwinn introduced the first balloon-tire bicycle—with a double tube more than two inches wide—which was considered practical and durable. Although balloon tires had been used on automobiles for years, the bicycle industry was slow to accept the new design. Schwinn persisted in its adaptation, and within a few years balloon tires were standard features on all bicycles. Continuing the emphasis on innovations affecting quality, comfort, and appearance, Schwinn developed the Streamline Aerocycle in 1934. The following year, he introduced the Cycleplane, streamlined in appearance. In 1936, the Autocycle appeared, a fully streamlined bicycle featuring a full-floating saddle that brought new comfort to riders, better reflectors for night riding, double headlights, and an improved frame. In the remaining years of the 1930’s, Schwinn introduced a bicycle with fore-wheel brakes, the spring fork for more riding comfort, and the bicycle truck made expressly for deliveries.

The beginning of World War II brought an abrupt end to the production of Schwinn bicycles as Ignaz Schwinn shifted to the production of war materials, for which his company received the Army and Navy “E” award for excellence. In 1947, Schwinn sales soared with the postwar economy’s growth, reaching more than 400,000 bicycles that year. The following year, at the age of eighty-eight, Schwinn died of a stroke, leaving the Schwinn Company in the capable hands of his son, Frank, who continued to enhance the Schwinn image. As an engineer and marketing genius, Frank persisted with streamlined innovations. The Black Phantom (1949); the Panther (1950); the Starlet (1951) for girls; the Paramount (1952), said to be the best-built bicycle in America; the Wasp (1954); and the Corvette (1954) were stylish classics of the 1950’s.

Frank W. Schwinn died in 1963. The company management devolved over time to his son and other family members, each less competent than the last. After a long decline, and amid family rancor and squabbling, the Schwinn Bicycle Company went into bankruptcy in 1992.

Impact

With the opening of his factory in 1895, Schwinn began to realize his dream, which was to build excellent bicycles. Possessing abundant knowledge about bicycles, having worked on them for many years in Germany, Schwinn began a conservatively managed company with the best machinery, equipment, and precision tools money could buy—one that could build bicycles that would last. “Schwinn-built” signs appeared in salesrooms to distinguish the bicycles with the latest innovations and accessories, and with the sturdiest frames, deemed the safest and the most durable. Schwinn went so far as to issue a lifetime guarantee with each bicycle, an astounding gesture that demonstrated Schwinn’s confidence in his products. Soon, at the request of salesmen, the “lifetime guarantee” was placed on the handlebars, as the bicycling public had begun to equate Schwinn with quality.

While Schwinn’s stratagems served his purpose well, his advertising methods may have reaped even greater benefits. Schwinn seemed to know what children wanted and targeted them with his advertisements. Because American youth understood from advertisements, their own observations, and by word of mouth that Schwinn bicycles were the “best,” they beseeched their parents not for generic bicycles but for Schwinns. Schwinn also engaged famous actors and actresses to endorse his bicycles and to have their pictures taken while riding his bicycles. The association of the name Schwinn with quality continued for decades.

Bibliography

Berto, Frank J. The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking. San Francisco, Calif.: Cycling Resources, 1999. Informative account of the pioneers of mountain biking.

Crown, Judith, and Glenn Coleman. No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company: An American Institution. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Mostly recounts the agonizing thirty-year decline and slow death of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, which was killed by the arrogance and ineptitude of the later generations of Schwinns, who lacked the work ethic or interest of their predecessors.

Herlihy, David V. Bicycle: The History. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2006. Two hundred years of bicycle history filled with little-known facts. Illustrations and photographs.

Pridmore, Jay, and Jim Hurd. Schwinn Bicycles. Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks International, 2001. Excellent, detailed history of Arnold, Schwinn & Company, with profuse illustrations throughout.

Schwinn, Frank W. Fifty Years of Schwinn-Built Bicycles: The Story of the Bicycle and Its Contributions to Our Way of Life, 1895-1945. Chicago: Arnold, Schwinn & Company, 1945. A tribute to Ignaz Schwinn and a commemoration of the first fifty years of Arnold, Schwinn & Company, written by Schwinn’s son.