[CR]Cotterless crank history questions

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme)

Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:35:03 -0800 (PST)
From: "Wesley Gadd" <wesleygadd@sbcglobal.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Cotterless crank history questions

Now that we seem to be entering the twilight of the reign of the taper squa re cotterless crank, I've been wondering about a couple of historical quest ions. First, did Stronglight originate the concept, and, if so, when? I'm guess ing late '30's? Did they hold a patent that kept other manufacturers from u sing this design? As far as I know, the first company to make a taper squar e crank after Stronglight was Campagnolo in 1958. Others used different met hods (Gnutti, T.A. "Criterium", Williams AB77 come to mind) but did the alm ost universal adoption of the taper square method have somthing to do with the expiration of a patent? I checked the archives but couldn't find much about this.

Best regards,
Wes Gadd
Unionville,CT