Figure 1.--Sears here offered tricycle which it called a velocipede in its 1919 catalog. The boys pictured with the tricycle wears kneepant with long stockings. Notice the different model for girls. Click on the image for a portrait of chilkdren with these tricycles. |
The Sears catalog for 1919 contained advertisements for tricycles ( velocipedes. The illustration pictures a boy in a kneepants sailor suit and long stockings. An entirely different model was made for girls, necessary as girls still almost entirely wore dresses.
The Sears, Roebuck and Co., huge merchandising firm centered in Chicago was founded by Richard W. Sears (1863-1914) and A.C. Roebuck (1864-1948). Sears had begun a career in mail-order business in Minnesota 1886. In Chicago he and Roebuck joined resources and formed a corporation in 1893 as a mail-order business under title Sears, Roebuck and Company. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) bought Roebuck's interest in firm and became president on Sears's retirement 1908. A retail-store system was added 1925. The first foreign store added in Havana, Cuba during 1945 and becane te first expropriated store in 1960. The Sears-Roebuck brought the production of industry to the fartherest corner of rural America, opening the cornucopia of the consumer age to rural America. All the new things that were changing American life danced across their pages. Through it, a huge Chicago warehouse offers to modernize the farms and small towns of the Midwest.
there were two models of tricycles offered by Sears in 1019. There was a boys' model and a very different model for girls. This was needed because girls in the 1910s mostly wore dresses. Notice how much more expensive the girl's model was.
The ad copy read, "$3.67 And Up. Velocipedes and Play Cars For Playground Equipment, Teeter Totters, Slides, Giant Stride, Etc., see page 1296. Velocipedes Low Priced, but a Good Velocipede for the Money. These numbers present the lowest priced dependable velocipedes we have been able to find. Each of our velocipedes is equipped with rigid handle bars with wood grips, and adjustable spring seat and steel wheels. The front fork is made of good quality steel, one-piece crank. The whole frame is painted. Take leg measurement from crotch to heel and state measurment on your order. Measurements given below are with seat as low as it will go, and careful comparison of these with leg measurement should be made before selection. Adjustment of about 2 1/2 inches more in length can be made by raising seat as child grows. [See size table on image].
A model was made especially for girls, but it was much more expensive. It appears to have also been less popular. We notice few family snapshots of girls riding this model, while many available images show boys on tricycles. The Sears ad copy read, "GIRLS TRICYCLES $11.95.
We list below the size which has proved to be one which will fit most girls using tricycles. Made of metal with upholstered seat in imitation leather. Adjustable spring seat, wooden handles, easy working pedals. Front wheel 12 inches; rear wheels 20 inches; rubber tired." HBC Note: It is interesting that in 1919 Sears was selling two different models of tricyles for boys and girls. The velocipede being ridden by the boy would obviously be unsuitable for a girl wearing skirts, which all girls in 1919 wore, because a skirt would get in the way of the unfendered large front wheel. The girl's model, shown below in the image, avoids this problem by
having the large wheels in back on either side of the seat with a small front wheel (cut off in the illustration). Note that the girl must steer her tricycle with a stick or shaft-style hand control to turn the front wheel, whereas the boy uses handle bars.
Note that the boy seems to wear slipper-like slip-on shoes (more suitable for indoors than for outdoor play) rather than the usual hightop boots that schoolboys normally wore for play. This may be only because the slipper-type shoes take up less space and allow more of the velocipede to be shown in the image. The boy's suit is interesting also--made of a striped material with matching blouse and knee pants (but without ornamental buttons at the hem of the shorts). In 1919 knee pants were gradually giving way to short pants for younger boys. This may be an intermediate stage between the older and the newer style. The pants are relatively short and come down only to a length several inches above the
knee. The boy's white collar is also quite interesting. This seems to be a modification of the somewhat old-fashioned sailor suit. Note that it has a middy section over the chest opening. The boy seems to wear some sort of tie or neckerchief. He also wears some sort of wide belt the details of which are difficult to assess.
A girl does not appear in the illustration of the girls' model which we assume was not as good a seller. As we have noted, the difference in the models arise from the fact that girls wore skirted garments. There were, however, some exceptions for younger children. Both boys and girls wore rompers. Also some girls wore tunic suits. Girls in both of these garments could use the boys' model of tricycle which were substantially less expensive.
Boys except for very young ones in 1919 were no longer wearing when garments except for tunic suits. We note, however, that even were boys were wearing dresses and kilts that they still rode the boys' style of trucycle. Click on the image here for an example.
Sears in its 1919 catalog also offfered hand cars and Irish Mails. The illustrations also shows boys wearing kneepants outfits such as sailor suits. These vehicles did not, however, prove as popular as the tricycles shown here--at least the boys' model.
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