If anyone has an Ithaca or Fox with Krupp steel tubes, I'd ask that you post a pic of the mark. For now I don't think the tubes were made in Essen, but probably made at Bethlehem Steel where circa 1900 Captain A.E. Piorkowski as the official Krupp representative. Ingots of crucible nickel steel and/or the licensed process was probably the means or source of the tubes. And another thing, does any of the examples have the preliminary proofmark; were the marks removed, etc. In the early 1880s, the U.S. of A. attempted to gain access to the Krupp facility at Essen but Alfred Longsdon of London, Krupp's agent, denied the request.
The Mannesmann brother attempted to get a foothold in the U.S. of A. with the assistance of Colonel A.A. Pope in 1894 and then the acquisition/merger which in 1896 formed the Mannesmann Cycle Tube Company of Adams , Mass. but it folded in 1898.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
Last edited by ellenbr; 06/28/09 10:52 AM.
