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Hi T-Mar

Thanks for the information in your second comment as well. I've been reading up on single tube tires and wonder if modern ones still need to be glued to the rims and have the same difficulties in repairing them that the historical ones did. If  rims are designed for them (and there is no tube and wired on tyres that can be used as a substitute) I think I'll stick with the hard rubber tires, or I may look for metal rims to substitute in. I'd like to keep the rear hub, wiith the Model 5A Corbin brake arm and block chain sprocket, I hope they'll fit in a metal rim.

I'll look into The Cabe website, people on it may also be able to provide information on the bike I have that you had noted had a Huffy sprocket.

Wood rims were still very popular in the 1920s. For instance, wood rims were standard on CCM bicycles until the end of the 1927 model year. In 1928, steel rims became standard, though wood rims were optional. Wood rims persisted on the Flyer racing model into the mid-1930s.

As you noted, the rims have valve holes, so the tyres are almost certainly not OEM. By the turn of the 20th century, solid rubber tyres were virtually extinct on bicycles. However, they were still in wide use on baby carriages, chidren's tricycles and wheel chairs. Solid rubber tyres were not sold as a finished product. Instead, the rubber was sold by foot and bicycle repair men typically custom manufactured the tyre using coils of solid rubber "tiring", which was sold by length.

Most likely the original owner was frustrated by frequent punctures and decided to forgoe the increased cushioning  of pneumatic tyres for the reliability and lower operating cost of solid tyres. By the turn of the 20th century, wired-on tyres, with a separate replacable inner tube was the dominant style in Canada. These are less suspectrible to flats and relatively easy to repair. In contrast, the USA persisted with single tube tyres, primarily because they are cheaper to manufacture. However, they're more prone to punctures, harder to repair and require gluing to the rims. Like Dave Brown, I suspect the rim is designed for single tube tyres which, given the apparent era, makes an American bicycle brand more likely. Consequently, you'll probaly get more helpful responses on The CABE site, as he suggests.

I've seen lots of similar tandems but nothing that is a perfect match. The twin keel tubes and rear steering were common features right around the turn of the century. As for the crankarms, I've seen a good match in a wholesale catalogue from this era. It was not given a brand name and was provided as a raw drop forging which required finishing. Therefore, the crankset itself is likely not proprietary to one bicycle manufacturer.