Originally Posted by bikemore

I picked up a lot of spoke and nipples. Oddly most of the spokes are just over 3 inches long.
Most of the nipples have 2 flats. One of the boxes suggests it was packed in 1927. Of course I have no idea if the contents and the box started out life together. Anyway, I am curious if and when the transition from 2 flats to 4 flats on spokes occurred. Pictured is just one type of nipple. There are nipples 8mm long with 4 flats, large gauged nipples close to 30mm long with just 2 flats. All sorts of stuff inbetween, mostly with 2 flats. Having ruined many, many spoke nipples I don't have any trouble understanding why they went from 2 to 4 flats.