The threaded Ashtabula-like bottom bracket shell is for a Fauber crank. There is a thread on it's removal :

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...e-piece-cranks

I don't know anything about the Fauber bicycle company, but a friend of mine is a collector and he has a Fauber frame from around 1920 or earlier. The BB shell on his Fauber is the same size as for Ashtabula cranks but is threaded and has a notch cutout. His guess is that the cutout is to show that the cups are threaded and not pressed-in. Because he does not have or found a Fauber crankest, we were looking at it and trying to figure out how to adapt the BB shell to accept an Ashtabula crank or a modern converter. No answer yet though, and we hadn't tried too hard. It just came up when we were yakking away and then passed by.

If you do find a solution, please do post about it.


edit : I just googled Fauber and here's a bit more information and a picture of the Fauber crank.

http://www.american-automobiles.com/...-Cyclecar.html