Thanks, Alex, but this thread is evolving nicely, without my help.

Tullio's Cambio Corsa gear (perhaps the ultimate suicide shifter) is a great example of, "When you tool is a hammer [quick-release hub, which T.C. invented], every problem [e.g., gear changing] looks like a nail." It was obsolete well before the company discontinued it in 1956. In its defense, the CC gear carries no extra chain, runs as quietly as a single-speed freewheel rig, and shortens the wheelbase for climbing. However, in "The Dancing Chain," Frank Berto notes that it took him 10 minutes to figure out how to execute a gear change with one. One of the most interesting transmissions pictured in his book combines a suicide-style front shifter with a Cambio Corsa rear.

A couple of years ago, an Austrian gentleman emailed me a picture of a 1937 Capo with what appears to be a Germanic interpretation of the Cambio Corsa -- I'll try to find and post it.