The common thought is that the Austrian built bikes that Sears sold were built by Daimmler. The holy grail of department store bikes is the rare Austrian built Sears 10 speed constructed with 531 steel... I took a chance on a poorly photographed Sears bike on eBay recently trying to find one, but struck out.

Some 3 speed hubs from thast era were reportedly direct copies of Sturmey Archer hubs, copied so precisely that parts could be interchanged, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if yours was one of these as well... If so, it is a pretty bullet proof design.