Tea Kettle Steamer (1906 White Model F)
Cars. It's amazing what we take for granted today. You need to run to the store, or take your kids somewhere, you approach your car from 30 feet away, press a button, and the doors unlock. You enter the car, press another button, and the car comes to life. It's a comfortable environment, regardless of the weather or the season. Your entertainment system comes to life and plays your favorite music, or gets you up to date on the latest news. They are genius, and the people who created them are genius!
But, that's not the way it always was. Let's go back to the beginnings, say 125 years ago, there were no doors or roofs or windows to safely enclose you. They were noisy, hard starting, somewhat unreliable, and maybe a little stinky! But, they were genius, and the lust to create them, and improve them was also genius. We have to start with the invention of the gas engine, although other technologies were also considered and used such as steam and electric. But the very first cars were powered by a gas engine. The engine had been invented in 1860 by Jean Lenoir, and many decades later it found a home in the car. It was the late 1880's when it finally did when a few decided that this engine, or one like it, could be placed on a carriage, eliminate the horse, and provide power to turn the wheels and propel it. And credit for that must go to Ransom E. Olds in America and to Karl Benz in Europe who in 1886 produced the very first automobile.
As I mentioned above steam power seemed to be a viable option and solution. After all, steam had provided a very powerful source of energy for the locomotive, and it had proven itself for many decades prior to it's use in the automobile. Theoretically, it was inexpensive to run with no gas to buy, and if you had an inexhaustible supply of wood or coal to burn, and a water supply you could fuel it forever. The autos fueled by it were fast, very fast, and powerful. But, when it comes to convenience and practicality, it just didn't offer the "instant" availability of a gas powered car. You had to build a fire under the boiler, and wait for the steam to build up before you could drive away, and that process could easily have been 20 plus minutes, or more.
The car above, the White was a steam powered car. And when one thinks of steam powered cars the names Stanley and Locomobile often come to mind. Many of the early auto manufacturers were not even in a related business when they decided to join the many engaged in developing their own vehicles. And, there were many. Buick, for example, was in the porcelain toilet fixture business, and White (above) made sewing machines (ingenious little products in their own right) Henry Ford worked as an engineer in the Edison Illuminating Company. Whereas you might conclude some of the other early companies were at least somewhat related. For example, Studebaker made wagons and carts long before they decided to go into the car business, and many of those early wagons were used by the early settlers who ventured across this great country of ours. And they did so without paved roads and a navigation system to guide them along the way! Other companies made bicycles and the very means to get the power to the bike's rear wheel via a chain and sprockets was also used in the early cars in order to get the engine's power to the rear wheels.
Somewhere around the turn of the century (1900) White, who was happy making sewing machines but his son's decided they, too, wanted to try their hand at making cars. One of them had bought a steam powered Locomobile, but was not totally happy with it's performance. So, he went on to develop some advances in the boiler technology that proved to be more efficient and practical than what had been in use. He patented those enhancements, and they later were sold to other steam powered car manufacturers. After that, both he and his brother decided that they would build their own steam car, and so was the birth of the White Motorcar Company.
White was a very innovated company and over the subsequent 80 years they developed products for diverse industries. Tractors, and agricultural products, diesel generators for commercial and military uses, and what many of us might remember the manufacturer of trucks, and good heavy duty trucks. Along the way they added to their line as they gobbled up other truck companies, such as REO, Sterling, Autocar, and Diamond T. But, for whatever the reason, that all ended for White. The White Motor Company, a prominent truck manufacturer, faced financial difficulties in the late 1970s and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1980. Volvo acquired most of White's U.S. assets in 1981, including the Autocar and Sterling brands, and formed Volvo White Truck Corporation. And, as they say, the rest is history!
Jay Leno was working on a 1907 version of one of these when he was seriously burned in an accident.
Vince M autofocus
Tea Kettle Steamer (1906 White Model F)
Cars. It's amazing what we take for granted today. You need to run to the store, or take your kids somewhere, you approach your car from 30 feet away, press a button, and the doors unlock. You enter the car, press another button, and the car comes to life. It's a comfortable environment, regardless of the weather or the season. Your entertainment system comes to life and plays your favorite music, or gets you up to date on the latest news. They are genius, and the people who created them are genius!
But, that's not the way it always was. Let's go back to the beginnings, say 125 years ago, there were no doors or roofs or windows to safely enclose you. They were noisy, hard starting, somewhat unreliable, and maybe a little stinky! But, they were genius, and the lust to create them, and improve them was also genius. We have to start with the invention of the gas engine, although other technologies were also considered and used such as steam and electric. But the very first cars were powered by a gas engine. The engine had been invented in 1860 by Jean Lenoir, and many decades later it found a home in the car. It was the late 1880's when it finally did when a few decided that this engine, or one like it, could be placed on a carriage, eliminate the horse, and provide power to turn the wheels and propel it. And credit for that must go to Ransom E. Olds in America and to Karl Benz in Europe who in 1886 produced the very first automobile.
As I mentioned above steam power seemed to be a viable option and solution. After all, steam had provided a very powerful source of energy for the locomotive, and it had proven itself for many decades prior to it's use in the automobile. Theoretically, it was inexpensive to run with no gas to buy, and if you had an inexhaustible supply of wood or coal to burn, and a water supply you could fuel it forever. The autos fueled by it were fast, very fast, and powerful. But, when it comes to convenience and practicality, it just didn't offer the "instant" availability of a gas powered car. You had to build a fire under the boiler, and wait for the steam to build up before you could drive away, and that process could easily have been 20 plus minutes, or more.
The car above, the White was a steam powered car. And when one thinks of steam powered cars the names Stanley and Locomobile often come to mind. Many of the early auto manufacturers were not even in a related business when they decided to join the many engaged in developing their own vehicles. And, there were many. Buick, for example, was in the porcelain toilet fixture business, and White (above) made sewing machines (ingenious little products in their own right) Henry Ford worked as an engineer in the Edison Illuminating Company. Whereas you might conclude some of the other early companies were at least somewhat related. For example, Studebaker made wagons and carts long before they decided to go into the car business, and many of those early wagons were used by the early settlers who ventured across this great country of ours. And they did so without paved roads and a navigation system to guide them along the way! Other companies made bicycles and the very means to get the power to the bike's rear wheel via a chain and sprockets was also used in the early cars in order to get the engine's power to the rear wheels.
Somewhere around the turn of the century (1900) White, who was happy making sewing machines but his son's decided they, too, wanted to try their hand at making cars. One of them had bought a steam powered Locomobile, but was not totally happy with it's performance. So, he went on to develop some advances in the boiler technology that proved to be more efficient and practical than what had been in use. He patented those enhancements, and they later were sold to other steam powered car manufacturers. After that, both he and his brother decided that they would build their own steam car, and so was the birth of the White Motorcar Company.
White was a very innovated company and over the subsequent 80 years they developed products for diverse industries. Tractors, and agricultural products, diesel generators for commercial and military uses, and what many of us might remember the manufacturer of trucks, and good heavy duty trucks. Along the way they added to their line as they gobbled up other truck companies, such as REO, Sterling, Autocar, and Diamond T. But, for whatever the reason, that all ended for White. The White Motor Company, a prominent truck manufacturer, faced financial difficulties in the late 1970s and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1980. Volvo acquired most of White's U.S. assets in 1981, including the Autocar and Sterling brands, and formed Volvo White Truck Corporation. And, as they say, the rest is history!
Jay Leno was working on a 1907 version of one of these when he was seriously burned in an accident.
Vince M autofocus