Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Smithsonian Institution - United States National Museum - Bulletin 240 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Smithsonian Institution - United States National Museum - Bulletin 240 Author: Museum of History and Technology Release date: September 17, 2012 [eBook #40782] Most recently updated: October 23, 2024 Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40782 Credits: Produced by Tom Cosmas, Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION - UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM - BULLETIN 240 *** Transcriber's Notes This volume was compiled from 11 Papers from The Smithsonian Intitute's Bulletin 240 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: which were previously published on Project Gutenberg: Paper 34 == The 1893 Duryea Automobile In the Museum of History and Technology, by Don H. Berkebile Paper 35 == The Borghesi Astronomical Clock in the Museum of History and Technology, by Silvio A. Bedini Paper 36 == The Engineering Contributions of Wendel Bollman, by Robert M. Vogel Paper 37 == Screw-Thread Cutting by the Master-Screw Method since 1480, by Edwin A. Battison Paper 38 == The Earliest Electromagnetic Instruments, by Robert A. Chipman Paper 39 == Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran, by Howard I. Chapelle Paper 40 == History of Phosphorus, by Eduard Farber Paper 41 == Tunnel Engineering: A Museum Treatment - Robert M. Vogel Paper 42 == The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851, by John H. White Paper 43 == History of the Division of Medical Sciences, by Sami Khalaf Hamarneh Paper 44 == Development of Gravity Pendulums in the 19th Century, by Victor Fritz Lenzen and Robert P. Multhauf The following applies to all of the Papers: Italic emphasis denoted as _Text_. Bold emphasis as =Text=. Whole numbers and fractions: shown as 1-1/2, 3-1/4, etc. Superscripts are ^{3} and subscripts are _{4} unless otherwise noted. All footnotes and any list of corrections were placed at the end of each individual Paper. Numerous minor typographical error were corrected. All obvious typographical errors corrected. Formatting inconsistancies and spelling were standardized. Paragraphs split by illustrations were rejoined. * * * * * CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: PAPER 34 THE 1893 DURYEA AUTOMOBILE IN THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY _Don H. Berkebile_ EARLY AUTOMOTIVE EXPERIENCE 5 CONSTRUCTION BEGINS 6 DESCRIPTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE 16 [Illustration: FIGURE 1.--DURYEA AUTOMOBILE in the Museum of History and Technology, from an 1897 photograph. The gear-sprockets were already missing when this was taken, and the chain lies loosely on the pinion. Shown at the right, the Duryea vehicle following the recent restoration (Smithsonian photo 34183).] _Don H. Berkebile_ The 1893 Duryea Automobile _In the Museum of History and Technology_ _During the last decade of the nineteenth century a number of American engineers and mechanics were working diligently to develop a practical self-propelled vehicle employing an internal-combustion engine as the motive force. Among these men were Charles and Frank Duryea, who began work on this type of vehicle about 1892. This carriage was operated on the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1893, where its trials were noted in the newspapers. Now preserved in the Museum of History and Technology, it is a prized exhibit in the collection of early automobiles._ _It is the purpose of this paper to present some of the facts discovered during the restoration of the vehicle, to show the problems that faced its builders, and to describe their solutions. An attempt also has been made to correlate all this information with reports of the now almost legendary day-to-day experiences of the Duryeas, as published by the brothers in various booklets, and as related by Frank Duryea during two interviews, recorded on tape in 1956 and 1957, while he was visiting the Smithsonian._ THE AUTHOR: _Don H. Berkebile is on the staff of the Museum of History and Technology, in the Smithsonian Institution's United States National Museum._ Of the numerous American automotive pioneers, perhaps among the best known are Charles and Frank Duryea. Beginning their work of automobile building in Springfield, Massachusetts, and after much rebuilding, they constructed their first successful vehicle in 1892 and 1893. No sooner was this finished than Frank, working alone, began work on a second vehicle having a two-cylinder engine. With this automobile, sufficient capital was attracted in 1895 to form the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in which both brothers were among the stockholders and directors. A short time after the formation of the company this second automobile was entered by the company in the Chicago Times-Herald automobile race on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1895, where Frank Duryea won a victory over the other five contestants--two electric automobiles and three Benz machines imported from Germany. In the year following this victory Frank, as engineer in charge of design and construction, completed the plans begun earlier for a more powerful automobile. During 1896 the company turned out thirteen identical automobiles, the first example of mass production in American automotive history.[1] Even while these cars were under construction Frank was planning a lighter vehicle, one of which was completed in October of 1896. This machine was driven to another victory by Frank Duryea on November 14, 1896, when he competed once again with European-built cars in the Liberty-Day Run from London to Brighton. The decision to race and demonstrate their autos abroad was the result of the company's desire to interest foreign capital, yet Frank later felt they might better have used their time and money by concentrating on building cars and selling them to the local market. Subsequently, in the fall of 1898, Frank arranged for the sale of his and Charles' interest in the company, and thereafter the brothers pursued separate careers. [Illustration: FIGURE 2.--WORKMEN IN THE DURYEA FACTORY in Springfield, Mass., working on some of the thirteen 1896 motor wagons. (Smithsonian photo 44062.)] Frank, in 1901, entered into a contract with the J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company, of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, which built automobiles under his supervision. This association led in 1904 to the formation of the Stevens-Duryea Company, of which Irving Page was president and Frank Duryea was vice president and chief engineer. This company produced during its 10-year existence a number of popular and well-known models, among them a light six known as the Model U, in 1907; a larger 4-cylinder called the Model X, in 1908; and a larger six, the Model Y, in 1909. In 1914 when Stevens withdrew from the company, Frank obtained control. The following year he sold the plants and machinery, liquidated the company, and, due to ill health, retired. Charles, in the meantime, located in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he built autos under the name of the Duryea Power Company.[2] Here, and later in Philadelphia under the name of the Duryea Motor Corporation and other corporate names, he continued for a number of years to build automobiles, vacuum cleaners and other mechanical devices. Until the time of his death in 1938, he practiced as a consulting engineer. [Illustration: Department of the Interior U.S. PATENT OFFICE, April 1, 1887 Admit Mr. Charles E. Duryea to this Office on all business days between the hours of 2 and 4 P.M. until otherwise ordered. [Signature] Chief Clerk Countersigned, [Signature] FIGURE 3.--ADMITTANCE CARD of C. E. Duryea to the U.S. Patent Office, 1887. (Gift of Rhea Duryea Johnson.)] Early Automotive Experience Born in 1861 near Canton, Illinois, Charles E. Duryea had learned the trade of a mechanic following his graduation from high school, and subsequently turned his interests to bicycle repair. He and his brother James Frank, eight years younger, eventually left Illinois and moved to Washington D.C., where they were employed in the bicycle shop of H. S. Owen, one of that city's leading bicycle dealers and importers. While in Washington, Charles became a regular reader of the Patent Office Gazette,[3] an act which undoubtedly influenced his later work with automobiles. A short time later, probably in 1889, Charles contracted with a firm in Rockaway, New Jersey, to construct bicycles for him, but their failure to make delivery as promised caused him to go to Chicopee, Massachusetts, where he contracted with the Ames Manufacturing Company to do his work. Moving there in 1890, he obtained for his brother a position as toolmaker with the Ames Company. Thus, Frank Duryea, as he was later known, also became located in Chicopee, a northern suburb of Springfield. [Illustration: FIGURE 4.--CHARLES E. DURYEA, about 1894, as drawn by George Giguere from a photograph. (Smithsonian photo 48335-A.)] During the summer, 1891, Charles found the bicycle business left him some spare time, and the gasoline-powered carriages he had read of earlier came constantly into his mind in these periods of idleness.[4] He and Frank studied several books on gasoline engines, among them one by an English writer (title and author now unknown);[5] this described the Otto 4-stroke cycle as now used. Some engineers, however, were concerned because this engine, on the completion of the exhaust stroke, had not entirely evacuated all of the products of combustion. The Atkinson engine, patented in 1887, was one of the attempts to solve this as well as several other problems, thus creating a more efficient cycle. This engine was designed so that the exhaust stroke carried the piston all the way to the head of the engine, while the compression stroke only moved the piston far enough to sufficiently compress the mixture. The unusual linkage necessary to create these unequal strokes in the Atkinson engine made it seem impractical for a carriage engine, where compactness was desired. [Illustration: _Agents Want{d}_ SYLPH CYCLES RUN EASY Pneumatics not enough; springs necessary for comfort & safety Sylph spring frame saves muscle & nerves & is perfection. All users delighted. Investigate. We also make a 30 lb. rigid Sylph. Cata. free. Rouse-Duryea Cycle Co. _Mfrs._ 16 G st., Peoria, Ill. FIGURE 5.--ADVERTISEMENT of Duryea bicycle company, _Scientific American_, September 9, 1893.] Going to Hartford, Connecticut, possibly on business relating to his bicycle work, Charles visited the Hartford Machine Screw Company where the Daimler-type engine was being produced,[6] but after examining it he felt it was too heavy and clumsy for his purpose. Also in Hartford he talked over the problem of a satisfactory engine with C. E. Hawley, an employee of the Pope Manufacturing Company, makers of the Columbia bicycle. Hawley, searching for a way to construct an engine that would perform in a manner similar to the Atkinson, yet would have the lightness and compactness necessary for a carriage engine, suggested an idea that Charles believed had some merit. This idea, involving the use of what the Duryeas later called a "free piston," was eventually to be incorporated in their first engine.[7] [Illustration: FIGURE 6.--J. FRANK DURYEA, about 1894, as drawn by George Giguere from a photograph. (Smithsonian photo 48335.)] Construction Begins Back in Chicopee again, Charles began planning his first horseless carriage. Frank later stated that they leaned heavily on the Benz patents in their work;[8] but while the later engine and transmission show evidence of this, only the Benz manner of placing the engine and the flywheel seem to have been employed in the original Duryea plan. Charles reversed the engine so that the flywheel was to the front, rather than to the rear as in the Benz patent, but made use of Benz' vertical crankshaft so that the flywheel rotated in a horizontal plane. Previously most engines had used vertical flywheels; Benz, believing that this practice would cause difficulty in steering a propelled carriage, explained his reason for changing this feature in his U.S. patent 385087, issued June 26, 1888: In motors hitherto used the fly-wheels have been attached to a horizontal shaft or axle, and have thus been made to revolve in a vertical plane, since the horizontal shaft is best adapted to the transmission of power. If, however, in this case we should use a heavy rotating mass, corresponding to the power employed and revolving rapidly in a vertical plane, the power to manage the vehicle or boat would become very much lessened, as the flywheel continues to revolve in its plane. I therefore so design the apparatus that its crank shaft x has a vertical position and its fly-wheel y revolves in a horizontal plane.... By this means the vehicle is not only easily controlled, but also the greatest safety is attained against capsizing. To the Duryea plan, Benz may also have contributed the idea for positioning the countershaft, though its location is sufficiently obvious that Charles may have had no need for copying Benz. Charles wisely differed from Benz in placing the flywheel forward, thus eliminating the need for the long driving belt of the Benz carriage. Yet he did reject the bevel gears used by Benz, which might well have been retained, as Frank was later to prove by designing a workable transmission that incorporated such bevel gears. The initial plan, as conceived by Charles, also included the details of the axles, steering gear, countershaft with its friction-drum, the 2-piece angle-iron frame upon which the countershaft bearings were mounted, and the free piston engine with its ignition tube, since hot-tube ignition was to be employed. No provision was made, however, for a burner to heat the tube; nor had a carburetor been designed, though it had been decided not to use a surface tank carburetor. The plans called for no muffler or starting arrangement.[9] Many engines of the period were started simply by turning the flywheel with the hands, and Charles felt this method was sufficient for his carriage. [Illustration: FIGURE 7.--DRAWING SHOWING PRINCIPLE of the Atkinson engine; this feature is what the Duryeas were trying to achieve with their free-piston engine, by substituting the free piston for the unusual linkage of the Atkinson. (Smithsonian photo H3263-A.)] [Illustration: FIGURE 8.--DRAWING OF 1885 BENZ engine, showing similarity in general appearance to Duryea engine. From Karl Benz und sein Lebenswerk, Stuttgart, 1953. (Daimler-Benz Company publication.)] The Ames plant customarily had a summer shutdown during August; thus, during August of 1891 Charles and Frank had access to a nearly empty plant in which they could carry on experiments and make up working drawings of the proposed vehicle. It cannot now be conclusively stated whether any parts were made for the car during August or the remainder of the year. It is more likely that the brothers attempted to complete a set of drawings. Frank Harrington, chief draftsman at Ames, may have helped out at this time; from Charles' statement of April 14, 1937, it is learned that he did prepare drawings during 1892. [Illustration: C. BENZ. SELF PROPELLING VEHICLE. No. 385,087. Patented June 26, 1888. FIGURE 9.--ILLUSTRATION FROM U.S. patent 385087, issued to Carl Benz, showing the horizontal plane of the flywheel, a feature utilized by the Duryeas in their machine.] The first contemporary record of any work on vehicles is a bill, dated January 21, 1892, for a drawing made by George W. Howard & Company. This drawing was made in the fall of 1891 by Charles A. Bartlett, a member of the Howard firm and a neighbor of Charles Duryea, according to a statement by Charles in the _Automobile Trade Journal_ of Jan. 10, 1925. He was then also of the opinion that this drawing may not have had anything to do with the carriage they were about to assemble, but a notation found by Charles at a later date has led him to believe that it possibly concerned a business type vehicle he had discussed with an unidentified Mr. Snow. By early 1892 Charles needed capital to finance his venture, an old carriage to attach his inventions to, a place to work, and a mechanic to do the work. On March 26, he stopped by the Smith Carriage Company and looked over a selection of used buggies and phaetons. He finally decided on a rather well-used ladies' phaeton which he purchased for $70. The leather dash was in so deplorable a state it would have to be recovered before the carriage went onto the road, and the leather fenders it once possessed had previously been removed; yet the upholstery appeared to be in satisfactory condition, and the candle lamps were intact. [Illustration: FIGURE 10.--PHANTOM ILLUSTRATION of Benz' first automobile. (From _Carl Benz, Father of the Automobile Industry_, by L. M. Fanning, New York, 1955.)] Two days later, Charles was able to interest Erwin F. Markham, of Springfield, sufficiently to obtain his financial aid in the project. A contract was drawn up between the two men, which stated that Mr. Markham was to put up $1000 for which he received a five-tenths share of the venture. When the $1000 had been used, he then had the option to continue his aid until the project had been carried to a successful climax, and retain his half share, or to refuse further funds and relinquish four of his five-tenths interest in the business.[10] Had he eventually chosen the latter, Charles would obviously have had to seek assistance elsewhere. [Illustration: FIGURE 11.--THE HOWARD & CO. BILL showing the first work performed toward a motor vehicle. While this may not refer specifically to the machine now in the museum, it is evidence of early work.] [Illustration: FIGURE 12.--THE SHOP OF JOHN RUSSELL & SONS. It was on the second floor of this building that Charles and Frank Duryea built their first motor vehicle. (Courtesy of the _Springfield Union_.)] That same day, March 28, Charles found working space and machinery available at John W. Russell & Sons Company in Springfield.[11] The Russells had recently completed a large government order of shells for the famous dynamite guns later used on board the cruiser _Vesuvius_ in the Spanish-American War, and this left an entire second floor, approximately 35 × 85 feet, virtually unoccupied, according to an affidavit of William J. Russell of April 30, 1926. Now ready to begin the actual work, Charles hired his brother Frank to start construction. Frank started about the first of April, receiving a raise of about 10 percent over the salary he had received at Ames. Before the vehicle was completed a number of other men performed work on some of the parts, among them William Deats who had been hired by Charles primarily to work on bicycles in the same area, but who occasionally assisted on the carriage. Russell Company records show time charged against Charles Duryea by six other Russell employees: W. J. Russell, P. Colgan, C. E. Merrick, T. Shea, L. J. Parmelee, and A. A. Poissant. [Illustration: FIGURE 13.--J. FRANK DURYEA looking over the Russell shop lathe on which he turned parts for the first Duryea vehicle. Photo taken about 1944. (Courtesy of the _Springfield Union_.)] It is Frank Duryea's remembrance that he started work on Monday, April