Baker Motor Vehicle Company

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Baker Motor Vehicle Company logo (1912)
Baker Suburban (Runabout), at the wheel Walter C. Baker (1909)
Baker model from 1908 in the Deutsches Museum
Baker Electric Coupe 1912-15

The Baker Motor Vehicle Company was a manufacturer of electric cars around the turn of the century from 1899 to 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio . The factory was on Euclid Avenue.

history

The first car was the Baker Electric, a two-seater, which sold for $ 850, which would be $ 25,084 in 2020 due to inflation. One of the vehicles was sold to Thomas Edison as his first vehicle.

In 1904, Baker expanded its product range to include two two-seaters with reinforced wooden bodies, centrally mounted electric motors, and twelve-cell lead-acid batteries . The Stanhope cost 1,600 dollars, weighs 431 kg, has a 1.75 kW motor and a three-speed transmission. The car reached a speed of 23 km / h.

In 1906, Baker manufactured 800 cars, making him the largest electric car manufacturer of the time.

In 1907, Baker built 17 different car models from the smallest Stanhope to the largest car, the Inside Drive Coupe . So z. For example, the $ 4,000 Extension Front Brougham , whose driver's seat was high behind the passengers and modeled on a Hansom Cab .

Baker also built a number of trucks with a capacity up to 5 tons.

After the merger with the electric car and bodywork manufacturer Rauch and Lang from Cleveland in 1914, the company was named Baker, Rauch & Lang. The last Baker cars were built in 1916, and electric vehicles a few years longer.

The Baker Torpedo , the racing car of founder Walter C. Baker, was the first car with a seat belt . The car drove more than 120 km / h.

Walter Baker became a member of the board of directors of Peerless Motor Car Corporation in 1919 .

Owen Magnetic

In 1912 Walter C. Baker became aware of Justus B. Entz and his electromagnetic transmission . He bought the rights to it. Together with the brothers Raymond M. and Ralph R. Owen , he improved the car, made it ready for series production and with them founded RM Owen and Company in New York City . Here automobiles with this gasoline-electric power transmission were to be manufactured under the brand name Owen Magnetic . The Owens worked for over ten years in the automotive industry and were already 1910-1911 with the Owen Motor Car Company (brand name Owen ) in Detroit ( Michigan been active) as an automobile manufacturer. Before production started, Baker and Rauch and Lang merged . The new company acquired RM Owen and Company and relocated the company to Cleveland. After the Baker Motor Vehicle Co. had given up automobile production, the facilities on West 83rd Street were now used to produce the drive train for the Owen Magnetic . In 1916 General Electric also took part and supplied the vehicle's electrical components. Most of the bodies were manufactured by Rauch and Lang , whose core competence was series body construction. Owen Magnetic were manufactured until 1922, most recently after a management buy-out . Ultimately, the vehicle failed because of the complex and therefore expensive technology.

literature

  • Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January 1904)
  • David Burgess Wise: The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles ISBN 0-7858-1106-0

Web links

Commons : Baker Motor Vehicle Company  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d N. Georgano: Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . HMSO, London 2000, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 .
  2. ^ Coachbuilt: Baker Rauch & Lang.