Baker torpedo

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Baker torpedo

The Baker Torpedo (also Baker Electric Torpedo ) was an electrically powered speed record car that was built in 1902 by Walter C. Baker . Streamlined, with a closed cockpit and seat belts , the two-seater torpedo was ahead of its time. The Baker Torpedo gained fame through a record attempt on Staten Island , New York , on May 31, 1902, in which the car raced into a group of spectators and two people were killed.

technology

The "Torpedo" with an empty weight of 1406 kg and a length of 5.486 m (wheelbase 2972 ​​mm, track width 1435 mm) was powered by a 14  HP Elwell-Parker electric motor, which was powered by 40 battery cells from the manufacturer Gould.

With a height of 1.27 m, the car was very low for the time. It rolled on 40 × 3  inch tires on wire spokes with wooden rims that were covered with canvas. The driver was sitting in a kind of dome that had small viewing slits, the "electrician" behind the driver. The torpedo was measured in 47.0 seconds during a test drive over the flying mile .

Record attempt and consequences

During the record attempt, the breakage of a rim led to misfortune. Baker and his mechanic CE Denzer were unharmed thanks to the seat belts. Both were arrested for manslaughter after the accident, but were immediately released. The record car was not rebuilt after the accident.

A scaled-down version of the torpedo, the Torpedo Kid , was used by Walter C. Baker for various races from 1902 to 1903. Two examples of this model are known which, in contrast to the torpedo , were painted white.

literature

  • Ferdinand CW Käsmann: world record vehicles . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89602-527-9 .
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Other sources assume one person killed and seven injured.
  2. ↑ This corresponds to a speed of 123.27 km / h; this time meant a world record at the time.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ferdinand CW Käsmann: World record vehicles . Pp. 22-23.
  2. ^ Leonard JK Setright: The Guinness Book of Car Facts and Feats. Guinness Superlatives, Enfield 1982, ISBN 0-85112-207-8 , p. 183.
  3. ↑ a b Beverly Rae Kimes: Standard Catalog of American Cars. P. 98.
  4. ^ Nigel Burton: A History of Electric Cars . Crowood Books, Ramsbury, 2013 ( digitized )
  5. ↑ 1902-03 Torpedoes