Bourne Magnetic Truck Company

Bourne Magnetic Truck Company
legal form	Corporation
founding	1915
resolution	1919
Seat	Philadelphia , Pennsylvania; (1915–1918) ; New York City , New York , USA; (1919)
management	Stephen N. Bourne
Branch	commercial vehicles

The Bourne Magnetic Truck Company was a short-lived, American commercial vehicle manufacturer . The outstanding feature of the two trucks produced was their electromagnetic transmission . The brand name was Bourne .

Company history

Stephen Bourne presented a truck design in 1915 for the Atlantic Refining Company , an oil exploration company and forerunner to Atlantic Petroleum and Sunoco . In the same year, some of these vehicles were built for test purposes. The company was founded in 1915 and had its mailing address at Sedgley Avenue and North 17th Street in Philadelphia. Bourne shared the facilities with the Biddle Motor Car Company , a company founded in 1915 is also a manufacturer of luxury class - automobiles , which had taken a room here. There seems to have been another connection with this company, as they both moved to New York City around the same time .

Regular production began at the Bourne Magnetic Truck Company in late 1916 with the two-tonne (1815 kg) Bourne VM at US $ 3150. A Bourne VX with a 3.5 sh tn (3175 kg) payload and a list price of US $ 3850 followed soon after. As early as 1916, the company noted the delivery of 150 trucks to a single customer. It can be assumed that this customer was Atlantic Refining .

To manufacture the Bourne truck, the company had acquired a license from RM Owen and Company in Cleveland, Ohio , which included the rights to the Entz drive described below. This company was founded to manufacture a luxury passenger car , the Owen Magnetic . It was funded by the automobile pioneer Walter C. Baker , who owned the American Roller Bearing Company, a key company in the bicycle and automobile industries. In 1914, he merged his electric car company Baker Motor Vehicle Company with another local electric car manufacturer to form Rauch & Lang .

A vehicle with an ignition drive does not need to be shifted or coupled. The Bourne struggled with the same problems as corresponding passenger cars: The system was easy to use and, if properly maintained, worked satisfactorily. But it also increased the manufacturing costs and thus the sales price, and it was very complex to maintain. In a commercial vehicle, its advantages were even less significant than in luxury cars such as the Owen Magnetic, and economy plays an even greater role. The prices had to be increased to US $ 3500, - and US $ 4200, - respectively. When this took place is unclear, but the prices were valid on January 1, 1918.

Referred been with the slogans " The Most Advanced Truck in America " ( "The most advanced trucks in America") and " The Aladdin of Motor Power Transmission " ( "The Aladin , the motor-power transmission"). There appears to have been a customer care collaboration between Baker, Rauch & Lang and the Bourne Magnetic Truck Company .

The move to New York City is documented and took place in 1918 or 1919. Logically, one source noted the end of production in 1918 and another in 1919. Advertisements for Bourne trucks were placed in October 1919. Biddle's move took place in 1919.

After the end of the First World War , the commercial vehicle market in Europe and the United States was in upheaval. Manufacturers returned to peacetime production, and at the same time a large number of redundant, well-maintained and very inexpensive trucks entered the market. There was a concentration of manufacturers and many small ones had to give up. Whether the Bourne Magnetic Truck Company went bankrupt or whether the company simply closed its doors is not known.

technology

The Bourne was apart from his driving a conventionally constructed trucks. The appearance is based on the Liberty Truck . Both versions were powered by identical four-cylinder engines from the Hercules Gas Engine Company (1914-1934). Bourne noted that it was an engine specifically designed for trucks. As a supplier of water coolers could Rome-Turney Radiator Company of Rome (New York) are identified. The radiator was almost rectangular, ribbed at the top, and protruded from the domed bonnet.

It was also important to the company that it manufactured its own chassis using chrome- vanadium steel. The first chief engineer of the Ford Motor Company , C. Harold Wills (1878-1940), had used the alloy for the first time in the automotive industry with the Ford Model T in 1907. The leaf springs came from the specialist Mather Spring Company in Ohio ; Bourne had developed its own fastening without bolts for this purpose. The few known images of the vehicle (a VM) and a Bourne unknown type in their own advertising show double wheels on the rear axle. The vehicles had left-hand drive , wooden artillery wheels , solid rubber tires and half-open cabs. H. a solid roof but no side walls.

The Entz Drive

The American comedian , long-time host of the Tonight Show and recognized collector Jay Leno gave a good description of how the Entz drive works : The engine's only job is to turn the magnetic field, which then turns the generator, which runs the rear wheels. It's not a hybrid, it's driven by a conventional engine. It was an automatic transmission 30 years ahead of its time. - "The job of the motor is to build up the magnetic field. This turns the generator, and this turns the rear wheels. It is not a hybrid , it is powered by a conventional motor. It was an automatic transmission 30 years before its time."

The principle corresponds to that of the diesel-electric drive : an internal combustion engine produces power that is passed on to an electricity generator. This feeds an electric motor that drives the rear wheels. The mechanism does not require a gearbox or clutch and has no direct connection between the engine and the rear wheels. Instead of the flywheel , a generator and a horseshoe-shaped magnet are attached to the rear end of the crankshaft . At the front end of the cardan shaft there is an electric motor with an armature in the rapidly rotating magnet. The electricity generated by the generator and transmitted via the armature of the electric motor supplies the energy to turn the cardan shaft and thus the rear wheels. The speed is regulated by a lever next to the steering wheel. For the Bourne Magnetic Truck Company , the advantages of the Entz gearbox were the continuously variable, low-noise power transmission, the easier vehicle operation, reduced operating costs, longer service life and the additional function of the generator as an electric starter. As for the Owen Magnetic , the powertrain components for the Bourne VM and VX were sourced from General Electric .

With the Bourne , the power in the rear axle was transmitted via worm gear .

Model overview

Only incomplete information is available.

construction time	model	payload	engine	List price
1916-1918/1919	VM	2 sh tn / 1814 kg	R4; Hercules	US $ 3150, - US $ 3500, -
1916-1918/1919	VX	3½ sh tn / 3175 kg	R4; Hercules	US $ 3800, - US $ 4200, -

Remarks

^ Translation of a description by the automobile writer Henry B. Lent , found in the Entz article in Wikipedia on Owen Magnetic (accessed January 12, 2019)

literature

GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI, 1979; ISBN 0-87341-024-6 .
Albert Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. Krause Publications, Iola WI, 1996; ISBN 0-87341-368-7 .
Bourne Magnetic Truck Company: Bourne - The Truck With The Magnetic Transmission. Advert, Automobile Trade Journal, 1916.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, p. 101.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. 1996, p. 38.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Bourne Magnetic Truck Company: Bourne - The Truck With The Magnetic Transmission. Advert, 1916.
↑ Everybody's Magazine, Vol.XXXVII-B. November / December 1917 ; P. 98.
↑ Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, Iola WI, 1996; ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 . P. 124.
↑ ^a ^b Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. 1996, p. 38 (fig.).
^ Rome Historical Society: Rome-Turney Radiator Company; Records Collection 1905-1933; Company codes.

[8] Translation of a description by the automobile writer Henry B. Lent , found in the Entz article in Wikipedia on Owen Magnetic (accessed January 12, 2019)

[GeorganoNaul(1979)101-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, p. 101.

[Mroz(1996)38-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. 1996, p. 38.

[BMTC1916-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Bourne Magnetic Truck Company: Bourne - The Truck With The Magnetic Transmission. Advert, 1916.

[EverybodysXXXVII-B-4] Everybody's Magazine, Vol.XXXVII-B. November / December 1917 ; P. 98.

[Kimes(1996)124-5] Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, Iola WI, 1996; ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 . P. 124.

[Mroz(1996)38Abb-6] Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. 1996, p. 38 (fig.).

[RHS_Rome-Turney-7] Rome Historical Society: Rome-Turney Radiator Company; Records Collection 1905-1933; Company codes.