Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope

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Henry H. Buffum
1895 Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope photo1.JPG

Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope at the Louwman Museum

Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope
Presentation year: 1894-1895
Vehicle fair:
Class :
Body shape : Stanhope
Engine: Otto engine :
(4.4 kW)
Production model: none

The Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope is a test vehicle built from 1894 to 1895 by Henry H. Buffum (? –1933) in Abington , Plymouth County ( Massachusetts , USA ). It is the first of six vehicles that this designer built and the only one that has survived. The vehicle is considered the first four-cylinder automobile in the world to feature numerous other innovations.

Henry H. Buffum

Henry Buffum came to Abington from the west coast in 1890 and mainly dealt with the automation of shoe production, for which he designed a nail and sewing machine . In addition, he ran a small bicycle production facility, repaired mechanical devices and built motor boats. Buffum received numerous patents for its developments.

Before he founded his own company for the production of automobiles in 1901 (according to a source: 1903), he manufactured a few specimens as test vehicles and a few at the request of local customers. Six of these automobiles were made between 1894 and 1900, probably on the side in his spare time. The Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope , created between 1894 and 1895, was the first of these vehicles. Fearing that his ideas might be copied by others, Buffum rarely showed and drove his automobiles.

Buffum 80 HP Model G "Greyhound" racing car with 180 ° V8 engine (1904)

It was not until 1900 that Henry Buffum began to take orders for his automobiles. Most of the customers were in Abington and the surrounding area. Serious production began in 1901 when the HH Buffum Company was founded in Abington . She started her activity with a new model that had a front engine and a starting device from the driver's seat. Buffum also manufactured the aluminum bodies themselves. The company set milestones with the Greyhound , the first eight-cylinder road vehicle manufactured in the USA (1903), which appeared in the regular sales catalog the following year, making it the first production racing car. Several four-cylinder series followed, and in 1906 the Buffum 40 HP was a model that could be considered as the first passenger car with an eight-cylinder engine. It cannot be conclusively clarified whether this is the case; the Hewitt 50/60 HP with V8 appeared on the market almost at the same time. At the end of 1907, the HH Buffum Company had to file for bankruptcy. Henry Buffum moved to Laconia ( New Hampshire ) and built motor boats there before he launched the Laconia Cyclecar he had designed in 1914 and sold a little less than 100 of these small cars in the first and only year of production. Henry Buffum died in 1933.

Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope

Buffum began work on his first car as early as 1894. As is typical of the time, the engine is mounted across under the driver's seat. The vehicle, completed in 1895, is remarkable in several respects and represents a milestone in automotive history.

History of the vehicle and whereabouts

The Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope remained in his possession until Henry Buffum's death in 1933. His widow sold the car in 1934 to one of the first private collector of vintage cars, Harry Bell , which it for a long time the car Princeton Museum in Princeton ( Worcester County presented, Massachusetts) loan to. The Princeton Auto Museum was one of the first museums of its kind in the United States and closed around 1960. The vehicles, initially without the Buffum Stanhope, were taken over into the collection of the Zimmerman Museum , which apparently later acquired it from Bell. He changed hands a few more times and stayed with collector John Swann in Highland (Maryland) for a long time , who made the car drivable and used it for parades. On the occasion of the opening ceremony of the second Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1973, the Buffum Stanhope was the first vehicle to drive this parallel bridge .

After that, it was exhibited at Owl's Head Transportation Museum in Owl's Head . On August 17, 2012, it was part of the annual Quail Lodge auction of the renowned Bonhams auction house in Carmel-by-the-Sea ( California ). It was offered as lot no. 446 at an estimate of US $ 250,000 to 350,000, but was never accepted. It then ended up in the collection of the Louwman Museum in The Hague ( Netherlands ), where it can be viewed.

The vehicle was given a new paint job years ago, but is otherwise largely in its original condition, including the leather seats and the bulkhead as well as the numerous technical features.

technology

engine

The in-line four - cylinder engine has four individually cast cylinders on a common crankshaft housing, each with a removable cylinder head . The valves are overhead , which is a very early application of this principle. The engine block and cylinder are made of cast iron. The inlet valve is described as a "mixing valve", which means a so-called sniffer valve . The engine has a water cooling system developed by Buffum ; each cylinder is supplied with its own cooling lines.

The ignition system works according to the extremely simple "make and break" principle, i. That is, inside each cylinder there are contact points which are connected to an ignition coil and which are opened and closed by a linkage on the outside of the cylinder. As soon as they are opened, they create an arc that forms the ignition spark for the mixture in the cylinder and triggers the explosion. The exhaust gases are discharged through a double exhaust system with two canisters.

The engine is started up by means of a crank that is guided out of the engine compartment on the side of the seat.

Power transmission

For the power transmission, Buffum chose a combination of a two-speed planetary gearbox and a single drive chain that runs centrally to the rear axle. A differential is not provided. The controls are well thought out. The gearshift lever for the two forward gears protrudes out of the engine compartment on the far right of the seat. On top of the lever is a round, leather-covered gear knob. It can be rotated and regulates the speed. Presumably it was originally a shoemaker's tool that Buffum adapted for this purpose. It was also found on later Buffum vehicles. Foot pedals were provided for braking and reverse gear.

chassis

The body and chassis were created with the help of the local carriage builder George Pierce (not identical to George N. Pierce , the founder of Pierce-Arrow ). The lightweight frame was made from steel tubing and incorporated numerous features of carriage construction. It consists of a central tube to which the axles are attached without their own suspension, and three spring assemblies that are attached above the chassis and support and spring the car body suspended from it . A single spring package carries it in front; two more are arranged on each side along the direction of travel and take over the load in the rear. These spring assemblies each consist of a pair of semi-elliptical leaf springs placed against one another , the two rear springs being significantly longer than the front one.

For the suspension of the engine in the middle of the frame, Buffum had its own iron brackets cast, which are attached to the frame and the crankshaft housing.

It is steered with a small lever that is attached to the steering column in front of the driver. Images don't show brake drums on the rear wheels and there is no differential, so the brake is likely acting on the transmission.

Stanhope body

Carriage builder George Pierce most likely also supplied the Stanhope body. This designation goes back to the carriage of the same name , which was mainly used by traveling salespeople and country doctors. Among the motor vehicles, it can be seen as a slightly larger and more comfortable motor buggy or runabout . Typically a leather Victoria hood was attached, but this is missing on this test vehicle.

The body is two-seater; the rear-facing two-seater bench, which is often additionally attached to the rear, was omitted. It's done more carefully than you would expect from a prototype. At the front it has a splash guard, which consists of a leather-covered frame.

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 . (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd edition Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)
  • Robert D. Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era: Essential Specifications of 4,000+ Gasoline Powered Passenger Cars, 1906-1915, with a Statistical and Historical Overview. Mcfarland & Co, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-7136-2 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X . (English)
  • James J. Flink: America Adopts the Automobile - 1895-1910. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970, ISBN 0-262-06036-1 .
  • Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (Ed.): Handbook of Gasoline Automobiles / 1904–1905-1906. Introduction by Clarence P. Hornung. Dover Publications, New York 1969.
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce : Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.

Web links

Commons : Buffum Four Cylinder Stanhope  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Bonham's: Quail Lodge Sale; 17 Aug 2012, lot 446: 1895 Buffum Four-Cylinder Stanhope.
  2. ↑ a b c d american-automobiles.com: The Buffum Automobile & The HH Buffum & Co.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j conceptcarz.com: Buffum Stanhope (1895).
  4. ^ Clark Kimes: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 160. (Buffum)
  5. ^ Clark Kimes: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, pp. 701-702 (Hewitt)
  6. ^ Clark Kimes: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 833. (Laconia)
  7. ^ Louwman Museum: Buffum four cylinder stanhope (1895).
  8. ↑ a b c d Louwman Museum: Buffum four cylinder stanhope (1895; illustration).