Kidder Motor Vehicle Company

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Kidder Motor Vehicle Company
legal form Company
founding 1899
resolution 1903
Seat New Haven , Connecticut , USA
management T. Atwater Barnes
Branch Automobiles

The Kidder Motor Vehicle Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars . The entrepreneur Wellington Parker Kidder received his first patent (for an improvement on a steam engine) at the age of 15 and, after studying applied mechanics, developed a printing press and a typewriter before he also devoted himself to building a steam truck.

description

In 1899 he completed two prototypes , the second of which was promising. Kidder developed a two-piston steam engine for this , the pistons of which were attached to the left and right of the boiler and acted directly on the rear axle. With this innovative approach, he made the usual drive chain superfluous.

The company was organized primarily with capital from T. Atwater Barnes ; he also became president. From 1900 Kidder was the technical director. The company headquarters and manufacturing facilities were located in the building of the former New Haven Chair Company on Audubon Street in New Haven, Connecticut .

Kidder developed another prototype, this time with a gasoline engine and called a Petromobile . He was not followed up. When Kidder Steam the end of 1899 appeared, of which there were two versions: The model 2 as a conventional-looking runabout to US $ 1000 and the pickup truck model B to US $ 1600. In particular, the runabout was significantly more expensive than the more common at the beginning Locomobile to US $ 600 resp. US $ 750 from 1901.

In November 1900, 35 Kidder steamers were under construction or delivered. Production was stopped in April 1903 without any financial problems. The reasons are unclear, the most likely being Barnes's death in connection with Kidder's realization that the future would belong to the gasoline-powered vehicle.

In 1907, Kidder built another seven vehicles, but these did not go on sale and were used by family members.

The Kidder Motor Vehicle Company was sold to John H. Springer , who built a few more steam cars before reorganizing the company as the Springer Motor Vehicle Company . A little later the company moved to New York City. Production was switched to a gasoline engine and ended in 1905.

literature

  • George Nick Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark, Jr.: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1985, ISBN 0-87341-111-0 . (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)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 1323.
  2. ^ Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 653.
  3. ^ Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 771.