Marvel (automobile prototype)

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Duesenberg Automobile Company
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Marvel
Presentation year: 1905-1906
Vehicle fair:
Class : Middle class
Body shape :
Engine: Gasoline engine :
3.2 liters
(24–28 HP)
Production model: Mason 24 HP (and ff)

The Marvel was an American prototype of a passenger car that the brothers Fred and August Duesenberg developed from around 1903. He was the first car with the patented by Fred Duesenberg walking beam - valve control , which played in the national motorsport 1910s a dominant role and was also used in drives of aircraft and boats. In early 1906 the vehicle was completed and presented to the public as a Mason . Under this brand name, it appeared on the market in a slightly revised form in the same year as Mason 24 HP .

prehistory

The brothers Fred (1876–1932) and August Duesenberg (1879–1955) ran a bicycle shop in Rockford (Iowa) around 1900 . At that time they represented well-known brands such as National , Rambler and Crescent . The racing bicycles for Fred Duesenberg, who successfully practiced this sport and set at least one world record, were also made in her workshop; contract work was probably also carried out for customers. During this time they also designed their first combustion engine and built it into one of their bicycles. This engine was designed as a single - cylinder two-stroke with slide control . However, it stayed with this prototype and possibly a second, which was intended to drive a boat. In March 1903 the company had to close. Afterwards, the brothers went different professional paths for some time, but repeatedly worked on joint projects. Fred Duesenberg came into close contact with automobiles in 1904 as a test driver for the manufacturer of the Rambler, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha ( Wisconsin ). The company was the second largest automaker in the United States at the time. Fred Duesenberg also competed in car races for Jeffery . 1905 followed a short period of time as a partner in the Iowa Automobile & Supply Company in Des Moines (Iowa) , a mechanical workshop and the first automobile agency in town, which sold, among other things, automobiles of the brands Rambler , Marion and Gale . He continued to take part in car races with a converted Marion with an air-cooled four-cylinder engine .

realization

Fred Duesenberg was an autodidact . The goal of building his own car was probably already being pursued during his time in Rockford. The project already had a name: Marvel , English for "miracle". He came closer to this goal, which he shared with his brother August, in 1905 when he made the acquaintance of the lawyer Edward R. Mason from Des Moines. At Iowa Automobile & Supply Company , he occasionally repaired engines and steam engines for Mason's motorsport-loving sons.

A friendly relationship developed with Edward Mason. He managed to convince Mason of his apparently quite concrete ideas.

Duesenberg Automobile Company

With Mason's pledge to fund the project, Fred founded the Duesenberg Automobile Company , the sole purpose of which was to develop the Marvel and build a prototype . In order to be able to produce the construction plans at all, Fred took a correspondence course at the International Correspondence School in Scranton (Pennsylvania) .

Construction of the vehicle began in September 1905 in a rented former forge at 915 Grand Avenue in Des Moines. and only took five months to complete. This short development time is a further indication that parts of the vehicle had been designed earlier.

The Marvel

Fred Duesenberg's Mason 'Goat' racing car ("Goat"; 1906). The Marvel should have looked very similar to this near-production vehicle. The engine is clearly visible under the driver's seat, the “bonnet” is a dummy , the position of the seats and steering column has been adapted for racing.

Except for the engine, the Marvel was a conventional design. The first test drive took place on February 19, 1906. The vehicle was already presented as a Mason , a concession to the investor and future company director.

technology

The chassis was conventional and the engine was typically positioned across the driver's seat. To drive the Marvel , Duesenberg constructed a two - cylinder boxer engine with a capacity of 3277 cm³ (200 cubic inch (ci) ) . The mixture was not supplied through an intake port , but the mixture supply was integrated in the engine block, a new method in 1906. The engine had magneto ignition and water cooling with a water pump driven by the crankshaft . Right off the bat, it delivered 24 to 28 hp using the calculation method used at the time. This engine does not have the walking-beam valve control typical of the later Mason and Duesenberg engines , in which the underlying camshaft acts on horizontally mounted valves via long rocker arms .

This two-cylinder engine was used by Mason in principle until 1913.

Mason Motor Company

In June 1906, Fred Duesenberg climbed the steps of the Iowa State Capitol with the Marvel

Edward Mason organized the Mason Motor Company in April 1906 with him as President and Fred Duesenberg as Plant Manager. The rights to the walking beam engine remained with Duesenberg. The new company used them in the Mason 24 HP and its successors. However, not only the technology of the most important Mason model is based on this construction . Walking beam motors were used by the Duesenberg brothers for the next 15 years and, in addition to driving road vehicles, they also powered boats, yachts and smaller ships and aircraft. Thanks to this Duesenberg engine, Mason was able to advertise the “fastest and most powerful two-cylinder in America” with some justification.

Even before production began, Fred Duesenberg began to publicly demonstrate the capabilities of the new vehicle. The most famous of these performances took place in June 1906 when he drove the fully occupied Marvel back and forth up the steps of the Iowa State Capitol .

Before production of the Mason 24 HP started in August 1906 , Fred Duesenberg used the Marvel in several races, for example on July 4th at the Hill Climb of the Iowa Automobile Club in Des Moines. On a slope with a 10% gradient , Duesenberg took victory in category 2 and then overall victory.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Like so many statements concerning the Duesenberg brothers, there is also a different representation. According to this, Fred Duesenberg had already done his distance learning at the time when he was still running the shop in Rockford. See Ema: The Man Behind the Machine - Friedrich S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly, p. 7.

literature

  • Don Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. Crestline Publishing Co., Crestline Series , 1992; ISBN 0-87938-701-7 .
  • L. Scott Bailey (Eds.), Jonathan A. Stein, Michael Pardo: Automobile Quarterly, Volume XXX, No. 4, Summer 1992 (Duesenberg edition). Automobile Quarterly, Inc., Kutztown PA; ISSN  0005-1438 .
  • Fred Roe: Duesenberg - The Pursuit of Perfection. Dalton Watson Ltd., Publishers, London W1V 4AN, England, 1982, ISBN 0-901564-32-X .
  • Randy Ema: The Man Behind the Machine - Friedrich S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly ISSN  0005-1438 , Volume XXX, No. 4, pp. 4-13 (1992).
  • George Moore: They always called him Augie - August S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly ISSN  0005-1438 , Volume XXX, No. 4, pp. 14-20 (1992).
  • Joseph S. Freeman, James O'Keefe: Out of the Crucible - A Racing History. in: Automobile Quarterly ISSN  0005-1438 , Volume XXX, No. 4: 80-99 (1992).
  • Joseph S. Freeman: Coda: Walking Beam on Water. in: Automobile Quarterly ISSN  0005-1438 , Volume XXX, No. 4 (1992), p. 112.
  • Dennis Adler: Duesenberg. Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2005; ISBN 3-89880-487-9 .
  • Jon M. Bill: Duesenberg Racecars & Passenger Cars Photo Archive. Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum (Ed.), Iconografix, Hudson WI, Photo Archive Series, ISBN 1-58388-145-X .
  • Bill Jepsen: Iowa's Automobiles. An Entertaining and Enlightening History. Publisher: Bill Jepsen, 2007; ISBN 1-888223-80-4 .
  • 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 .
  • George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover), 1973; ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • Griffith Borgeson: The Golden Age of the American Racing Car. Ed. SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), Warrendale PA, 2nd edition, 1998; ISBN 0-7680-0023-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ema: The Man Behind the Machine - Friedrich S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly , Vol. XXX, No. 4 (1992), p. 4.
  2. ^ Ema: The Man Behind the Machine - Friedrich S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly , Vol. XXX, No. 4 (1992), p. 14.
  3. ^ Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, p. 9.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Ema: The Man Behind the Machine - Friedrich S. Duesenberg. in: Automobile Quarterly , Vol. XXX, No. 4 (1992), p. 7.
  5. ↑ a b c d Bill: Duesenberg Racecars & Passenger Cars Photo Archive , p. 6.
  6. ↑ Bill: Duesenberg Race Cars & Passenger Cars Photo Archive , p. 9
  7. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, pp. 496-499 (Duesenberg).
  8. ↑ a b Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, pp. 12-13.
  9. ↑ a b Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, p. 12.
  10. ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 496 (Duesenberg).
  11. ↑ a b c d Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, p. 10.
  12. ↑ a b Jepsen: Iowa's Automobiles. An Entertaining and Enlightening History. 2007, p. 300.
  13. ↑ Jepsen: Iowa's Automobiles. An Entertaining and Enlightening History. 2007, p. 301.
  14. ↑ Jepsen: Iowa's Automobiles. An Entertaining and Enlightening History. 2007, p. 303.
  15. ↑ a b Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, p. 14.
  16. ↑ a b c tomstrongman.com: George Hess: Maytag-Mason.
  17. ↑ a b c Roe: Duesenberg - The Pursuit of Perfection. 1982, p. 19.
  18. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 935 (Mason).
  19. ↑ a b Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. 1992, p. 15.