Okey Motor Car Company

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Okey was an American automobile manufacturer that was manufactured between 1896 and 1907. From 1905 to 1907 they were produced by a company founded for this purpose.

prehistory

Perry Okey at the steering arm of his single-cylinder runabout (1898).

Perry Okey (1873-1963) from Columbus (Ohio) began an apprenticeship as an electrician at the Columbus Electric Light & Power Co. at the age of sixteen . There he was given the opportunity to set up a small workshop in which he experimented with an internal combustion engine. Around 1894 he designed and built an internal combustion engine . The water-cooled single cylinder was a four-stroke with a 2½ inch bore (63.5 mm) and 3 inch stroke (76.2 mm), resulting in a displacement of 14.73 ci respectively. 241 cc. The right spark plug was his invention.

Apparently the small engine ran satisfactorily, and Oakey signed up in an unknown vehicle in the summer of 1895 to take part in the Chicago Times-Herald Motocycle race , which was originally scheduled to take place on November 2, 1895. However, the competition was postponed to November 28 at short notice. At the start, however, Okey did not appear for unknown reasons.

His tricycle initially had a single-cylinder four-stroke engine and water cooling that he had designed himself. Okey later experimented with a similar, air-cooled motor. Tricycles are three-wheeled motorcycles that were also considered automobiles at the time. Perry Oakey has an automobile for 1896. This makes him the first to build and drive a motor vehicle in Columbus. Further experimental vehicles followed by the turn of the century.

Okey Auto Company

Only a few and occasionally contradicting information is available on the company's history.

From 1900 onwards, Okey seems to have operated automobile construction as a one-man business. The resulting vehicles were of high technical and innovative quality. In 1901 a runabout with a single cylinder engine, planetary gear and chain drive was created . It had 14 bhp (10.4 kW) power at 1000 rpm and reached 35 mph (about 55 km / h). The fifth car was built in 1905. It had a two-cylinder two - stroke engine , a drive shaft and, in turn, a planetary gearbox. Four vehicles of this type were built by the end of 1905.

Okey Motor Car Company

Okey 14 HP Runabout (1904).

One source names 1904 as the year the Okey Motor Car Company was founded , according to another it was only founded in January 1907. This indicates reorganization and financing. It is known that the editor of the Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal , Hugh Dolnar , was able to test one of the two-cylinder models mentioned in 1905 and was very impressed by it. Dolnar is a pseudonym formed as an anagram of the surname of Horace Lucian Arnold (1838–1915), a well-known engineer, science journalist and author of specialist books on factory organization and cost management. Arnold then tried to arrange more solid financing for Okey's small business and thus ensure orderly production. This also came about, but it has not been proven whether it was initiated by Arnold. The executive positions are occupied as follows: CM Crittenden became president and HT Stewart became vice-president . FR Shinn was responsible for the finances and HE Walton acted as secretary and manager. Perry Okey was the chief engineer.

An alternative and less detailed representation names January 1907 as the date of foundation; however, it could have been another reorganization.

Nine models

Three-cylinder engine of the Okey L-7.

In the short period of its existence, the company offered nine different models; probably not at the same time, as only one is documented for 1907. Unfortunately, the data for most of the Okey models can no longer be verified. It seems that Perry Okey switched from chain to shaft drive relatively early .

A well-known is a larger automobile made in 1905 and described by a single source. Its engine was a three - cylinder four - stroke with 4 inches (101.6 mm) bore and 6 inches (152.4 mm) stroke and thus a displacement of 226.2 ci (3707 cm³). This engine had overhead, controlled valves and one of Okey developed a carburetor , whose special features were a ring-shaped float, needle valves and an additional air supply by means of an "automatic" valve that was installed between the carburetor and the engine.

Okey 20 HP Model L-7

Perry Okey in the Okey L-7 (1905).

The most popular Okey automobile is likely the 20 HP Model L-7 with a wheelbase of 90 inches (2286 mm) or 92 inches (2337 mm). The vehicle was a slightly larger development of the 14 HP with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine and 22 bhp (16.4 kW) output at 1300 rpm. The ALAM rating was 20.4 HP. This is a calculated, unmeasured value that was also used to calculate the tax formula, for example in the UK. The ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ) was the association of motor vehicle manufacturers licensed under the Selden patent . In 1903 he first published standards for motor vehicles in the USA. It is not clear from the sources whether the innovative carburetor was also used here.

With a price of US $ 1400, the L-7 belonged to the middle class of the time . A highwheeler cost from around US $ 350.00, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash , which is similar to the earlier Oakey, US $ 650.00.

The end

Insolvency had to be applied for as early as November 1907. In December, the estate administrator approved the continuation of production until the existing orders were processed. The company was apparently liquidated in 1908. The only product at the time was a light runabout with three cylinders and 20 HP at US $ 1400, which undoubtedly meant the L-7.

Model overview

The sources do not allow a complete overview. Many models are not known to have an “official” designation, although there is not necessarily one.


A.LAM rating model		 Construction time
approx. 		engine Cubic capacity
ci / cm³ 		Power
bhp / kW 		Wheelbase
inches / mm 		body Price
US $ 		Remarks
Tricycle
Experimental 		1896 1
four-stroke
Okey 		Motor tricycle Water cooling . Participation in the Times-Herald Contest may have been planned.
Single cylinder
experimental 		1897-1900 1
four-stroke
Okey 		Water or air cooling
Single cylinder 1901-1904 1
four-stroke
Okey 		Air cooling
14 HP 1904-1906 2 row
two-stroke
Okey 		14 / 10.4 Water cooling
Three-cylinder 1905–? 3 row, ohv
four-stroke
Okey 		226.2 / 3706 Water cooling, Okey carburetor
Model L-7
20.4 HP 		1905-1907 3 row
two-stroke
Okey 		140.3 / 2299 22 / 16.4 90/2286
92/2337 		Runabout 2 pl. 1400.- Water cooling

Rating according to the above-mentioned ALAM method. This lobby association of motor vehicle manufacturers licensed under the Selden patent issued the first standards for motor vehicles in the USA in 1903. They were calculated , not measured and therefore imprecise, but for the first time they gave interested parties the opportunity to compare manufacturer information using the same criteria. For this purpose, a rating table was derived from the formula.

Okey's later life

Little is known about Okey's other activities. Between 1917 and 1955 he received patents for inventions in various areas, such as an automatic starter , a device for measuring the viscosity of liquids, a calculating machine and a cooling device. He also seems to have dealt with osmosis .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The power is calculated: cylinder bore ² × number of cylinders; the result is divided by 2.5. A conversion into bhp or kW is not possible. SAE-PS were later developed from this formula .

literature

  • 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 .
  • 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 .
  • 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 Inc. publishers, Jefferson NC, 2013; ISBN 0-78647-136-0 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover), 1973; ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce : Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.

Web links

Commons : Okey Motor Car Company  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h American Automobiles: The Okey Automobile & The Okey Motor Car Co.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Automobiles 1805-1942. 1996, p. 1058 (Okey).
  3. ↑ a b c Carfolio: Only Model L-7 technical specifications.
  4. ↑ a b Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era , 2013, p. 103 (Okey)
  5. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Automobiles 1805-1942. 1996, pp. 1061-1063 (Oldsmobile Curved Dash)
  6. ^ NACC: Handbook of Automobiles 1915-1916 , 1970; P. 12 (PS NACC).
  7. ↑ worldcat.org: Perry Okey patent papers, 1916-1955.