Stephen Balzer

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Stephen Marius Balzer (* 1864 (?) In Bronx , New York City , † 1940 in Andover (New Jersey) ) was an American entrepreneur , inventor , technician , engine designer and automotive and aviation pioneer. Balzer's family emigrated from Hungary ( Austro-Hungarian Empire ) to the USA in the 1870s . Stephen Balzer completed an apprenticeship as a watchmaker at Tiffany's .

Engines and vehicles

When Balzer set up his own mechanical workshop in 1894, he already held several patents, including a rotary motor . He worked in the engineering shop during the day; During the night he built a car ("buggy") with his gasoline-powered internal combustion engine . The Balzer car has an air-cooled four-stroke rotary engine with three cylinders. The engine is air-cooled by the rotation of the pistons.

The tiny, single-seat vehicle has a similar structure to a quadricycle . The construction of the vehicle, which is only about 180 cm long, consists of steel tubes; The chassis is made up of two front cranked tubes. The simple seat rests elevated on a tubular frame. The rotary motor is suspended underneath. The crankshaft is mounted horizontally across the vehicle so that the engine rotates vertically in the direction of travel. In Balzer's patent drawing, the engine sits on a cross strut.

Unlike other cars of the time, the rear wheels of the Balzer car are much larger than the front wheels - they have a diameter of 28 inches (71 cm) at the rear and 18 inches (46 cm) at the front. This design is supposed to give the car good traction and maneuverability. The front wheels are individually suspended from a bicycle fork at the front end of each chassis beam and connected to one another by a tie rod . It is steered with a lever that acts on the tie rod. There is a three-speed transmission with no reverse gear; a lever is used to engage the gear and as a clutch .

The vehicle is open at the top and at the sides. Boards attached between the chassis beams serve as the vehicle floor.

On December 15, 1896, Balzer received a patent with the number 573174 for the motor vehicle that he had built two years earlier. His experimental vehicle was one of the first working automobiles built in the United States. The 1894 Balzer car is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC . It was the first gasoline-powered car in this museum's collection.

Balzer founded the Balzer Motor Carriage Company in 1900, based on Grand Avenue in the Bronx , but he was more interested in inventing and tinkering with machines than the business side of making automobiles, and so the company never made money. Balzer never built his vehicles in series or mass production. After all, he also developed larger versions of the engine with 5 cylinders. One customer for this was the Carey Motor Company , which had its production facility on the same street. This manufacturer mounted the engine at the front, perpendicular to the direction of travel. In the contemporary press ( Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal ) the Carey's engine is described as follows: "This engine contains many novel elements. The crankshaft is solidly attached to the side of the chassis and does not rotate, while most of the rest of the engine rotates vertically the crankshaft rotates. The cylinders, five in number in this engine, are made of gray cast iron with 10 cooling fins each . The cylinder heads are manufactured separately and are also made of gray cast iron. They contain the combustion chamber . Both the heads and the combustion chambers are adequately provided with cooling fins . Inlet and outlet valves are controlled by rocker arms that are led out of the crankcase . A short line leads to the carburetor , which is mounted on the left directly behind the engine.

Balzer then worked with Charles M. Manly on the design of the engine (the “Manly Balzer engine”) in Samuel Pierpont Langley's 1903 “Aerodrome” aircraft.

He later designed and manufactured surgical equipment.

Balzer patents (selection)

Balzer's tinkering resulted in a number of patents:

  • Device for the production of cutting knives
Patent number: US535127
Registered: May 14, 1894
Issued March 5, 1895
  • Fare counter
Patent number: US544081
Registered: August 14, 1894
Issued August 6, 1895
  • Fare counter
Patent number: US556955
Registered: March 22, 1894
Issued March 24, 1896
  • Machine counter
Patent number: US545034
Registered: March 3, 1893
Issued August 20, 1895
  • Vehicle with rotary engine and engine
Patent number: US573174
Registered: January 23, 1896
Issued December 15, 1896
  • typewriter
Patent number: 608634
Registered: April 5, 1893
Issued August 9, 1898
  • Variable transmission
Patent number: US730597
Registered: July 22, 1898
Issued June 9, 1903

Other manufacturers of road vehicles with radial or rotary engines

  • Adams-Farwell (USA, Dubuque, IA; 1893-1912)
  • Bailey (US, Springfield MA; 1907-1910)
  • Carey (USA, New York NY; Balzer Motors; 1906–1907)
  • Eagle (USA, Los Angeles CA and Chicago IL 1914–1915)
  • Eagle-Macomber (US, Sandusky OH; 1916-1917)
  • Intrepid (US, Boston MA; 1903-1905)
  • Megola (D, Munich; approx. 1921–1925). Motorbike with counter-rotating engine (engine housing and crankshaft rotate in opposite directions)

literature

  • James J. Flink: America Adopts the Automobile - 1895-1910. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), 1970, ISBN 0-262-06036-1 . (English)
  • David Beecroft: History of the American Automobile Industry. A series of articles reprinted in The Automobile magazine . first published between October 1915 and August 1916. Publisher: lulu.com, 2009, ISBN 978-0-557-05575-3 . (English)
  • 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 . (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)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)

Web links

Patents

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 103.
  2. ↑ a b c US patent 573174, vehicle with rotary engine and motor, issued December 15, 1896.
  3. ↑ a b Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 254.
  4. ↑ earlyamericanautomobiles.com: History of Early American Automobile Industry 1891-1929; Chapter 13 (Carey)
  5. ^ Smithsonian Institute Contributions: Annals of Flight; Langley's Aero Engine of 1903 (Edited by Robert B. Meyer, Jr.), Smithsonian Press (1971)
  6. ↑ gracesguide.co.uk: Stephen M. Balzer
  7. ↑ US Patent 535127, device for the production of
    Cutting knives, issued March 5, 1895.
  8. ↑ U.S. Patent 544081, Fare Meter, issued August 6, 1895.
  9. ↑ U.S. Patent 556 955, Fare Meter, issued March 24, 1896.
  10. ↑ U.S. Patent 545034, Machine Counter, issued March 24, 1896.
  11. ↑ U.S. Patent 608634, Typewriter, issued August 9, 1898.
  12. ↑ U.S. Patent 730597, Variable Transmission, issued June 9, 1903.
  13. ^ Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 96.
  14. ↑ a b Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 512.
  15. ^ Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 774.
personal data
SURNAME Balzer, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balzer, Stephen Marius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mechanical engineer and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York City ( USA )
DATE OF DEATH 1940
Place of death Andover