Waltham Automobile Company

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Waltham 6 HP

The Waltham Automobile Company is a former and short-lived American manufacturer of steam cars . There are no known connections to the American Waltham Automobile Company (American Waltham Steam brand steam cars) or the Waltham Watch Company (Waltham Watch brand watches).

prehistory

John W. Piper and George M. Tinker were employees of the Waltham Manufacturing Company in Waltham (Massachusetts) ; Tinker had previously developed a ball bearing for its competitor Comet . The company's managing director, Charles Herman Metz , gave them space in 1898 so that they could build a light steam buggy . This was completed in the same year and named Waltham. The vehicle had a 3 bhp (2.24 kW) twin piston steam engine that could run forwards or backwards. It weighed just 50 lbs (22.68 kg), the capacitormade of copper 110 lbs (49.9 kg). The entire vehicle was very light at 600 lbs (272 kg). It was steered by means of a vertical lever. The vehicle had wire-spoke wheels . Piper and Tinker exhibited their steam buggy at the Boston Automobile Show in 1898.

Two more steam cars followed under the Piper & Tinker brand. At the request of Waltham Manufacturing's largest investor, they also built a lightweight electric car with a General Electric engine and a 1524 mm (60 inch) wheelbase. This prototype was shown as Orient Electric at the New York Cycle & Automobile Show in 1899, but was not followed up by Waltham Manufacturing or the two builders.

description

In early 1900, Piper and Tinker left the Waltham Manufacturing Company in agreement with Metz and set up on their own at Newton Street 130-136. Your Waltham Automobile Company produced an unknown number of the Waltham Stanhope with a Victoria hood (today better known as a stroller hood) here until 1902 (according to another source: 1903 ). This was a further development of the buggy. The sales price was a moderate US $ 750. A source also mentions a four-seat face-to-face version in which the passengers sit with their backs facing the direction of travel.

On February 6, 1901, a report appeared in the Waltham Free Press Tribune about a trip a reporter was allowed to take in a Piper & Tinker steam wagon. Before that, it had snowed heavily and the vehicle had to drive around a broken-down transport cart through 15–30 cm thick snow. A speed of 15 km / h (9 mph) had been reached. If applicable, that was a remarkable achievement under these circumstances.

The Waltham was also known as the American Steam for a short time.

One copy still exists.

annotation

In Waltham at the turn of the 20th century no fewer than four manufacturers were busy building steam cars. One of them was the Waltham Automobile Company described here. There was also the New England Motor Carriage Company , the Stanton Manufacturing Company, and the American Waltham Manufacturing Company. The different names of the Waltham Automobile Company occasionally lead to confusion with the vehicles of the latter company, which were known as American Waltham Steam. In the work by GN Georgano (ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present , mentioned below, such a mix-up apparently occurred.

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Ed.), 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)
  • 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: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Editor SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (English).
  • Richard J. Evans: Steam Cars (Shire Album) , Shire Publications, 1985, ISBN 0-85263-774-8 (English).
  • Anthony Bird, Edward Douglas-Scott Montagu of Beaulieu: Steam Cars, 1770-1970. Littlehampton Book Services, 1971, ISBN 0-304-93707-X (English).
  • Floyd Clymer, Harry W. Gahagan: Floyd Clymer's Steam Car Scrapbook. Literary Licensing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-258-42699-6 (English).
  • John Heafield Bacon: American Steam-Car Pioneers: A Scrapbook. Newcomen Society of the United States. 1st edition. 1984, ISBN 99940-65-90-4 (English) Beginnings; Sylvester A. Roper; George A. Long; George E. Whitney
  • H. Walter Staner: The early days of motors and motor-driving - steam cars. Lightning Source, Milton Keynes UK, ISBN 978-1-4455-2487-0 (undated reprint of instructions for operating steam cars from the publisher of the specialist newspaper Autocar , approx. 1900, English).
  • Anthony Bird: De Dion Bouton - First automobile Giant. (Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Car marque book No 6). Ballantine Books, New York 1971, ISBN 0-345-02322-6 (English).

Web links

Commons : Waltham Automobile Company  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Waltham Museum: Families
  2. ↑ a b c d e Kimes (1985), p. 1463.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Waltham Museum: The Waltham Steam Cars of Piper and Tinker
  4. ^ Waltham Museum: Timeline
  5. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 45.