Wisconsin Reliability Trial

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The requirements laid down in the regulations called for a heavy vehicle that carried its supplies on a trailer: Oskosh Steam Wagon with water tanker and crew

The Wisconsin Reliability Trial was a 201 mile (323.5 km) reliability test that took place in the US state of Wisconsin in 1878 . It was the first competition for vehicles without horses held in the USA .

Background and tender

AJ Carhart († 1914) from Racine (Wisconsin) had already successfully demonstrated a steam car in 1871 . In 1873 this prompted Congressman George M. Marshall to impose a US $ 10,000 price in his state parliament for every citizen who invented a "cheap and practical substitute for horses and other animals on the highway and on the farm ." In a specification in 1875, clearer conditions were set. Said vehicle had to be completed within five years of the tender and be able to cover at least 200 miles (320 km) without interruption and at an average of 5 MPH (approx. 8 km / h). It also had to reverse, dodge horse-drawn carts, and climb a 200-foot (60.96 m) incline up and down a mile (1,609 km) (about 3.8%).

The high prize money motivated many residents of the state to give it a try. The parliament, which was concerned with a serious construction, therefore specified the conditions again: An exact route was determined and it was stipulated that the race had to be carried out within 20 days after June 20, 1878 and ended within 10 days, otherwise the prize was forfeited. Governor William E. Smith set up a three-person steam car commission to oversee the project. It consisted of the initiator, named MP George M. Marshall , wealthy farmer QC Olin from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and John M. Smith from Green Bay . The fact that a brother of the governor took a seat with the latter later turned out to be a point of conflict.

route

Map of Wisconsin

Of course, a route was determined that was entirely within the territory of the state of Wisconsin. The starting point was Green Bay . The distance stipulated in the regulations was 201 miles (323.5 km), just above the government's minimum requirement. It led via Appleton , Oshkosh , Waupun , Watertown , Fort Atkinson and Janesville to the destination in Madison . Much of the route led along the tracks of the Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW).

Attendees

Carhart decided not to participate because of his poor health. Initially, six or seven vehicles were registered, but a month before the start, their number had dropped to two. The one participating vehicle was the Oshkosh Steam Wagon , a monster weighing 4.5 tons. It was built by a team from Oshkosh . This consisted of Frank A. Shomer and Alexander Gallinger , who made their living selling firewood for the wood-burning locomotives of the Chicago & North Western Railway , as well as MG Battis , AW Farrand (or Hans Farrand ) and Fire Chief John F. Morse . The other vehicle was the Green Bay Steamer of EP Cowles . Cowles was a machinist from Wequiock, Wisconsin and the Green Bay Steamer was his second steam car. He later designed steam locomotives for the Austin & Pendleton Machine Shop in Warren, Ohio . In 1896 he helped William and James Ward Packard with drawings for an automobile, which, however, was never realized. Instead, the brothers founded the predecessor of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1899 .

Change of regulations

To the annoyance of the two registered teams, Marshall tried to make subsequent changes to enable additional vehicles to participate in individual stages. The problem resolved itself, however; Despite this relaxation of the regulations, there were no further participants in the competition.

Course of the competition

The race was now scheduled for July 17, 1878 .

Before the start, which was scheduled for 11 am (possibly the day before), demonstrations such as "pulling wood" or "plowing" were scheduled to fulfill the "agricultural" part of the tender. It is unclear whether and how the demonstrations were rated.

The Green Bay Steamer turned out to be the faster vehicle, but Cowles had the misfortune that his vehicle got into a sewer early and damaged the car in the process. The repairs took too much time, so the less mature and significantly slower Oshkosh Steam was the first to arrive at the destination. It took 33 hours and 27 minutes, which gives an average speed of just over 6 mph.

Aftermath

As a result, the government tried to avoid paying out the prize money by arguing - albeit with some justification - that the Oshkosh Steam was neither "cheap" nor "practical". The topic was discussed extensively in parliament and in public. The complaint was that none of the vehicles represented a real inventive achievement because steam cars had already existed before. The Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper went so far as to claim that the cars were "a scam" and that the "taxpayers who saw them were angry". There was also a dose of local patriotism and the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern even hinted at nepotism: the governor's brother, who was on the monitoring committee, was from Green Bay. The inevitable question was why the state had offered the award in the first place. "The state's reputation is tarnished, but the award has been accepted and it is too late to debate whether or not it was wise to make this offer," the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern put it in a nutshell .

After several months, an out-of-court agreement was reached on the payment of half the prize money "without acknowledgment that the car in question met the requirements satisfactorily". In addition, the "winners" were put under pressure to donate US $ 1000 of their prize money to Cowles.

Early US automobiles (selection)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kimes and Clark mentioned July 16 in the 1985 edition (p. 630), but Kimes corrected this in their 2005 work, Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America .

literature

  • Richard J. Evans: Steam Cars (Shire Album No. 153). Shire Publications Ltd, 1985; ISBN 0-85263774-8 .
  • Anthony Bird, Edward Lord Montagu of Beaulieu : Steam Cars, 1770-1970. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, 1971; ISBN 0-30493707-X .
  • Floyd Clymer, Harry W. Gahagan: Floyd Clymer's Steam Car Scrapbook. Literary Licensing, LLC, 2012; ISBN 1-258-42699-4 .
  • John Heafield Bacon: American Steam-Car Pioneers: A Scrapbook. Newcomen Society of the United States, 1st Edition, 1984; ISBN 9-994-06590-4 . 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 UK Ltd., Milton Keynes UK, undated reprint of instructions for operating steam cars from the publisher of the specialist journal Autocar , circa 1900; ISBN 978-14455-2487-0 .
  • Jack Norbeck: Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines. Crestline Publishing Co., Crestline Series , 1984; ISBN 0-91261-209-6 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 2nd Edition, 1973; ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI, 1996; ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 .
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Ed. SAE ( Society of Automotive Engineers ) Permissions, Warrendale PA, 2005; ISBN 0-7680-1431-X .
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Ed.): Packard, A History of the Motor car and the Company. Automobile Quarterly Publications, Kutztown PA, General edition, 1978; ISBN 0-915038-11-0 .
  • Richard v. Frankenberg, Marco Matteucci: History of the Automobile. Sigloch Service Edition / STIG Torino, 1973; without ISBN
  • Hans-Otto Neubauer (ed.): Chronicle of the automobile. Chronik Verlag in Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich, 1994; ISBN 3-570-14338-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 255 (Carhart).
  2. ↑ a b c d Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 658 (Green Bay).
  3. ↑ a b c d Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 1092 (Oshkosh).
  4. ↑ a b c Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, p. 31.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, p. 32.
  6. ^ Kimes: Packard, a history of the motor car and the company. 1978, pp. 21-22; 23.
  7. ↑ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, p. 33.
  8. ↑ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, p. 34.
  9. ↑ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, p. 35.
  10. ↑ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, pp. 34-35.
  11. ↑ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels. 2005, pp. 35-36.