Carriage

Mr. Elwood Haynes tells an interesting story of his first "horseless carriage:"

In 1890 I became interested in the natural gas field at Greentown, Ind. My work took me through the country a great deal, and I drove a horse, of course. The great trouble with the horse was his lack of endurance, and this became more apparent day after day.

One afternoon, or night, rather, while driving home after a hard day's work, I thought to myself that it would be a fine thing if I didn't have to depend on the horse for locomotion. From then on my mind dwelt a great deal upon the subject of a self-propelled vehicle that could be used on any country road or city street.

I planned to use the gasoline engine. Even the lightest engines made at that time were very heavy per unit of power, and rather crude in construction.

My work was confined to Greentown, Ind., in 1890 and 1891. In the fall of 1892 I moved to Kokomo, and the following summer I had my plans sufficiently matured to begin the actual construction of a machine. I ordered a one-horse-power marine upright, two-cycle gasoline engine from the Sintz Gas Engine Company of Grand Rapids, Mich.

This motor barely gave one brake horse-power and weighed 180 pounds. (It is interesting to note in this connection, that an aeroplane motor of the same weight readily gives forty horse-power.) Upon its arrival from Grand Rapids, in the fall of

1893, lacking a more suitable place, the motor was brought direct to my home and set up in the kitchen.

When the gasoline and battery connection were installed, the motor, after considerable cranking, was started and ran with such speed and vibration that it pulled itself from its attachments to the floor. Luckily, however, one of the battery wires was wound about the motor shaft and thus disconnected the current. In order to provide against vibration I was obliged to make the frame of the machine much heavier than I first intended.

The machine was built up in the form of a small truck. The framework in which the motor was placed consisted of a double "hollow square" of steel tubing, joined at the rear corners by steel castings and by malleable castings in front. The hind axle constituted the rear member of the frame and the front axle was swiveled at its center to the front end of the "hollow square," in which the motor and countershaft were placed.

The total weight of the machine when completed was about 820 pounds. July 4,

1894, when ready for test, it was hauled into the country about three miles, behind a horse carriage, and started on a nearly level turnpike.

It moved off at once at a speed of about seven miies per hour, and was driven about one and one-half miles farther into the country. It was then turned about, and ran all the way into the city without making a single stop.

I was convinced upon this return trip that there was a future for the "horseless carriage," although I did not at that time expect it to be so brilliant and imposing.

Courtesy of Haynes Auto Co..

America's First Car, Built By Elwood Haynes