Evening star., 1920-03-21
FIRST SALE OF MOTOR VEHICLE
IN u. S. TO BE COMMEMORATED
22d Anniversary Will Be Celebrated in
April Of Industry Shown by
100000 Cars Sold Last Year.

Within about two weeks there Will
be a celebration of the twenty second
anniversary of the first sale of
motor vehicle in the United States. 1T
was in April, 1898 il is stated, that an
american manufacturer made the sale
to an individual which was the fore
runner of the sale of 100000 motor
vehicles during the past year. The de-
ivelopment of this wonderful industry
has occurred within the recollection
of the present generation ana is
a manifestation of the indomltaple
perseverance and real progressiveness
of the American people, according 70
Charles Clifton, president OF the Ma
tional Automobile Chamber or COM
merce.
The automobile. which was con-
ceived in Europe, has found its great,
est development in the United States.
says Mr.. Clifton. MANY of the AMER
can pioneers are still living and reap
ing the benefits Of their early sacrl5 d
fees. Charles E. Duryea, Elwooo
Haynes, the Apperson Brothers. Il. ~.
lOlds. Alexander Winton and Henry
Ford are today national personages
Their genius has brought to mlilions ;
,of their countrymen undreameo VI
pleasures and prosperity
Experiment Made Fifty Years Ago.
l
the experiment OF a few intrepid IN
ventors. Ii was classed by the puphc
with the inventions of Jules verne.
wonderful but impractical. NOT even
in their widest fancies did the carry
inventors conceive that their lnEen
tions would grow to be the thiro
greatest manufacturing industry IN
the country.
"Surprising as it may seem, the au-
tomobile is the progenitor OF the ioeo,
Rrc a,fn
and tried fifty years before the hrs'
railroad track was laid. -
Capt. Nicholas Joseph Cugnot is
accredited with having constructed II,
1859 the first motor-propeileu rUae s
ivehicle that actually ran. Steam was
the activating force. This machlhe
was clumsy. overbalanced and dlthcult
to steer. 1t was partly wrecked on
one of it's trips and never repuilt. /.
was placed in the Conservatory OF
Arts and Trades in Paris, where today
it still is an object of much interest,".
In 1897 Oliver Evans of Philadelphia
built the first American automobile
under patent granted by the state
of Maryland 1t also was so awk-
ward and heavy that public opinion
vetoed it's practicability. and the in
ventor was forced to abandon MS
further experiments. In 1881 Walter
Hancock. an Englishman, built asteam
car that he called the Infant. This
car made regular trips between Lon
don and Stratford. and in 1882 the
distance was extended to Brighton.
This vehicle carried eleven passen-
gers and was run at an average speed
of nine miles an hour.
Internal Combustion Tests.
about 1874 Gottlieb Daimler and
Carl Benz began their basic expert
ments in the field of internal COM
bustion, hydrocarbon motors. On
May 8. 1879. George Baldwin Selden
of Rochester. n. Y, filed an applica-
ton for a patent covering the use OF
the gasoline motor as propelling
force of a road vehicle and upon the
vehicle as a whole. This application
was the pioneer patent OF the indus
try. Selden did not build car until
some years after his patent was
granted. While Carl Benz of Mann
helm. Germany. built the first inter-
nal combustion hydrocarbon motor
propelled vehicle in 1885, it was not
until 1898 that the automobile prac
tically as it is known today was
launched. Panhard Levassor in this
year manufactured $50 motors. nearly
all of which were sold.
The first road race, run in 1894. was
known as the Paris Rouen race. over
a course of eighty miles. 1t had an
entry list of forty-siX cars of which
twelve were steamers. The first prize,
$4,000. was awarded to Panhard &
Levassor and Peugeot. whose entries
were equipped with three-and-one-
haif-horsepower motors. The Times
Herald road race from Chicago to
Waukegan, Ill. and return on Thanks
giving day. 1895. was the first Ameri-
can road race. Only two cars were en-
tered in the contest.
First Gasoline Vehicles in L. 8.
"In America Charles +. Duryea and
Elwood Haynes were the first to build
gasoline vehicles that would run. The
exact date on which these respective
American pioneers first ran these cars
is not accurately recorded. but it was
some time in 1892. To Alexander Win
ton goes the credit of selling the first
American automobile. On April l, 1898.
he sold one-cylinder Winton auto
mobile to Robert Allison OF Port Car
bon, Pa. Allison ran the car for two
wears. and at WintOn's solicitation sold
il back to the Winton company, where
it is still in existence. practically as
capable of delivering service as it was
the day it was shipped to its pur-
chaser. All these vehicles were of the
horseless carriage type. 1t was not
until 1901 or 1902 that the automobile
based upon the European Panhard &
Levassor type was introduced The
difference between the European
model ard the 'horseless wagon was
that in the former central frame to
carry the power plant and act as the
keystone Of the car structure was de-
veloped. This idea is basic in modern
automobile manufacturing. =.
The history Of the motor truck" ="
continues Mr.. Clifton. "antedates the
passenger automobile. Cugnot, in
France, Hancock and Russell in Eng
land and Owens in America designed
their self-propelled vehicles for COM
merciaI purposes. Cugnots first ven
lures was machine to haul heavy
artillery Hancock's and Russelrs
machines were designed as CONNER
cial stages. while Owens experiments
aimed at a practical road wagon. The
passenger car came as such only after
the pioneer experiments OF Daimler
and Benz in the year 1885.
COnme rcinlixing Begins.
The possibilities of commercializ-
ing the automobile were perceived by
many of the American pioneers.
While the exact origin of the COM
mercial car is somewhat obscured.
evidence seems to favor Charles S.
Woods, a carriage builder of Chicago,
as the first manufacturer. HIS cars
were run by electricity.
by placing a paneled delivery body
on their passenger car chassis. the
! Winton company, in 1899, produced
commercial car which was sold to the
United States Post Office Department.
| I'm the next few years there was
great development of electric and to
a lesser degree steam trucks. Until
1906 the tremendous activity of the
passenger car manufacturers OBJ
scured the potentialities of the COM
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