page_title: William Morrison (chemist)
section_title: Electric carriages
hierarchical_section_title: William Morrison (chemist) / Electric carriages
caption_attribution_description: English: Arntz and Morrison in 1890 in downtown Des Moines, Iowa
context_page_description: William Morrison was a Scottish chemist. His background in chemistry piqued his interest in improving storage batteries. He concentrated on how to produce the most available energy for a unit of weight for efficiency in the working of an individual battery cell. Eventually, he developed storage batteries far more powerful than what had then been available. To demonstrate his batteries, Morrison installed 24 of them on a common horse-drawn carriage and attached an electric motor to the rear axle to be powered by them. Through various innovations, he developed the controls for the power used and the vehicle's steering so that the driver had complete control. Morrison invented the first practical self-powered four-wheeled electric carriage in the United States. His electric vehicle was the first to be driven in Chicago and in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. This electric horseless buggy of the late 19th century helped pave the way for the hybrid electric automobile of the 21st century.
context_section_description: Morrison had a secret basement laboratory in downtown Des Moines where he worked on storage batteries and a self-propelled electric carriage. He referred to it as "the Cave". He constructed a prototype of the first electric carriage in 1887. Morrison had a mechanical engineer, Dr. Lew Arntz, working with him who assembled what he designed. Between 1888 and 1890 Morrison designed a second version of his electric carriage which had improvements in its electric motor, gear train, batteries and steering mechanism. The modifications made his carriage practical and useful and is the one that became famous—the first practical electric automobile built in the United States. To demonstrate the usefulness of Morrison's invention, the vehicle was entered into the 1890 Seni Om Sed parade in Des Moines where there were 85,000 to 100,000 spectators. The battery-powered vehicle was carrying seven passengers. The chemist drove his electric automobile all over the city for weeks after the parade. It was in several notable races. The spectacle of the first practical automobile being on the streets of Des Moines was written up in multiple newspapers and journals. Word spread worldwide of the carriage that required no horses and was mobile under its own power. Before the end of the year Morrison had received over 16,000 letters requesting information on his self-powered electric carriage (auto-mobile). 
  Morrison claimed that his horseless carriage was the first successful practical passenger automobile of any kind in the world and offered $5,000 (in 1890 dollars ) to anyone that could show photographs otherwise. Trade publications Western Electrician of Chicago and Scientific American of New York backed up his claims. The award was never collected.
caption: Arntz and Morrison 1890
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