Duryea Motor Wagon
The Duryea Motor Wagon was among the first standardized automobiles and among the first powered by gasoline. Fifteen examples were built by the Duryea Motor Wagon Company company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, between 1893 and 1896. Their enterprise followed the first commercially available automobile which was patented by Karl Benz on January 29, 1886, and put into production in 1888.
To construct the first Duryea Motor Wagon, the brothers had purchased a used horse-drawn buggy for $70 and then installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine.[1] The car had a friction transmission, spray carburetor, and low tension ignition. It was road-tested again on 10 November, when the newspaper The Springfield Republican made the announcement.[1] This particular car was put into storage in 1894 and stayed there until 1920 when it was rescued by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the United States National Museum.[1] The Duryea Motor Wagon remained in production until 1917.
The Duryea brothers entered their horseless carriage in many shows and races. The Duryea Motor Wagon carriage won the first prize in the first-ever American automobile race Times-Herald race, a 54-mile course, in 1896. The Duryeas also won first and second place in the Cosmopolitan Race on Decoration Day, 1896 in New York City. On November 14, 1896 they joined the Procession/Race from London to Brighton England.[2]
The First Duryea
| Year | Engine | HP | Wheel size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1893 | 1-cylinder[3] | 4 | 54[4] |
References
- 1 2 3 "The First Car – A History of the Automobile". Ausbcomp.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
- ↑ "The Perfected Duryea Carriage 1896". Machine-history.com. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ↑ "America on the Move | Duryea automobile". Americanhistory.si.edu. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ↑ "Museum Vehicle:". Genesis2scale.com. 2010-10-06. Retrieved 2011-11-20.