Part 5

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views. 50

The parts will now be described in detail with reference to said drawings, and A represents the body which is spring supported on the frame, B, of the running gear. This frame, as shown, is rectangular, and has the 55 body-supporting springs, B{2}, similar to those found in common carriages. This frame has, affixed thereto, at its rear ends, sleeves, a, a, which loosely embrace the rear wheel axle, D, which is the driven axle of the vehicle. The 60 axle, E, for the front wheels is centrally secured to the running gear frame, B, by the horizontal king-bolt, b, whereby such axle may have a swinging movement relative to the frame in a vertical plane, but it has no 65 swinging movement horizontally, the wheels being swivel-mounted on the ends of this axle peculiarly, as will shortly hereinafter be set forth.

The body, as shown, is in the form of an 70 inverted box, the motor, H, and driving gear being accommodated within the downwardly opening inclosure constituted thereby, and the body also has the upwardly open box-like forward extension, or pit, A{2}, for the accommodation 75 of the feet of the rider, the rider's seat being constituted by the top forward portion of the box body. Some other suitable design of body may, of course, be used in lieu of this one shown. 80

The front wheels, d, d, are hung to the front axle, E, so that the center of each wheel base is in a line coincident with the axis of the pivotal connection which is provided between the journals for the wheels and the axle, which 85 arrangement practically destroys any tendency to deflection from the course that might otherwise arise from striking an obstacle, and so renders the steering easier. In order to effect this the axle is formed with yoked 90 ends, the yoke members, f, f, being above and below the longitudinal line of the axle. The short journal, g, shown for each wheel, has at its inner end an upwardly and downwardly extended arm, h, which is return-bent to be 95 loosely embraced by the axle yoke, f, f. The cone pointed screws, c, passed through the yoke members, f, and into sockets therefor in the arms, h, of the journals, g, constitute the means for the swivel connection between said 100 parts. The lock-nuts, c{2}, manifestly, are employed with utility in this connection.

It will be perceived that inasmuch as in the arrangement shown, the pivotal connections=

= (No Model.) 4 Sheets--Sheet 2.

C. E. DURYEA. ROAD VEHICLE.

No. 540,648. Patented June 11, 1895.

Fig. 2.

Witnesses: J. D. Garfield K. I. Clemons

Inventor, Chas. E. Duryea by Chaprictlo Attys.=

As the work moved nearer completion Frank realized that the final tests would have to be conducted on roads made icy by falling snows. He had considerable doubt whether the narrow iron tires would have enough traction to move the phaeton. Soon he devised an expedient for this situation, communicating to Charles on December 22 that he was "having Jack Swaine [a local blacksmith] make a couple of clutch rims so we can get over this snow and ice.... Our detachable rims referred to will be of 1/8 iron 1-3/4 wide and drawn together at one point by two screws, one on either side of felloe. It will be studded with calks in two rows."

January 18, 1894, was a day of triumph for Frank Duryea. Writing Charles about his success the next day he said, "Took out carriage again last night and gave it another test about 9 o'clock." The only difficulty he mentioned was a slight irregularity in the engine, caused by the tiny leather pad in the exhaust-valve mechanism falling out. Speaking of this trip, Frank recalled in 1956:

When I got this car ready to run one night, I took it out and I had a young fellow with me; I thought I might need him to help push in case the car didn't work.... We ran from the area of the shop where it was built down on Taylor Street. We started out and ran up Worthington Street hill, on top of what you might call "the Bluff" in Springfield. Then we drove along over level roads from there to the home of Mr. Markham who lived with his son-in-law, Will Bemis, and there we refilled this tank with water. [At this point he was asked if it was pretty well emptied by then.] Yes, I said in my account of it that when we got up there the water was boiling furiously. Well, no doubt it was. We refilled it and then we turned it back and drove down along the Central Street hill and along Maple, crossed into State Street, dropped down to Dwight, went west along Dwight to the vicinity where we had a shed that we could put the car in for the night. During that trip we had run, I think, just about six miles, maybe a little bit more. That was the first trip with this vehicle. It was the first trip of anything more than a few hundred yards that the car had ever made.

= DURYEA AUTOMOBILE BUILT BY J. F. AND C. E. DURYEA 1893 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM CAT. #307,199 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SEPT. 1960 A. A. BALUNEK=

Now Frank could give demonstration rides with the motor carriage, hoping to encourage more investors to back future work. Cautious Mr. Markham finally got his ride, though Frank had to assure him that the engine of the brakeless vehicle would hold them back on any hill they would descend. The carriage on which he had spent so many hours was to see little use after that. Its total mileage is probably less than a hundred miles. Little additional work is known to have been performed on the carriage after January 1894; there is, however, a letter Frank sent his brother on January 19 which tells of contemplated muffler improvements. Another message was dispatched to Charles on March 22, mentioning the good performance of the phaeton on Harrison Avenue hill. This was possibly the last run of the machine, for no further references have been discovered.

Frank spent the months of February and March in preparing drawings, some of which accompanied their first patent application, while others were to be used in the construction of an improved, 2-cylinder carriage. Work on the new machine started in April. The old phaeton, in the absence of used-car lots, was put into storage in the Bemis barn. Later, on the formation of the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1895, it was removed to the barn of D. A. Reed, treasurer of the company. There it remained until 1920, when it was obtained by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the U.S. National Museum.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1967

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 30 cents

Footnotes:

S. H. OLIVER, Automobiles and Motorcycles in the U.S. National Museum (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 213, Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1957), p. 24.

G. R. DOYLE, The World's Automobiles (London: Temple Press Limited, 1959), p. 67.

Recorded interview with Frank Duryea in the U.S. National Museum, November 9, 1956.

Charles Duryea's statement to Springfield Daily Republican, April 14, 1937.

FRANK DURYEA, America's First Automobile (Springfield, Mass.: Donald Macaulay, 1942), p. 4.

Letter from Charles Duryea to Alfred Reeves, March 25, 1920; copy in Museum files.

History notes dictated by Charles E. Duryea in the office of David Beecroft, editor of Automobile Trade Journal, on January 10, 1925. Copy in Museum files. Hereinafter, these notes are referred to as "history."

Frank Duryea in statement made to the Senate Committee on Public Administration of Massachusetts, February 9, 1952.