History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

heres one..from Philly

 

That gearless transmission is actually quite ingenious. That's the earliest form of continuously variable transmission I've ever seen. Imagine, infinitely variable drive ratios in a 1908 car . . . Impressive.

 

Cool thread!

 

Dragon! That's too cool.

That Gearless setup is awesome.

 

JEEZ!!! Man, I was LAUGHING at the name "Gearless" . . . RIGHT UP 'til the time Pipes posted all this KEEN info!!! Holy SHIT, those guys had a good, creative thing going back then, AND way before WWI !!!

As James McD just said, FASCINATING early tranny. JUST LOOK at how FEW parts are involved! Wow.

 

A company called the Gearless Transmission Co. produced a direct drive friction transmission prior to 1906 in Glen Falls, NY. After 1906 the company moved to a larger factory in Rochester, NY.
This transmission could be adapted to any American Automobile in the early 1900s and was "The Only Direct Drive Friction Transmission". The Gearless Transmission did away entirely with the use of gears and provided infinitely variable frictional gearing or an unlimited number of speeds, both forward or reverse.



The general scheme is shown below in three images. In Figure 1 - A is the engine flywheel, B is a clutch drum, C is the driven disc mounted on the propeller shaft D. C and D are moved forward and backward for varying speeds by rod C.


Intermediate discs "d" left and "d" right are supported in frame E which also has a bearing for propeller shaft D. Both Intermediate discs are drawn toward the shaft and into engagement with disc C and at the same time into engagement with the flywheel A.
This action impels the driven disc C at a speed corresponding to the distance from the axis of the intermediate discs "d". The motion of discs "d" is affected by both arms F. Arms F are connected together to a pedal by links "f". When the driven disc C reaches the position shown the swing arm of the clutch B is engaged by a cone G carried by the disc C, engaging the clutch and positively connecting the motor to the propeller shaft D.

 

http://www.american-automobiles.com/
lots of little stuff on american autos..and stuff you never even heard of!

 

seems pretty basic.. as far as boat drives, Ive no clue.. I'm a car guy..dont know nothing about boats except when they go down you get wet..

 

How about Krebs Commercial Car Co. and/or the Clyde Car Co. of Clyde,Ohio? came across those references in an old Massachusetts book about the pres. of the company, Charles R. Dunbar who at the time organized the Oakland Motor Co. of New England...
"So for homework,I would like a two page report on my desk Monday morning...any questions?" (god, i dont miss school one bit!)

 

Krebs & Clyde. THANKS, SlickWilly. If that's the same Oakland of Durant/GM fame, that would seem to put the Krebs & Clyde way back in the teens or 1920s. Sound about right?

(BTW: I don't miss school, EITHER!!!)

 

I don't know how rare this is but it is the only one I've seen.

1913 Speedwell

 

1969-72 Sturm-Ruger(The gun maker) made a number of cars powered by a 427 Ford V/8 anybody got one of those?..1954 Storm, Bertone body, powered by Dodge Hemi, anyone?...1929 Viking, Division of Oldsmobile with LaSalle styling, 260ci V/8, gotta be someone out there with a production of 1390 cars...1952 Wildfire, Americas first Glasspar bodied production kit car???

 

mcTim64! A 1913 Speedwell, the "Brass lamp Era" ! SHOOT, never even HEARD of this make, SO it's good to see one survived!!! Nice PIX, THX for the post!

 

RixRex wrote:

1969-72 Sturm-Ruger(The gun maker) made a number of cars powered by a 427 Ford V/8 anybody got one of those?.. [Jimi said: Rex you've posed some GOOD ones here! I didn't know Sturm-Ruger did some cars. I did know the Stevens Arms Co. did so in the early years of American automobiling.]

1954 Storm, Bertone body, powered by Dodge Hemi, anyone?... [Rex: GREAT addition! Gotta be one of the rarest ORIGINAL cars powered by an early Hemi!]

1929 Viking, Division of Oldsmobile with LaSalle styling, 260ci V/8, gotta be someone out there with a production of 1390 cars... [Yeah, the Viking was the Olds "companion" make. Sure, they have to be rare, but enough were made, I doubt they qualify as "extinct" (meaning NONE left in existence)].

Wildfire, Americas first 1952 Glasspar bodied production kit car??? [WOW, Rex do you have a PIC of such a car? Any still existing? Would have to be MUCH scarcer than a King Midget (also sold as a KIT in their early years)].

Good post! THANKS!!!

 

That would be Woodill Wildfire, body by Glaspar, plenty of them left, they have a website - www.woodillwildfire.com

 

The Bertone Storm Z-50 aka Zeder was just a styling exercise on a Dodge chassis, not really a make, they built just the one. Pretty nice for a huge coupe.

 

PEERLESS MOTOR CAR CO, F. B. STEARNS CO, JORDAN MOTOR CAR CO, CHANDLER-CLEVELAND MOTORS CORP, were some Cleveland, OH automobile companies. I have pictures of a Jordan at an Crawford Automobile museum in Cleveland. I think i recall Knight (?) being another cleveland company, there's one at the Crawford Auto museum as well. I may be wrong...

 

I think it was a little earlier...he was executive head of Western Mass. operations of Oakland Motor Co. in 1904! The source didnt give much of an exact time frame but i would say 1900-1920

 

I don't know about a Geronimo car per say,,but how about Geronimos Cadillac,,photo below



Along with Michael Murphys song,,,Geronimo's Cadillac,, HRP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Hn4kMzp50</EMBED>

 

Hey, ACE! You're right next-door to me! I came up in Logan! You are So RIGHT! Cleveland once rivaled Detroit to be THE U.S. auto capital! I'll just INSERT some commments in your post, below, buddy!

ACE wrote: PEERLESS MOTOR CAR CO,
F. B. STEARNS CO,
JORDAN MOTOR CAR CO,
CHANDLER-CLEVELAND MOTORS CORP,

I DO believe ALL of those companies were around long enough that there are extant specimens of these makes, both in private hands AND in the auto museum in Cleveland. SO, I WULDN'T CONSIDER THEM EXTINCT (NONE IN EXISTENCE).

Peerless was one of the BIG-name luxury auto-makers, along with Packard and Pierce-Arrow (the 3-Ps, as they were referred to!) Other PRIMO lines back then included Marmon & Locomobile (bought up by Billy Durant of GM fame).

Jordan was a relatively LONG-running company that used Continental engines. Ran all thorugh the '20s and sputtered out in '31 after the Depression started.

Stearns used KNIGHT sleeve-valve engines in some of their Stearn-Knight cars (I sound redundant!

And, Chandler was a well-known company, making very well-respected cars in their time.

were some Cleveland, OH automobile companies. I have pictures of a Jordan at an Crawford Automobile museum in Cleveland. I think i recall Knight (?) being another cleveland company, there's one at the Crawford Auto museum as well. I may be wrong... No, I don't think you are WRONG on anyting you said, bro. PM me if ya wanna chat. I MISS the old Nelsonville/Logan home grounds!!!


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SlickWilly: COOL post, man. 1904 is WAY early in U.S. auto scene (NO hotrod mags yet! LOL)

Hell, there would have been curved-dash Olds running around (sorta like the "hotrods of the day! ha-ha). People hated that shit, 'cause it scared the horses, still pulling 99-percent of everything on the streets!

 

HotrodPrimer, any idea what YEAR model Caddy that was??? WAY before Billy Durant bought Caddy & started GM, I'd reckon.

 

AND, I'd add, that was so early it looks like those were the old BRASS, carbide-powered headlamps!

 

This is about all that is left of a Spaulding, made in Grinnell, Iowa in the teens. The Iowa Transportation Museum searched extensively for any examples of a Spaulding car, and all they could find was an unrestored partial chassis. It's currently undergoing restoration for display in the museum.

 

Alchemy, that looks like a NICE cast-iron piece someone is holding in the MIDDLE picture. Is that one of the parts under restoration?

The SPAULDING has to be about as rare (FOR IOWA!!!) as the Vermont "Wasp" was for Vermont! IN BOTH CASES, I THINK WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE ONLY AUTOMOBILES COMMERCIALLY MANUFACTURER IN THOSE STATES -- NOT NORMALLY REGARDED AS AUTO PRODUCERS!!

THANKS for bringing the SPAULDING to attention here!! You are a great HAMBer & know what "EXTINCT" means. SOUNDS like the SPAULDING is about as close to extinct as cars ever get! For MY part, I am glad some people are making a dedicated effort to "BRING BACK" a specimen of something that almost went totally out of existence!

Great post!

 

I saw a book in the bookstore once (didn't buy it) that told the story of dozens of Iowa auto manufacturers. Granted, many probably only built a half dozen cars, but others produced many. I'd bet they all had fizzled out by the 1920's.

I think the cast piece with the name is a plug wire cover, IIRC.

 

I visited a private museum in Elkhart, IN a few years ago. The museum had an Elkhart touring car. Made in Elkhart, IN of course! Sorry no pics.

 

Yeah,,,the photo I have says June 11,1905,,but I believe in reality the car was a Locomobile. HRP

 

Here's a link with contact info for that book

http://www.automobiledir.com/press/catalog/1755/index.html

Somewhat little known fact is that the deusenberg brothers (yes, that deusenberg) grew up in Iowa and were originally hired to design the "Mason" motorcars for a Des Moines businessman. They later went on to found their own manufacturing company.

I believe the building they worked in was a car dealership into the 80s, it's on Grand due south of the Wells Fargo arena and always had a classic car in the display window in the 90s. It may have been the original location of the George White pontiac dealer.

 

That gearless transmission is fairly widly used today. Just turn you snowblower or riding lawnmower over and tak a look a rubber faced wheel riding against a crank mouted pully.

Also for you consideration don't forget the Powell, made in LA using recaimed Plymouth running gear from surplus military vehicles.
For the King of Wierd, chack out the LANG Museum in Nasville. He has a bunch of American and European one offs, prototypes, and mini cars.