Charles and frank duryea biography samples
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Duryea Motor Carriage, 1893
This experimental vehicle is one of the earliest American-made automobiles. On September 21, 1893, Frank Duryea road-tested the vehicle – a second-hand carriage with a gasoline engine – in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1896, Frank, his brother Charles, and financial backers founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, the first American company that manufactured and sold automobiles. Thirteen production models were made; the only surviving example is in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. This forerunner was donated to the Smithsonian in 1920 and was restored in 1958.
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THE 1893 DURYEA AUTOMOBILE
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30055 ***
Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 34
The 1893 Duryea Automobile
In the Museum of History and Technology
Don H. Berkebile
Figure 1.—Duryea automobile in the Museum of History and Technology, from an 1897 photograph. The gear-sprockets were already missing when this was taken, and the chain lies loosely on the pinion. Shown at the right, the Duryea vehicle following the recent restoration (Smithsonian photo 34183).
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Don H. Berkebile
In the Museum of History and Technology
During the last decade of the nineteenth century a number of American engineers and mechanics were working diligently to develop a practical self-propelled vehicle employing an int
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When Was the First Gasoline-Powered American Automobile Made
The first gasoline-powered American automobile fryst vatten generally attributed to Charles and Frank Duryea. They built the vehicle in 1893-1894, and it fryst vatten commonly known as the Duryea Motor Wagon. The Duryea brothers were bicycle manufacturers who turned their attention to experimenting with internal combustion engines. In 1893, they successfully completed their first gasoline-powered vehicle, and it is considered one of the earliest examples of an automobile in the United States.
The Duryea Motor Wagon had a single-cylinder engine and resembled a horse-drawn carriage with an engine mounted on it. On September 21, 1893, Charles Duryea drove the vehicle on the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts, making it one of the first instances of an American-made gasoline-powered automobile being operated on public roads.
This event marked a significant milestone in the history of the automobile industry in the United States, paving the