Thomas BlanchardAutomobile Biographies The pioneer inventor of the first real steam carriage constructed in the United States. Born in Sutton, Mass., June 24, 1788. Died, April 1 6, 1864. Blanchard received a common school education, and before he had entered his teens his mechanical genius began to show itself. At thirteen years of age he invented [...]  |
The Vanishing CustomerAt the beginning of 1930, industry as a whole was not certain whether it had sprained its ankle or broken its neck. Professional diagnosticians, both political and economic, commonly endorsed the sprained-ankle theory. The usual New Year’s forecasts were, as usual, optimistic. They stressed the point that in spite of what had happened on the [...] |
New Times, New ProblemsBetween 1900 and 1920, the main problem of the auto-maker was the problem of producing cars. There was first the problem of producing a car good enough to create and to satisfy a demand for it. The arrival of the self-starter (in 1912) might be taken as marking the end of the more primitive automobile [...] |
The Growth of the IndustryThe period between 1910 and 1914 is commonly looked back upon as a period of great automobile expansion. It would be better described as a period of great Ford expansion. The rest of the industry showed no sensational increase in its sales. The 1910-1914 output (including Fords) was: 1910 181,000 1911 199,000 1912 356,000 1913 [...] |
The cars of 1900-1908In the 1900-08 period, the automobile outgrew its horseless-carriage era, established the superiority of the gasoline engine over electricity and steam, and swung from the very light buggy-type automobile, with a one-cylinder or two-cylinder engine, to the four-cylinder and six-cylinder touring car, which sometimes approached the proportions of a land-going battleship. There was still no [...] |
Beginnings in DetroitIn 1900, there were 76,000,000 people in the United States, of whom less than 4,000 owned automobiles. Here was the greatest potential market that any manufacturer could desire. For three hundred years the population of the United States had been increasing. Now, at the beginning of the fourth century of North American civilization, the automobile [...] |
Road Vehicle DevelopmentsWhile the staple product of the world’s motor industry as a whole consists of vehicles fitted with internal combustion engines, the power of which is transmitted to the road by mechanical means, there are other developments which are fully deserving of specific mention. First among these comes the steam vehicle. In the early days, numerous [...] |
Two Typical High-Class British CarsFrom this it must not be gathered that the policy of the British motor industry is merely a policy of protection. The industry does not only look to the government to help it, but intends very seriously setting about the work of helping itself by the adoption of the best possible methods in view of [...] |
Motor Vehicles IndusrtyThe effects of the Great War have made themselves felt throughout the whole structure of the motor industry. In the first instance, the war caused a sudden dislocation due to the temporary but immediate extinction of some markets and the abnormal development of others. The ordinary everyday business of the industry was totally suspended in [...] |
The Motor In AgricultureUndoubtedly, one of the biggest fields for the extension of the motor industry is in connection with agricultural operations and the carriage of farm produce and supplies. Up to the present, this development has to some extent lagged behind other sections of the motor industry. Where hard roads are available, the carriage of produce and [...] |
