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1905 Jackson Model C

A Royal Tourist model US Army vehicle, circa 1906. The vehicle was the conveyance of General Frederick Funston (leftmost figure in the back seat).

A 1911 K-R-I-T advertisement

A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903; in 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.6 mi/h) at Daytona Beach Road Course.

The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915, a time when these vehicles were often referred to as horseless carriages.

Elsewhere in the world this period would be considered by antique car enthusiasts to consist of the veteran (pre-1904), and Edwardian eras, although these terms are really not meaningful outside the former British Empire.

Overview

Within the 20 years that make up this era, the various experimental designs and alternative power systems would be marginalised. Although the modern touring car had been invented earlier, it was not until Panhard et Levassor's Système Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognisable and standardised automobiles were created. This system specified front-engined, rear-wheel drive internal combustion engined cars with a sliding gear transmission. Initially the high-wheel motor buggy (resembling the horse buggy of before 1900) was in its heyday, with over 75 makers, including Holsman (Chicago), IHC (Chicago), and Lincoln Motor Car Works but were only gradually abandoned, in favor of the more advanced runabouts, tonneaus and other more expensive closed bodies – and killed off by the Ford Model T.^[1]

Technology

In the early part of this period steam-car development had advanced, making steam cars some of the fastest road vehicles of their day.^[2] Electric cars also held a market share throughout the era.

Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included the electric ignition system (by dynamotor on the Arnold in 1898,^[3] though Robert Bosch, 1903, tends to get the credit), independent suspension (actually conceived by Bollée in 1873),^[3] and four-wheel brakes (by the Arrol-Johnston Company of Scotland in 1909).^[4]Leaf springs were widely used for suspension, though many other systems were still in use.

Transmissions and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the infinitely variable system familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass also made its debut, patented by John Wood in England in 1905^[5] but would not become standard equipment until 1926 on a Rickenbacker.^[5] Angle steel took over from armored wood as the frame material of choice, and in 1912, Hupp pioneered the use of all-steel bodies,^[6] joined in 1914 by Dodge.^[5]

Lists of North American manufacturers of this era

Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly 1904 list

In January, 1904, Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine catalogued the entire range of automobiles available to the mass market in the United States. This list included:

Fred H. Colvin's list as of 1917

Fred H. Colvin, who covered the American automotive industry for many years as a journalist and editor of trade journals, wrote in his memoir (1947) about his experiences:^[7]

I have already indicated how the early "craze" for horseless carriages caused automobile plants to spring up like mushroom growths all over the country, just as hundreds of locomotive plants had sprung up in the early days of railroading. In both instances, however, the great majority faded out of the picture once the industry had become firmly established. As late as 1917, there were 127 different makes of American automobiles on the market, as compared with little more than a dozen in 1947 [i.e. at the time of this writing]. For the sake of the completeness of the present record, and in order to aid future scholars and research workers, I should like to give the list of American automobiles current thirty years ago [i.e., 1917]:

Abbott-Detroit, Allen, American-Six, Anderson, Apperson, Arbenz, Auburn, Austin, Bell, Biddle, Brewster, Bour-Davis, Briscoe, Buick, Cadillac, Cameron, Case, Chalmers, Chandler, Chevrolet, Cole, Crow-Elkhart, Daniels, Davis, Detroiter, Dispatch, Dixie Flyer, Doble, Dodge, Dorris, Dort, Drexel, Elcar, Elgin, Emerson, Empire, Enger, Fiat, Ford, Fostoria, Franklin, F.R.P., Glide, Grant, Hackett, H.A.L., Halladay, Harroun, Harvard, Haynes, Hollier, Hudson, Hupmobile, Inter-State, Jackson, Jeffery, Jordan, King, Kissel, Kline, Laurel, Lenox, Lexington, Liberty, Locomobile, Lozier, Luverne, Madison, Maibohm, Majestic, Marion-Handley, Marmon, Maxwell, McFarlan, Mecca, Mercer, Metz, Mitchell, Moline-Knight, Monarch, Monitor, Monroe, Moon, Morse, Murray, National, Nelson, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Owen, Packard, Paige, Partin-Palmer, Paterson, Pathfinder, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Pilot, Premier, Princess, Pullman, Regal, Republic, Reo, Richmond, Roamer, Ross, Saxon, Scripps-Booth, Spaulding, Simplex, Singer, Standard, Stanley Steamer, Stearns-Knight, Stephens, Stewart, Studebaker, Stutz, Sun, Velie, Westcott, White, Willys-Knight, Winton, and Yale.

A great many more names, including Brush, Duryea, Alco, Speedwell, and Waverly, had already disappeared from the scene by 1917.

Other North American makes

• 
  Alter (Plymouth, Michigan)


• 
  American Locomotive Company (Schenectady, New York)


• 
  Arrow (Dayton, Ohio)


• Cino (Cincinnati, Ohio)


• 
  Colburn (Denver, Colorado)


• 
  James Cunningham, Son & Company (Rochester, New York)


• 
  K-R-I-T Motor Car Company (Detroit, Michigan)


• 
  Lambert (Anderson, Indiana)


• 
  Marathon (Nashville, Tennessee)


• 
  Maritime Six (St John, New Brunswick)


• 
  McLaughlin (Oshawa, Ontario)


• 
  Model (Peru, Indiana)


• 
  Overland (Toledo, Ohio)


• 
  Stoddard-Dayton (Dayton, Ohio)


• 
  Tincher (Chicago, Illinois)


• 
  Union (Union City, Indiana)

See also

• Antique car


• Classic car


• Cyclecar


• History of the automobile


• Most expensive cars sold in auction


• Vintage car

References

Bibliography

• 
  Colvin, Fred H. (1947), Sixty Years with Men and Machines, New York and London: McGraw-Hill, LCCN 47003762. Available as a reprint from Lindsay Publications (
  ISBN 978-0-917914-86-7). Foreword by Ralph Flanders.


• 
  Csere, Csaba (January 1988), "10 Best Engineering Breakthroughs", Car and Driver, 33 (7).


• 
  Georgano, G.N. (1985), Cars, 1886–1930, New York: Beekman House, distributed by Crown, ISBN 0-517-48073-5.

External links

• Brassauto.com


• Cars of Canada


• Devil-Wagon Days, by Dorothy V. Walters, the Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol. 30, September 1946, pp. 69–77


• 
  Frontenac Motors (mostly Model T)


• Hispano-Suiza photos


• Horseless Carriage Gazette


• 
  Vintage Auto Parts (has a brass section)