The 1893 Duryea Automobile In the Museum of History and TechnologyBerkebile, Donald H.
History
The 1893 Duryea Automobile In the Museum of History and Technology
Berkebile, Donald H.
Duryea automobile
That same day, March 28, Charles found working space and machinery
available at John W. Russell & Sons Company in Springfield.[11] The
Russells had recently completed a large government order of shells for
the famous dynamite guns later used on board the cruiser _Vesuvius_ in
the Spanish-American War, and this left an entire second floor,
approximately 35 × 85 feet, virtually unoccupied, according to an
affidavit of William J. Russell of April 30, 1926. Now ready to begin
the actual work, Charles hired his brother Frank to start construction.
Frank started about the first of April, receiving a raise of about 10
percent over the salary he had received at Ames. Before the vehicle was
completed a number of other men performed work on some of the parts,
among them William Deats who had been hired by Charles primarily to work
on bicycles in the same area, but who occasionally assisted on the
carriage. Russell Company records show time charged against Charles
Duryea by six other Russell employees: W. J. Russell, P. Colgan, C. E.
Merrick, T. Shea, L. J. Parmelee, and A. A. Poissant.
[Illustration: FIGURE 13.--J. FRANK DURYEA looking over the Russell shop
lathe on which he turned parts for the first Duryea vehicle. Photo taken
about 1944. (Courtesy of the _Springfield Union_.)]
It is Frank Duryea's remembrance that he started work on Monday, April
4. He first removed the body, with its springs, and placed it on a pair
of wooden horses where it remained until the summer of the following
year. The next step was to remove the rear axle and take it to a
blacksmith shop where the old axle spindles were cut off and welded to a
new drop-center axle. Following this the front axle spindles were
removed, the ends of the axle slotted, and a webbed, C-shaped piece
carrying the kingpin bearings was fitted into each slot, braced from
underneath by short brackets which were riveted and brazed in place. The
old spindles then were welded to the center of offset kingpins which in
turn were mounted in their bearings in a manner similar to that in which
the frame of the Columbia high-wheeled bicycle was mounted in its fork.
Arms welded to the lower end of the kingpins were connected by the tie
rods to an arm on the lower end of the vertical steering column, located
on the center of the axle.
[Illustration: FIGURE 14.--A PORTION of the Russell shop records showing
charges made against Charles Duryea during 1893-1894.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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