TABLE OF CONTENTS

Patron’s Dedication

v

About the Author and Cover Artist

vi

Acknowledgements

vii

Preface

ix

Contents

13

Introduction

15

I.   Personal Transportation in the 19^th Century

21

II.  Power Behind the Transportation Revolution:

• Steam - The Power of the Industrial Revolution

• Naphtha Vapor – America’s first Owner-operated “Automobile” 

• Electricity – An Elegant Choice for Personal Transportation 

• Internal Combustion – Frightful Exploding Machines

25

39

51

63

III. Off to the Races: The Prototype Era, 1851-1903

73

IV. Trendsetters:

• Gottleib Daimler and William Steinway: a Marketing Success for Internal Combustion in America

• Clark Sintz: Famous but Forgotten

• Charles Brady King: Dean of American Automobile Pioneers

• Ransom E. Olds:  Father of Detroit’s Automobile Industry  The Olds Alumnae, a family tree

• David Buick: Father of the Brand that Built General Motors

• Henry Ford:  A Reluctant Marine Engine Builder

81

89

99

115

125

129

141

VI.  Off to the Races:  Real Racers, The Experimental Era, 1904-1912

151

XI.  Appendices

Abbreviations

• Detroit Area Marine Engine Builders (Est. before WWI)

• Other Michigan Marine Engine Builders (Est. before WWI

171

175

215

In February 1901 The Rudder magazine reviewed the Olds marine engines.  They described them as powerful engines and said that the designers of the engines were “thoroughly conversant with marine engineering practice.”  They noted that the company’s success was evident by the fact that the corporate launch had secured seven first prizes in launch races the prior year.

In 1897 Henry Ford and an associate, Fred Strauss, built a marine engine they sold to William Hurlbut.  That engine is well documented because they hired attorney Horace Rackham to sue for payment.

Daimler/Steinway Ad, 1891

The project that became this book began almost 20 years ago. At that time I intended to revise and illustrate the history of Gray Marine Motor Company written by my grandfather, John W. Mulford. The corporate biography written by my grandfather was limited to the corporate life of Gray Motor Company (1905-1926) and Gray Marine Motor Company (1923 to 1968). The founder of both companies, O. J. Mulford, clearly traced their origin back to the time of the Sintz Gas Engine Company, builders of marine gas engines since 1891.[i] A Sintz marine engine was prominently on display in the lobby of Gray Marine Motor Company.

Knowing that the oldest surviving American gas powered automobile is powered by a Sintz marine engine,[ii] it seemed to me that background on that company deserved some additional investigation. Research revealed that the Sintz engine was the first commercially successful gas engine used on the Great Lakes and it significantly contributed to the popularization of power boating in the 1890s. Observing that both corporate and personal relationships associated with the men and machines from the Sintz and Gray enterprises carried into the early years of the automobile industry led me to believe the role of the marine engine in shaping Detroit's image as "The Motor City" has been significantly under rated by most historians.

The technical relationship was stated simply by Westin Farmer, naval architect and for 30 years the editor of Popular Mechanix magazine: "the marine engine is the parent of the automobile engine." Regarding the cultural lineage, early motormen developed lightweight internal combustion engines that introduced mechanically powered personal watercraft at a time when the horseless carriage was ridiculed and treated as a nuisance. In doing so, they built a profitable gas engine industry and opened men's minds to the possibilities of self-powered personal transportation vehicles. Some of the best remembered motormen who participated in the early days of the marine engine industry in Detroit include Charles B. King, Henry Leland (Cadillac and Lincoln), David Buick, Henry Ford, Henry B. Joy (Packard), and Ransom Olds.

Steam engines had powered the industrial revolution and had been the first to mechanically power ships. Some of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century owned large steam yachts for personal recreation and commuting between their country homes and the major business centers. By the late 19th century the harbors of major cities were populated with small owner-operated powerboats using new types of small engines: Naphtha, A1co­Vapor, electric and a variety of internal combustion type engines. A growing number of middle-class observers desired powerboats and popular demand followed.

While researching early owner-operated powerboats, I came to appreciate the largely forgotten contribution of a then revolutionary external combustion vapor type engine, the patented "Naphtha" engine. The Naphtha engine was patented in 1883, before the existence of an internal combustion engine capable of operating with a liquid fuel. They operated on the familiar principles of the steam engine but, because its naphtha fueled burners also boiled naphtha, a type of gasoline, it was not technically a steam engine and was not subject to the regulations of the Steamboat Inspection Act.[iii]

By circumventing the Steamboat Inspection Act the "Naphtha" launch became the first commercially produced, mechanically powered, owner-operated "automobile" in America. It was also the first practical engine in the world to rely solely on a portable liquid fuel. Their use by the very wealthy quickly spread throughout America and foreign countries. Electric powerboats began to appear by 1890, and added another option for a growing demand among the very wealthy.

In the 1890s, when boiler explosions were still a frightening and all too common an experience, the sound of the strange "exploding" internal combustion engines must have terrorized not just the horses but the community at large. However, with few affordable alternatives, many people accepted the gas engine as the prime mover in owner-operated powerboats. By their example many people came to appreciate the advantages of internal combustion marine engines by the dawn of the 20th century.

In the East, vapor engines and electric motors were the leading prime movers but, pioneer motormen in the Great Lakes did not manufacturer the patented "Naphtha" or show much interest in electric motors. Instead they tinkered with gas engines. The area's industry was largely based on shipbuilding and marine steam engine manufacturing. The necessary talent and equipment was directly transferable to building internal combustion engines. Notably, by the mid-1890s, neither steam nor internal combustion engines were protected by general patents.

In addition to shipbuilding, the nation's carriage and rail oar manufacturing industries were also concentrated in the Great Lakes area owing to the cheaper availability of raw materials, such as iron ore and lumber. By the time the Eastern elite had created the beginning of an automobile industry based on steam and electric motors,[iv] the gas engine pioneers of the Great Lakes area were ready to build comparatively inexpensive automobiles powered by gas engines.

When the OIds Motor Works made the decision in 1901 to stop manufacturing stationary and marine engines,[v] it went into production of a single model gas powered automobile at a popular price. Immediately it became the world's largest manufacture of gas powered road vehicles. On that success was founded a great industry in the City of Detroit and the steam and electric types began to lose market share and gradually disappeared from the market.

The marine gas engine business may not be recognized as a great industry when compared to the automobile. However, as late as 1910, Gas Engine magazine observed that while much attention was being given to impressive numbers of automobiles being produced, the largely invisible gasoline marine engine still outnumbered automobile engines in use by a factor of two to one. It was the impressive number of marine gas engines that prepared a generation of mechanics to establish Detroit's automobile industry.

In the near future I intend to return to the original project and more thoroughly explore one of the most important marine engine manufacturers, Gray Motor Company and its successor Gray Marine Motor Company. And, by its example, in some way illustrate how the marine engine and automobile industry continued to benefit from each other beyond the pioneer era. The story of Gray Marine, and many of the men associated with the company will illustrate the common development and growth of both the gasoline marine engine and the automobile engine businesses. It will also be shown, as history repeats, that Gray Marine played a leading role in field testing and promoting an acceptance of the two-cycle, high-speed Diesel in the era preceding and during World War II. In the end the economic factors brought by World War II and its aftermath led to the demise of the independent marine engine manufacturers. Most closed their doors over the following decade and Gray Marine was nearly alone when production ceased in 1968.

I hope that the information contained in the following pages will contribute to a better understanding of the pioneering days when steam, electric, "Naphtha," and gasoline engines were all debated as the prime mover of the future. Also I hope that this will create some interest in and appreciation for the long gone independent marine engine manufacturers.

Michael M. Dixon, 2005

[i] The Sintz Gas Engine Company (1891-1904) was acquired and moved to Detroit in 1900 as a subsidiary of the Michigan Yacht & Power Co. The Company’s President, OJ. Mulford, was the company's Detroit agent and his boatbuilding business had become its largest customer.

[ii] Elwood Haynes built an automobile with a Sintz engine in 1894. That vehicle is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute.

[iii] All steamboats operating on Federal waterways were regulated by the Steamboat Inspection Act. Without exception, all steamboats required annual inspections and were required to be operated under control of a licensed steam engineer and captain.

[iv] Thousands of electric powered automobiles had been built and sold in Hartford, Connecticut before there was any commercial automobile manufacturing established in Detroit.