Many inventors overtime have laid claim to the first motorized vehicle, including Issac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci with the first steam powered wagons to Robert Anderson of Scotland with the electric car, Duryea in 1893, and to Gottlieb Daimler in 1885, claiming the first gas powered engine prototype. The Library of Congress credits Karl Benz of Germany in 1885 with the first motorized car.
A metallurgist, chemist and inventor, Elwood Haynes donated his first built horseless carriage, drafted and built around the late 1800's, called the “Haynes Pioneer” to the Smithsonian Institute in 1910.
The Elwood Haynes Inventions
In Kokomo, Indiana, Elwood Haynes, working for Indiana Natural Gas, is applauded for discovering and inventing a method for extracting moisture from natural gas. The waste product of the extraction was gasoline. Therefore, it is reasonable that Haynes had the first gasoline powered commercial automobile as is evidenced in the museums in and near this historical little town.
Elwood Haynes claimed that his was the first and that he had been drawing up the plans for many years in the 1800's. Kokomo, Indiana residents claim that the result of the Haynes horseless carriage was the first commercial automobile and it was the first gasoline powered motorized vehicle.
Elwood Haynes Contribution to the Automobile Race
No mention was made of Elwood Haynes in the 1981 edition of National Geographic Societies’ Preserving America’s Past, but the proof is in Indiana at the Elwood Haynes museum. The photographs and the displays of original Haynes automobiles and documents, give citizens of Kokomo, Indiana all the evidence needed that the true inventor of the first commercially built automobile was Elwood Haynes.
According to the Elwood Haynes museum, Assistant Director, Tim Rivers, Haynes who was the supervisor of the Indiana Natural Gas & Oil Company in Kokomo, Indiana, pondered over how to use the by product and decided that he was tired of hitching up the horses to the carriage every day. Why not invent a gasoline motor, a method of firing, gears and steering mechanism to attach to his carriage and eliminate the need for the horses.
Haynes drew up the plans over the course of a few years and then contracted two brothers who owned a machine shop to build his invention.
Elwood Haynes and the Apperson Brothers
The story goes that Haynes tested the motor on the kitchen table in his home when it was finished and the vibration jarred it off onto the floor. Those who knew his widow said that she denied that it fell off the table. She said that it was on the floor when her husband fired it up.
In 1894, Haynes and Edgar and Elmer Apperson, owners of the Riverside Machine Shop, completed the horseless carriage. In order to test the vehicle, on July 4, 1894, Haynes hooked it up to his horses and pulled it outside town on Pumpkin Vine Pike in order to keep the town horses from being frightened by the noise of the engine. The test was successful after a push start and a run of 7 to 8 miles per hour.
The Haynes-Apperson Automobile Company was incorporated in 1896. The Apperson’s left the company by 1902 and in 1923, Haynes built a big new plant called the Haynes Automobile Company that increased to 40 cars per day.. Haynes Automotive went bankrupt in 1924 after a hit from the depression. Two years after launching his large company, on April 14, 1925, Elwood Haynes passed away.
References
A Moment in History by Yael Ksander Indiana History
Elwood Haynes Museum at 1915 South Webster
Kokomo Automobile Museum 1500 North Reed or U.S. 31 Kokomo 46901
Tour Guide Tim Rivers Asst. Director Elwood Haynes Museum Trivers@ city of kokomo.org
In the picture below one of the first Haynes cars, the steering column is adjustable to the driver.
Clarice Cook - Sharing life experiences, education and professional expertise combined with extensive, thorough research of accredited resources.
