RAMBLER - Patent wariror

Thomas Buckland Jeffery (1845 - 1910), emigrated from England to the USA and was involved in selling bi-cycle components. In 1881, along with his friend R Phillip Gormully, he started a bi-cycle manufacturing company - Gormully and Jeffery.  G and J successfully fought Albert Pope over the Lallement patent on bi-cycle manufacture. G&J made bi-cycles under the Rambler brand name.

Thomas Jeffery , being an inventor, was holding many patents to his name including the "clincher tyre" , which was later sold to Dunlop.

In 1897 , Thomas Jeffery designed and created the first Rambler car.

The car received good reviews over the next few years and this made Thomas Jeffery to exit the bi-cycle business and enter automobile business. In 1900, Thomas Jeffery sold off his holdings in the G&J manufacturing company to the American Bi-cycle company and invested in Thomas B Jeffery company to manufacture automobiles.  Along with his son Charles Jeffery , Rambler cars became famous and sought after. A 1902 Rambler -

During the initial years , the Rambler cars were sold by John Willys , as a distributor.

After the sudden death of Thomas Jeffery during 1910 , Charles Jeffery took over control of the company. In 1914 , Charles Jeffery renamed the Rambler brand as Jeffery in memory of his father (reverted back to Rambler later). Rambler also expanded in to the manufacture of Trucks with 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering and was used extensively during the World War I.  A 1918  Rambler Quad ( Nash) -

A running model of the Nash Quad military truck can be seen here

Logo of Jeffery and Rambler -

In 1916, Charles Jeffery sold his company to Charles Nash of Nash Motors. Nash Motors continued to make cars and trucks under the Rambler as well as Nash brands. 1937, Nash Motors merged with appliance manufacturer , Kelvinator to form Nash-Kelvinator.

By 1954, Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson Motor co merged to form American Motor Corporation and Nash and Rambler brands continued to exist along with AMC. By 1966 - 68 , the Rambler brand was slowly dropped and then disappeared.

American Motor Corporation, after a brief alliance with Renault , was taken over by Chrysler corporation in 1987.

THURY-NUSSBERGER : World's first Parallel Hybrid ?

Rene Thury (1860 - 1938), a Swiss electrical engineer, was known as the "King of DC" due to his inventions in the field of high voltage Direct Current. transmission. In 1877 , along with his Medical student friend , Jean-Jacques Nussberger , he built a steam powered tri-cycle which operated on coal.

In 1904, it is claimed that Thury developed the first "Parallel Gasoline - Electric Hybrid", where the gasoline engine and electric motor operate on the same shaft. This hybrid vehicle had a range of 40 Kms in pure electric mode with 500 Kgs of battery. The vehicle like the current Toyota Prius , can operate in 3 modes - Pure electric , Pure Gasoline and Mix of both.

Rene Thury continued his career in the electrical engineering field and no more Automotive exploits were recorded.

MORS - Race cars

Emile Mors (1859 - 1942) , a Frenchman , was in to his family business of electrical equipment when he got interested in cars - steam cars.  During 1887 - 89 , one of his employees Henri Brasier built a three wheeled steam car. After experimenting with steam for a few years , they shifted ther focus to petrol engine cars

By 1897 , Mors built their first car - a 2 seater , 5 HP car and achieved an average speed of 19 mph in races.

Mors and Panhard & Levassor were the leaders in all the races during this period and race car driven designs evolved very quickly , each trying to out do the other. In 1901/1902 , Mors introduced the famous race car , the Mors 60 HP - the first V4 engine on a car , pumping 60 HP out of 10 litre capacity. The rear wheels were driven through chain. A Mors 60 HP -

In 1902, Mors was the first car to use shock absorbers to improve the ride quality and thus improve stability and increase average speeds in the races.

Some of the famous MORS models are - a 1904 Mors, a 1909 Mors and a 1925 Mors  (last car) -

In 1905/06 . Mors Collaborated with St Louis Motors in the US to make and sell Mors in America, a venture which did not work well.

The Mors Logo -

By 1906 , Mors was in financial trouble and Andre Citroen was appointed as the Managing Director. Things started looking better for the next few years in car production and later during war production. By 1922, Mors was acquired by Citroen Motors as additional capacity to manufacture Citroen cars and by 1925 the Mors brand was dropped.

WOLSELEY - Sheep shearing to Automobiles

Frederick York Wolseley (1837 - 1899) was working in a Sheep shearing company in Australia. Wolseley invented a mechanical shearing machine powered by a gasoline engine and in 1887 formed the company Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine co, in Australia. He hired Herbert Austin as the chief of manufacturing in his company. In 1893 , Wolseley moved his company to England.

Herbert Austin was more interested in motor cars than sheep shearing machines and in 1896 made the first Wolseley motor car - a three-wheeled motor car.

In 1897 , he made the second Wolsely car, named Wolsely Autocar No 1. While he demonstrated the ability manufacture cars, these early versions were not very successful.  In 1900, Herbert Austin created the first four-wheeled Wolseley car and in 1901 , the company Wolseley Tool & Motor Co was formed.

After the death of Frederick Wolseley , Herbert Austin had frequent difference of opinion with the company directors and left Wolseley to form his own company - Austin Motors, in the year 1905. In 1905 , Wolsely and Siddley Auto car company joined together to make cars under Wolseley - Siddley brand. A Wolsely - Siddley tourer.





Some of the famous Wolseley models were Wolseley 25 and the Wolseley 6/80, a British Police car.

Wolseley Logo -

Over its lifetime , Wolseley changed many hands -

In 1914, the company was renamed as Wolseley Motor Co. In 1918 , Wolseley enters Japan through a joint venture with Ishikawa Ship Building & Engineering co to manufacture and sell Wolseley cars.  This compnay , in 1949, becomes Isuzu Motors.

In 1927 , Wolseley was acquired by Morris Motor co under the Nuffield organisation. In 1952 Nuffield organisation acquires Austin Motors and is renamed as British Motor Corporation (BMC). In 1956 , BMC is renamed as British Motor Holdings (BMH). In 1969 BMH and Leyland Motor Corporation joins to form the British Leyland. In 1986, British Leyland was renamed as the Rover group and later MG Rover.

In 1975 , the Wolseley brand was discontinued. Currently the Wolseley brand is with SAIC(Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation)  , China which acquired MG Rover group.

BIANCHI - World's oldest bi-cycle manufacturer

Edoardo Bianchi (1865 - 1946) -  an Italian,  started designing and manufacture of bi-cycles in the year 1885. Bianchi was the first to introduce same size tyres in the front and rear and in 1889 introduced Dunlop pneumatic tyres. In 1895 , he was called on to supply bicycle and train Queen Margharita on bi-cycle riding . This resulted in Bianchi designing the first "Ladies Bi-cylcle".

Bianchi is to be pronounced as bee-ahn-kee.

In 1897, Bianchi expanded in to manufacture of Motorcycles and in 1898 designed the first Motor car. The first motor car named Bianchina was 2 bi-cycles welded together with a De-dion engine mounted in between , driving the rear wheels.

From 1901 onwards Bianchi cars became advanced in terms of engine sizes and transmission types. A 1901 Bianchi car -

From 1914 onward , the Bianchi cars were named as S- series and one of the famous car was the 1937 Bianchi Tipo S9 -

In 1955, Bianchi was taken over by Fiat & Pirelli and integrated in to its Lancia operations. The brand was renamed as Autobianchi. Fiat used Autobianchi to test new technologies and concepts and later on introduce it on Fiat cars. The famed F.I.R.E engine was tested on Autobianchi cars. Fiat sold the Autobianchi cars as Autobianchi in Italy and as Lancia overseas.. Some of the well known Autobianchi cars were - Autobinachi A112 & Autobianchi Y10

The last of the Autobianchi cars were produced in 1995.


The Bianchi & Autobianchi  Logo -

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ELECTROBAT - World's first Electric car ?

Mechanical Engineer Henry G Morris and Chemist Pedro G Salom (in pic) created the world's first successful electric car, in 1894.

In 1896 , they founded the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company to manufacture and  supply electric cars for the New York Taxi so as to replace all the horse-drawn taxis of that time.

In 1899, sensing possible success of electric mobility over Gasoline and Steam, Isaac L Rice of Electric Storage Battery Company bought over the Electric Carriage and Wagon company and renamed the merged entity as Electric Vehicle Company. The EVC sold about hundred vehicles to the New York Taxi fleet.

This attracted the attention of few businessmen who sensed an opportunity to monopolize the electric car business and acquired Electric vehicle company and merged it with Albert Pope's Columbia Automobile Company to form Columbia and Electric Vehicle Company (later renamed back as Electric Vehicle Company). To further strengthen their position , in 1901 , they acquired Riker Electric Motor Vehicle Company. They sold about 2000 electric cabs.

During this period , the electric , steam and gasoline cars sold one-third each and from then on steam cars and electric cars started losing traction, the former due to complexity and latter due to battery/range/weight related concerns. 

To shore up for the future , the Electric Vehicle company had bought the famous Selden Patent in 1899 , which requires all Gasoline engined automobile manufacturers to pay a royalty of 1.25% (later 0.8%) to EVC. As the revenues from electric cars started to dwindle, the revenues from royalties helped them. However, the Selden patent was challenged by Henry Ford and Thomas Jeffery which led to its overthrow in 1911 after a protracted legal battle.

The Electric Vehicle Company became part of United States Motor Company by 1910, which ultimately evolved in to Chrysler.

RIKER - Electric Pioneer

Andrew Lawrence Riker (1868 - 1930) of America started experimenting with electric motors and electric vehicles in 1884 at the age of 16. After completing his studies , in 1887 , he made the first electric tricycle by converting a mechanical tricycle. Riker Electric Motor Company was formed in 1888.

In 1894 , he constructed his first electric four-wheeler by joining 2 bi-cycles, fitting electric motors to rear wheels and housing the batteries below the seat.

Riker Electric Motor Vehicle Company was formed in 1899 and many models of Riker electric cars and trucks were made. Some of the well known models were -

Riker realized that the best way to promote his cars is through racing and in 1901 he constructed the Riker Torpedo and raced to speed record of 57.1 mph in an electric car . The record stood for more than 10 years

Riker Electric Motor Vehicle Co. was taken over by Electric Vehicle Company in 1901. In 1902, Columbia Automobiles and Electric Vehicle Co merge and the Riker brand slowly disappears. In 1910 , the United States Motor Company is formed and Columbia Automobiles becomes one of  constituents of US Motor co. US Motor company later on evolves as Chrysler Motors.

Andrew Riker left Riker Electric Motor Vehicle Co in 1901 and joined Locomobile company and was involved in designing and developing Gasoline automobiles for Locomobile co. In 1905 , Andrew Riker was elected as the first President of SAE.