The Balzer Motor Company of The Bronx, New York, was founded in 1894 by

Stephen M. Balzer Stephen Marius Balzer ( – September 29, 1940) was a Hungarian-born American mechanic and inventor. He was the founder of the Balzer Motor Company and later donated one of his cars to the Smithsonian Institution, which was the first car in its col ...

(c.1864–1940).

History

Stephen Balzer immigrated in the 1870s from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

to the United States. He apprenticed as a watchmaker at Tiffany's. When he started his own business in 1894, a machine shop, he already held several patents for mechanical devices, among them a device for making milling cutters and his rotary engine. In the same year, he completed his first prototype automobile, a motorized ''quadricycle'' with a tube chassis, less than 6 ft long and 3 ft wide. It had a rotary, air-cooled, 3-cylinder engine, mounted vertically in the rear and revolving around a fixed

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

. Turning with the crank case was a stub shaft. It further had a 3-speed manual transmission with no reverse. One lever engaged speeds and clutch. Each front wheel had its own bicycle fork axle which were connected by a bar which was operated by a tiller) By 1897, he had built three cars. He developed also 5-cylinder rotary engines. When

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Secretary

Samuel P. Langley Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of astronomy a ...

learned about these vehicles and their engine in 1898, he contacted Balzer, ordering one for his experimental airplane. Balzer had problems finishing this engine, delivering finally not earlier than 1900. For proper use, Langley's technical assistant,

Charles M. Manly Charles Matthews Manly (1876–1927) was an American engineer. Manly helped Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley build The Great Aerodrome, which was intended to be a manned, powered, winged flying machine. Manly made major co ...

, had to modify it heavily. This became the Manly–Balzer engine, the first purpose-built aero-engine. Balzer's business was not very successful, and he left in 1902. He still worked as a mechanic, and in 1940 he died.

Prototype

On May 16, 1899, Balzer donated his prototype to the

, the first automobile in its collection. This was the first car given to the Smithsonian. It is currently in collection.

References

{{reflist

External links

Smithsonian Institution: Balzer Road Carriage; illustrated description
(retrieved 25 September 2012)
US-Patent No. 573174 at google.com/patents
(retrieved 11 February 2013) Companies based in the Bronx Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1894 American companies established in 1894 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state)