![Riverside Machine Works, Kokomo Indiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Riverside_Machine_Works%2C_Kokomo_Indiana.jpg)
Edgar Apperson (October 3, 1870 – May 12, 1959) was an American automobile manufacturer and engineer.
He, along with his brother Elmer, was the first to create one of the world's first horseless carriages,
and Edgar was the first to install the anti-friction bearings and opposed cylinder gasoline engine and the first to design carburators with needle valves and originator of the double ignition system in 1904.
Life and career
He was born on October 3, 1870 in
Howard County, Indiana
Howard County is one of 92 counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,658. The county seat is Kokomo. Originally named Richardville County, it was renamed in 1844 to commemorate General Tilghman Ashurs ...
, the son of Elbert and Anne Apperson.
He started working with engineering and mechanics when, while attending high school, he started apprenticing at his brother's machine shop and also made and fixed bicycles at his own shop. Edgar married his wife, Laura Pentecost, on April 12, 1892. In 1889, Edgar and his older brother Elmer founded the Riverside Machine Works, which manufactured bicycles and farm machinery. At the age of 24, they, along with
Elwood Haynes
Elwood Haynes (October 14, 1857 – April 13, 1925) was an American inventor, metallurgist, automotive pioneer, entrepreneur and industrialist. He invented the metal alloy stellite and independently co-discovered martensitic stainless steel ...
, put a gasoline powered marine engine onto a buggy and created one of the world’s first “horseless carriages”. At the time, Edgar had been working at a
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
company and brought home plans for a motorized buggy with a gasoline marine engine.
On July 4, 1894, Edgar test drove the automobile from Kokomo to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for the first time, which had a maximum speed of eight miles per hour and, after establishing they would be able to sell these cars to the public, the
Haynes-Apperson
Haynes-Apperson Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Kokomo, Indiana, from 1896 to 1905. It was the first automobile manufacturer in Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-l ...
Company was created.
The first year the small company sold nearly a dozen automobiles and, in 1898, the brothers partnered with Elwood Haynes but the partnership soon dissolved. The following year, they both drove the car 750 miles to
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York to a customer, Dr. Ashley A. Webber, and the journey took 21 days of which 10 consisted entirely of driving. Ironically, though, they had no engine trouble and only ever experienced one flat tire, Ashley Webber couldn't navigate the machine and later returned it. Edgar once also delivered a car to
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
's son-in-law in
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...
and even taught that son-in-law how to drive. Apperson said of the experience, "Each day I'd teach him to drive, but it was slow work. Once he drove the car into its place in the carriage house, stepped on the throttle, yelled 'Whoa!' and went through the rear wall. When I left he gave a twenty-year gold pass, Pullman fares included, for myself and family on the
New York Central System
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
".
In 1901, the Apperson brothers decided to move in a new direction and created their own company, the
Apperson
The Apperson was a brand of American automobile manufactured from 1901 to 1926 in Kokomo, Indiana.
Company history
The company was founded by the brothers Edgar and Elmer Apperson shortly after they left Haynes-Apperson; for a time they conti ...
Brothers Automobile Company.
In 1902, the brothers were selling a two-cylinder and 2,500 pound car at $3,500, the most expensive automobile at the time, until the following year, when they produced a 50-horsepower limousine at a selling price of $7,500. Both autos were chain driven and had four cylinders and armored wood chassis.
The most successful model was the “Jack Rabbit” cars, developed in 1908.
Apperson also participated at the
Charles River Speedway
The Charles River Speedway was a former bicycle and harness racing track located in Allston, Massachusetts, which has been redeveloped into an upscale market.
History
The speedway itself was constructed in 1899 along the Charles River. It bega ...
and in his first, he won the third of a mile race with his two-passenger high-speed 30 mph model on the track. The track was mainly used for bicycles and Apperson said of the race: "We didn't go so fast, but made an awful lot of noise". He later also competed in a 100-mile non-stop race, using five gallons of fuel and covering 100 miles, during a rainy and muddy day in
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York in 1901, winning a blue ribbon. That same year, he also raced at the
Pan-American Exposition
The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...
in New York and but was stopped before the scheduled end because of President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
's attempted assassination. Eventually after retiring, he continued driving his cars around Kokomo until 1915 and, to exhibit the quality of Apperson automobiles while visiting a showroom, he once laid a
Persian carpet
A Persian carpet ( fa, فرش ایرانی, translit=farš-e irâni ) or Persian rug ( fa, قالی ایرانی, translit=qâli-ye irâni ),Savory, R., ''Carpets'',(Encyclopaedia Iranica); accessed January 30, 2007. also known as Iranian ...
on the floor and ran the motor for days and not a drop of oil touched the carpet. In a 1914 catalog, Apperson said of this Apperson quality, "My brother and I had one central dominating thought - to make cars that were mechanically perfect" and Apperson strove for perfection despite the lack of technology at the time. Once he was driving a five miles an hour in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, Utah when he was fined $10 for speeding and said it "was damn fine advertising". In 1916, while visiting a childhood friend in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, he bought some property for retirement.
However, when his brother Elmer had a stroke in 1917, he took more control of the company and became the general manager. He accepted an award for his brother from the Press Club of Indiana after they were honored for "their achievement in building the first practically commercially successful American automobile". In 1918, Edgar Apperson started making a new model for the company's 25th anniversary, an automobile that would now have V-type fan belt and pulley and a gearshift above the steering wheel instead of the floorboard. With Elmer's death in 1920 at an auto race in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Edgar was named president of the company and the company would ultimately become troubled in 1922 such as a new president, Don C. McCord, who would remove the name "Apperson" from the company and would lead Edgar Apperson to retire from the company a year later. His company would go bankrupt a year later in July 1926 while the new owners wanted to increase production. Apperson retired to
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
until returning to Phoenix, Arizona where he would invest in farm lands of
Salt River Valley
The Salt River Valley is an extensive valley on the Salt River in central Arizona, which contains the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Although this geographic term still identifies the area, the name "Valley of the Sun" popularly replaced the usage ...
until his death in 1959.
In the 1930s, a crude model of the Apperson Brothers car was displayed at the
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 ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
References
Further reading
Katherine Parkin, “Adult Adoption and Intergenerational Same-Sex Relationships,” Notchesblog.com, December 2017.
https://notchesblog.com/2017/12/15/adult-adoption-and-intergenerational-same-sex-relationships/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apperson, Edgar
1870 births
1959 deaths
American automotive engineers