The Kessler Motor Company was a short-lived

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

manufacturer of aircraft engines and

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

s. The brand name for engines and automobiles was Kessler; also Kess-Line for some cars.

History

Kessler-Detroit Motor Car Company Factor, Plant Number Two

In 1907 Martin C. Kessler designed an automobile engine for the

Chandler Motor Car The Chandler Motor Car Company produced automobiles in the United States of America during the 1910s and 1920s. Corporate strategy It was incorporated in 1913, with Frederick C. Chandler as President, headquartered and with its factory in C ...

company in Cleveland, Ohio. He then worked as an independent

engineering consultant Engineering consulting is the practice of performing engineering as a Consulting Engineer. It assists individuals, public and private companies with process management, idea organization, product design, fabrication, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Op ...

. In 1917, after several attempts, he founded the Kessler Motor Company in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. The company supplied engines for

combat aircraft A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equi ...

to the

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

. It is unclear whether it was connected to the

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

program. Kessler was president and CEO of the company. William H. Radford was appointed chief engineer and vice president.

Automobile manufacturing

With the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the demand for military engines ended, and like many similar companies, Kessler Motors turned to building automobiles. The first model, the Kessler Super-Charge Four, was announced in January 1920 and shown the following month at the

Detroit Auto Show The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show as of 2022 and prior to NAIAS, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place. The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. ...

Super-Charge Motor

For the Super-Charge Four the company developed the Super-Charge Motor, a technically interesting engine for which both Kessler and Radford later claimed credit. It was a two-liter

4-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

inline engine with integrated compressor. It was innovative in incorporating a compression space into the crankcase; pressure was increased by the downward movement of the pistons.Kimes/Clark p. 101. A more than respectable performance of 70

bhp BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

(52.2 kW) was claimed, equalling that of the basic model of the Bugatti Type 35. The Ford Model T offered . The company's advertising emphasized that the engine produced negligible carbon deposits.

Automobile models

Kessler Super-Charge Four

Apart from the engine, the Kessler Super-Charge Four was a very conventional private car. Because of the company's limited resources, it was an assembled car, consisting of purchased components fitted together. The chassis consisted of a ladder frame with front and rear

beam axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

s. The

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

was . The car was only available as a

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

and was a close copy of the then new Packard Single Six;Kimes/Clark, p. 804, picture.Kimes/Clark, p. 1116, picture. the Super-Charge Four offered distinctly superior performance over the Packard's Kimes/Clark, p. 1116. and a slight advantage in wheelbase over the Packard's 116 ins. / 2946 mm When first introduced, the Single Six cost $3640 as a touring car (and was soon reduced in price); the Super-Charge Four cost only $1995. Regardless, the Super-Charge Four flopped badly; by the end of 1921 only 16 vehicles had been produced. The reason is unclear, but may have been the engine.

Kess-Line Motors Company

Kessler formed a subsidiary called the Kess-Line Motors Company to produce its next car under the Kess-Line

marque A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. Again Kessler was president and CEO and Radford chief engineer and vice president. H. H. Scott, formerly of Fisher Body, was chief financial officer and secretary. A new production location was rented, the former facilities of

Liberty Motor Car The Liberty Motor Car Company was a vintage era United States automobile maker based in Detroit, Michigan from 1916 to 1923. History Liberty Motor Car Company was started in February 1916 with capital stock of $400,000 to produce medium-pric ...

in Detroit. In that company's best year, 1921, 21,000 Liberty Sixes had been sold;Kimes/Clark, p. 864. thus the plant was far too large for Kessler unless the new car sold extremely well. The Kess-Line 8 was also extremely reminiscent of a competitor: the engine hood and radiator grille very closely resembled those of the much more expensive Lincoln L.Kimes/Clark, p. 868, picture. However, the Kess-Line, again available only as a touring car, had sportier lines than the massive Lincoln and "helmet" fenders—close to the wheel and turned out at the base, so that the profile recalled a Classical helmet. Instead of

running board A running board or footboard is a narrow step fitted under the side doors of a tram ( cable car, trolley, or streetcar in North America), car, or truck. It aids entry, especially into high vehicles, and is typical of vintage trams and cars, ...

s, there was a nickel-plated step under each of the four doors, and the grille was also nickel-plated. The engine was an inline V8 offering ; a performance exceeded by very few production automobiles at the time, such as the compressor version of the Bugatti Type 35 or the

Mercedes 24/100/140 PS The Mercedes 24/100/140 PS was a large luxury car introduced by Daimler of Untertürkheim in 1924. Production continued until 1929 by which time Daimler had merged with Benz & Cie (effective 1926) and the car's name changed to Mercedes-Benz ...

. Of US cars, similar performance was offered only by, for example, the Finley Robertson Porter, which were produced in extremely limited numbers and offered 125 bhp;Kimes/Clark, p. 1238. typical performance for US luxury cars was 80–90 bhp. Duesenberg Model A, 88 bhp: Kimes/Clark, p. 497. Daniels Model D, 90 bhp: Kimes/Clark, p. 413. Locomobile Model 48, 95 bhp: Georgano, p. 437. The Kess-Line 8 also failed to fulfil expectations; only 12 were built, according to one source only one.Georgano, p. 403.

Later history

After the failure of the Kess-Line 8, the company did not make further attempts to market automobiles. Radford went to California to prepare for equipping Balboa cars with Kessler V8s, but the project did not advance beyond the prototype stage, and there are no further documented uses of the Kessler Super-Charge engine. When the company was dissolved is unclear; there are mentions of it until at least 1927. In the 1930s Martin Kessler over-extended himself financially developing a 10-cylinder automobile.