Kelsey was used as an

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 regarded ...

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 a ...

by Cadwallader Washburn Kelsey from 1897 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

History

In 1897, Cadwallader "Carl" Kelsey, at the age of 17, built his first car. It was a small four-wheel car. In 1899, while at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

, he built his second car with a friend named Sheldon Tilney. It had a 5-hp single-cylinder Buffalo Gasolene Motor Co. engine and only three wheels. They called it an Auto-Tri. They decided to go into full manufacturing, but their fathers thought the automobile was an "instrument of the devil" and so sent the two young men back to studying at college. The Kelsey and Tilney Auto-Tri was given to the Smithsonian Institute in 1923. In 1901 Kelsey built another car this time with four wheels and two-cylinders. After graduating from college, his father gave him money for a service shop in Germantown so he would stop making cars. He became a dealer for Autocar and in 1902, he built his last car in Philadelphia, a four-cylinder car. Kelsey bought the Philadelphia dealership for the Maxwell, and after record sales he was hired in 1905 as Sales Manager for Maxwell-Briscoe. During his time as Sales Manager, Maxwell became the third largest manufacturer of automobiles. He left in 1909 to develop his own version of a low price car.

Kelsey Motorette

1911 Motorette Ad Cycle and Auto Journal

Carl Kelsey, designed an automobile that would be less expensive than the

Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

. Introduced in September 1910, the three-wheel vehicle was the Motorette, built in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

. The Motorette (a name that he trademarked), was rear-wheel driven by a

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

, twin-cylinder engine which was air-cooled on early models. Later models were

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and ...

, with the

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mounted behind the engine. With a 74-inch

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 ...

, it weighed 700 pounds and was advertised with the slogan "No roads too rough, no hills too high." and was priced at $385, . The Kelsey's two-stroke oil and gasoline were supplied separately, with the oil supplied by a tank in the armrest to a four-way distribution center at the front of the driver's seat. Kelsey designed one of the first anti-sway torsion bars to make it safer. This stabilizer rod was mounted cross-ways in the front and connected to the ends of the axle. This forced both front springs to work up and down together and kept the car frame parallel to the road surface. To help promote his vehicle, Kelsey was active in early endurance events. In 1909, he drove an air-cooled model up Mount Washington. After the car overheated and Kelsey had to spend the night in a halfway house, he changed to a water-cooled engine. In 1911, Kelsey's brother-in-law and a mechanic drove a Kelsey Motorette from the factory in Hartford, Connecticut, across the country, and to

San Francisco, CA San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The trip lasted from February until August. Some engines built by Lycoming factory workers were sabotaged, and this caused Kelsey financial issues. Production ended in 1914. About 210 Motorettes were produced.

Kelsey Motor Company

In 1916, Carl Kelsey built two

prototypes A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used t ...

to develop an improved friction-drive transmission. Kelsey's friction-drive differed from earlier examples in that it was enclosed and shaft driven, rather than using a chain driven version.

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 fight ...

delayed his plans, but in 1919, Kelsey started up the Kelsey Motor Company in

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Models

C. W. Kelsey, in 1930, became the distributor for the Siemens rotary tilling machine, improved it and in 1932 established The Rototiller Company in

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 ...

. He retired as President in 1960 and was still inventing and tinkering when he died in May, 1970.

History

Kelsey Motorette

Kelsey Motor Company

Models

References

See Also