Keystone (steam automobile)
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The Keystone Steamer was an American
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 ...
manufactured from 1899 until 1900 in
Lebanon, Pennsylvania Lebanon () is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,814 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in the central part of the Lebanon Valley, east of Harrisburg and west of Reading. ...
.


History

Keystone Match & Machine Company was founded in 1894 and offering bicycles from 1896. In 1899 the company offered an interesting but complicated
steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
. It featured '' runabout''
coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...
and was powered by three small single-cylinder steam engines built into each of its rear wheel hubs in a way that they worked as a
radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...
. It was tried to avoid the use of
sprocket A sprocket, sprocket-wheel or chainwheel is a profiled wheel with teeth that mesh with a roller chain, chain, Caterpillar track, track or other perforated or indented material. The name 'sprocket' applies generally to any wheel upon which radial ...
s,
chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...
and a differential gear as each wheel worked completely independent from the other. The vehicle could reach a maximum speed of .Kimes (1985; p. 770) Planned production included trucks, but the Keystone Match & Machine Co. gave up all automobile projects in 1900, concentrating instead in producing matches and machinery for that purpose. Engineer J. G. Xander, who mainly developed the Keystone Steamer, went to Reading, Pennsylvania where he manufactured steam and gasoline engines, and offered for a short time the Xander automobile, built on custom order.Kimes (1985; p. 1524)


References

{{Reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Pennsylvania Companies based in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Lebanon, Pennsylvania American companies established in 1894 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1894 1899 establishments in Pennsylvania Vehicles introduced in 1899 Veteran vehicles 1890s cars 1900s cars Highwheeler