The Mobile Company of America was an American

steam automobile 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 ...

manufacturer founded in 1899 by

John Brisben Walker John Brisben Walker (September 10, 1847 – July 7, 1931) was a magazine publisher and automobile entrepreneur in the United States. In his later years, he was a resident of Jefferson County, Colorado. Biography Walker was born on September 10 ...

with production in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

History

John Brisben Walker arranged the purchase of F. E. Stanley and F. O. Stanley's manufacturing rights and factory for their

steam carriage Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. ...

demonstrated in 1898. With

Amzi L. Barber Amzi Lorenzo Barber (June 22, 1843 – April 17, 1909) was a pioneer of the asphalt industry in the United States, and an early participant in the automobile industry as well. He laid many of the roads in Westchester County, New York and was ...

, they set-up the

Locomobile Company of America The Locomobile Company of America was a pioneering American automobile manufacturer founded in 1899, and known for its dedication to precision before the assembly-line era. It was one of the earliest car manufacturers in the advent of the automo ...

in 1899 to produce steam carriages. Almost immediately, Brisben Walker and Lorenzo Barber parted ways and split the company in two. Walker set up the Mobile Company of America with the right to the Stanley

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

but no factory, while the Locomobile Company shared the patent rights but also received the Stanley

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

factory and most of the steam cars under production. Brisben Walker purchased a factory site near Tarrytown, New York and hired

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

to design a purpose built automobile factory. Manufacturing machinery was purchased and the new factory at Kingsland Point produced its first Mobile Steam carriage on March 7, 1900. Advertising claimed it to be the largest automobile factory in the world. Mobile's version of the steam carriage had a 5 to 12

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, with a

water tank A water tank is a container for storing water. Water tanks are used to provide storage of water for use in many applications, drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemi ...

range of about 35 miles and a

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

tank range of between 60 to 75 miles. In 1901

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

could replace gasoline for fuel. Originally built as a light runabout, Mobile added up to 24 styles of

bodies Bodies may refer to: * The plural of body * ''Bodies'' (2004 TV series), BBC television programme * Bodies (upcoming TV series), an upcoming British crime thriller limited series * "Bodies" (''Law & Order''), 2003 episode of ''Law & Order'' * ...

to improve poor sales. By 1902, a top speed of 50 mph was claimed. Prices for the Model 4 runabout started at $750 () rising to a 9 passenger "

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

" Model 50 at $3,000 (). The Automobile Races held at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

in September 1900 featured a steam vehicle race won by Joseph H. McDuffee driving the Mobile. Earlier in 1900, Brisben Walker with his wife, drove a Mobile steam carriage up

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...

to the timberline or approximately 10,000 feet. Advertising for the Mobile Company was taken out in most major magazines and as Brisben Walker was the publisher of

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

Magazine, the Mobile Company of America featured prominently in it. Mobile's new factory was expected to produce 20 steam carriages weekly. By the fall of 1901, production was averaging 5 steam carriages a week. Locomobile built approximately 5,000 steam runabouts over three years. Mobile, being slower to market, built an estimated 600. In early 1903, the Mobile Company of America stopped production. Later in 1903, the equipped automobile plant at Kingsland Point was leased to

Maxwell-Briscoe Maxwell was an American automobile manufacturer which ran from about 1904 to 1925. The present-day successor to the Maxwell company was Chrysler (currently, "Stellantis North America"), which acquired the company in 1925. History Maxwell-Briscoe ...

Gallery

File:Mobile steam car 1900 (1351558466).jpg, alt=Mobile steam car, 1900, 1900 Mobile steam runabout File:1900 Mobile Ad in Cosmopolitan.jpg, alt=, 1900 Mobile steam runabout advertisement File:16 21 2355 steam car.jpg, alt=Mobile steam car display at the D&SNG Museum in Durango, Colorado, 1900 Mobile steam runabout at the D&SNG Museum in

Durango, Colorado Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis Coll ...

File:1901 Mobile ad in Cosmopolitan.jpg, alt=, 1901 Mobile Steam Carriage advertisement File:1902 Mobile Coupe Ad in Cosmopolitan.jpg, alt=, 1902 Advertising for a Mobile

steam carriage File:1902 Mobile Touring ad from the Engineering Review.jpg, alt=, 1902 advertising for Mobile Touring Carriage File:1902 Mobile Co of America ad in Country Life detail.jpg, alt=, 1902 advertising 24 styles of Mobile steam cars

References

{{Reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state) Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1899 1899 establishments in New York (state) Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1903 1903 disestablishments in New York (state) Steam cars 1900s cars Veteran vehicles Cars introduced in 1899

History

Gallery

See also

References