Northern Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of

Brass Era The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915 ...

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 ...

s 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 ...

, automobiles designed by Charles Brady King. Early advertising included catchy phrases such as "''Utility is the Basis for Beauty''" and ''"Built for Business''" and the famous "''Silent Northern''".

History

In 1902 Charles B. King, Jonathan Maxwell and William E. Metger created the Northern Manufacturing Company. Though the automobile industry was in its infancy, King and Maxwell had already compiled a resume of automotive experience. Both had worked for R. E. Olds. King, who had an engineering degree from Cornell and had moved to Detroit in 1891, was the chief designer at Oldsmobile but left the company after the 1901 fire at the plant. Maxwell had produced a single-cylinder 5-

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 which was used to power the new Northern automobiles. The first Northern roadsters produced strongly resembled the curved dash

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it prod ...

that both Maxwell and King helped to design. They were all single-cylinder runabouts with tiller steering, a 67-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 ...

and two-speed

planetary transmission An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...

. Priced at $750,() they sold 300 in 1903. In 1903, Maxwell was lured away by Benjamin Briscoe, and the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company 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 ...

, was formed. The Maxwell car was introduced in 1905. King did all engineering after 1903 and by 1904 the company was offering a two-cylinder

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 ...

as well as the runabout. The engineering was advanced for the period and included

shaft drive A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

and left-hand

steering Steering is a system of components, linkages, and other parts that allows a driver to control the direction of the vehicle. Introduction The most conventional steering arrangement allows a driver to turn the front wheels of a vehicle using ...

. Air-operated brakes and

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

were featured by 1906. To support the growth, a second plant was opened to build the two-cylinder cars in Port Huron, MI. A

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

was also added to the model choices in the two-cylinder cars. In 1906 a 30-horsepower

four-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 ...

touring car was introduced, and the company was renamed Northern Motor Car Company. In 1907 another larger version with an advertised 50 horsepower engine was introduced. The car was available as a touring car, runabout or limousine. By 1908 the model choices were somewhat reduced but still included the original one-cylinder runabout.

Demise

In June 1908 Northern merged with Wayne Automobile Company and production of the cars with the Northern name ceased. However the two companies would soon be taken over by E-M-F Company. After a bitter court fight in 1912, E-M-F production was taken over by

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Ma ...

. King left the company earlier in 1908 to go to Europe to study automobile design and returned in 1910 to start the King Motor Car Company.

Gallery

File:Northern 1904 Runabout Auto on London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2009.jpg, alt=, 1904 Northern 6-hp Runabout File:Autos% 20of% 201904-28.jpg, alt=, 1904 Northern Runabout and Touring Car File:1905 Northern.jpg, alt=, 1905 Northern 18-hp Touring Car File:Northern-auto 1906 ad.jpg, alt=, 1906 Northern 20-hp Touring Car

Norden

The Norden was a Swedish automobile built from 1902 to 1906 by AB Sodertelge Verkstader. It was a licensed copy of the "Silent Northern" 6-HP made by the Northern Manufacturing Company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern (Automobile) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars Cars introduced in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1908

History

Demise

Gallery

Norden

See also

References