1920 Owen Magnetic Touring Car ad, from '' '' magazine">House Beautiful'' magazine
The Owen Magnetic was a pioneering American brand of
hybrid electric
A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system with an electric propulsion system (hybrid vehicle drivetrain). The presence of the electric powertrain is intended ...
luxury automobile manufactured between 1915 and 1922. Car models of the brand were notable for their use of an electromagnetic transmission and were early examples of an
electric series hybrid drivetrain. The manufacture of the car was sponsored by R.M. Owen & Company of
New York, New York. The car was built in New York City in 1915, in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, between 1916 and 1919 and finally in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...
, in 1920 and 1921.
History
left, 1916 Owen Magnetic at Crawford Museum
The first Owen Magnetic was introduced at the 1915 New York
auto show when
Justus B. Entz
Justus Bulkley Entz (June 16, 1867, New York City – June 8, 1947, New Rochelle, New York) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. He invented the electromagnetic transmission, introduced in the Owen Magnetic of 1915, and was a pion ...
's electric transmission was fitted to the Owen automobile: "R.M. Owen have leased the large new three story fireproof building at the corner of Fifth avenue and One Hundred and Forty-second street, New York, where they will build the new Owen Magnetic motor cars." The former Owen plant still exists and is presently a self-storage facility.
Raymond M. Owen and his brother Ralph R. Owen had been working on the Entz transmission adapting it for a car since 1912.
Justus Entz's drive train patent was . The Entz transmission had no physical connection between the gasoline engine and the driveshaft. Walter C. Baker, of Cleveland, Ohio, owned the patents on the Entz transmission, thus each of the 250 Owen Magnetic automobiles produced in New York was built under license.
Some sources wrongly state that the Woods Dual Power car manufactured by the
Woods Motor Vehicle
Woods Motor Vehicle Company was an American manufacturer of electric automobiles in Chicago, Illinois, between 1899 and 1916. In 1915 they produced the Dual Power (U.S. Patent # 1244045) with both electric and internal combustion engines which c ...
Company in Chicago also used the Entz transmission. The Woods Dual Power had a drive-train based on Roland Fend's , using a clutch between the gas engine and the electric motor.
The car became as famous as the company's clientele, which included
Enrico Caruso and
John McCormack. Owen Magnetics were advertised as ''"The Car of a Thousand Speeds"''. In December 1915, the company was moved to Cleveland when the R. M. Owen Company joined Walter Baker (of
Baker Motor Vehicle
Baker Motor Vehicle Company was an American manufacturer of Brass Era electric automobiles in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1899 to 1914.
History
The first Baker vehicle was a two seater with a selling price of US$850. One was sold to Thomas Edi ...
) and the
Rauch and Lang
The Rauch & Lang Carriage Company was an American electric automobile manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905 to 1920 and Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, from 1920-1932.
History
The Rauch & Lang Carriage Company was incorporated in 1884, by J ...
company. The Baker Electric Car company would produce the car, and Rauch and Lang would build the coachwork. Because of the combined resources, the Owen Magnetic increased its range of offerings for 1916 model year adding a Holbrook bodied sports tourer for $6,000, . Production continued through 1918, with prices ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 (), when Baker shifted its focus to war goods manufacturing.
J. L. Crown secured the rights to the Entz transmission and with Raymond Owen the company reorganized as the Owen Magnetic Motor Car Corporation based in Wilkes-Barre.
The newly equipped factory was situated in the old
Matheson works at
Forty Fort, Pennsylvania
Forty Fort is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,233 at the 2020 census. Its neighbors are Wyoming (to the north), Plains Township (to the east), Kingston (to the south), and Swoyersville (to the west ...
. The
''Wilkes-Barre Times'' announced the resumption of production for January 1, 1920, with the aim of producing 750 cars that year.
Crown Magnetic
J. L. Crown who now owned the Entz rights, placed an order for 500 vehicles to be sold by Le Grice Elers, Ltd of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Crown Limited of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
was formed and the cars were named Crown Magnetic. However, by August 1920, before the order could be fulfilled, Owen Magnetic was in receivership. The Crown Magnetic was displayed at the London Motor Show in 1920, with about 20 imported before production ceased..
[''The Times of India'', September 29, 1920, Page A11.]
The Crown version of the Magnetic omitted the emergency low gear fitted on the Owen Magnetics. This turned out to be a mistake, as on a long steep hill, the force of gravity on this heavy car could defeat the transmission and could bring the car to a standstill.
Design
![1916 Owen Magnetic M 25-4 photo 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/1916_Owen_Magnetic_M_25-4_photo_1.JPG)
The car was powered by a six-cylinder engine, but power was transmitted to the wheels based upon the same electromagnetic principle that propelled the
Battleship U.S.S. New Mexico.
Automobile author Henry B. Lent described the drive mechanism thus:
See also
*
History of the electric vehicle
Practical electric vehicles appeared during the 1890s. An electric vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. In the 20th century, the high cost, low top speed, and short-range of battery electric vehicles, compared to int ...
*
List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers
This is a list of defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States. They were discontinued for various reasons, such as bankruptcy of the parent company, mergers, or being phased out.
A
* A Automobile Company (1910–1913) 'Blue & Gold' ...
References
External links
{{commonscat
Jay Leno's Garage(video) The focus of the segment is the
Chevrolet Volt
The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
but a 1916 Owen Magnetic is shown and the similarity of the propulsion system is noted.
Jay Leno's Garage - Owen Magnetic(video) This segment of Jay Leno's Garage is focused on the actual 1916 Owen Magnetic.
Owen Magnetic at ConceptCarzHemmings Feature Article - Owens MagneticHemmings Feature Article - Owens Magnetic TransmissionHenry Ford Museum - 1916 Owens Magnetic Touring CarLouwman Museum - 1916 Owen Magnetic
Brass Era vehicles
Defunct companies based in Ohio
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Electric vehicles introduced in the 20th century
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio
Hybrid electric cars
1910s cars
1920s cars
Luxury vehicles
Vintage vehicles
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Pennsylvania
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1915
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1921
Cars introduced in 1915