The Plass was an American vehicle manufactured in 1895 by Reuben H Plass.

Background

Reuben Hopkins Plass was born in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

around the year 1840. At the beginning of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

on 26 April 1861, he was a Lieutenant in Company A of the 7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. After serving for a few months, on 3 June, he returned to work for his father, John T. Plass, during the war making cannon and gun blocks. He claimed to have built his first car in the 1860s. He held patents from 1869 for a

velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation o ...

and 1874 for a gas governor. After the war, Plass and his father manufactured bandsaws. Between 1893 and 1895, Plass unsuccessfully sought appointment as a Consul-General to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. In 1897, Plass invented a luminous lifeline for night use in sea rescues. By January 1899, Plass was bankrupt. In June, he was present at the forming of the Automobile Club of America. Plass fell ill in 1904 and died from this illness on August 27, 1907 in Kings County, New York at the age of 67. His wife, Isabella Caroline James, survived him.

Vehicle and designs

The Plass patent was for a rear-engined phaeton with an L-shaped

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

designed to be steered by either hand or foot. In 1895 Plass designed and patented a self-propelled sleigh with centre wheels and runners at the front and rear, an idea reasonably similar to the concept of modern snowmobiles. In 1899 he patented a single seat dog-cart design with a mid engine.

References

{{Reflist 1890s cars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Veteran vehicles Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state) American automotive pioneers Vehicles introduced in 1895 American automotive engineers