The Paterson was a

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 191 ...

Vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that en ...

built in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

from 1909 until 1923.

History

Canadian-born

William A. Paterson William A. Paterson (October 3, 1838 – September 8, 1921) was born in Canada in 1838 and arrived in Flint, Michigan in 1868. He established the W. A. Paterson Company, a carriage-manufacturer. One of the original stockholders of Buick Motor Com ...

set up the W. A. Paterson Company in Flint in 1869 to make carriages, and by 1900 he was producing some 30,000 yearly. Even though he entered the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

field later than many of his fellow carriage makers, he was totally committed to the enterprise, and manufactured a well-built automobile. By 1910, he had completely stopped producing carriages. The earliest Patersons were typical of motor buggies at the time, featuring a two-cylinder

air-cooled engine Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

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 ...

, double

chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

and solid rubber

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

s. In 1910, the Paterson matured into a more refined automobile, with four-cylinder 30 HP engines,

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 selective

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

Six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...

engines were introduced in 1915, and the four was dropped the following year. For the remainder of its production run, Patersons featured

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

six-cylinder engines. As with

Cole Cole may refer to: Plants * Cole crops of the genus ''Brassica'', especially cabbage, kale, or rape (rapeseed). People * Cole (given name), people with the given name Cole * Cole (surname), people with the surname Cole Companies *Cole Motor ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Patersons enjoyed a high degree of owner loyalty. There was also a widespread distribution network, with dealers in all 48 states. After William Paterson died in 1921, his son, W. C. Paterson, and associate W. R. Hubbard had trouble running the company during the postwar depression. In July 1923, the two sold the company to Dallas Winslow, who was the

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

dealer in Flint. Winslow stated he would be hiring the engineering and production manager, E. C. Kollmorgen, to alter the Paterson in order to continue production, but he must have soon changed his mind and the Paterson Company was closed. The Paterson Office Building still stands in Flint at the corner of Saginaw Street and Third Street. The Paterson Building has been owned by the Collison Family for over 25 years and has been restored inside and out.

Gallery

File:1910 Paterson.jpg, 1910 Paterson at the

Tupelo Automobile Museum The Tupelo Automobile Museum was located in Tupelo, Mississippi. This museum had over one hundred cars. Consisting of the late Frank Spain's personal collection which totalled 150 vehicles, the cars ranged from antique, rare, and celebrity and were ...

File:Paterson 1916.JPG, 1916 Paterson at Autoworld

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

File:1917 Paterson 6-45 Touring Car ad (cropped).jpg, 1917 Paterson 6-45 ad detail form Horseless Age File:Sloan Museum at Courtland Center December 2018 18 (1919 Paterson).jpg, 1919 Paterson at the

Sloan Museum The Sloan Museum of Discovery is a nonprofit, public hands-on and interactive discovery museum located within the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, Michigan. The museum has four interactive primary galleries, including a hands-on earth scienc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson (Automobile) Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars Cars introduced in 1910 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1923 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1869

History

Gallery

See also

References