The Rutenber Motor Company was established as the Rutenber Manufacturing Company in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States, to manufacture a four-cylinder engine to the design of

Edwin Rutenber Edwin A. Rutenber (August 10, 1876–September 1962) was an inventor and businessman. He achieved distinction in the design and manufacture of the first four-cylinder gasoline engine produced in America. He later was an electric appliance m ...

History

Rutenber studied the trade of mechanics and, about 1892, built a single-cylinder engine. By 1898, he produced the first four-cylinder engine to be manufactured in the United States. A six-horsepower, single-cylinder engine was used by Frank Eckhart in his 1900 prototype car that was the seed for the Auburn which used Rutenber engines until about 1923. In 1902, Rutenber relocated his company, renamed the Western Motor Company, to

Logansport, Indiana Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,366 at the 2020 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana at the junction of the Wabash and Eel rivers, northwest of Kokomo. H ...

. There, the company designed and manufactured 4- and 6-cylinder engines for the emerging automobile and truck industry. Rutenber himself briefly entered the auto business, creating the Rutenber auto and producing as few as 10 automobiles. One of those was known to have been designed for C. W. Swift of the famous Chicago meat packing house. He quickly exited the business to focus on engines. By 1907 the company employed three to four hundred men and shipped engines all over the United States. Rutenber engines were used from 1905 in the

Stoddard-Dayton Stoddard-Dayton was a high quality car manufactured by Dayton Motor Car Company in Dayton, Ohio, US, between 1905 and 1913. John W. Stoddard and his son Charles G. Stoddard were the principals in the company. History In 1904, John Stoddar ...

automobiles, which became well known for their speed and power, winning the

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 ...

race in 1909. In 1905, the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

made its debut in Detroit with a 35 hp four-cylinder engine. In 1913, the Moon was equipped with a six-cylinder Rutenber engine. In 1907, a 60 hp Rutenber engine powered the

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

that went from Chicago to St. Louis () in 23 hours. Rutenber engines were also used in a long list of early automobiles:

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Burg The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aar ...

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, Halladay, Jewel, Lexington, Luverne, Nyberg, Roamer and Westcott and were exported for use in the

Australian Six The Australian Six was an Australian automobile manufactured from 1919 to 1925. It was a grandiose attempt to compete against imported cars from the United States, and was produced from a mixture of local and imported parts. Vehicles featured a ...

. They were also found in early Indiana trucks, De Berry airplanes, Wetmore tractors, Howe fire pumpers, marine applications, and many were used to power carnival carousels. In 1912, Edwin Rutenber sold his interest in the company and the rights to the name and severed further connection to it. The company was renamed The Rutenber Motor Company. Edwin Rutenber then turned his attention to the manufacture of electric appliances, establishing The Rutenber Electric Co. "RECO", to exploit the rapid electrification of the nation. In December 1926, A. C. Barley, President of Roamer Motor Car Company, bought Rutenber Motor Company and its

plant. A. C. Barley had been an officer at Rutenber years earlier and the Barley family had been large shareholders in the company. It is thought the company closed around 1933. In 1973, a Rutenber descendant donated a Rutenber engine to the Smithsonian Institution.

References

{{reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Defunct manufacturing companies based in Indiana Engine manufacturers of the United States 1900s cars Vintage vehicles

History

See also

References