History
The company was founded in 1886 as the Single Center Spring Buggy Company by Willis Copeland with partners Thomas B. Jones and J. O. St. John. Initially they manufactured springs but expanded into transmissions and carriages. Starting around the turn of the century they began manufacturing automobiles against the wishes of Jones and St. John who subsequently left the company. Single Center continued to build buggys along side automobiles. In 1911 Single Center ended automobile production and subsequently Willis Copeland became Evansville’s first Chevrolet dealer.Zent (1900-1902), Zentmobile (1903), Zent (1904-1906)
In 1900 at his machine shop in Marion,Ohio, Schuyler W. Zent built his first automobile. It was a gasoline runabout with single-cylinder 8hp engine and single chain drive. In the two years following, he built and sold four more. He improved this model and in July 1902 he announced his plans to manufacture commercially. He could not find the financing necessary to do that in Marion, so he journeyed to Evansville, Indiana. His car was put into production by the Single Center Spring Buggy Company, as the Zentmobile in 1903. Willis Copeland would manufacture the car, and all Zent had to worry about was selling it. This proved more difficult than Zent had hoped, and within the year the partnership had broken up. Schuyler Zent returned to Ohio to build a new Zent in Bellefontaine. The new Zent was in production in early 1904. His new Zent was powered by a three-cylinder 18 hp engine mounted under the hood, and featured shaft drive. A twin and a four joined the line in 1906. Early in 1907 the Zent company became the Bellefontaine Automobile Company, and the car’s name was changed to Traveler.Windsor (1906)
J. A. Windsor incorporated the Windsor Automobile Company in his native Chicago in late 1905. He traveled to Evansville, Indiana to talk to Willis Copeland of the Single Center Buggy Company, who agreed to build the car for him. The Windsor was a four-cylinder 30-hp touring car with shaft drive and a friction-type transmission that Windsor preferred calling a “rolling traction drive." The friction drive was designed by Copeland’s factory engineer William O. Worth. Windsor had trouble selling his car at his $2,500 () asking price. Unable to establish a viable sales organization, he was out of business within the year. The car was taken over by Willis Copeland who formed the Evansville Automobile Company and rebranded it as the Simplicity.Worth (1906-1910)
William O. Worth was an engineer from the earliest days of horseless carriages. He designed theSingle Center (1906-1908)
From 1900, Single Center Spring Buggy Company built motorized buggies to order until 1906 when Willis Copeland involved himself with W. O. Worth. Worth designed the Worth car and designed for Copeland a bigger chain-drive motorized buggy that was offered for the 1906 model year as the Single Center. There were two models of the Single Center sold from 1906 to 1908. The Single Center 12 HP Auto Buggy was a high-wheeler priced at $675 (), while the Single Center 12/15 HP Roadster was advertised as being "not a buggy but a racy-looking automobile runabout". Its top speed was up to and priced at $800, . Both models were friction-drive, with a flat-twin engine.Simplicity, Evansville, Traveler (1906-1911)
The Windsor Automobile Company failed in 1906 and Willis Copeland formed a new enterprise, the Evansville Automobile Company, which he successfully sold stock to a number of friends in town, including the mayor. He also set up a proper assembly line for the first time. Locally the car was marketed as the Evansville, but as the Simplicity the four-cylinder water-cooled car was offered in a variety of body styles. Its most distinctive feature was its friction gear transmission which did away with the clanking chains Copeland had disliked in the previous cars. Unfortunately whenever it rained, it would not move. When finally Copeland discovered the reason for this was moisture in the friction gears, he also discovered that it could be solved by enclosing the gears, which he did. In January 1909 Willis Copeland organized the Traveler Automobile Company in Evansville for the production of a car to be known as the Traveler. Copeland was already manufacturing the Simplicity, and the Traveler was exactly the same car but with the friction gears enclosed. Changing the car's name from Simplicity to Traveler was hoped to be a good public relations move. The Traveler Automobile Company failed in 1911 and subsequently Copeland became Evansville’s first Chevrolet dealer.References
Further reading
* Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States {{Commons category, Single Center vehicles Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1886 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1903 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1911 Cars introduced in 1903 Cars introduced in 1906 Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles Highwheeler 1900s cars