The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of

steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...

s; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.

Early history

Twins Francis E. Stanley (1849–1918) and Freelan O. Stanley (1849–1940) founded the company, after selling their photographic dry plate business to

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. They made their first car in 1897. During 1898 and 1899, they produced and sold over 200 cars, more than any other U.S. maker. In 1899, Freelan and his wife Flora drove one of their cars to the top of

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, the highest peak in the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The ascent took more than two hours and was notable as being the first time a car had climbed the long Mount Washington Carriage Road; the descent was accomplished by putting the engine in low gear and braking extensively. The Stanleys later sold the rights to this early design to Locomobile, and in 1902 they formed their own Stanley Motor Carriage Company.

Specifications and design

Early Stanley cars had light wooden bodies mounted on tubular steel frames with full-elliptic springs. Steam was generated in a

vertical fire-tube boiler A vertical fire-tube boiler or vertical multitubular boiler is a vertical boiler where the heating surface is composed of multiple small fire-tubes, arranged vertically. These boilers were not common, owing to drawbacks with excessive wear in s ...

, mounted beneath the seat, with a vaporizing

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

(later,

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

) burner underneath. The boiler was reinforced by several layers of

piano wire Piano wire, or "music wire", is a specialized type of wire made for use in piano strings but also in other applications as springs. It is made from tempered high-carbon steel, also known as spring steel, which replaced iron as the material st ...

wound around it, which gave it a strong but relatively light-weight shell. In early models, the vertical fire-tubes were made of copper, and were expanded into holes in the upper and lower

crown sheet Boilers for generating steam or hot water have been designed in countless shapes, sizes and configurations. An extensive terminology has evolved to describe their common features. This glossary provides definitions for these terms. Terms which re ...

s. In later models, the installation of a condenser caused oil-fouling in the

expansion joint An expansion joint, or movement joint, is an assembly designed to hold parts together while safely absorbing temperature-induced expansion and contraction of building materials, and vibration, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or seis ...

s, and welded steel fire-tubes had to be used. The boilers were reasonably safe since they were fitted with safety valves. Even if these failed, any dangerous over pressure would rupture one of the joints long before the boiler shell itself could burst. The resulting leakage would relieve the boiler pressure and douse the burner with very little risk to the passenger. There is not a single documented incident of a Stanley boiler exploding. The engine had two double-acting cylinders, side-by-side and equipped with slide-valves, and it was a simple-expansion type. Drive was transmitted directly by the crankshaft to a rear-mounted differential using a chain. Owners often modified their Locomobiles by adding third-party accessories, including improved lubricators, condensers, and devices which eased the laborious starting procedure. To overcome patent difficulties with the design they had sold to Locomobile, the Stanley brothers developed a new model with twin-cylinder engines geared directly to the rear axle. Later models had aluminium coachwork that resembled the internal combustion cars of the time, but they retained steam-car features by having no transmission, clutch, or driveshaft. They also had a fully sprung tubular steel frame. When they later moved the steam boiler to the front of the vehicle, the owners dubbed it the "coffin nose." The compact engine ran at considerable steam pressure, with the boiler described in 1912 as having the safety valve set at , with the burner set to automatically cut back when pressure reached . The twin-cylinder steam engines were at that time 10 horsepower, with bore and stroke, and with bore and stroke, and made extensive use of ball bearings. In order to improve range,

condensers __NOTOC__ Condenser may refer to: Heat transfer * Condenser (heat transfer), a device or unit used to condense vapor into liquid. Specific types include: ** HVAC air coils ** Condenser (laboratory), a range of laboratory glassware used to remove ...

were added from 1915. A Stanley Steamer set the world record for the fastest mile in an automobile (28.2 seconds) in 1906. This record () was not broken by any automobile until 1911, although

Glen Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

beat the record in 1907 with a V-8-powered motorcycle at . The record for steam-powered automobiles was not broken until 2009. Production rose to 500 cars in 1917. The Stanley Steamer was sometimes nicknamed "The Flying Teapot". At least one Stanley Steamer found its way to

Castle Hill, New South Wales Castle Hill is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located 34 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 9.5 kilometres north of Parramatta. It is within the Hills District, New South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

where it was driven in the late 1920s.

Obsolescence

During the mid to late 1910s, the fuel efficiency and power delivery of

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

s improved dramatically and using an

electric starter A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. ...

instead of the crank, which had been notorious for injuring its operators, led to the rise of the gasoline-powered automobile, which also was much cheaper. The Stanley company produced a series of advertising campaigns trying to recover the car-buying public away from the "internal explosion engine," but it was unsuccessful. Their advertising slogan was, "Power – Correctly Generated, Correctly Controlled, Correctly Applied to the Rear Axle." These were early examples of the

fear, uncertainty and doubt Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or fal ...

advertising campaign, since their aim was not to convince buyers of the advantages of the Stanley Steamer but to suggest that internal combustion automobiles could explode.

Sale and closure

Francis died in 1918 when he steered his car off the road into a woodpile while attempting to avoid farm wagons travelling side by side. After his death, Freelan sold his interests to Prescott Warren. The company suffered a period of decline and technological stagnation. Production specifications show that no model with a power output of more than was produced after 1918. Better cars were now available at much lower cost. For example, a 1924 Stanley 740D sedan cost $3,950, compared with less than $500 for a

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

. The widespread use of electric starters in internal combustion cars, beginning in 1912, eroded the remaining technological advantages of the steam car. The smaller scale of merchandising, a lack of effective advertising, and the general desire of motorists for higher speeds and faster starting than offered by Stanley vehicles were the primary causes of the company's demise. The factory closed permanently in 1924.

In popular culture

The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942) Dan Backslide steals what he calls a runabout but was depicted as a purple 1900 model steamer. An entire song titled "The Stanley Steamer" appears in the 1948 film '' Summer Holiday'' starring

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

and

Gloria DeHaven Gloria Mildred DeHaven (July 23, 1925 – July 30, 2016) was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Early life DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter De ...

. The number, written by

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

with lyrics by

Ralph Blane Ralph Blane (July 26, 1914 – November 13, 1995) was an American composer, lyricist, and performer. Life and career Blane was born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He attended Tulsa Central High School. He studied singing with ...

, features an extended musical sequence with what appears to be a fairly early yellow 10 HP model. Bugs Bunny mentions a Stanley steamer in the cartoon short Robot Rabbit, released in 1953. Another Stanley Steamer appears in the 1965 film ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Mancin ...

'' starring

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

and

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

, with

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

as the driver of the car. A Stanley Steamer appears in the 2003 film ''

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...

''. Stanley from ''

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

'' and ''

Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American computer-animated Spy film, spy comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Cars (film), Cars'' (2006), the second film in the Cars (franchise), ''Cars'' f ...

'' who appeared in ''Time Travel Mater'' is a Stanley Steamer. He was the husband of Lizzie. There is a statue of him that is seen in front of the fire station in Radiator Springs where Red lives. He was the town's founder.

Gallery

File:StanleySteamer 1900-06.jpg, 1900–06 Stanley Steamer File:Stanley Woggle-Bug.jpg, A Stanley Steamer in 1903 setting a record mile at the

Daytona Beach Road Course The Daytona Beach and Road Course was a race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set. Beach and ro ...

File:2009-08-07 1132 Oldtimer-GP - Stanley Steamer, Bj. 1906.JPG, Stanley Gentleman’s Speedy Runabout, 1906 File:Stanley Steamer at 2009 Newport Hill Climb 1.png, A 1908 Stanley leaving the starting line at the

Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb The Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb is an annual festival that takes place on the first Sunday of October in Newport, Indiana, organized and sponsored by the Lions Club of Newport and the Town of Newport. The main event is a series of timed runs ...

File:Stanley Steamer1.JPG, Stanley 30 HP 12-passenger Mountain Wagon (1912–1914) in Germany File:Stanley Steamer 2.jpg, Stanley Model 735B ca. 1921

References

External links

{{commons category, Stanley Motor Carriage Company
Stanley Steamer – Technical Information

Stanley Steamers in the Marshall Steam Museum

– Worldwide register of existing Stanley steam cars Steam cars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles American companies established in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1924 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts Cars introduced in 1902 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars