F. B. Stearns and Company, later known as F.B. Stearns Company was an American manufacturer of

luxury car A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

s in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

marketed under the brand names Stearns from 1900 to 1911 then Stearns-Knight from 1911 until 1929.

History

Frank Ballou Stearns (1879–1955) left school at age 14 in 1893 in his freshman year at the

Case School of Applied Science The Case School of Engineering is the engineering school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It traces its roots to the 1880 founding of the Case School of Applied Science. It became the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 ...

in Cleveland Ohio. At the age of 17 Stearns drove his first car, which incidentally he also built in 1896 in Cleveland. His father, F.M. Stearns, had built a fortune in the stone-quarry industry, and decided to indulge his son Frank with a fully equipped machine shop located in the basement of his home on the prestigious Euclid Avenue. Some sources state that a barn on the property was converted to a machine shop. Stearns became the first American automobile to use the

sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. ...

Knight Engine in its vehicles in 1911. The first production model evolved in 1898; it was a gasoline-fuel buggy-style automobile with a one-cylinder engine (horizontal under the floor),

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. ...

steering,

wire wheel Wire wheels, wire-spoked wheels, tension-spoked wheels, or "suspension" wheels are wheels whose rims connect to their hubs by wire spokes. Although these wires are generally stiffer than a typical wire rope, they function mechanically the sam ...

s, planetary

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 *** ...

, and

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. ...

. In the same year, ''F. B. Stearns & Company'' was organized with his partners, brothers Raymond M. and Ralph L.

Owen Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

. As early as 1901, he introduced a steering wheel instead of the

, and advanced to a gasoline runabout with a 4083cc (101ci) one-cylinder engine under the seat bench, and single chain drive. Until then, about 50 cars had been built.''Standard Catalogue of American Cars, 1805-1942'', Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.) & Henry Austin Clark, jr., 2nd ed. (1985) p.1341 ; Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, For 1902, Stearns offered a variety of models, including a

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

model. Equipped with a front-mounted, 24 hp (17.9 kW)

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

flat twin A flat-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. The most common type of flat-twin engine is the boxer-twin engine, where both pistons move inwards and outwards at the same ti ...

and

tonneau A tonneau ( or ) is an area of a car or truck open at the top. It can be for passengers or cargo. A tonneau cover in current automotive terminology is a hard or soft cover that spans the back of a pickup truck to protect the load or to improve ...

, and three-speed transmission was fitted. Notably, all vehicle controls were situated on the

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel (UK), a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and ...

. The armored wood-framed car weighed 2800 lb (1270 kg), seated six passengers, and sold for $3,000. In 1904, Stearns had a very European four-cylinder of , with pressed steel chassis, wheelbase of 111 inches (282 cm), and four-speed gearbox, but a distinctly American (''i.e.'', backward) coil and battery, rather than the

magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

typical in Europe. This changed in 1905, when the 32/40 made magneto standard, as wheelbase grew to 118 in (300 cm). Stearns used the slogan ''Runs like A Deer'' in this year. 1905 brought a new car that was again bigger and which provided the only offering from the small Cleveland manufacturer. It was a huge automobile with a four-cylinder L-head engine with a block cast in pairs and mechanical operated side

valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

s delivering 40 HP. Wheelbase of 118 inches (300 cm). It was called the model 32/40 and was available as a very expensive 7-passenger Touring that set a buyer back a hefty US$4,150 ($ in dollars ). Stearns introduced a 40/45 four in 1906, with

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

body panels, tonneau, and

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

, with "no less than 17 coats of paint", at a cost of $5,200. This car shared the wheelbase of previous year's 32/40, though the touring body now seated five passengers. 1907 was the last year in which the company offered but one single model. Again, it was a new one, and again, it was the largest and most powerful yet. The 30/60 rode on a 120-inch (3048 mm). It had a massive T-head four-cylinder engine with the cylinder block cast in pairs, displacing 536 c.i. (8783 cc) and delivering 60 HP. There were two body styles available: a Touring with either 5 or 7 seats for $4,500 each, and a 7-passenger Pullman at US$4,759 ($ in dollars ).conceptcarz.com 1908 Stearns 30/60
/ref> Believed to be the fastest stock automobile of its period,

Barney Oldfield Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (January 29, 1878 – October 4, 1946) was an American pioneer automobile racer; his "name was synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century". After success in bicycle racing, he began auto r ...

won the Mount Wilson hillclimb in a Stearns Six (which was a 45/90 of 12913cc/788ci). In 1910 at

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...

, Al Poole and Cyrus Patschke won a 24-hour race, covering 1253 mi (2016 km) at an average 52.2 mph (84.0 km/h).Wise, p.2176. This is 1911 Stearns Model 15/30 Toy Tonneau, Chassis #4683. It has a 4-cylinder, T-head poppet valve engine with T-head configuration with a displacement of 294.2 c.i. (4821 cc), delivering 32 HP. It features a Stearns carburetor and Bosch ignition. Wheelbase is 116 in. (2946 mm). Price when new was US$3,200 or 3,500, depending on source, which put in easily in the luxury class although this was the least expensive of 4 model line for Stearns and Stearns-Knight that year. A Toy Tonneau is an open, light body for 4 or 5 passengers. This car was part of the Harrah automobile collection in Reno, NV, in the 1970s. Soon, however, Stearns turned away from performance. In 1911, the firm began installing

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

engines, marketed under the Stearns-Knight brand name. By 1914, they had a 5.1-liter four and a 6.8-liter six, electric lighting, and

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. ...

. This was followed by a V8, one of the first companies to offer one, in 1917. Stearns retired in 1919 and sold his automotive company to J. N. Willys in 1925; Willys operated Stearns-Knight as a non-integrated affiliate of

Willys Willys (pronounced , "Willis" ) was a brand name used by Willys–Overland Motors, an American automobile company, founded by John North Willys. It was best known for its design and production of World War II era and later military jeeps (MBs ...

Overland until 1929 when the F.B. Stearns Company was liquidated. Production of the Stearns-Knight ended on December 20, 1929.

Gallery

File:Replicated1912StearnsAdvertisement.jpg, A replicated 1912 Stearns advertisement in downtown

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

touting the Knight-type motor File:Stearns Knight emblem.jpg, Badge on a 1929 Stearns-Knight. File:Stearns Knight 1929.jpg, A 1929 Stearns-Knight 7 passenger sedan. File:Stearns Knight.JPG, 1929 Stearns Knight N6-80 File:Stearns1911.jpg, 1911 Stearns Model 15/30 Toy Tonneau, Chassis#4683

References

* Wise, David Burgess. "Stearns: A Quality Car from Cleveland", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 19, p. 2174-6. * * ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (January, 1904)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns (Automobile) Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Cleveland American companies established in 1898 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1898 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1929 1898 establishments in Ohio 1929 disestablishments in Ohio History of Cleveland Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles Luxury vehicles Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio Cars powered by Knight engines Companies based in Cleveland 1890s cars 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links