Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles,

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

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tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...

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quadricycle Quadricycle refers to vehicles with four wheels. In 1896 Henry Ford named his first vehicle design the "Quadricycle". it ran on four bicycle wheels, with an engine driving the back wheels.Brinkley, David, ''Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His ...

buckboard A buckboard is a four-wheeled wagon of simple construction meant to be drawn by a horse or other large animal. A distinctly American utility vehicle, the buckboard has no springs between the body and the axles. The suspension is provided by the f ...

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automobile 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 regarde ...

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Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...

. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898.

History

Waltham Manufacturing Company was founded by Waltham businessmen around engineer Charles Herman Metz (1863-1937). Metz encouraged two employees to build a

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 ...

of their own in the company's premises, which led to the

Waltham Steam The Waltham Steam was an American steam car. George Tinker and John Piper Engineers George M. Tinker and John W. Piper were employees of the Waltham Manufacturing Company, at that time makers of Orient brand bicycles in Waltham, Massachusetts. ...

. Metz imported French Aster engines, and secured the U.S. distributorship for

De Dion-Bouton De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. Steam cars T ...

engines and imported this maker's tricycles and quadricycles. Using De Dion-Bouton patents, WMC started building their own Orient Autogo and Orient Autogo Quad in 1899. An early investor in WMC, Charles A. Coffin (1844-1926), first president of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

, ordered an electric prototype in 1898, which didn't go into production. Metz experimented with engines mounted on bicycles. The evolving Orient Aster was one of the first U.S.-built motorcycles. Metz was assisted by famed French bicycle racer Albert Champion (1878—1927) who arrived in the U.S. around 1899, becoming one of the first professional motorbike racers. Metz is even claimed to have found the expression "motor cycle" for his new vehicle, first used in an 1899 advertisement. Further, engines of Metz' design were developed and produced. WMC's first car was a motor buggy called the Orient Victoriette, followed by two runabouts in 1902 and 1903. About 400 of the earlier model were sold; the newer ''Orient Runabout No. 9'' was not a success with about 50 examples built. In 1902, Metz left the company, founding Metz Motorcycle Company and C.H. Metz Company in town soon after. Engineer Leonard B. Gaylor succeeded him at WMC. The same year, Gaylor introduced a very light model with

friction drive A friction drive or friction engine is a type of transmission that utilises two wheels in the transmission to transfer power from the engine to the driving wheels. The system is naturally a continuously variable transmission; by moving the two ...

, sold as the ''Orient Buckboard''. It seated 2 passengers and sold for just $425 (), making it the lowest-priced automobile available. The vertically mounted air-cooled single-cylinder engine, situated at the rear of the car, produced . The car had tiller steering, weighed and had a range, though minimal springing and the complete lack of any bodywork made it less than practical for a long journey. In the next years, it was offered in several models (including a diminutive delivery car), got an improved suspension, steering wheel, two chains instead of one belt to transmit the power to the rear wheels, and an optional two cylinder engine. It remained in production until 1907. Plant superintendent John Robbins left in 1904. He was replaced by Leo Melanowski who was also chief engineer. More conventional cars came in 1905 with front-mounted, water cooled inline 4-cylinder engines of 16 or 20 hp (12 or 15 kW) and chain drive. They were made until 1908. These power-plants were of proprietary design and consisted of four single cylinders mounted on a common crankcase. Melanowski left in 1906, his position taken by William H. Little. Little developed a small runabout with a

V-twin A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longi ...

engine and friction drive. Shortly before production started in 1908, WMC got into financial trouble and to avoid bankruptcy, their bank negotiated with Charles Metz. In July 1908, the C.H. Metz Company bought WMC, making Metz owner of one of the largest automobile manufacturer in the U.S. Reorganizations followed in 1909 and 1910, when the C.H. Metz Co. and WMC together were reorganized as the

Metz Company The Metz Company was a pioneer brass era automobile maker established by Charles Herman Metz in Waltham, Massachusetts, from 1909 to 1922. History C. H. Metz began in business in 1886 making bicycle parts, and in 1893 formed the Waltham Manufac ...

. Little's small car became the Metz Two, sold by marketing in 14 batches and assembled by the customer. It worked, and the company was not only out of debt in less than a year but also sold its huge stock of parts.

History

See also

References

Further reading

Bicycles, motorcycles, and Autogos

Automobile