THE FIRST MOTOR CAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18500, 22 February 1930, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE FIRST MOTOR CAR.

TEMPERAMENTAL ENGINE. “How much am I offered .for this 1877 Selden model?” How humorous this would sound if it were announced by an aunctioneer at one of our pre-sent-day motor auctions, and yet only fifty years ago this Selden car represented a revolutionary step in the history of transportation. It was in the spring of 1879 that George B. Selden, a young patent attorney of Rochester. N.Y., filed an application for the historic patent No. 549160, which, in the opinion of Judge Hough, of the United States Circuit Court, was so fundamental and farreaching that it covered every modern and commerically successful car driven by any form of petroleum vapour. At the time, many people thought young Selden was mad. As he passed, even his fellow-townsmen looked at him with mingled expressions of anger, reproach, and pity, yet to-day, motorists of all nations are honouring the memory of the man whose “fool tinkerings and greasy pipes” resulted in the world’s first automobile. Time has shown how extraordinary was his inventive skill, and how important was his contribution to human progress and happiness. On this fiftieth anniversary, much attention has been focussed upon Mr Selden’s hopes and struggles. Of the many dramatic events in connection with the development of the pioneer automobile, probably the most interesting is the memorable day when Mr. Selden first got his “gas buggy” to run. Let the inventor tell the story: “So it happened,” he wrote, “that on May 11, 1878, the three-cylinder engine was ready to run. But we could not run it in John Greenwood’s building, even with kerosene, without violating his insurance policy, so I moved it to Fred Michel’s, who carried no insurance and laughed at the risk. There in a little corner fenced off from Michel’s shop I got the machine to run, and I saw that I had solved the road engine problem—a light engine relative to its power—and that ultimately my principles must succeed.” But, though the inventor had succeeded in getting his engine to operate, there was much to be desired in the way it operated.. It spluttered and coughed and wheezed. It was erratic and temperamental, and would stop suddenly. And ifS exhaust gases were highly offensive. Selden became discouraged. As his troubles continued, he reached a point where he was actually ready to abandon his gasoline engine. He knew the chief difficulty lay in the animal and vegetables lubricants then in use. They did not possess the proper qualities for efficient lubrication on this new Type of internal combustion engine. When things looked darkest, however, Selden learned that his friend, Charles M. Everest, then associated with his father, Hiram Bond Everest, had producted a new kind of lubricating oil—an oil made from petroleum. This oil proved the turning-point in Selden’s plans. It lubricated his engine with high efficiency, eliminating the problem of oil decomposition and offensive exhaust smoke.