Disteel brand pressed-
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
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 regarded ...
wheel
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...
s were manufactured by the
Detroit Pressed Steel Company, and were introduced in 1917 as an alternative to wooden
artillery wheels with demountable rims. Pressed steel wheels were an alternative to fragile wooden wheels which would crack on impact with very rough roads. Steel wheels were both stronger and cheaper to manufacture, and could be painted any color the owner desired.
Disteel wheels were offered as an extra cost option on many vehicles produced at the time, to include
Duesenberg
Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company, Inc. was an American racing and luxury automobile manufacturer founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, by brothers Fred and August Duesenberg in 1920. The company is known for popularizing the straight-e ...
,
Lincoln,
Cole, and
Page-Detroit vehicles of the 1920s.
In March 1923, the Detroit Pressed Steel Company was merged with both the
Parish and Bingham Company of
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 ...
, and the
Parish Manufacturing Company of
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, to form a new company, called the
Midland Steel Products Company by Elroy J. "E.J." Kulas, after leaving the
Peerless Automobile Company.
The Kulas Foundation - History of Mr. and Mrs. Kulas
{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424100213/http://www.foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/kulas/history.html , date=April 24, 2008
References
* John Bentley, "Disteel", i
''The Old Car Book''
Number 168, Fawcett Books
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).
It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz B ...
, 1952, p. 112
Automobile wheels