Brooks Steam Motors
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Brooks Steam Motors, Ltd. was a Canadian 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), whereas the gasoline and diesel engines that eventually became standard are internal combustion engines (ICE). ECEs have a low ...
s established in March 1923. Its cars more closely resembled the
Stanley Steamer The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars that operated from 1902 to 1924, going defunct after it failed to adapt to competition from rapidly improving internal combustion engine vehicles. The cars made by t ...
s in terms of engineering rather than the more sophisticated Doble steam cars. The company was formed from the defunct
Detroit Steam Motors Corporation The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation of Detroit, Michigan, U.S., is a defunct American steam car motor car manufacturer. The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation introduced its first steam cars, called Trask-Detroits, in 1922. The Trask-Detroit was an ...
.


History

The company and its car were named for an American financier, Oland J. Brooks, who had relocated from
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, to
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in 1920. His main area of business was finance and second mortgages, carried on by the Banking Service Corporation, Ltd. In September 1923 a prototype car was shown at the
Toronto Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day, the first ...
and the following month an agreement was reached with the city of
Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...
to purchase a former threshing machine factory for $55,000. At the same time an executive office was set up in suites 1305–7 of the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
Building in Toronto.


Planned models

Brooks planned to manufacture three lines of cars, Models 1,2 and 3. The smallest, the Model 1, had a wheelbase and an boiler, and prices were to begin at $1,000. Variants were planned, including a four-passenger touring car and a two-passenger roadster, plus closed-body styles comprising a coupe, a four-passenger brougham and a five-passenger sedan. The specifications closely matched the smallest model of the defunct Trask-Detroit steam car. The Model 2 had a longer wheelbase and a boiler. The open models were a four-passenger sports car and a five-passenger touring car. Three closed-body models were proposed: a four-passenger brougham, a five-passenger sedan and a town car. The wheels were to be Budd-Michelin steel disc type. Again, the specifications bore a close resemblance to the Trask-Detroit, in this case the larger prototype. The Model 3 was to use a wheelbase as per the Model 2, but with a larger boiler. The open body models were also to be as per the Model 2, with a seven-passenger closed-body touring car. Again, all cars were to be fitted with Budd-Michelin steel disc wheels. The color choices were limited and identical to the Model 2: open-body cars could be blue (one shade being named "Brooks Blue") or maroon, while closed-body cars were available in another two shades of blue. Other colours could be supplied but would require six weeks' notice. In the event only a single Brooks model was produced, which could best be described as a combination of the Model 2's engine and the Model 3's weight. One touring car was a prototype (and appeared to have been a renamed Trask-Detroit), while the rest were five-passenger sedans. The standard colour was black.


Technology

Brooks' first chief engineer was steam expert Eric Delling (who also formed a car company). He styled the Brooks' power plant after the
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
two-cylinder engine, rather than the more sophisticated (and costly to produce) Doble. The Brooks was reported as being more robust than the Stanley steam cars, its boiler was of conventional fully welded steel construction with a water leg, but the boiler was undersized for the car's mass, making too little steam to propel the car much above 35 - . The Brooks cars were distinguished by their fabric bodies constructed from Meritas brand cloth by the American Auto Trimming Company in
Walkerville, Ontario Walkerville, Ontario, is a former town in Canada, that is today a heritage precinct of Windsor, Ontario. The town was founded by Hiram Walker in 1890, owner and producer of Canadian Club Whisky. Walker planned it as a 'model town’, (originally ...
, Meritas being a composite material formed from wire netting, two layers of wadding, canvas and an outer layer of two-ply
artificial leather Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost prohibitive or unsuitab ...
. There were no metal body panels. The fabric body's relatively light weight improved the cars'
power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement ...
and lowered the centre of gravity which improved stability. Brooks styled its fabric bodies as though they were metal, using a conventional three-window sedan shape with a certain quantity of chromed fittings. The Brooks was an expensive car, with the sedan listed at $3,885 at a time when entry-level
Pierce-Arrow The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive Luxury vehicle, luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manuf ...
s could be purchased in Canada for $3,800. Prices were dropped to $2,885 in 1927. Despite expectations of employing hundreds, by 1925 the factory had a mere 90 employees, with another 20 or so at service stations and showrooms in Montreal and Toronto. Most of the work was reported to consist of driving the cars throughout Canada, some accompanied by Oland J. Brooks, to promote the company. Branches were announced in various cities but may have only existed as agencies. The company extolled the suitability of the Brooks car for women drivers, with one brochure stating: "Women motorists, who invariably grasp the wheel as rigidly as the arm of a dentist's chair, now relax and take it easy when they drive a Brooks steamer." An English representative was appointed, and plans made to export the cars to Britain. One of the cars was shown at the October 1924 London automobile show, "Olympia", but the British price was £996, at a time when an
Itala Itala may refer to: * Itala (company), an Italian car manufacturer ** Itala Special, a special custom-built Grand Prix race car * Itala (given name), an Italian given name * Itala, Sicily, a municipality in Sicily * Itala Film, an Italian film com ...
sedan cost £800 and a six-cylinder
Packard Packard (formerly the Packard Motor Car Company) was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana, in 1958. One ...
£775.


Brooks steam buses

In late 1926, it was announced that Brooks had purchased a factory in Buffalo, New York, to build steam buses. It was also announced that the Stratford factory would be relocated to a Canadian site closer to Buffalo and an American holding company, Brooks Steam Motors Inc. was established. The first Brooks bus incorporated standard steam car technology, using a V8 poppet-valve engine; because both strokes in a steam engine are power strokes, the eight-cylinder engine was said to be the equivalent of a gasoline V16. In the summer of 1927, a prototype was constructed with a 29-passenger parlour car-style aluminum body by the
Buffalo Body Company Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
. At the time, the main bus show in the United States was held at the annual convention of the trolley car association, the American Electric Railway Association (AERA) and the bus was displayed at the October 1927 event in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
. It was the first time a steam-driven vehicle had been shown there, but no orders were taken; it was displayed purely as an experimental vehicle. In late 1927, following a lack of progress in production, the stockholders took charge of the company and forced Oland Brooks out. A new engineer was appointed, A. Clarkson, who had been chief engineer of the London Omnibus Company in England and whose father had been a pioneer in steam buses. In 1928, Brooks Steam Motors, Inc. filed a "surrender of authority" in Albany, New York, on February 10. A second V8 steam bus was introduced in July 1929. Manufactured in Buffalo, it offered a new generation of steam technology powering the previous V8 engine. The pilot light and boiler were eliminated and replaced with a steam generator (in effect, a boiler in the form of square section water tube coils). The fire was spark-controlled, as per the Doble steam cars, allowing the vehicle to get underway in 20 seconds. This meant that there was no longer a danger of a serious explosion from vaporized fuel. One of the novel features of the engine was that once operational power was reached - 750 psi - the engine fire was cut off, allowing the bus to operate without its engine running. This last bus was a city bus, with places for 39 sitting passengers and about the same number of standing ones.


The end of Brooks

The New York Times reported the display of the bus on October 14, 1929, two weeks before the
Stock Market Crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often fol ...
which heralded the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. The Canadian company had entered a legal limbo as stockholders sought liquidation. On December 15 & 16, 1931, an unreserved auction sale was held at the Stratford factory and the entire contents of the plant were sold. Remaining cars were sold for prices ranging from $150 to $400. Total production of the Brooks Steam Car is estimated at 180 cars. It is unclear exactly how the Brooks empire unraveled, but remaining records suggest that the Depression thwarted efforts to keep going. Brooks Steam Motors, Inc. continued to be listed in the Buffalo City Directory through 1932, and in 1931 the company was listed as also making electric refrigerators in addition to steam buses. By 1933, the factory was listed as the home of Cataract-Sharpe, a glassware manufacturer, and Brooks Steam Motors Inc. was dissolved by the New York State Division of Corporations on December 15, 1936. The Brooks factory in Stratford reverted to the city and was used for storage until World War II, when an upholstery company bought it. It was eventually demolished in 2001.


See also

*
Detroit Steam Motors Corporation The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation of Detroit, Michigan, U.S., is a defunct American steam car motor car manufacturer. The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation introduced its first steam cars, called Trask-Detroits, in 1922. The Trask-Detroit was an ...
*
Steam bus A steam bus is a bus powered by a steam engine. Early steam-powered vehicles designed for carrying passengers were more usually known as steam carriages, although this term was sometimes used to describe other early experimental vehicles too. H ...
*
Steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE), whereas the gasoline and diesel engines that eventually became standard are internal combustion engines (ICE). ECEs have a low ...
*
Steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
*
Timeline of steam power Steam power developed slowly over a period of several hundred years, progressing through expensive and fairly limited devices in the early 17th century, to useful pumps for mining in 1700, and then to Watt's improved steam engine designs in the l ...


References


External links

* {{usurped,
"Brooks Steam Motors": article at The Steam Car Club of Great Britain website
} Steam cars Steam buses Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Canada History of manufacturing in Ontario