The Knox Automobile Company was a manufacturer of

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s in Springfield,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, between 1900 and 1914. Knox also built

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s and

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s until 1924. They are notable for building the very first modern fire engine in 1905, and the first American vehicle with hydraulic brakes, in 1915.

History

Harry Austin Knox built three experimental gasoline cars at

Overman Wheel Company Overman Wheel Company was an early bicycle manufacturing company in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts from 1882 to 1900. It was known for bicycles of higher quality and lower weight than other bicycles of its time. Despite a n ...

between 1895 and 1898. He left Overman when they decided 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), whereas the gasoline and diesel engines that eventually became standard are internal combustion engines (ICE). ECEs have a low ...

. Knox joined with his former employer, Elihu H. Cutler of the Elektron Company to form the Knox Automobile Company in Springfield Massachusetts in 1900. The

Waltham Watch Company The Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch Co. and the American Watch Co., was a company that produced about 40 million watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time delay fuses, and other precision instruments in the Un ...

factory was purchased and Knox built 15 cars in their first year. The Knox Model A was a three-wheel runabout with a 5-hp one-cylinder air-cooled engine. In 1902 a four-wheel runabout and a 8-hp two-cylinder engine joined the model line-up. Early cars were called Knoxmobile with the Waterless Knox being used from 1903. A slogan used was "The Car That Never Drinks". In some models, passengers rode up front over the front axle while the driver and another passenger sat in the back over the engine.100 Years of the American Auto Millennium Edition, page 24, Copyright 1999 Publications International, Ltd.

The "Old Porcupine" engine

The flat-mounted

single-cylinder engine A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, motorized bicycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, power tools ...

was

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. Air-cooled designs are far simpler than their liquid-cooled ...

. Rather than flanges to improve the efficiency of cooling, 1,750 threaded diameter rods were screwed into the cylinder casing as projecting studs, which led to the engine sometimes being referred to as "Old Porcupine". A 2-speed

planetary transmission An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) is a gear reduction assembly consisting of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear (the "planet") revolves around the center of the other (the "sun"). A carrier connects the ...

was fitted. This engine was situated at the center of the car and produced . It was also called a "hedgehog". The one-cylinder engine was used until 1905. In 1902 a

two-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

version was added that was used up to 1907.

Growth

Knox pricing for the one-cylinder and two-cylinder models went for a low price in 1900 of $750, () to medium-priced by 1904. A 1904 Knox Tuxedo Touring model, equipped with a

straight-twin engine A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, inline-2, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder Reciprocating engine, piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. Straight-twin engines are p ...

producing , was priced at $2,200, . In late 1904 Knox left the company over a disagreement on policy with Elihu Cutler. Knox set-up a new business across town to build the

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

air-cooled car. In 1906 Knox Automobile Company introduced the Model G, a 40-hp air-cooled

four-cylinder engine The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

on a 112-inch

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. With a limousine body priced at $5,000 (), Knox had entered the

luxury car A luxury car is a passenger automobile providing superior comfort levels, features, and equipment. More expensive materials and surface finishes are used, and buyers expect a correspondingly high quality (business), build quality. The term is ...

market. The two-cylinder models were phased out in 1907 and all Knox's became mid-priced to high-priced cars. Knox progressively improved their models, moving the engine from under the seat to up front under a

hood Hood may refer to: Covering Apparel * Hood (headgear), type of head covering ** Article of academic dress ** Bondage hood, sex toy * Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt Anatomy * Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitoris * Hood, a flap of ...

and going from chain-driven to shaft-drive. In 1908 a

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 no ...

four-cylinder engine was introduced and customers could choose air-cooled or pay $100 more for water-cooled models. A

six-cylinder A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

engine became available in 1910 and all Knox's became water-cooled. Only luxury-priced Knox's were offered after 1910.

Racing

The Knox was raced by

William Bourque Wilfred A. "William" Bourque (often known as "Billy", March 30, 1879 – August 19, 1909) was a Canadian racing driver, born in Farnham, Quebec, West Farnham, Québec. At the time of his racing career, he lived in West Springfield, Massachusetts. ...

in the 1909 AAA Championship Car race at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

. In 1910 a Knox was driven by

Fred Belcher Fred William Belcher (June 3, 1881 – February 18, 1951) was an American racing driver who competed in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy ...

in the Vanderbilt Cup race.

Fate

By 1912 Knox sales were slipping and a receiver was called in. The last Knox automobiles were built in 1914 and Knox was declared bankrupt in 1915. Knox reorganized as the Knox Motors Corporation and continued to build tractors and trucks until 1924. Afterwards Harry Knox moved on to design tanks for the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Ordnance Department The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply A ...

; his T1 Light Tank wasn't adopted, but his

Vertical volute spring suspension The vertical volute spring suspension system is a type of vehicle suspension system which uses volute springs to compensate for surface irregularities. This type of the suspension system was mainly fitted on US and Italian tanks and armored figh ...

and his track design were used on almost all American tanks of the WWII, and he designed its replacement HVSS, which served until 1980s in some countries, as well.

Gallery

File:MHV Knox Threewheeler 1901.jpg, alt=, 1901 Model A Three-wheeler Runabout File:MHV Knox C 1903.jpg, alt=, 1903 Knox Model C Runabout File:MHV Knox F 1905.jpg, alt=, 1905 Knox Model F Surrey File:MHV Knox G 1906.jpg, alt=, 1906 Knox Model G Touring File:MHV Knox O 1909.jpg, alt=, 1909 Knox Model O Tonneauette File:MHV Knox S 1910.jpg, alt=, 1910 Knox Model S Touring

History

The "Old Porcupine" engine

Growth

Racing

Fate

Gallery

Models

Production

References

See also