The Waltham Steam was an American

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 ...

Waltham 19XX 6HP Spindle-Seat Runabout on London to Brighton VCR 2010

George Tinker and John Piper

Engineers George M. Tinker and John W. Piper were employees of the

Waltham Manufacturing Company Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and Quadracycle, quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, ...

, at that time makers of Orient brand bicycles in

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 Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revoluti ...

. In 1898, they were allowed by the company's owner, Charles Herman Metz, to build a light steam buggy at a corner of the plant. This vehicle was finished at the end of the year and named the Waltham Steam. It had a very light , two cylinder, double acting

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 ...

. The copper-built condenser weighted in at , and the complete vehicle at only . It had wire wheels, and steering was provided by a vertically mounted lever. Tinker and Piper exhibited their steam buggy at the Boston Automobile Show in 1898. Two more steam cars followed under the label Tinker & Piper. Meantime, Metz had sold out his company to Charles A. Coffin and H.P. Clough but stayed in the position of a general manager. Coffin was an executive of the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

(GE). Seeking markets for GE products, he ordered a light electric car to be made by Tinker and Piper. They built it also at the Waltham Manufacturing plant. It had a wheelbase of and an electric motor by General Electric. It was presented as the Orient Electric at the New York Cycle & Automobile Show in 1899. Neither Tinker and Piper nor Metz were impressed, and there were no more electric vehicles to follow.

Waltham Automobile Company

In 1899100 Years of the American Auto Millennium Edition, Copyright 1999 Publications International, Ltd. or early 1900,Waltham Museum: ''The Waltham Steam Cars of Piper and Tinker'' Tinker and Piper left the Waltham Manufacturing Company through consensual agreement with, and support from, Charles Metz, to start their own business. Their Waltham Automobile Company was located at 130-136 Newton Street in Waltham and started building small

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs 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. This pushing force can be tra ...

stanhopes that sold for $750 with a Victoria top. Further, there might have been some steamers with

Vis-à-vis Vis-à-vis may refer to: * Vis-à-vis, a French expression in English, literally "face to face (with)", meaning in comparison with or in relation to * ''Vis-à-vis'' (album), by Karol Mikloš, 2002 * Vis-à-vis (carriage), a type of horse-drawn ...

coachwork. Production ended in 1902 or 1903. Of the unknown number of Waltham steam vehicles built, one Stanhope is still in existence.

Waltham of Springfield, Massachusetts

An unrelated company in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

also produced a steam powered automobile under the Waltham name in 1905.

References

Sources

* Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.) and Henry Austin Clark, jr.: ''The Standard Catalogue of American Cars 1805–1942'', 2nd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), * Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.) and Henry Austin Clark, jr.: ''The Standard Catalogue of American Cars 1805–1942'', 3rd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), * G. N. Georgano (ed.): ''Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present''; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (Hardcover) 1973, * Beverly Rae Kimes: ''Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America.'' editors: SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, {{ISBN, 0-7680-1431-X (Hardcover).

External links