Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 34
The 1893 Duryea Automobile
In the Museum of History and Technology
Don H. Berkebile
| EARLY AUTOMOTIVE EXPERIENCE | 5 | |
| CONSTRUCTION BEGINS | 6 | |
| DESCRIPTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE | 16 |
Figure 1.—Duryea automobile in the Museum of History andTechnology, from an 1897 photograph. The gear-sprockets were already missing when this was taken, and the chain lies loosely on the pinion.Shown at the right, the Duryea vehicle following the recent restoration (Smithsonian photo 34183).
Don H. Berkebile
THE 1893 DURYEA AUTOMOBILE
In the Museum of History and Technology
During the last decade of the nineteenth century a number ofAmerican engineers and mechanics were working diligently to developa practical self-propelled vehicle employing an internal-combustionengine as the motive force. Among these men were Charles and FrankDuryea, who began work on this type of vehicle about 1892. Thiscarriage was operated on the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts,in 1893, where its trials were noted in the newspapers. Nowpreserved in the Museum of History and Technology, it is a prizedexhibit in the collection of early automobiles.
It is the purpose of this paper to present some of the factsdiscovered during the restoration of the vehicle, to show theproblems that faced its builders, and to describe their solutions.An attempt also has been made to correlate all this informationwith reports of the now almost legendary day-to-day experiences ofthe Duryeas, as published by the brothers in various booklets, andas related by Frank Duryea during two interviews, recorded on tapein 1956 and 1957, while he was visiting the Smithsonian.
The Author: Don H. Berkebile is on the staff of the Museum ofHistory and Technology, in the Smithsonian Institution's UnitedStates National Museum.
Of the numerous American automotive pioneers, perhaps among the bestknown are Charles and Frank Duryea. Beginning their work of automobilebuilding in Springfield, Massachusetts, and after much rebuilding, theyconstructed their first successful vehicle in 1892 and 1893. No soonerwas this finished than Frank, working alone, began work on a secondvehicle having a