Early Days
The Gay Nineties, as they were known, heralded the dawn of the motorcar, but means of their propulsion were very much up for grabs. Although many whimsical methods were proposed for the Paris-to-Rouen Speed Trial of July 22, 1894, the first of many such contests in Europe as well as the United States, only internal combustion and steam power showed up for the run.
Le Petit Journal-Aug 6,1894. This French newspaper sponsored the event.
The Count de Dion’s steam tractor came in first but did not snag the trophy due to a technical disqualification; rather, it was a naptha-powered Peugeot driven by Albert Lemaitre that received the grand prix of 10,000 gold francs.
In the 1890’s, gas, steam, and electric held about equal sway in engineering circles, with electric and steam providing superior power without the noise and stink of early combustion engines. Only time and free market forces would sort this out.
Frank and Freelan Stanley, enterprising twins who were born in Kingsfield, Maine in 1849, were gifted with curious minds and the tinkering habit, which brought them to opportunities which made them rich. In 1883 Frank had started a glass plate negative business, and by 1886 he had patented a process that allowed Frank and Freelan to corner 20% of the market on dry-plate photographic negatives, which they would eventually sell to George Eastman in 1904. Their dry-plate business in Watertown, Massachusetts was humming along on autopilot, and the Stanley brothers had been casting about for their next project, as they were flush with cash with time on their hands.
Francis E. Stanley image courtesy Wikipedia
Freelan O. Stanley image courtesy Wikipedia
After attending a technical fair and witnessing a stationary engine in use, the Stanleys decided to build a motorized carriage as their next project. For reasons known only to them, they decided on a steam vehicle. Perhaps the steam locomotive and the steamship, both in their heyday, influenced this decision?
In 1896 the brothers began to construct a steam car, and by 1897 had produced three prototypes. As Frank would later recount in his memoirs, “We had not the slightest idea of ever engaging in the manufacturing of automobiles as a business. It was an interesting hobby and not a trade.”
However, in 1898 a Stanley steamer won honors at the New England Automobile Show in Boston. People clamored for them, a car got sold, and thus the die was cast; the Stanleys formed the Stanley Motor Carriage Company in Newton, Massachusetts in 1899 and began manufacture.
Early Stanleys were built like buggies: they were light, they rolled on bicycle tires, and they were frail. The engine was mounted vertically under the driver, which made them tall in the saddle. With a 70-inch wheelbase and a 3.5 horsepower engine, the buggy weighed less than 800 pounds. Currier & Cameron in nearby Amesbury made the bodies.
1899 Stanley Runabout. There’s definitely a strong breeze, and that shoeless girl is about to have her foot impaled by the man’s cane. Where are their shoes? image courtesy Automobile Manufacturer’s Association
Bought Out
Stanley steam cars were quiet, unobtrusive, and did not spook horses that were still a predominant mode of transportation at the turn of the century; startling horses was something that noisy gasoline vehicles were famous for doing. Stanleys accelerated well up to their terminal speed of about 20 mph; they were simple to operate and economical in price.
These features were not lost on John B. Walker, owner of Cosmopolitan magazine, who must have been desperate to own a car company. Walker made the Stanleys an offer they (eventually) could not refuse and bought their company for $250,000 in April of 1899.
The Stanleys stayed on to manage the business for Walker and his partner, “asphalt king” Lorenzo Barber, who named the new company “Locomobile,” then watched as the new owners squabbled and eventually broke up the partnership. Walker went one way with his ideas and Barber went the other. Meanwhile, the Stanleys, who had agreed to a non-compete clause for one year, happily bought back their steam car company and their patents in 1901 from Lorenzo Barber for $20,000, literally pennies on the dollar.
More of this story is recounted in my previous article on Locomobile. Go check it out!
Back In
This two-season hiatus from ownership gave the Stanley brothers time to mull over improvements and create a much better product, like moving the engine to be underneath and within the chassis. What emerged by 1904 was a steam car that was pretty much perfected in concept and execution; very few changes would be subsequently made to the basic Stanley steam car design.
The brothers agreed on fundamental principles:
Stanley cars should be light, agile, and easy to manage;
the cars should be economical in cost as well as in operation;
the cars should be utilitarian in function, yet classy looking as well.
1903 Stanley - Chainless Runabout. Note the placement of the engine. catalog images courtesy HCFI.org
In the fall of 1901 an improved Stanley Runabout emerged on a 70-inch wheelbase, weighing 700 pounds and costing $650. The two-cylinder engine was now horizantally mounted in the chassis and produced 6.5 horsepower, and this model would be continued with minor changes to wheelbase and output until 1907.
By 1903 they added a four-passenger Surrey with an 82-inch wheelbase, same engine. From this other touring and limousine models would be developed.
Further improvements to these two basic models in this first decade came from increased engine size and refinements in the suspension. The runabout sold for $635-$690 and the touring models for up to $1200.
To keep costs down, at some point pretty much everything other than the basic car was considered a “sundry” and thus optioned, as seen below in this list from the 1907 catalog.
1907 Stanley Accessories; just about everything not nailed down was an option!
Mechanical Principles
The Stanley mechanics were a study in simplicity, a decision that the brothers made to keep the technology accessible for the client. Each brochure covered in detail the safety features and ease of use of the Stanley. Yet, it was still a steam car, and thus required more attention and maintenance that the average man or woman wanted to hassle with. Given that, this was an age when anything that was motorized was an “adventure” in ownership. Despite its faults, operating a Stanley was still cheaper than keeping a horse!
A diagram from the 1918 catalog pretty much illustrates the operating system of the Stanley, and the path of hot and cold steam, the path of lubricating oil, and the basic location of all parts. The only difference is that the early Stanleys did not have the closed-loop system that was developed in 1914 and is shown in the diagram.
1918 Stanley Steam System diagram. The key at the bottom explains.
1920 Stanley Components diagram. Placing the boiler and burner system behind the front axle made them accessible and also balanced out the weight of the car. This was the given layout for most models of Stanley.
The two-piston engine that powered all Stanleys up to 1924 remained unchanged except for its size, while the boiler increased in dimension and thus ability to produce power through steam pressure. The elegance of the Stanley engine was indisputable; however, steam power traded engine simplicity for the required complexity of its steam-generating system, which ultimately was its Achilles heel.
1923 Stanley engine, which did not change much during its design life. Stanley asserted that the two-piston system was all that was needed.
1918 Stanley engine diagram.
Runabout Perfection
In their first decade, Stanley continuously improved their runabouts with only minor changes, the 1906-1908 Model EX resulting from this effort.
1907 Stanley Model EX.
1907 Stanley Model EX with rear seat rest up.
The Model EX was rated for 10 horsepower, weighed 1100 pounds, and featured a 90-inch wheelbase. Priced at $850 in 1907, Stanley Motor Carriage stated that it was “the best value we have ever offered to the public.”
The Model EX was described as “a car of all around serviceability.” As the catalog explained,
“For city use—for running around town on business—for the family man who drives only on Sundays and evenings—for a lady to drive—for those who live in the country, and want a smart, light car, sure of taking them “there and back” in any condition of roads and weather—and as a touring car for two people, it is equally satisfactory.”
The brochure further qualifies its utility:
“While the Model EX is intended primarily as a runabout, yet it has such power that four adults in it will go faster than most people care to ride; nor will it ever falter at a hill.”
The catalog statements conclude that
“There is no runabout in the world at any price that will do so much work so well, so reliably, and so cheaply as this car. It is as quiet as an electric and is speedier on a level or on a hill than any $3,000 gasolene (sic) car.”
The year 1907 was a big one for Stanley, as land speed record attempts at Ormond Beach in 1906 and 1907 would establish Stanley as a speed king. Sales peaked at 735 for 1907 as a result.
Let’s Talk Speed Records
1904 The Ormond Beach Garage, with several speedsters in the front row, ready to go! Note the Louis Ross racecar at lower left. image courtesy General Motors Corporation
1905 Louis Ross “Woggelbug” at speed, also referred to as the “Teakettle.” Note the waves in the background, as this was beach racing on the sand when the tide was out! GMC
Stanleys had been competing well in regional hiilclimbs and sprints for some time; instant torque was the forte of steam-driven cars. In 1904 a private enthusiast named Louis Ross created a steam-driven land speed racer that he called the “Teakettle.” Shaped like an overturned canoe, his efforts paid off at Ormond Beach in Florida. In February of 1904 Ross would attain 94.73 miles per hour on the sand and throw down the gauntlet.
Suitably challenged, Stanley Motor Carriage responded with a speed car of their own, using a canoe body fashioned by Robertson Boat and fastened to a 98-inch Model F chassis. Sporting a huge 30-inch diameter boiler, the two-cylinder engine, which was 4.5” X 5.5” in dimensions, put out an estimated 250 horsepower. Gadzooks!
In 1906, factory service manager Francis Marriott drove the Stanley racer, variously called “Le Skiff,” and the “Rocket,” to a series of impressive land speed records summarized in the chart below that would withstand all challengers for that year.
1906 Stanley landspeed racer.
1907 landspeed racer at Ormond Beach. F.E. Stanley is at left, Marriott at right, The racer would hit a sand ripple on its run, go airborne, and crash at well over 125 mph. image courtesy National Motor Museum/UK
A repeat performance was attempted in 1907 with a 1200 psi boiler, but ripples in the sand caused the racer to go airborne and wreck upon the beach. The machine was totaled, but fortunately Marriott walked away from the crash. Frank Stanley was holding a stopwatch and calculated the escape velocity at the time the vehicle left the ground to be somewhere around 150 miles per hour, which would have been a new land speed record if it had remained earthbound, of course!
Stanley would tout their speed and competition records until they stopped producing their speed cars in 1909. This example is from their 1908 catalog.
Two Vanderbilt Cup racers were reportedly constructed for private owners to contest the 1907 race but were not completed in time. They may have competed in subsequent events, but their results were not recorded in official Stanley results, something that the company would probably not have missed noting. Their whereabouts—a mystery….
Stanley Speed Cars
Stanley Motor Carriage had been dutifully summarizing their competitive records in sprints and hillclimbs, and in 1905 teased their sport-minded clients with a Model G Speedster using the 78-inch runabout chassis.
1905 Stanley Model G Speedster, as seen in their catalog. Not much detail….
This model was superseded in 1906 by two models of speedy roadsters that would satisfy the speed-minded scorchers and be produced until 1909.
The 1906-1908 Model H, H4, and H5 Gentleman’s Speedy Roadsters were showy vehicles that were crafted for speed, fun, and adventure, the classic definition of a speedster. The company materials for the Model H4 stated that
“It is indeed a gentleman’s speeding car, and is intended for those who wish to hit up to a speed of 75 or 80 miles an hour on a good safe road, without going to the expense of importing a $10,000 racing machine with its noisy cylinders and high expense for tires and maintenance…. It has no odor, noise, or vibration. It could be run through city streets without attracting the least attention except for its neat appearance.”
The main difference between the three Model H’s were the use of cycle fenders for the H4, which made it lighter at 1350 pounds, and a fully-fendered running board system for the H5, which was also geared for more sedate speeds than the H4.
1907 Stanley Model H4, with cycle fenders and higher gearing.
1907 Stanley Model H5, with full fenders and running board, plus lower gearing.
1907 Stanley Model H5, oblique angle so as to better show the fenders and running board. image courtesy AACA Library, James Melton Autorama collection
1907 Stanley Model H5 Speedy Roadster in action. image courtesy AACA Library
In 1907, and continued through 1908, Stanley also rolled out a more serious speedster called the Semi-Racer. As the company wrote,
“Model K, our semi-racing car, is the fastest stock car in the world. It is intended primarily as a stock car for track and hill racing and is geared for a very high speed. It is entirely practical for ordinary road work, except that it is unnecessarily powerful and fast for such purpose… It is equipped with a 26-inch boiler, and a 3 5/8 X 5-inch engine. The boiler capacity, on account of the greater diameter, and greater depth is fifty per cent more than that of the 23-inch boiler.”
More capacity for steam meant more pressure, and thus more oomph than its conservatively-rated 25 horsepower. This car was a speed devil!
1907 Stanley Model K. This was essentially the Model H4, but with a larger boiler for more pressure, and thus, more power.
After 1908, Stanley Motor Carriage discontinued their speedster models.
Winding Down
Despite designing a stronger frame in 1909, and then developing a closed-loop water system in 1914, by 1917 Frank Stanley was ready to bow out. He was 68, and Freelan had long since departed for his resort development in Estes Park, Colorado, a venture that was doomed because of impassible roads, even with a Stanley motor wagon in use.
Frank turned company management over to his two sons-in-law, who face-lifted the car for an up to date look, but the time for steam technology had come and gone, as gasoline automobiles were much improved by 1917. Despite a newly revamped and up-to-date look by 1918, Stanley Motor Carriage was producing less than 500 cars per season.
1919 Stanley, as seen on its catalog cover.
Sales would continue to dwindle into the 1920’s. A bankruptcy and then a reorganization into a division of the Steam Vehicle Corporation of America didn’t help. Stanley went down in 1924.
1925 Stanley Sedan. Too little, too late.
What Killed the Steam Car?
The Stanley was by far the simplest of all steam vehicles, and due to its simplicity, Stanley outlasted them all. However, of all the virtues that steam power possessed, which were:
• simplicity of the engine,
• simplicity of power generation and control,
• noiseless and odorless operation,
• instant acceleration and speed,
they could not counterbalance all of the problems that besieged any steam vehicle owner, which were:
• constant vigilance needed to run the engine smoothly,
• a simple engine but hugely complicated boiler and furnace,
• water weight, quality, and pace of consumption, no small concerns,
• a long list of required tasks, resulting in constant tinkering.
All of the “pros” of the steam car, which made it appear as the superior mode of transportation in 1905, could not make up for the “cons.” These issues hindered the Stanley, which never sold more than 800 cars in any one season, and soon enough gasoline power dominated the remainder of the twentieth century. Electrics waited their turn while petroleum was cheap and the focus was on the “explosion engines.”
And thus, with the advent of more efficient electric motor design, revolutionary battery storage solutions, and the increasing availability of electric generation stations, the electric car looks to be winning out after 130 years of debate over the issue over what mode of propulsion is best. We’ll wait and see….
Which begs the question: what will be next?
Whatever it turns out to be, I hope there’s a speedster in the mix!
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The Stanley has a special place in my memories because of my childhood experience with one. Although its speedster models were but a blip in Stanley history, they were quite remarkable pieces of engineering. Steamer fans to this day celebrate the Stanley speedsters. I’m glad that I got to witness one in action!
Next post we’ll wrap with another look at modern speedsters. ‘Til then,