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1909 - William A. Besserdich and his brother-in-law, Otto Zachow,
were young blacksmiths in Clintonville, Wisconsin, when they
built America's first successful four-wheel-drive motor car.
Their "Badger Four Wheel Drive Auto Company" was formed on
January 9th; later the "Badger" and "Auto" dropped from the
title. The firm finally switched from cars to trucks.
Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) was founded.
Charles F. Kettering, a genius of the automotive industry, was
one of Delco's founders.
1910 - The Fisher Body Company received an order from Cadillac for
first quality production of closed bodies - 150 units. Curb-
side pumps began to appear about this time, though they were
forbidden by law in some communities. Custom-made ambulances
made an appearance in the first decade of 1900 and played a
major role in World War I.
1911 - By this time, the automobile industry had, for the first time,
securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Buick
Motor Company, the Olds Motor Works, the Cadillac Automobile
Company and the Oakland Motor Car Company had already achieved
success and had been combined with other firms by William
Crapo Durant into the General Motors Company. Durant, having
lost control of the company, moved into building and selling a
new auto, designed by and named for Louis Chevrolet, a French
race driver. Another manufacturer-promoter, Benjamin Briscoe,
had brought some 130 different companies together to form the
United States Motor Car Corporation. This ambitious combination
ran into financial difficulties and was doomed to receivership
in 1912.
The first production four-wheel-drive automobile, built by FWD
Corporation, rolled out of Clintonville, Wisc. It was first
used as a demonstrator, and when the firm shifted entirely to
truck manufacturing, it was used for nearly 35 years to haul
mail to and from the post office.
First four-wheel braking was employed by the Italian company
of Isotta-Franchini.
Other innovations were an improved electric starter, the
dynamo, and a car telephone.
1912 - Edward G. Budd, a young Philadelphia engineer, is credited
with the concept of the all-steel auto body. In 1912, he
convinced the Oakland and Hupmobile people to try his all-
steel body frames, and the next year received his first large
contract from John and Horace Dodge.
Charles F. Kettering introduced his greatest contribution to
the automotive industry, the electric self-starter.
Henry M. Leland introduced the self-starter in his 1912
Cadillac.
1913 - Dr. William M. Burton improved production of anti-knock
additives for gasolines, but not the firing of the larger
kerosene molecules mixed in with gasoline.
Henry Ford`s first moving assembly line revolutionized auto
production.
The Gulf Oil Company was the first U.S. petroleum firm to
distribute free road maps.
1914 - Horace and John Dodge were wealthy manufacturers of components
for Olds Motor Works, then for Ford Motor Company, before they
introduced their own automobile. The first Dodge was delivered
to them on November 14, 1914.
Cleveland, Ohio, installed the nation's first traffic lights.
At about this time, the International Harvester Auto-Wagon, a
high-wheeled, hard-tired pioneer version of the pickup truck,
appeared.
Most pioneer motorists stored their cars in the winter months,
due to clogged roads and operating difficulties. Anti-freeze,
winter oils, efficient heaters and other cold weather needs
were still to come.
1915 - Ernest Holmes Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of
the pioneers in the field of auto rescue, although the
mechanism of the wrecker was pretty complicated.
1916 - Studebaker instituted the "pay-as-you-ride" slogan and sold
automobiles on time payments.
1917 - From 1910 to 1917, company crews from B. F. Goodrich erected
thousands of signs on some 110,000 miles of U.S. roads. These
were guide posts - round metal signs on twelve-foot poles,
each of which gave the name of the nearest town, the next
large city and the ultimate destination of the route.
1918 - A German named Lankensperger took out a British patent on a
system of steering in which the steering wheels are separately
pivoted at the ends of the shaft.
1919 - The U.S. Army started its first transcontinental truck convoy.
Second in command of the caravan was a Lieutenant Colonel,
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
1920 - Jonathan Dixon Maxwell's popular automobile succumbed in the
mid-20s. It had spring-suspension wheels (unusual for the
times).
Hydraulic braking was introduced.
By this time, mass production methods were well-established,
and this led to the availability of a wide range of cheap,
reliable and comfortable cars which found a ready market in
the affluent '20s.
1921 - The U.S. Bureau of Public Roads was created right after WWI.
In 1921, a second Federal Highway Act more clearly defined the
aid program to develop a gigantic national road system.
The Kahn-Wadsworth Bill made possible the distribution of more
than 25,000 surplus army trucks and other equipment to the
state highway departments for road-building purposes.
1923 - Tetraethyl lead was discovered.
1924 - Walter P. Chrysler, the head of the Maxwell Motor Corporation,
introduced an auto bearing his name. Fred Zeder was one its
key designers. The Chrysler was so successful it brought about
the death of the Maxwell.
A California innkeeper erected the first "Motel" sign outside
his establishment.
General Motors and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey formed
Ethyl Gasoline Corporation to make and sell the new additive,
tetraethyl lead.
1926 - The first "Burma Shave" jingles were posted in Minnesota.
1927 - The first drive-up mail box was installed in Houston, Texas.
1929 - The short-lived Ruxton was an unusual front-wheel-drive luxury
automobile manufactured by New Era Motors of New York from
1929 to 1931. Although it did not fare well, it marked a new
beginning in the automotive age.
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