AMERICAN PIONEERS OF THE MOTOR CAR
Pioneer work in this country began with Charles E. Duryea in 1891. Five years later he took one of his machines to England, where it entered a fifty-two-mile race between London and Brighton. There were many entrants from France, Germany, and other European countries. The American car won the race by nearly an hour over its nearest competitor. Commercial building of automobiles began in America in 1894. However, it was not until the opening of the twentieth century that America took hold of the motor car in real earnest. Since then the rise of the automobile industry has been phenomenal. American methods of manufacture were applied and cars were turned out in quantity. In 1916 the annual production exceeded a million and to-day the production is about two million passenger cars and over three hundred thousand trucks. The motor car industry is largely responsible for the wonderful progress in American machine tools that has been made in the past two decades.
On the race track the motor car has established a record speed of 131 miles per hour, but of greater utility has been the motor truck which now competes with railroads in the transportation of freight. Owing to New York’s inadequate terminal facilities, it takes less time to haul a load from New York to Philadelphia by motor truck than to take the same load from the warehouse, transport it across the Hudson River, and load it on a freight car. It has made the country a part of the city. A short run brings the farmer’s produce to the markets and his passenger car keeps him in close touch with city life. The motor tractor has lightened his work on the farm and has enabled him to conduct farming operations over vast areas. Animal power is gradually giving way to mechanical power. This, however, is a special branch of automotive engineering which we must look into.