[38] This letter gives further proof that the car never had a brake. Frank said the car came back down the hill with no brake, but that the engine held the vehicle back.
[39] Duryea, op. cit. (footnote 5), p. 37.
[40] It is possible that a few parts were removed at this time to be used on the two-cylinder car. The muffler may have been one of these, and even more likely, the governor parts. Charles Duryea wrote to C. W. Mitman December 27, 1921, stating that his younger brother Otho and a Henry Wells had put in a battery and gasoline in 1897 and started the engine. Because the chains were not on the car they could not attempt to operate it; but the engine ran too fast, and finally something broke, probably the engine frame, found to be broken during the recent restoration. Charles thought the engine ran too fast because some of the governor parts were already missing.
[41] Recorded interview with Frank Duryea in the U.S. National Museum, November 9, 1956. On the formation of the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, Mr. Markham was rewarded for his part of the venture. He had invested nearly $3000 in the work, and sold out his rights in the company for approximately a $2000 profit.
Text of Letter ([page 14])
Dear Mr Mitman
24 Nov 1920
On the train I had some time to puzzle over that car. Been working nights to make up time lost in the day so did not hav much.
I made a sketch for you but did not show the spring that holds the circuit breaker in contact with the spark point. That thin finger was part of it. A spring was wound spirally--not helically--around the projecting end of the breaker pivot and the end of the spring hookt over the thin finger. See sketch herwith.
Just how the central end of the spring wire was fastened to the square of the pivot I do not kno. We did in some cases bore a hole thru and simply stick the spring thru but this put most of the action right at the bend in the wire and it broke quickly. So in other cases we fitted a light grooved spool or pulley and wound the spring around this and so avoided a sharp bend. If this was used it has been lost with the spring. A couple generations of boys playing in that barn was too many.