(Updated:
03-06-2009) Copyrighted & protected by worldwide copyright laws.
My
fascination with the Detroit two cycle engines started when my Dad
traded a old International Harvester LB stationary farm engine for a Detroit engine
around the 1990 time period. At the time I don't believe Dad new that he
had traded for one of the very first low pressure fuel injected engines
invented in the early 1900's. After spending some time studying the
engine and figuring out how the fuel system operated the engine was then
completely restored. I remember the first time I seen the little engine run I knew I wanted one. I had never seen a two cycle engine that would
start so easy run so good and was not loud and noisy. It would idle down
and run as slow as a four cycle engine and you could even reverse the direction the engine
is running with out stopping the engine. Changing the direction is done
by slowing the engine to a very slow idle then advancing or retarding
the ignition depending on which direction the engine is running and at the same
time turning the ignition off just for a second or two then turning it
back on. This made the engine kick back in the opposite direction in
which it would keep running.
Some time between 1997 and 1998 I came across a 3hp Detroit that was for sale at our local
antique engine swap meet. It was missing a few parts but I did not hesitate in
purchasing the engine. This is when I first started collecting
literature on DEW. Over the next few years I became
more fascinated with the Detroit Engines and the companies history. Little did I know that I would
end up researching and learning about many other companies in order to put some of the pieces of this puzzle together. Also
researching information on marine engines which at the time
I had very little interest in. There were so many un-answered questions
about these engines and the companies that manufactured them. I guess
that is what has kept my interest over the years. I now own four Detroit Engines,
A 3hp
single cylinder stationary, 2hp single cylinder marine, 18hp two
cylinder stationary and a 2.5hp hopper cooled stationary engine. As the
years have passed by I have become even more obsessed with learning more
about Detroit Engine Works and its related companies. On this website you will find original literature
and photos along with information that I have figured out from reading
literature and studying photos. I do not claim to know everything there is to know about
these engines or the companies that manufactured them. However most of the information
has been gathered from original literature and should be fairly
accurate. As time goes by I'm sure that more information will
surface on Detroit Engine Works and it's related companies.
A lot of people are not aware of these
old gas engines and the roll that they played in our great nation here
in USA and all over the world. On this website you will read about and
see photos of some of the very early gas engines that were developed
before the first gas powered automobile was invented. Marine
engines were being used all over the world in every size boat you could
imagine. The stationary engines were
used to power farm machinery such as corn grinders, water pumps, saw
mills, cream separators, washing machines, light plants, concrete
mixers, hoist, tractors, Etc.. I have added the paragraph
below to this history page because I feel that most people may not be
aware that it was the early Detroit marine & stationary engine companies and
their employees that manufactured them who opened the doors for the
Detroit automobile industry. Below is a quote
from a book named Motormen & Yachting by author Michael M. Dixon.
"The
marine gas engine business may not be recognized as a great industry
when compared to the automobile. However, as late as 1910, Gas Engine
magazine observed that while much attention was being given to
impressive numbers of automobiles being produced, the largely invisible
gasoline marine engine still out numbered automobile engines in use by a
factor of two to one. It was the impressive number of marine gas engines
that prepared a generation of mechanics to establish Detroit's
automobile industry."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Detroit
Engine
Works main offices and factories were located
on East Jefferson Ave in Wayne County Detroit, Michigan. A little north
of the Detroit river . Addresses on original literature & phone
books indicate that Wadsworth Mfg Co. had multiple properties and
buildings on E. Jefferson Ave. from Iron Street to Bellevue Street on
the north and south sides of the road and later around 1915-1920 time period
purchased land in the area of East Jefferson, Conner Creek
& Kercheval Street. All these areas were excellent
locations for the factories because ore and coal for the foundry could be
shipped in by way of boat on the Detroit river. The railroad was also
next to the factories which made it great for shipping engines, etc out
to the States. DEW factories on Jefferson
Avenue were owned and operated by the Wadsworth Mfg Co. who manufactured
auto bodies, auto tops, auto parts and was located in the same
facilities. Wadsworth
was supplying closed bodies to many of
Detroit
’s automakers including Ford and Wadsworth’s three neighbors, Hudson, Maxwell & Chalmers.
Wadsworth Mfg Co. operated multiple businesses on the side at these
locations. DEW, DMCSC, DBC, CEC, MSBC. were some of the firms that operated out of
these same factories. Wadsworth Manufacturing and Detroit
Engine Works owned and
operated their own foundry and is believed to be one of the
largest manufactures of engines and pleasure boats in the late 1800's and early
1900's. DEW had distributorships in
London England located at 94 Hatton Garden and another office & warehouse
about 15 miles away at Holborn. The Holborn office & warehouse was advertised as the Columbia Engine Company with their main
offices located at 1273-1285 East Jefferson Ave. Detroit, Michigan. Very little is known about
the London dealerships.
Below is a photo of a show room for DBC, MSBC and DEW notice the boats,
engine and coach bodies that are on display through the plate glass
windows.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Photo from the Burton
Historical Collection
(click on photo to
enlarge) Photo
copyrighted & protected by worldwide copyright laws.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
H.
Scherer & Co. establishes the Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. 1904.
Hugo Scherer (b.1859-d.1923), a major stockholder
in the Wadsworth Manufacturing Co., was the person most responsible for
the firm’s entry into manufacturing automobile bodies.
Scherer was born in October 9, 1859, in Detroit,
Michigan
to Augusta and John Conrad Scherer, two German immigrants from the state
of Hessen. In 1851 the elder Scherer (sometimes misspelled as Shearer),
who was a physician, established an apothecary in downtown Detroit
at 39 Michigan Ave E., near the old county office building. Hugo obtained his early education
in the public schools of
Detroit
and after graduation went to
Europe
where he spent six years at University.
Upon his return to the states, Scherer went to
work in his father’s drug store, eventually taking charge of the
business, which he inherited upon the death of his father. Hugo’s
younger brother, Otto Scherer (b.1865) decided to pursue a career in
medicine and after a lengthy course of study became a prominent
Detroit
physician.
By 1879 Scherer’s pharmacy had relocated to 280-284 E. Jefferson Ave.
The firm’s spacious new quarters allowed them to get into the hardware
and carriage goods business, which by the mid 1880s had become their
specialty. By 1887, the renamed firm, H. Scherer & Company, was the
city’s main source of wholesale carriage hardware and had begun the
manufacture of their own line of carriage dashboards. Subsequent
directories list the firm as a manufacturer and distributor of carriage
drop forging, hardware and trimming material.
The carriage business must have been profitable as
Scherer had enough capital to purchase other firms as evidenced by the
following 1905 news item:
“H. Scherer & Co.,
Detroit,
Mich., have purchased the building and stock of the defunct James & Mayer
Carriage Works,
Lawrenceburg
,
Ind., for $27,000.”
He also owned a mansion at 745 E. Jefferson Ave.
and in 1898 commissioned
Detroit
architect Louis Kemper to design and build him a magnificent summer
residence at Grosse Pointe Farm, the summer home of his friend Frederick
E. Wadsworth.
An early automobilist, Scherer was a founding
member of the Detroit Automobile Club, which was formed in 1902. And
although they share the same name,
Detroit’s Hugo Scherer was not directly related to the infamous Mexican
bankers, Hugo Scherer Sr. & Hugo Scherer Jr. of Mexico City
.
As the automobile came of age, H. Scherer &
Co. discovered that the very same items were needed by Detroit’s automobile industry. A 1904 issue of the Automobile Trade Journal
reported that:
“H. Scherer & Co., of Detroit,
Mich., makers of bodies, etc., have incorporated under a new style and had
planed on confining the business entirely to the automobile. Their new
company was called the Detroit
Motor
Car
Supply
Company
and the office was located at 1256 Jefferson Avenue
. They are putting up a large building, 80 x 1000 feet, and will make
wood and metal bodies, tops, eye protectors, lap robes and
clothing.” Eventually they started manufacturing marine engines,
Stationary farm engines also.
Their new 3-story steel and cinder block structure
was constructed on the north side of E. Jefferson, at the northwest
corner of its intersection with Bellevue Ave., across the street from their existing office. Although the structure
has been significantly face-lifted and a fourth floor added, the
original 1905 structure is still in use today as an apartment building,
with its main entrance located at 6533 E. Jefferson Ave. (Jefferson was
re-numbered in 1921).
Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. was listed as
exhibitors at the annual ALAM New York Automobile Show, held at
Madison
Square
Garden
from January 12 to 19, 1907. The previous year’s New York
automobile Show was covered in the Jan 25, 1906 issue of The Automobile
which included the following description of their booth:
"Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. - A large exhibit of automobile
clothing for all weathers, automobile accessories and supplies, was
made. Particularly seasonable were the robes and weatherproof coats
shown. This concern manufactures automobile bodies, tops, tire cases,
clothing, caps, storm aprons, dash clocks, wind screens and other
automobile accessories. The company claims to be the largest
manufacturer of automobile bodies in the United States, and had in the Armory an exhibit of several up-to-date styles of coupé,
landaulet and limousine bodies. A special runabout top, complete with
side curtains, storm front and body irons, appealed particularly to the
users of small cars."
In later years Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. was
listed as a manufacturer of commercial bodies for Fords, but is mainly
known today by antique engine collectors as the manufacturer-distributor
of Sandow 2-cycle stationary and marine gasoline engines.
The success of Hugo Scherer’s various business
interests can also be attributed to his friend and business partner,
Frederick Elliott Wadsworth (1868-1927).
Wadsworth
was born in
Durham
,
Middlesex County,
Connecticut
to James W. Wadsworth, a member of one of Connecticut’s most prominent families. After a public education
Frederick
attended university after which he made his home in Detroit,
Michigan
.
In 1896
Wadsworth
and Scherer helped organize the Detroit Engine Works and in 1901 Wadsworth
was instrumental in the formation of the National Can Company, serving
on the firm’s board of directors for a number of years.
Surprisingly, National Can’s Detroit
plant produced auto parts in addition to tin cans. Located at
2566 E Grand Blvd.
, the firm produced ‘Mayo’ and ‘National’ brand radiators under
the Mayo patents as well as other stamped, sheet-metal auto parts.
National’s radiator business was eventually purchased by the McCord
Radiator & Mfg. Co.
Wadsworth’s experience in metal stamping proved
helpful when he and Scherer got into the boat and auto body building
business and Wadsworth’s deep pockets helped finance the pair’s
business ventures, which included the following: Columbia Engine
Company, Detroit Boat Company, Detroit Engine Works, Detroit Forging
Company, Detroit Motor Car Supply Company, Michigan Steel Boat Company,
St. Clair-Athol Rubber Company and the Thrall Motor Company.
Detroit Engine Works, Detroit Motor Car Supply Co., Columbia Engine Co. and
Thrall Motor Co. manufactured 2-cycle marine and stationary engines
rated between 2- and 50-hp. Also offered by
Detroit
was a range of light kerosene-powered 6-to 18 hp Wadsworth
farm tractors.
Detroit Forging specialized in drop-forged
automobile parts, specifically convertible top hardware. St. Clair-Athol
Rubber Co. manufactured rubber-coated automobile fabrics that were also
used in convertible tops. Detroit Motor Supply Co. manufactured
automobile bodies and distributed Sandow-brand 2-cycle engines, which
were actually a product of the Detroit Engine Works. Michigan Steel Boat
Co. and Detroit Boat Co. manufactured small boats which more often than
not were powered by engines manufactured by the Detroit Engine Works.
Not surprisingly, all of the above firms were
originally located in the same factory, which was operated under the auspices of
the Wadsworth Mfg Co. Wadsworth
Mfg Co. was also known for manufacturing automobile bodies, tops, and accessories for
Detroit’s automakers, many of whom were conveniently located along E. Jefferson Ave.
The Wadsworth
factory was located adjacent to a siding of the Detroit Terminal
Railway, which later on enabled them to get large contracts with the
Ford Motor Co.
Scherer and Wadsworth
organized the Detroit Engine Works in 1896 in order to manufacture
two-cycle engines for marine and agricultural use. The firm later
produced a large number of products including light tractors, stationary
engines, reverse gears and various other machined, drop-forged and
cast-metal products.
Scherer and
Wadsworth
marketed their engines under the Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. (Sandow),
Detroit Engine Works and Columbia Engine Co. trade names. Detroit
engine works also sold single cylinder four cycle engines of the Nelson
Brothers design.
As early as 1902 the Detroit Engine Works was
using 1256 E. Jefferson Ave.
,
Detroit, as their address. In later years, numerous addresses - all indicating
the same group of structures - were used, most were on E. Jefferson Ave.
(1122, 1154,1242, 1250,1252,1256, 1273, 1280, 1300, 1347, although a few
gave a Bellevue Ave. address (115, 417,420, 425).
Just as it does today, Bellevue
ran alongside the west side of the new (built in 1905) factory/office
building located on the north side of E. Jefferson. The firm continued
to use the older factory located across the street on the south side of
E. Jefferson until it moved to Conners Creek.
Located at 2700 E. Jefferson Ave.
, just across the street from Wadsworth’s new plant, was the main factory of the Chalmers Motors Co. Starting
in 1917 Chalmers leased a portion of their facility to the Maxwell Motor
Company for an initial five year contract.
Scherer and Wadsworth
were also partners in real estate. In 1903 they constructed a
neighborhood of frame cottages in the summer resort of Grosse Pointe
which became known as the ‘Cabbage Patch’. In 1916 Scherer formed
the Hugo Scherer Land Co. to manage his various real estate holdings
which included the Scherer Block (
280-284 E. Jefferson Ave.
) and a large commercial structure located at 936-944 Woodward Ave.
Scherer and
Wadsworth’s early business ventures shared the same downtown Detroit
address -
280-284 Jefferson Ave
(East) - as Scherer’s carriage supply firm. The pair’s second
recorded business venture, the Michigan Steel Boat Company, was
incorporated on December 27, 1901 with Hugo Scherer, president; and
Frederick E. Wadsworth, secretary-treasurer.
Detroit Engine
Works pioneered the use of two-cycle engines for marine
and stationary power use. Sources indicate that
DEW
started out as a
marine engine manufacturing firm that eventually produced stationary gasoline-kerosene engines, traction engines and reverse
gears and many other products. One style of engine that
DEW produced
was
very unique due to being one of the first low pressure fuel injected
engines invented back in the early 1900's. Manufactured sometime around 1907. This
fuel injected engine was DEW's most popular engines
produced due to the fact that it was designed to run on a multiple types
of fuels. Gasoline, Kerosene (Coal
Oil), Alcohol, Naptha, Distillate and
no change in equipment was necessary to change from one fuel to another
unless you wanted to run natural or
artificial gas then a regulator adapter could be purchased. DEW
advertisements claimed that their engines could start and run on most
all fuels and in any climate including 40 degrees below zero temperatures.
DEW two cycle single cylinder two flywheel
vertical
stationary engines (tank cooled) were built in size's 2, 2.5, 3,
3.5, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 horse power. The two cylinder two cycle two
flywheel vertical stationary engines (tank cooled) were built in sizes 12, 18 and
20 horse power. All of the two cycle two flywheel stationary engines were
sold with the low pressure fuel injection systems. Carburetors and mixers
were not advertised for the stationary engines. In the first few years of production original
DEW catalogs advertise their governed stationary engines only up to
8 horse power in size. However they advertise non-governing engines in
sizes 2,3,3.5-4,5-6,7-8,10,12-14,18-20 horsepower. Most of the Non-governing
engines were single flywheel marine engines that came mounted on a
wooden base with a pulley between two pillow blocks.
DEW also sold Single cylinder four cycle
hopper cooled horizontal stationary engines in sizes 1.5, 2, 3, 4.5, 6, 8
horse power. These four cycle stationary engines appear to have been manufactured
by the Nelson Brothers corporation and tagged with DEW
name tags. Some of these engines had (Detroit Engine Works,
Detroit, Michigan) cast in large raised letters on top of the water
hopper.
Research shows that DEW, DMCSC
& Columbia marine engines were offered in many different configurations over the
years. An assortment of carburetors and mixers were manufactured by different
companies, DEW, Schebler, Lunkenheimer, Essex, Krice, Planhard,
Williams are just a
few that are known to have been used. Ben J. Middleditch
manufactured the first fuel injection systems that were used on some of these
marine engines. Then DEW manufactured three different styles
of fuel feeder-injectors in the proceeding years after. Two or three
different styles of timing controllers were offered. A few different
versions of condenser exhaust manifolds were produced. Flywheels
with different configurations and different number and sizes of holes were produced.
The DEW marine engines were offered in a range of different
sizes depending on what year the engine was made. The 1910 single
cylinder 2 cycle models were manufactured in standard sizes of 2, 2.5, 3, 4,
5-6, 7-8 hp and a single cylinder heavy duty 8hp engine. The 1910 two cylinder
two cycle models were offered in standard sizes 9-10, 12, 15hp and heavy
duty 20hp or you could get their 20hp special which was made for speed
boats. The 1910 Four
cylinder four cycle marine engines were built in sizes 20-25, 40-50
horse power and could be purchased with a reversible gear box and a Briggs and Stratton
distributing system. See DEW marine literature section for the
difference in standard,
heavy duty and special engines. All the marine engines came with a five year
guarantee and the option of fresh water or salt water fittings. The
price sheet below is from around 1913 time period as you can see DEW
now offered more marine engine sizes in single cylinder and two
cylinder. Notice the small sizes they offered the two cylinder engines
4.5, 6, 8hp.
A large selection of generators and pumps were also available from
DEW, sold by themselves or as a package unit with the engine. DEW entered the tractor business,
building the Wadsworth tractor for several years. They
also sold Power Machinery Accessories and supplies. Their catalog
listed just about every
kind of accessory you would ever want for a stationary engine, over 50 pages
of items. It is not known how many of these items DEW
actually manufactured.
Research shows that DEW, DMCSC, CEC, DBC, MSBC,
TMC were conglomerates
that were owned and / or operated by the
Wadsworth
Manufacturing
Co. and
later ran by
Standard
Motor
Parts
Co. with exception of the Thrall Motor
Co.. At this time I do not have any proof that Caille Engine Co.,
Middleditch Engine Co., Bessemer Engine Co., American Engine Co., Arthur
Colton Co., Petoskey Iron Works or any other engine company was part of this particular
Detroit conglomerate. Although it is very possible that designs, parts,
castings, etc.. were being sold or traded between the companies.
Some of the multiple addresses found on original literature.
Detroit
Engine
Works
1236 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Marine
Advert).
1242 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Marine
Advert).
1263 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1907 Marine Advert).
171 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1909 Advert).
1250-1280 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1911 Advert).
1256-1500 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Jan 02,1913
Letter).
1036 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1913 Advert).
1287 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Marine
Advert).
187 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1913 Advert).
361 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1913 Advert).
66 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (April 15, 1915).
1415 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (April 15, 1915 Marine
Advert).
1250 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1915 Phone book).
24 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Marine Advert).
115 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Dec 12, 1916).
420 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1916
Advert).
445 Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1916 Advert).
Corner of Jefferson & Bellevue Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Advert).
Kercheval & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1918 Phone book).
94 Hatton Garden, London, E.C. England. Head Office and Works Detroit,
Michigan, USA. (Brass Engine Tag).
Wadsworth
Manufacturing
Co.
280-284 Jefferson
Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1903 Advert).
1256 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1903 Advert).
1252-1270 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1905 Advert).
1526 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1915 Advert).
1256 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (Auto bodies) (1915 Phone
book).
Jefferson & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (Factory) (1915
Phone book).
Kercheval & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1918
Phone book).
Detroit
Motor
Car
Supply
Co.
(Sandow).
Corner of Bellevue & Iron Street Detroit, Michigan.
(Advert)
88 Canton Ave, Detroit, Michigan. (1913
Advert).
1250 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1915 Phone book).
Kercheval & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1918 Phone
book).
Columbia
Engine
Co.
Jefferson & Bellevue Avenues Detroit, Michigan.
(Advert)
Jefferson Ave. East at Bellevue, Detroit, Michigan. (Feb 24, 1912
Letter).
1273-1285 Jefferson Ave. East Detroit, Michigan. (Feb 24, 1912
Letter).
Holborn, London, E. C. England. (Feb 24, 1912 Letter).
1275 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1915 Phone Book).
1256 Jefferson Ave
Detroit,
Michigan. (1918 Phone Book).
Michigan
Steel Boat
Co.
280-284 Jefferson
Ave, Detroit,
Michigan. (1903 Advert).
1252-1270 Jefferson Ave, Detroit,
Michigan. (1905 Advert).
1300 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1906 Advert).
1334 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1908 Advert).
1252 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1909 Advert).
1273 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1911 Advert).
1347 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1913 Advert).
1250 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan.
(1915 Phone book).
Kercheval & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1918 Phone
book).
Dubois & Guoin Detroit, Michigan. (1918 Phone book).
Corner of Kercheval Ave & Conner
Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1919 Advert).
Detroit
Boat
Co.
1252 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1909 Advert).
1122 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1912Advert).
1151 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1912 Advert).
1154 Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (1912 Advert).
1250 Jefferson Ave Detroit, Michigan. (1915 Phone Book).
Kercheval & Conners Creek Detroit, Michigan. (1918
Phone book).
Standard
Motor
Parts
Co.
584-590 Franklin
Street Detroit, Michigan.
(Advert)
584-590 Franklin
Street Detroit, Michigan.
(1915 Phone book).
584-590 Franklin
Street Detroit, Michigan.
(1918 Phone book).
United
States
Tire
Co.
245 Jefferson
Ave, Detroit,
Michigan. (1915 Phone book).
245 Jefferson
Ave, Detroit,
Michigan. (1918 Phone book).
Caille
Perfection
Motor
Co.
1334 Second Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (Advert)
1338 Second Ave Detroit,
Michigan. (Advert)
1213 Caille Street Detroit, Michigan. (Advert)
102 Caille Street Detroit Michigan. (Advert)
The sketch below is of the DEW Factory's on Jefferson Ave Detroit,
Michigan. which
included WMC, DBC, MSBC and CEC. In this sketch DEW manufacturing facilities
appear to be very large. One of the
DEW
advertisements claims their factories covered eight acres of land another
later ad claims fourteen acres. It is not known just how accurate
the pictures below are. Artist sometimes exaggerate
these pictures for advertising.
In the next two pictures below you
will notice the buildings are the same just the names of the companies
have been changed on the signs. These two companies worked out of
the same factory which was built around the 1905 time period and located at
the corner of 1256 East Jefferson Ave. & Bellevue Ave. on the north side
of the street. Still being used today as an apartment building new address
6533 East Jefferson Ave. (Addresses were re-numbered in 1921).
Abbreviations:
DEW
=
Detroit
Engine
Works.
WMC =
Wadsworth
Manufacturing
Co. DMCSC =
Detroit
Motor
Car
Supply
Co.
CEC =
Columbia
Engine
Co.
MSBC =
Michigan Steel
Boat
Co.
DBC =
Detroit
Boat
Co. SMPC =
Standard
Motor
Parts
Co.
CPMC =
Caille
Perfection
Motor
Co.
MEC =
Middleditch Engine
Co.
BGEC =
Bessemer
Gas Engine
Co.
TMC =
Thrall
Motor
Co. T&MC
= Termaat
& Monahan Co.
AEC = American
Engine Co. PIW
= Petoskey
Iron Works. Updated
03-08- 2009
Principals of the DEW in 1903 were Hugo Scherer as president and Frederick E. Wadsworth as secretary and treasurer.
In 1911 Hugo Scherer was president of the firm with Frederick E. Wadsworth as secretary and treasurer. Scherer and Wadsworth also owned and managed the
DMCS, TMC, and CEC.
Both Scherer and Wadsworth were also the principals of the DBC
which was located at the same facility and manufactured launches and canoes.
Detroit Engine Works, Detroit Motor Car Supply Co.,
Columbia Engine Co.,
Michigan Steel Boat Co., Detroit Boat Co., Caille Perfection Motor
Co., Middleditch Engine Co. and Bessemer
two cycle engines are all pretty similar.
All of the companies were located in Detroit, Michigan with exception of
Bessemer who bought out Middleditch Engine Co.
Below are a few photos of the engine tags that were used on Detroit
Engine Works engines and some of the related engines.
     
 
An original Columbia marine engine catalog illustrating their line of
engines actually shows two or three pictures of their engines with
Detroit Engine Works name tags attached to the cylinder. Original
literature clearly illustrates that Detroit Engine Works manufactured
two cycle engines for Columbia Engine Company, Detroit Motor Car Supply
Company, Michigan Steel Boat Company and Detroit Boat Company.
It is said that Ben J.
Middleditch designed the two cycle explosion engine with its fuel
injection system that made Detroit Engine Works and its related
companies so popular back in the early 1900's. As of May 26,
2006 research has been done on patents listed under the Middleditch
name from 1879 through 1925 and only
one patent has been found (0577739) issued to Ben J. Middleditch and Edward J. Frost
and it was for a mechanism that regulates natural gas. At this point it
does not appear that Middleditch designed this two cycle explosion engine and its
fuel injection system. If he did design the fuel injection system
then he did not get a patent under his name. However it is very possible
that Ben J. Middleditch could have been one of the main driving forces behind the
two cycle Detroit engine and its unique fuel injection system.
December
05, 2006, Through research I have discovered that there is a very good possibility
that Ben. J. Middleditch either owned or had a license for the patent writes to patent #
(840,178)
for
the universal fuel feeder that Middleditch Engine Co. and Bessemer
Engine Co. used on their two cycle engines. The patent was originally
submitted May 25, 1905 by Daniel M. Tuttle and patented on January 1st 1907.
Photos of a early model
Bessemer two cycle engine have surfaced with embossed patent dates. See
1915 infringement lawsuit below for the whole story.
Ben J. Middleditch was born
in 1859 in Amherstburg, Ontario Canada. He moved to Michigan and started his own general machine shop business at Detroit in 1880.
Middleditch did the
machining and manufacturing of the parts on the first fuel injection system
for DEW. There was a Middleditch who was the proprietor of a company called
Petoskey
Iron
Works
of Detroit, Michigan. At this point I'm not sure if the proprietor was
Ben Middleditch or one of his relatives. This company sold engines that looked very close to the style engines
that Detroit Engine Works produced. Very little is known about the
company.
By 1910 Middleditch started manufacturing and selling another stationary two cycle
engine very similar
in design to the DEW engine. The engines brass tag was
embossed with the Middleditch
Engine
Company name.
Middleditch only manufactured these two cycle stationary vertical
engines for a few years. Then in 1913
Bessemer
Gas Engine
Co. purchased the
Middleditch Engine Co. and continued producing the
two cycle engines with their own Bessemer tag into
the 1920's. Benjamin J. Middleditch died May 22, 1916.
Patent # 926,892 shows that John Peterson & Frederick O. Peterson designed the
two cycle explosion engine with its fuel
injection system. Although their patent was applied for on February 24, 1908 and
patent issued on July 06, 1909 we know that their design and engine was
already being produced by DEW at least a couple of
years before the patents were issued. There is a original DEW
catalog with a 1907 date showing the two cycle explosion engine with its
fuel injection system. It is not known if John Peterson and Frederick O.
Peterson were employed by DEW or MEC Ben J. Middleditch manufactured this fuel
injection system for DEW. DEW
also manufactured two
cycle marine engines with a regular float type carburetors and mixer
type carburetors before and
after the fuel injection system was manufactured.
DEW engineers eventually designed and
manufactured their own fuel injection
system. The one piece fuel feeder-Injector patent was applied for on
January 7, 1911 was designed by Frederick Barthel. Patented May 14, 1912 (patent #1,026,425).
Frederick Barthel, born: 1866, Died: 1922, Grave: Forest Lawn
Cemetery Detroit, Wayne county, Michigan. Wife: Ida
Bowman.
There were 3 styles of this one piece fuel feeder/Injector produced.
See Identifying engines & parts section on the main menu for photos
& info on the three different
styles.
1915 Lawsuit
The information in the paragraphs
below were found in a 1915 original Bessemer two cycle engine catalog.
I thought
that this information might be of interest to other engine collectors.
In a description of the Bessemer Universal Fuel Feeder this is what was
found.
"“We own the original basic patents on this fuel feeder, and if any one else, either in a catalog, in a letter or personally
attempts to make you believe otherwise, you can put them down immediately as impostors who, if they will deceive you on such
an important matter as this would not hesitate to deceive in any way necessary to gain their purpose."”
"“At the present time there are two other engine manufacturers using devices which are clearly infringements of our Universal
Fuel Feeder."”
"“We are now prosecuting the larger of these two concerns for infringement and as soon as this case is over we will take up
the other, and in every case where we find it necessary we will defend our rights and property and that of our customers,
to the full extent of the law."”
"We have no intention
whatever of taking recourse against the innocent purchasers of these
infringements and consequently we do not issue the usual
"warning" to that effect, but when considering the purchase of
an engine it might be well to take the fact into consideration that, if
possible, We intend to stop any and all infringements of our rights, and
that if you buy an engine that is clearly such and we shortly thereafter
stop the manufacture of it by law, the guilty firm would undoubtedly go
out of business altogether or else take up the manufacture of a new type
engine, in which case you would be forever unable to secure repairs for
your engine in case of accident."
"This device is one of the
many things which puts the Bessemer Kerosene Engine in the lead, makes
it a more expensive engine to build and consequently renders it
impossible for us to compete with the cheap four cycle gasoline engines
which are being turned out by the million and are made only to
sell."
I first read about this
infringement of the Bessemer Universal fuel feeder a few years back when
I was on a antique engine forum on the internet. A gentlemen named Arnie
Fero from Pittsburg PA had posted the information and said it was a quote
out of Bessemer two cycle engine catalog he had. I really wanted
to get a copy of this Bessemer catalog and see if there was any more
information on this subject and try to figure out who it was that was
infringing on their patents. I knew that it probably involved Detroit
Engine Works. The problem was Arnie's information had been posted
in March of 2001 and I was now reading it in 2004. Another year
went by and one night I was bidding on a Bessemer engine catalog on Ebay
through the internet. I won the bid and just a few minutes or so after
the auction I received a email from a fellow engine collector who was
also bidding on the catalog but had lost the bid and wanted to know if
it would be possible if he could purchase a copy of the catalog. I
noticed his name was Arnie Fero, so ask if he was the gentlemen that
posted the Bessemer fuel feeder infringement information on the antique
engine forum a few years back. He indeed was the same gentlemen. So we worked up a trade
and sent each other copies of our catalogs. I never did find any more
information about this fuel feeder infringement until one day in
2006 I was going through some old digital photos I had collected
over the years and I found a few photos of a very early Bessemer two
cycle engine, one photo was a close up of some embossing on the engine
inspection plate (The Bessemer, Grove City, PA). Another photo of the
crank case showed embossed (Patended, January 1st 1907). After seeing the photos I thought
this might be the answer I have been looking for. I went to the US
patent website and searched through patents until I narrowed down where
the January 1st 1907 patents started and ended. This took a little time
and once I got this info there were still thousands of patents to be
searched. So I got a friend of mine to help me
search. After about a week or so we finished looking through all the
patents for January 1st 1907 and found only one engine patent, #
(840,178) by Daniel M. Tuttle, for January 1st 1907 and it did not look
exactly like a Bessemer or Middleditch two cycle engine to me. I lost interest
after this because I could not figure out what was going on. Why
couldn't I find this patent? About six months later I was looking
through some of my old literature and paper work and I come across a
copy of this same patent that I printed out back when we originally
found it. I looked at the patent again and this time I read all the
pages and looked over the drawing closer. This was the same basic fuel
injection design being used it was just drawn a little different and then I knew that this was indeed the patent that Bessemer sold
their engines under and the original patent for the low pressure fuel
feeder for which the rights were originally owned by Daniel M. Tuttle then
it must have been acquired by Ben. J. Middleditch used at several
different companies and eventually sold to Bessemer Engine
Co. I have no hard evidence of this theory but the fact remains
that the design of this low pressure fuel injected engine seem to follow
Ben J. Middleditch from factory to factory no matter what company he
worked for.
Daniel
M.Tuttle, Middleditch, Bessemer fuel feeder patent # (840,178) January 01,
1907.
John
Peterson & Frederick O. Peterson, DEW fuel feeder
patent # (926,892) July 06, 1909.
Frederick
Barthel, DEW second fuel feeder patent #
(1,026,425) May 14, 1912.
The two later patents above pertain
to the same basic original patent with improvements being made with each
design. My guess is this is where the infringement problems came to
play. DEW and DMCS were
probably the two companies BGEC were talking about infringing on
their patents
Source:
American Gas Engines since 1872 (C.H.Wendal)
1912,1913,1915 original Detroit Engine Works letterheads.
Patents:
University of Central Florida Library.
Original company literature 1907 through 1917.
1915 original Bessemer engine catalog.
(Donated
by Arnie Fero).
US Patent
Office website.
University Of Central Florida computer patent search program and microfiche.
Research done by: (John
C. Davis), Davis Antiques & Scale
Models.
Wadsworth builds "Flying
Fish" Hydro-aeroplane.
In 1911 Wadsworth, built a hydro-aeroplane
named the Flying Fish which debuted at the New York Boat Show. The unusual
vehicle was designed to skim on top of the water at speeds up to 65mph,
with the ‘skipper-pilot’ seated in a wicker chair at the rear of its
canoe-like hull. The Flying Fish was successfully tested on the ice of
Lake St. Clair but no further development occurred.
During the mid-teens Wadsworth Manufacturing
offered a very successful "Full Vision Sedan Top" for Model T
Touring Cars, a lined and insulated top very similar to the all-weather
convertible tops offered by the Springfield Metal Body Co. and others.
Prior to his marriage to Mannering,
Wadsworth purchased an estate in Irvington-on-the-Hudson, NY and in 1916
announced that he intended to live in New York permanently and was putting
his Grosse Pointe estate on the market. Wadsworth passed away on March 28,
1927 at his Clarke Ave. home in Palm Beach, Florida, leaving an estate of
$1 million.
Detroit Stove Works.
The Detroit Stove Works was located one block to
the east at 1320-1360 E. Jefferson Ave. and in late 1909 the Hupp Motor
Car Co. moved into a new facility built on the former Olds grounds at
1300-1320 E Jefferson Ave. (at Concord). When Hupp relocated to larger
facilities at Milwaukee and Mt. Elliott Aves in 1912, the King Motor Car
Co took over Hupp’s Jefferson Ave factory.
Located to the west of the Wadsworth factory at 1210 E Jefferson Ave.,
was the national headquarters of the Stove Mounters Union of North
America. During the late 19th century Detroit was the stove
manufacturing capital of the US and three of the nations largest
manufacturers; the Detroit Stove Works, Michigan Stove Works and
Peninsular Iron Co. were located along E. Jefferson Ave.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Detroit Engine Works sells plant to
United States Tire Co. 1915.
By 1915 the firm had grown to include these managers and officers: Hugo Scherer, President; Frederick E. Wadsworth, Secretary and Treasurer; H. E.
Cronenweth, General Manager; W. C. Rowling, Purchasing Agent; and A. M.
Ratigan, Advertising Manager.
Detroit Engine Works sales flyer shown below
states:
“Our plant has been sold to the United States Tire
Co. and our new plant is not yet ready so that we can carry in stock
only a limited amount of engines and machinery for a few months and
rather than pay this storage we are going to sell the majority of our
stock.”
The Original Wadsworth plant at 1252-1270 E
Jefferson was purchased by the United States Rubber Co. (manufactured
the United States Tire), as was the former Hupmobile/King plant at
1300-24 E. Jefferson (at Concord).
Originally from
Chicago, the Morgan & Wright Bicycle Tire Co., moved to Detroit
to take advantage of its burgeoning automobile industry. Its first
Detroit
plant was erected on a portion of the former Old Motor Works parcel,
east of the
Wadsworth
plant. Completed in October of 1906, several of
Detroit’s Automobile Shows were held inside the 900,000 sq ft complex.
Detroit
Engine Works New Factory built 1915.
Morgan & Wright was purchased by the United
States Rubber Company in 1914. US Rubber wished to expand the existing
plant and made a generous offer for the original Wadsworth Manufacturing
Co. complex. With the proceeds Scherer and
Wadsworth
purchased a large undeveloped plot on
E. Jefferson, 3 miles east of the current facility in the area known as Conners
Creek.
Located on the north side of E. Jefferson Ave., the new facility featured a railroad siding connected to the Detroit
Terminal Railway, which gave them direct access to Ford Motor Co.’s
Highland Park
and River Rouge assembly plants. Plans were drawn up by Detroit
architect Albert Kahn and construction of the new modern facility -
which was bordered by
Kercheval St
to the north and Corey Place
to the west - commenced in 1915. In June of that year the firm reported
that they had spent $30,000 on new construction at the Conners Creek
factory.
By 1960 the massive U.S. Rubber Co. plant had expanded to 20 acres,
taking up the entire south side of E. Jefferson from the
Belle
Isle
Bridge
to Meldrum St. U.S. Rubber became Uniroyal in 1961, and the plant
remained in operation until July of 1981.
By late 1918 Wadsworth’s new Conners Creek plant was running at full capacity. With an
authorized capitalization of $1,000,000 the company’s officers at the
time were as follows: Frederick E. Wadsworth, president; Henry E. Bodman,
vice president; Herbert E. Cronenweth, secretary and treasurer. The
firms various activities were listed in the Chilton Directory as
follows:
“Wadsworth
Manufacturing Company,
Kercheval avenue
and Connor's Creek,
Detroit,
Mich.
Sedan
and closed automobile bodies, automobile parts; automobile painting and
trimming. Cable address, "Motorcar,"
Detroit
.”
A May 17th 1918 inspection of the Wadsworth
plant by the State of Michigan Dept of Labor gave the following
statistics.
Wadsworth
employed a total of 1,125 persons of which 951 were male, 174 female,
and 4 were under the age of 16.
It appears as if Scherer’s interest in Wadsworth Manufacturing Co. and
Michigan Steel Boat Co. had been sold after the firm moved to the new
plant.
Wadsworth
’s new Vice-president, Henry E. Bodman, was closely associated with
both Packard and Ford and it is believed he represented the automakers
interest who at that time owned a substantial portion of Wadsworth
Manufacturing’s stock.
Henry E. Bodman was born in
Toledo,
Ohio
on Aug. 8, 1874 and admitted to the Michigan
bar in 1897. By 1918 he had become chief attorney for the Packard Motor
Car Co. and would soon become one of the Ford Motor Co.’s lead
attorneys. He later served as Henry and Edsel Ford’s personal attorney
and in 1927 founded the
Detroit
law firm, Bodman LLP, which remains one of
Detroit
’s largest firms. During World war II Bodman served his country as
chief counsel for the Automotive Council for War Production. Bodman also
served on the board of directors of a number of Detroit-based firms
among them the Guardian Detroit Bank, Provident Loan Co., Detroit City
Gas Co. etc. During the mid-to-late Twenties he served as chairman of
the Guardian Trust Co.
Scherer remained friends with Frederick E.
Wadsworth and continued to operate H. Scherer & Co., Detroit Forging
and St. Clair-Athol Rubber from his offices at 280-274 E Jefferson.
Shortly before his death Scherer stated he had decided to retire from
active business and place the affairs of H. Scherer & Co. in the
hands of his trusted staff, which included Clemons H. Davis (Manager),
Hugo Miller (Secretary-Treasurer), and Lovell E. Kraus. All three men
hade been led by Scherer to believe that they would be compensated
beyond their salary if they remained with the company after Scherer’s
retirement.
Unfortunately, those wishes were not noted in his will and when Scherer
passed away in November, 1923, the firm passed to his wife - Clara
Schmidt Scherer – and two daughters, Marion Scherer Livingstone &
Dorothy Scherer Higbie.
Consequently Davis, Miller and Kraus sued the estate and after a 4-month
long court battle the firm of Davis, Kraus & Miller was formed and
the assets of H. Scherer & Co. were transferred to the new
corporation in exchange for all of its stock consisting of $250,000 of
preferred which was issued to Scherer’s widow and two daughters, and
$250,000 of common, which was issued to Davis, Miller and Kraus.
Davis, Kraus & Miller relocated into leased quarters at 442 E. Jefferson
and continued to supply Detroit’s auto industry with textiles and trimming materials into the early
thirties.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Wadsworth MFG Co. transfers
DEW, DMCSC, DBC, MSBC, CEC to Standard Motor Parts Co. 1917-1919.
DEW, DMCSC, DBC, CEC & MSBC All were ran as
a side issue by the WMC, Which was primarily
in another line of business. (manufacturers of auto bodies, auto tops and auto
parts). As consequence the service on the repair
parts became badly demoralized, and to protect the engine owners radical
changes had to be made. Wadsworth management decided to transfer these companies to the Standard Motor
Parts Company. It is not known if these companies were sold or if
Standard Motor Parts Co. was just paid to manage them and/or the parts
and service departments. Located at
584-590 Franklin St
,
Detroit
, Standard Motor Parts specialized in providing service and spare parts
to owners of bankrupt, orphaned and obsolete automobile, tractor and
small engine manufacturers. Originally located in
Kalamazoo
, the firm was founded by Edwin J. Dayton who relocated the firm to Detroit
in the early teens. The firm prospered, eventually establishing service
depots in
Syracuse, New York,
Cleveland
,
Ohio, Lebanon,
Muncie, Newcastle,
Indiana, Chicago and
Illinois.
DEW, DMCSC, DBC, CEC,
MSBC went out of business shortly after the transfer sometime around 1919-1920. This is the same time period that Wadsworth
Manufacturing Co. was succeeded by the
American Motor Body Company. Also in this time period is when the
Wadsworth factory caught on fire.
Address & info listed for Standard Motor Parts Co. in the 1918 City
directory, E. J. Dayton, Pres. and Treas.; W. S. Grant, Sec. Mfrs. of Auto Parts. 584-590 Franklin.
(click to
enlarge)
(click
to enlarge)
Sources:
Original Standard Motor Parts Company, Detroit,
Michigan mail out flyer from 1917 period. (Donated by David
Clark from Missouri Ozarks ).
Info own company management and address for Standard Motor Parts
Co. donated by:
Scott M. Peters, Collections Historian
Michigan Historical Museum.
1918 Detroit City Directory, published by R. L. Polk & Company page
1647.
www.1847usa.com
(US Stamps) used to date Standard Motor Parts Co. flyer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Letter from Ford Motor Co.
A letter from the Ford Motor Co. archives, General
Letter No. 347 dated Feb 20, 1919, mentions problems associated with
Wadsworth’s sedan bodies:
”FROM: Ford Motor Company, Detroit Office
February 20, 1919
General Letter No. 347
INSTRUMENT BOARD
”One length of board is being furnished for sedans, both
Wadsworth and Fisher made, and as the Wadsworth body is somewhat wider
between pillars at instrument board section than the Fisher body, it
becomes necessary for various reasons that one length be furnished for
both jobs and when branch receives same it will be in order to cut off
ends of the board to fit Fisher body if Fisher bodies are being
received. After cutting the boards to size, see that the imitation
leather is again placed over ends of boards in a workmanlike manner.
Instruments will be shipped to branch from main plant with instrument
boards until the body manufacturers can bring the instrument boards
through to fit their respective bodies, after which they will ship
bodies with the instruments and wiring fastened thereto so that same can
be fastened to dash assembly in accordance with diagrams which you have
at this time. Coupe bodies are now going forward with the instrument
board in position.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
The June 23, 1910 issue of the Automobile reported:
“Detroit June 2, 1910 – Two new automobile companies have been
formed here during the past week. They are the Hupp-Yeates Electric car
Company, $100,000 capital, which will build a new type electric and a
concern headed by Hugo Scherer and F.E. Wadsworth of Michigan Steel Boat
Company which will have a capitalization of $250,000 and which will build
a small car of more horsepower, about 100-inch wheelbase, to weigh under
1,900 lbs. This car will sell for under $1,000.”
The partner’s car was to be called the Tom
Thumb, and was named after Peter Cooper’s diminutive steam locomotive
that ushered in the railroad age in 1830. Another news item relating to
the Tom Thumb followed:
“This building at the corner of Bellevue street, is for Hugo Scherer and F.E. Wadsworth, who have formed a new company to
build a low-priced car.”
However, there is no evidence the vehicle
ever made it past the prototype stage, and even the existence of a
prototype is doubted.
Frederick E. Wadsworth was a founding member
of the Detroit Aero Club, and created a small scandal in 1911 when he
divorced his current wife and married a famous British actress.
The actress, Mary Mannering (b.1876 d.1953)
was born in London where she studied for the stage under Hermann Vezin.
She made her debut at Manchester in 1892 under her own name of Florence
Friend. In 1896 New York theatrical producer Daniel Frohman brought her to
New York where she changed her name to Mary Mannering, the maiden name of
her father's mother. Her first star billing came at Buffalo, NY in 1900
when she appeared in ‘Janice Meredith’ in the title role. For the next
ten years she starred in various productions; White Roses (New York,
1901); The Truants (Washington, 1909); The Independent Miss Gower
(Chicago, 1909); A Man's World and The Garden of Allah (New York, 1910).
After her 1911 marriage to Wadsworth,
Mannering retired from the stage, and devoted her life to assisting her
husband in civic and business affairs. In 1912 she was credited with
building nineteen cottages for working men and their families on the
former
Wadsworth
estate in Gross Pointe Farms. By the late teens she was listed as
Vice-president of the Michigan Boat Works. Later in Life she was
interviewed by Good Housekeeping, who published her interview in an
article titled The Home, The Stage and the Woman.
Source:
An Online Encyclopedia of
American Coachbuilders & Coachbuilding.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/wadsworth/wadsworth.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wadsworth
Strike April 18, 1919 & Fire August 1, 1919 cost millions.
Wadsworth
was plagued by a number of strikes initiated by the fledgling United
Automobile, Aircraft & Vehicle Workers Union (UAAVW, predecessor to
the AWU or Auto Workers Union) in April and May of 1919. The initial
strike was covered by the Associated Press who reported the following on
April 18, 1919:
“Will Institute Six Dollar Day Wage In Detroit
Firm
“Detroit, Mich., April- 18.—Six dollars a day minimum wage
and a 47 hour week will be instituted by the Wadsworth Mfg Co. on
Monday, according to Frederick E. Wadsworth, president of the
corporation which make automobile accessories. The company has been in
controversy with some 2,500 of its employees who went on strike
Wednesday and according to labor leaders at the plant this announcement
is the result of the workers' demands for more pay and less work.”
The April strike of some 1,500 workers (the
2,500 quoted in the paper was highly inflated), about 90% of whom were
in the union, was precipitated by the company's desire to dictate who
should be elected to the workers' committees.
Under strict orders from Ford’s
representatives,
Wadsworth
management refused to meet with the committee, and presented the
‘Six-Dollar Wage’ statement to placate the public.
Not only did this strike constrain Ford’s
output during a period of potentially booming sales, but Ford was
worried about the UAAVW getting a foothold in his own plants.
Wadsworth
management brought in idle Ford employees for strike-breakers and
advertised for help all over the country.
Fed up with the labor unions interference,
in mid-July 1919 Henry Ford began installing his own body-building
equipment into Building B of Ford’s Eagle Shipbuilding plant.
Although the local Board of Commerce tried
to assist Wadsworth/Ford in its efforts to break the strike,
negotiations ended when the Wadsworth plant was totally destroyed by a
‘suspicious’ fire on the night of Friday, August 1, 1919.
Fire in Detroit
does million in damage.
The International News Service reported:
“Detroit, Mich, Aug.
2.—Damage estimated at more than $1,000,000 was caused last night when
the Wadsworth Manufacturing plant, in the east end of this city, was
almost entirely destroyed by fire and other business houses slightly
damaged. The fire is thought to have been caused by combustion, and
originated in the paint shop of the Wadsworth
company. The Sibley Lumber company suffered $100,000 loss and the Inside
Inn hotel was totally destroyed.
On Saturday, the Detroit News included a
photo of the fire and the following short article:
“August 02, 1919
Detroit
- Minutes after the first alarm was given, the plant of the Wadsworth
Manufacturing Co. was in flames. The photograph, taken from Jefferson Avenue, shows the extent of the destruction.
The roof caved in quickly, flames reflecting from a background of
dense smoke illuminating the sky. Three explosions helped demolish the
structure and hurled burning timbers to nearby factories which took
fire, among them the Maxwell Chalmers plant. A high wind aided in
spreading the flames. A falling wall struck two fire engines, wrecking
them.”
Copy of news paper photo of August 02,1919
Wadsworth Mfg Co. located at East Jefferson
Ave. & Kercheval St. (Conner Creek area).
(click to
enlarge)
The two photos below were donated by T.K. Sand, who created a website called (Before
My Time) about the ancestry and extended family of her four
grandparents. Among the photos kept by T.K's grandparents were the two
below. Her grandparents lived in the 1000 block of Jefferson Ave. in
1919. The photos are
believed to be of the Wadsworth factory after the August 01, 1919 fire.
If anyone has information about these photos or the fire please contact
me. mazak@rocketmail.com
(click
to enlarge)
(click
to enlarge)
Below T.K. Sands combined the unidentified photo with
the Detroit News paper clipping
of the actual Wadsworth factory fire so a comparison could be made
between the two buildings.
(click
to enlarge)
Source:
Detroit
News paper, Detroit public Library.
Research done by: John
Davis, Davis Antiques & Scale
Models.
T.K. Sand : (Before
My Time) two photos from T.K. Sand grandparents.
By early 1920,
Wadsworth
had rebuilt the factory and sedan bodies were once again being shipped
to Ford. However, Ford had contracted with other firms during the
lengthy fire-induced shutdown, so the unwelcome additional capacity was
used to construct production bodies for other Detroit
manufacturers such as Gray, Hudson, Maxwell and Chalmers.
Although the firm had transferred its marine, stationary farm engine and
parts service to Standard Motor Parts Co., Michigan Steel Boat Company
continued to be listed in the Detroit
directories at the Corner of Kercheval Ave & Conner Creek, the same
locations as Wadsworth Manufacturing. At that time Michigan Steel
Boat’s officers were as follows: Frederick E. Wadsworth, president;
Mary M. Wadsworth, vice-president; H.E. Cronenweth, treasurer.
For
many years Herbert E. Cronenweth, (b.1884) was associated with the
management of Scherer and Wadsworth’s various enterprises. When Wadsworth Manufacturing was dissolved in
1920, Cronenweth headed to Los Angeles
where he became involved in the oil and real estate business heading the
Acme Petroleum, L-Her Oil and Land, and L-Her Realty Co.
American Motor Body Co. purchases
Wadsworth Mfg Co. Nov of 1920.
American Motor Body Co. had no connection
with the Buffalo,
New York
firm, American Body Co., although the former firm is often referred to
in error as American Body or American Body Manufacturing.
The American Motor Body Co. was created by
the American Can Company as a Delaware Corporation on February 18, 1918.
The purpose of its founding was the eventual take over of the plants and
assets of two firms, the Wadsworth Manufacturing Company of
Detroit,
Michigan
and the Hale & Kilburn Corp. of Philadelphia
.
Pennsylvania
.
Wadsworth’s president, Frederick E. Wadsworth, had been previously involved
with American Can Company’s competitor, the National Can Company.
Surprisingly both firms’
Detroit
branches produced stamped automotive products in addition to tin cans.
At the time of the sale, Wadsworth Manufacturing was supplying closed
automobile bodes to the Ford Motor Co. and other Detroit
automakers.
American Can’s Detroit
plant was located at 1400-1500 Trombly St.
, (the same facility sometimes used 6234-6290 Russell St.
as its address), National Can’s plant was located at 2566 E Grand Blvd.
At that time Hale & Kilburn was
controlled by J.P. Morgan & Co. interests and like Wadsworth
, was involved in producing automobile bodies. American Can’s
president, Frederick S. Wheeler, hoped the two related business would
give his firm a foothold in the emerging all-metal automobile body
building business.
Hale & Kilburn’s president, Joseph A.
Bower, spearheaded a re-organization of the firm during 1917 in hopes of
attracting a buyer. When the project was finalized in January, 1918, he
was rewarded with a promotion to vice-president of the J.P. Morgan’s
Liberty National Bank of
New York
.
The American Motor Body plant in Detroit
ran along the north side of Jefferson Ave, with its northern border running along the south side of Kercheval
St/Ave. it was commonly known as the Kercheval plant. Both Jefferson and
Kercheval were re-numbered by the City of
Detroit
in 1921, which gave the plant a new address; 12262 Kercheval Ave,
Detroit,
Michigan.
On September of 1920 the stockholders of the
Wadsworth Mfg. Co. accepted a plan whereby, that company would be taken
over by the American Motor Body Corporation. The $1,000,000+ merger,
included the plant and assets of the Hale & Kilburn Corp. of Philadelphia
.
The transaction was finalized on November
17, 1920 when the assets of Wadsworth were conveyed, subject to all
liabilities to the American Motor Body Co. with the shareholders of
Wadsworth Mfg. Co. receiving in exchange a portion of the capital stock
of the American Motor Body Co. (American Can Co.), secured by a first
mortgage on the Wadsworth plant located at Kercheval and Conners Creek,
Detroit. A similar arrangement was made with the Hale & Kilburn
shareholders in Philadelphia.
The Bankers Trust Company was appointed the
transfer agent for Class "A" stock of the American Motor Body
Company.
July 1, 1923 the American Motor Body
Corporation, under the direction and control of Charles M. Schwab,
succeeded the American Motor Body Company.
September 4, 1925 the purchase of the Detroit
plant of the American Motor Body Corporation by the Chrysler Corporation
was announced by Walter P Chrysler, Chrysler’s chairman and President.
According to the press release:
Fredrick Wadsworth’s Obituary.
Wadsworth’s Obituary from the March 28, 1927 New York Times, follows:
“FREDRICK
WADSWORTH
DIES AT PALM
BEACH
“The Retired Detroit
Manufacturer Was the Husband of Mary Mannering, the Actress.
“Special to the New York Times
“
PALM BEACH,
Fla
, March 27, - Frederick Elliott Wadsworth, retired automobile body
manufacturer of
Detroit
and
Irvington-On-Hudson, died today at his winter home on Clarke Avenue
here of a paralytic stroke. He was 58 years old. Stricken a week ago,
his physicians said there was no hope and advised Mrs. Wadsworth to
notify relatives of the sickness.
“Besides Mrs. Wadsworth, Mrs. Stanley Robinson of Pasadena,
Cal., a daughter; Horace Wadsworth, a son, and Mrs. Frederick George of Grand Rapids, a sister, were with MR. Wadsworth when he died.
“Mrs. Wadsworth was formerly Mary Mannering, the actress.
“Mr. Wadsworth was a son of James W. Wadsworth of Durham,
Conn.
He was formerly Secretary and General Manager of the Michigan Steel Boat
Company of Detroit.
“Mr. Wadsworth married Mary Mannering, former wife of James K.
Hackett, in this city on Jun 1, 1911. Mr. Wadsworth’s first wife was
Luella Peck, niece of former United States Senator Burrows of
Michigan.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michigan Steel Boat Company. (Detroit, Michigan).
Michigan Steel Boat Company was a second company with the same name, along with another in Kalamazoo. Michigan Steel Boat Company was organized in 1900 and incorporated on December 27, 1901, in Detroit, Wayne County. Principals of the firm in 1903 were Hugo Scherer as president and Frederick E. Wadsworth as secretary and treasurer.
Original literature and phone books show multiple
addresses for MSBC on Jefferson Ave. 1250,1252-1270, 1300,1273,1347 and
then in 1918,1919 listed at Kercheval & Conners Creek and Dubois
&Guoin in Detroit.
The company shared the
plant and management with Detroit Boat Company and several marine engine
manufacturers such as Detroit Engine Works, Thrall Motor Company,
Columbia Engine Company and others.
The firm marketed boats under the Michigan Steel Boat Co. and Detroit Boat Co. brands, and were likely
also resold and marketed by third parties under other brand names.
Period advertisements stated that Michigan Steel Boat Co. and Detroit
Boat Co. manufactured 64 different styles of boats ranging in size from
14 to 35 feet.280-284 Jefferson
Ave,
Michigan
Steel Boat Co.. purchases the old
Detroit
United Railway car barns.
Surviving advertisements indicate that Scherer and Wadsworth
had been leasing space next to the former Olds Motor Works plant as
early as 1902. Although the Olds firm was originally located in
Lansing
,
Michigan
, Ransom E. Olds was prompted to relocate to
Detroit
in 1899 and a new factory was erected at
1308-1318 E. Jefferson Ave.
, production commencing in 1900. When a the new factory burned down on
March 9, 1901, the Lansing, Michigan’s Businessmen’s Association
offered the firm a parcel of land ten times the size of the Jefferson
Ave facility, prompting a return to Lansing.
The November 10, 1905 Splashes
and Splurges column, Motor Boat Magazine
(Vol.
2, No. 21), included the following new item:
Detroit,
Mich.--The Michigan
Steel Boat Company has bought the old Detroit United Railway car barns
property on Jefferson avenue from the Olds Motor Works, and will employ
about seven hundred men in building steel and wooden boats and canoes.
A 1905 description of the property called it
“the largest steel boat building establishment in the state.” The
plant covered a space of 1,200 X 100 feet with seven separate buildings.
The main factory and office building was a two-story high cement block
structure, complete with show rooms. All buildings had automatic fire
extinguishers and a private telephone system. Motive power for the plant
was electricity, furnished by the company’s own private generating
plant. The company in its new location appears to have gotten off to a
good start as it reported that 1,200 boats were built in 1905.
Michigan Steel Boat Company may have been the manufacturer of the “White Flyer” rowboats for Sears, Roebuck & Company in 1908. The boat was shipped direct from “our factory at Detroit, Mich.” and retailed at $27.50, including one pair of oars and oarlocks. A rudder cost an extra $1.75. The “White Flyer” was a 14-foot square stern steel clinker rowboat of “Apollo” steel construction, with horizontal plates. Sears advertised that the “bow, stern and seats of this boat are made of cypress, the gunwales are of oak, all finely finished in natural oak.” The boat came equipped with patented steel airtight chambers at either end for additional buoyancy. The hull was painted with white
pegamoid, and imported waterproof paint, the same as that used by the United States Navy. The catalogue No. 6K8700 “White Flyer” was 14 feet in length; 43-1/2" beam
amidship, and 14" in depth amidship, with the height of the bow being 22" and the height of the stern being 24". The boat weighed about 150 pounds and when crated weighed about 200 pounds.
Michigan Steel Boat Co. did retag some of the
Detroit engines that were used in their boats with their own tag (See
tag below). The patent number
(681,363) on
their tag is to the design
of the boat
not the engine. No mention of horse power or any other engine
information is given although serial numbers were stamped on the
tags. You cannot see the serial number in this photo but it is lightly stamped
in the lower left corner. Also shown is the Detroit Engine Works
Marine tag. Here are some more patents from
inventors-engineers that worked for Michigan Steel Boat Co.
711469, 711471, 711472 ,730874, 963098. Michigan Steel Boat Co.
was a company that designed and built steel boats and Detroit Engine
Works supplied two cycle engines as their power source. The advertisement
above
talks about the fact that their boats are equipped with the wonderful
Detroit engine, guaranteed for five years, any horse power 2 to 50.
Fewest moving parts of any engine made. Anyone can run it.
By 1915 the firm had grown to include these managers and officers: Hugo Scherer, President; Frederick E. Wadsworth, Secretary and Treasurer; H. E.
Cronenweth, General Manager; W. C. Rowling, Purchasing Agent; and A. M.
Ratigan, Advertising Manager. The company manufactured “Boats, Motor
Boats, Row Boats, Canoes” The address and phone were listed as 1526 Jefferson Ave.,
Tels. East 406-407-408.
M.S.B.C. manufactures
Furniture 1906.
The Michigan Artisan reported in their June 10th 1906 news paper that
the Michigan Steel Boat Company of Detroit was about to engage in making
knock down furniture.
M.S.B.C. Moves to
Conners Creek 1916.
By 1916 Michigan Steel Boat Company had moved its office and factory to the corner of Kercheval Avenue and
East Jefferson Ave. (Conners Creek area), and was
still associated with The Wadsworth Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of auto bodies, auto tops and auto parts. Frederick E. Wadsworth was president of the firm, Mary M. Wadsworth, vice-president and H. E.
Cronenweth, treasurer.
M.S.B.C. out of business Dec 8,
1920.
December 8, 1920, Michigan Steel Boat Company
filed a notice of dissolution. The reason; the firm’s plant and
headquarters had just been purchased by the American Motor Body Company.
Sources:
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State
Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1903-1904 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk
& Co., 1903.) pp. 674, 1810.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1905-1906 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1905.) pp. 842, 1973.
State of Michigan. Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics.
Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial
Statistics (Lansing, MI: Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics,
1906.) pp. 373, 375.
Penton Publishing Co. The American Boating Directory--1906 (Cleveland,
OH: Penton Publishing Co., 1906.) pp. 10, 351.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1907-1908 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1907.) pp. 783, 2330.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1909-1910 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1909.) pp. 669, 2318.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Detroit City Directory, 1909 (Detroit, MI: R. L.
Polk & Co., 1909.) pp. 1548, 2825.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1911-1912 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1911.) pp. 662, 2167.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1913-1914 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1913.) pp. 575, 1839.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1915 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1915.) pp. 575, 1852.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory,
1919-1920 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1919.) pp. 578, 685, 1941.
Rudder Publishing Co., The. The Rudder Marine Directory (New York: The
Rudder Publishing Co., 1920.) p. 216.
Earley, Helen Jones and James R. Walkinshaw. Setting the Pace:
Oldsmobile=s First Hundred Years (Lansing, MI: Oldsmobile Division of
General Motors, 1996.) p. 51.
Schroeder, Joseph J., Jr. Sears, Roebuck & Co. 1908 Catalogue No.
117 The Great Price Maker (Northfield, IL: DBI Books, Inc., 1971.) p.
756.
Michigan State Archives, RG 61-11, Abstracts of Reports of Corporations,
Lot 3, Vol. 4 (1903-1909). p. 340.
Michigan State Archives, RG 61-11, Abstracts of Reports of Corporations,
Lot 3, Vol. 5 (1910-1914.) p. 378.
Fisher, Robert D. (ed.) Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or Obsolete
Companies, Vol. III, 1930 (New York: Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or
Obsolete Companies, Inc., 1930.) p. 944.
University of Michigan Library &
Burton Historical Collection.
Photos.
Research for Michigan Steel Boat
Co. done by:
Scott M. Peters, Collections
Historian Michigan Historical Museum.
John C. Davis, Davis
Antiques & Scale Models.
Detroit Boat Company was a boat building firm located in Detroit,
Michigan (Wayne County) that used mostly Detroit Engine Works
engines as a power source for their boats. Frederick E. Wadsworth was manager of the
firm, which built launches and canoes. Their shop was located at
1250-1500 Jefferson Ave, East. Next door to the
Michigan Steel Boat Company, of which Wadsworth was secretary and
treasurer. By 1909, Hugo Scherer was president of the firm, and
Wadsworth was secretary. By 1915 Wadsworth was listed as
secretary-treasurer. Detroit Boat Company should
not be confused with Detroit Boat Works two different companies. Detroit
Boat Works was a much older company that started out using steam engines
in their boats.
Hugo Scherer was also president of H. Scherer & Co., which sold
carriage goods.
The Detroit Boat Company shared its management and
facilities with
the Michigan Steel Boat Company.
About 1907-1908 the company began selling knock-down boat frames, as
advertised in Scientific American.
By 1911 the company claimed to have sold their products to over
20,000 customers, and advertised itself as the “Largest Producers of
Pleasure Crafts in the World.” Their factory had eight acres of
floor space. They manufactured 64 different styles of boats that ranged in size from 14 to 35 feet in
length and were equipped with Detroit Engine Works engines of two to fifty
horsepower. See (Detroit Boat Co. Literature section) more
information.
Sources:
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, 1907-1908 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1907.) pp.
666, 2329.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, 1909-1910 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1909.) pp.
560, 2318.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Detroit City Directory, 1909 (Detroit,
MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1909.) pp. 856, 1858, 2102, 2825.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, 1911-1912 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1911.) pp.
543, 2167.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, 1913-1914 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1913.) pp.
469, 1839.
Polk, R. L. & Co. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, 1915 (Detroit, MI: R. L. Polk & Co., 1915.) pp.
461, 1852.
Detroit Boat Company. The “Detroit” Boat represents the
highest quality service and best design of any priced boat (Detroit,
MI: Detroit Boat Company, 1911?) Library of Michigan, Rare
Book Collection.
Research for Detroit Boat Co. Done by: Scott M. Peters, Collections Historian
Michigan Historical Museum and John C. Davis,
of Davis
Antiques & Scale Models.
Detroit Boat Co.
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Literature donated By:
Richard Durgee
Delray Beach, Florida and
John C. Davis. St.
Cloud, Florida.
© 1998-2009 John C. Davis.
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