James Frank Duryea

Background

James Frank Duryea was born in Washburn, Illinois on October 8, 1869. He was the son of George Washington Duryea, a farmer, and Louisa Melvina Turner.

Education

James attended high school in Wyoming, Illinois, helped on the family farm, and shared his older brother Charles's early interest in mechanics. Duryea graduated from high school in 1888.

Career

Duryea claimed to have made designs for a steam vehicle as early as 1883. After graduating from high school, Duryea took up machine work in Washington, D. C. , where Charles was designing a bicycle. In 1889 the brothers moved briefly to Rockaway, New Jersey, and then to Chicopee, Massachusetts, where they worked at the Ames Manufacturing Company.

There Charles had his bicycles made, and Frank worked on tool making and mechanical drawing. They also acquired information on Daimler and Benz cars and began to read books on gas engines. Late in 1891 Charles showed Frank designs for a one-cylinder, free-piston gasoline engine and friction transmission. Frank did not like either, but Charles persuaded Erwin F. Markham, a Springfield, Massachussets, businessman, to provide $1, 000 to build the vehicle. At that point Charles moved to Peoria, Illinois, leaving Frank in charge of construction. He redesigned the engine to eliminate the free piston. The car was built in Russel's machine shop in Springfield and made its first trial run on September 21, 1893. Although it did not run well and was clearly inferior to contemporary German and French automobiles, it was unquestionably the first operational American gasoline-powered highway vehicle. (There was much friction between the brothers and their children later over credit for this feat. The issue can be considered settled by a statement made by their younger sister, Atina, who said that Charles had the original concept but that Frank provided the technical skill necessary to implement it. )

The poor performance of this car discouraged Markham, who gradually withdrew from the venture except for paying shop and material costs. Duryea replaced the original transmission with a friction clutch and geared transmission, and he found another sponsor in Springfield, Henry W. Clapp, for a second car that was completed early in 1895. A four-cycle engine replaced the original two-cycle design. With Duryea driving, it won the Chicago Times-Herald Thanksgiving Day race on November 28, 1895 - fifty-four miles through snow-covered streets. Of the six vehicles that entered, only Duryea's and a Benz finished. Meanwhile, in 1894, a syndicate of Springfield investors had organized the Duryea Motor Wagon Company. The Duryea brothers each had a one-third share; Charles was a director and Frank was in charge of design and construction. The company built thirteen cars, with continuing improvements in design. One of these won the second major American automobile race, from New York City to Irvington-on-Hudson and back, fifty-two miles, on May 30, 1896. Duryea again was the driver. On November 14, 1896, he came in first in the Liberty Day Run from London to Brighton. This event celebrated the repeal of Britain's red flag law, which for thirty years had limited the speed of self-propelled highway vehicles to four miles an hour. Continuing conflict between the brothers led to the dissolution of the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1895. Frank left to join the Automobile Company of America, a purely speculative enterprise that failed.

In 1900 he formed his own company, the Hampden Automobile and Launch Company. A year later he contracted to design and build automobiles under the name Stevens-Duryea for the Stevens Arms and Tool Company of Chicopee, Massachussets.

This operation was separated from the parent company in 1904 and became the Stevens-Duryea Motor Car Company. One of the luxury cars of its day, the Stevens-Duryea had a four-cylinder engine in 1903 and a six-cylinder motor after 1906; prices ranged from $2, 500 to $6, 500. It was a profitable line, but in 1915 Duryea, with unusual prescience, saw that the moving assembly line had doomed the small-scale, luxury-car producer.

He was also in poor health, so when he received a good offer from Westinghouse for his factories in Chicopee Falls and Springfield, he accepted. Westinghouse subsequently used the plants for military production. Duryea's retirement lasted for fifty-two years.

He resided in Greenwich, Connecticut, until 1938 and then in Madison, Connecticut, where he died. In 1945 he received a testimonial from the American Automobile Association, signed by Captain E. V. Rickenbacker, chairman of the board, stating that he had won America's first race in a car of his own design and construction.

Achievements

• James Frank Duryea and his brother invented the first gasoline-powered automobile in America. In 1996, Duryea was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • America's First Automobile: The First Complete Account By Mr. J. Frank Duryea Of How He Developed The First American Automobile, 1892-1893

Connections

Duryea was married twice (names of spouses unknown) and had one child.

Father:

George Washington Duryea

Mother:

Louisa Melvina Turner

Sister:

Atina Duryea

patron:

Henry W. Clapp

Brother:

Charles Duryea

References

• Charles and Frank Duryea: Brought Us America's First Gasoline-Powered Car (Titans of Fortune)