8 BULLETIN 198, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by an internal-combustion engine. This is the model which was sub- 

 mitted with the application, upon which a patent (No. 549160) was 

 issued finally on November 5, 1895. 



Though many pioneer American automobile manufacturers and im- 

 porters were licensed under this patent, others contested its validity. 

 On November 4, 1899, just four years after the issuing of the patent, 

 Selden made a contract with the Electric Vehicle Co., manufacturer 

 of the Columbia electric automobiles at Hartford, Conn. Subse- 

 quently, on March 5, 1903, the Association of Licensed Automobile 

 Manufacturers was formed, with the Electric Vehicle Co. and the 

 Winton Motor-Carriage Co. as two of the ten charter members. The 

 licensed companies agreed to pay a royalty of 1^/4 percent of the retail 

 list price on all cars sold. This later was cut to 1 percent, and finally 

 to four-fifths of 1 percent. 



The association published annual illustrated handbooks containing 

 the specifications of the various makes of cars produced by the manu- 

 facturers who were members. At its height the association numbered 

 87 percent of the manufacturers in this country, these members pro- 

 ducing over 90 percent of the gasoline automobiles built. The best- 

 known independent was Henry Ford, who refused to join. 



On October 21, 1903, suit was filed against Ford, and the court 

 sustained the patent, holding that three of the claims were valid and 

 infringed. Ford put up a bond and appealed. The issue, popularly 

 known as the Selden Patent Suit, was decided finally in the Court of 

 Appeals in January 1911, when the claims of the patent were held to 

 be valid if limited to the use of the Brayton type of engine, and hence 

 not to have been infringed because the Brayton engine was not being 

 used then by anyone. Shortly thereafter the association was dissolved. 



In addition to its licensing activities, the association had carried 

 on research and standardization work under its mechanical branch. 

 About a year prior to the final court decision, the mechanical branch 

 had been discontinued, and all its records, apparatus, and engineering 

 library had been turned over to the Society of Automotive Engineers. 

 Since that time this society has been instrumental in standardizing 

 measurements pertaining to the automobile, a very worth-while and 

 necessary project. 



The patent application filed by Selden disclosed an automobile with 

 a clutch, foot brake, muffler, front-wheel drive, and a power shaft 

 arranged to run faster than the propelling wheels. The engine was 

 a 6-cylinder unit with three power and three compression cylinders. 

 A compressed-air tank was provided, the air being admitted to the 

 power cylinders while admixed with liquid hydrocarbon fuel. 



A full-sized version of the Selden vehicle, built as an exhibit for 

 the court while the patent suit was under way, is now at the Stevens 

 Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J. 



