SELDEN GASOLINE AUTOMOBILE, 1879 



Transferred from the U. S. Patent Office in 1908 



(USNM 252678) 



George B. Selden, patent attorney and inventor of 

 Rochester, N. Y., filed a patent application on May 8, 

 1879, for a road vehicle powered by an internal-combus- 

 tion engine. This is the model (fig. 25) which was sub- 

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

 549160) was issued finally on November 5, 1895. 



Figure 25. — Patent Office model of Selden automobile, submitted in 1879 and 

 now in the National Museum. 



Though many pioneer American automobile manufac- 

 turers and importers 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 



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