Figure 16. — Drawing of the carburetor used 

 on both Duryea engines, 1893-1894, showing 

 sight feed on left and choke mechanism on 

 right. (Smithsonian photo 13455.) 



carriage. At the time of his departure several units 

 on the carriage were incomplete. A carburetor had 

 not been built, nor had a satisfactory burner or belt- 

 shifting device. Charles had experimented with 

 various shifting levers just before leaving Springfield: 

 however, as he reported later, he did not succeed in 

 designing a workable mechanism. 1 '' Frank Duryea, 

 now left to finish the work unassisted, continued the 

 experiments with the belt shifter. He finally worked 

 out a fork mounted on a carriage that was supported 

 by two rods, each of which slid in two bearings. Al- 

 though the short distance between the two bearings 

 caused the shifter carriage to bind occasionally, the 

 device was thought to be sufficient and was installed 

 just in front of the frame. Connected to a system of 

 cables, arms, and rods, possibly similar to the present 

 cam-bar shifter, the shipper-fork carriage was moved 

 from side to side by raising or lowering the tiller. 



Turning now to an efficient burner for heating the 

 ignition tube, Frank started with an ordinary wick- 

 type kerosene lamp with a small metal tank. Wishing 

 to use gasoline in the lamp, he found it necessary to 

 fabricate a number of burner units before he found a 

 type that gave him a clean blue flame. He then found 

 the flame to be very sensitive to drafts and easily 

 extinguished, and devised a small shield or chimney 

 to afford it some protection. 



Early in October, while still working with the 

 burner, Frank developed a severe headache. He 

 felt the fumes of the lamp had probably caused it, and 

 went to his room in the home of a Mr. and Mrs. 

 Patrick on Front Street in Chicopee. After he noticed 

 no improvement, a doctor's examination showed he 

 had typhoid fever, and on October 5 he was admitted 



15 See "history" (footnote 7), p. 6. 



to the Springfield Hospital. Here he remained for 

 one month, being discharged on November 5. Re- 

 turning to his room he was informed that because of 

 the fear that he might be a typhoid carrier, the 

 Patricks preferred him to find other lodgings. He 

 readily accepted the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. D. H. 

 Nesbitt of Chicopee to take a room with them. 

 After several weeks recuperation in their home, he 

 left Springfield to visit his mother in Wyoming, 

 Illinois. 



After a restful visit at home Frank Duryea returned 

 to Springfield and finished the work on his burner. 

 Now only the lack of a carburetor prevented a trial of 

 the vehicle. He recalls that he studied several gasoline- 

 engine catalogs and in one of them, a Fairbanks 

 catalog he believes, 1H he saw 7 a design that seemed to 

 suit his needs. He decided to simplify the construction 

 and operation of his carburetor and had a small 

 bronze casting made to form the body of it. Inside 

 was a gasoline chamber with two tapped openings, 

 one to receive a pipe from the 2-gallon gasoline tank 

 mounted above the engine, the other taking a pipe 

 to the overflow tank underneath the engine, thus 

 maintaining the gasoline level without the use of a 

 float valve. This latter tank had a hand pump on one 

 end so that the overflow gasoline could at times be 

 pumped again into the main tank. Gasoline passed 

 from the carburetor chamber through a needle valve, 

 adjusted by a knob on top, then through a tiny tube 

 that entered the pipe leading to the intake valve. It 

 is not certain whether this intake pipe was at first 

 fitted with the choke arrangement later used with the 

 second engine. 



Frank, hoping at last to be rewarded for his efforts 

 by the sound of explosions from the engine, was ready 

 to give the carriage an indoor trial. Standing 

 astraddle of the reach and facing to the rear, he spun 

 the flywheel with both hands, taking care not to get 

 his hands caught between the wheel and the frame. 

 His efforts were in vain, as there was complete failure 

 to obtain ignition. He then made a new ignition 

 tube, nearly twice as long as the original 4j2-inch 

 tube, and turned down its wall as thin as he thought 

 safety allowed. The thinner wall did not conduct 

 the heat off so rapidly and thus kept the tube hot 

 enough to permit ignition. After this slight change, 

 he was able to get a few occasional explosions but he 

 does not now believe that the engine ever operated 

 continuously. Each explosion was accompanied by a 



Duryea, op. cit. (footnote 5), p. 8. 



PAPER 34: THE 1893 DURYEA AUTOMOBILE 



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