Figure 24. — Running gear of Duryea vehicle, showing the second engine 

 and other parts as used in January 1894. 



and no horse attached. The vehicle is operated by 

 gasoline and is the invention of Erwin Markham and 

 J. F. Duryea. It has been previously described in The 

 Union and the trial yesterday was simply to ascertain 

 the practical value of a leather friction surface which has 

 been substituted for the rubber one previously used. 

 The vehicle, which was operated by Mr. Bemis, started 

 from the corner of Hancock avenue and Spruce street 

 and went up the avenue, up Hancock street and started 

 down Florence street, working finely, but when about 

 half-way down the latter street it stopped short, refusing 

 to move. Investigation showed that the bearing had 

 been worn smooth by the friction and a little water 

 sprinkled upon it put it in running condition again. 

 The rest of the trip was made down Florence and down 

 Spruce street, to the residence of the inventors. They 

 hope to have the vehicle in good working condition soon. 



The same evening, the late edition ran a brief para- 

 graph stating that "the test was made to determine the 

 value of a leather friction surface for propelling the 

 wagon, that had been substituted in place of the 

 rubber surface, used in the former test." Bemis, 

 according to Frank Duryea's recollection, was not 

 impressed with the performance of the machine, 

 saying "the thing is absolutely useless," and for a 



time it appeared that further support from Markham 

 would not be forthcoming. Frank, believing eventual 

 success to be near, drew up plans showing his geared 

 transmission, and with these managed to gain Mark- 

 ham's partial support. Money for material and use 

 of the shop was to continue, but Frank was to com- 

 plete the work on his own time. 



Now receiving no salary, Frank worked hurriedly on 

 the transmission throughout late November, Decem- 

 ber, and the first two weeks of January. First dis- 

 carding the old friction drum and shaft, and the 

 shipper-fork carriage, he bolted a rawhide bevel 

 gear to the lower surface of the flywheel. This turns 

 two bevel gears, in opposite directions, on a counter- 

 shaft directly underneath, approximately in the 

 position of the old jackshaft. The right bevel 

 gear is secured to the main countershaft on which 

 two clutches are mounted, one on each side of the 

 crankshaft. On a sleeve turning freely around 

 the countershaft is mounted the reverse bevel gear 

 and clutch. Three free-running clutch drums, 

 the right one carrying the high-speed gear, the 

 two on the left carrying the combination low speed 

 and reverse gear between them, complete the counter- 



22 



BULLETIN 240: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



