Richmond (automobile)

Richmond
Richmond
	1908 Richmond Model J from brochure
Overview
Type	Touring car, Roadster
Manufacturer	Wayne Works, Inc.
Production	1904-1917
Designer	Jack St. John

Last updated October 01, 2024

Two Brass era automobiles named Richmond were produced in Richmond, Indiana. A Steam car was made by the Richmond Automobile Company in 1902 and 1903. The Wayne Works produced the Richmond automobile from 1904 to 1917.^[1]

Richmond Automobile Company

The Richmond steam car engine was claimed to be simple and the most compact steam vehicle engine on the market. The two-cylinder engine had a 2.5" bore and 3.5" stroke and weighed just 46 pounds. This engine produced its maximum 6 horsepower at 960 rpm. The engine was believed to have been designed by Isham Sedgwick and the steam car was developed by R. L. Sackett. Just the engine was manufactured in 1901, with production of the entire car commencing the following year. The Richmond was a chain-driven dos-a-dos four-seater. By 1903, Richmond Automobile Company ended automobile production, though it is believed that engine production continued past this date.^[1]

Wayne Works - Richmond Automobile

The Wayne Works, Inc. had been making farm implements since the 1870s, and supposedly in 1901 the company president, Walter W. Schultz, asked the chief engineer Jack St. John to design an automobile "because everyone else is." Richmond, Indiana would be home to several car makes including Davis, Pilot and Westcott. St. John designed a two-cylinder air-cooled touring car, which was sold to a local businessman. A subsequent car was sold the next year, but full-scale manufacture did not begin until 1904.^[1]

The Richmond entered production with four-cylinder engines with round radiators for most of its production. The Richmond was a mid-priced car of the time, well regarded locally for its reliability and hill-climbing abilities. The biggest change to the Richmond occurred in 1910, when the engine became water-cooled instead of air-cooled. A six-cylinder model was offered from 1914 until 1916, with outputs rising from 45-hp to 50-hp. Horsepower for the earlier air-cooled fours ranged from 20 to 30-hp, while the water-cooled engines produced 22.5 to 40-hp.^[2]^[1]

In 1915 Herff-Brooks contracted with Wayne Works to provide Richmonds that would be badged as Herff-Brooks. This ended in 1916. In 1917, the automobile department was closed, and the Wayne Works continued production of commercial truck bodies and agricultural tools. An estimated 1,348 Richmonds were built.^[1]

Three Richmonds are known to be extant. Two at the Wayne County Historical Museum and one in Spain at the Malaga Motor Museum.

Related Research Articles

The Overland Automobile Company was an American automobile manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio. It was the founding company of Willys-Overland and one of the earliest mass producers of automobiles.

Marathon Motor Works was a brass era automobile manufacturer based in Tennessee. Southern Engine and Boiler Works founded in 1889, which made industrial engines and boilers in Jackson, Tennessee, established the factory in 1907. From 1909 to 1914, the company manufactured the Marathon automobile in Nashville, Tennessee.

Herff–Brooks Corporation was a brass era automobile manufacturer based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1914 to 1916.

L'Aster, Aster, Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster, was a French manufacturer of automobiles and the leading supplier of engines to other manufacturers from the late 1890s until circa 1910/12. Although primarily known as an engine mass manufacturer the company also produced chassis for coach-works and a complete range of components.

Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and, without their guidance, Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain.

The Knox Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, between 1900 and 1914. Knox also built trucks and farm tractors until 1924. They are notable for building the very first modern fire engine in 1905, and the first American vehicle with hydraulic brakes, in 1915.

Northern Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, automobiles designed by Charles Brady King. Early advertising included catchy phrases such as "Utility is the Basis for Beauty" and "Built for Business" and the famous "Silent Northern".

Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898.

Stevens-Duryea was an American manufacturer of Veteran and Brass Era automobiles in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, between 1901 and 1915 and Vintage Cars from 1919 to 1927.

The Premier Motor Manufacturing Company built the brass era and vintage Premier luxury automobile in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1903 to 1925.

The Westcott was an automobile produced in Richmond, Indiana, and Springfield, Ohio, in the United States between 1909 and 1925 by the Westcott Motor Car Company. The car company was named for its founder, John Westcott.

The Marion was an automobile produced by the Marion Motor Car Company in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1904 to 1915.

Standard Motor Construction Company (1904-1905) was the successor to the U. S. Long Distance Automobile Company (1900-1903) of Jersey City, New Jersey. The American Veteran Era Long Distance automobile was developed into the Standard automobile in 1904.

The Union automobile was a vehicle manufactured by the Union Automobile Company from 1902 until 1905. It was designed by John William Lambert, who had developed the three-wheel Buckeye gasoline buggy in 1891. Over the next decade, Lambert substantially refined the vehicle, with modifications including an additional wheel, a more powerful engine, and a new transmission system. The Union Automobile Company was formed as a subsidiary of Lambert's Buckeye Manufacturing Company solely to manufacture the Union, which took its name from Union City, Indiana, the city where it was built and which endorsed its production. In total, the company built over three hundred Union automobiles, before development shifted to the Lambert automobile, the Union's successor.

The Michigan was a brass era automobile built in Kalamazoo, Michigan by the Michigan Automobile Company, Ltd from 1903 to 1907.

MÁG stands for "Magyar Általános Gépgyár Rt". It was the most prevalent Hungarian vehicle manufacturer before World War II, and was based in Budapest. Its roots date back to 1901, when Podvinecz & Heisler, started assembling Austrian Leesdorfer cars - themselves being French Amédée Bollée cars built under license.

The Model Automobile Company was a brass era American automobile manufacturer located in Peru, Indiana from 1902 to 1909.

The Jackson Automobile Company was an American Brass Era automobile manufacturer located in and named for Jackson, Michigan. The company produced the Jackson from 1903 to 1923, the 1903 Jaxon steam car and the 1904 Orlo.

Mitchell was a major brass-era automobile marque in Racine, Wisconsin, from 1903 to 1923.

References

1 2 3 4 5 Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark Jr., Henry Austin (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (3rd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9.
↑ Georgano, Nick (2001). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (3 vol. ed.). Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.

Richmond (automobile)

Contents