Thomas B. Jeffery was an inventor and an industrialist. He was one of America's first entrepreneurs interested in automobiles in the late 19th century. In 1897, he built his first prototype motorcar. Thomas B. Jeffery was serious enough about automobiles to sell his stake in Gormully & Jeffery to the American Bicycle Company to finance his new car company.
Business
Charles T. Jeffery driving a 1901 Rambler Model A
Charles T. Jeffery's (Thomas' son) experimental prototypes of 1901 (Models A and B) used at least two radical innovations – steering wheels and front-mounted engines. By the time Charles was ready for production in 1902, his father had talked him out of these wild dreams and convinced him to stick with tillers and engines under the seat.
From 1902 until 1908, Jeffery moved steadily to bigger, more reliable models starting with the 1902 Model C. Jeffery cars were built on assembly lines (the second manufacturer to adopt them, Olds Motor Works was first), and in 1903 Jeffery sold 1,350 Ramblers. By 1905, Jeffery more than doubled this number. One reason may have been because Charles went back to the steering wheel before 1904. In 1907, Jeffery was building a large variety of different body styles and sizes. Among them was a five-passenger, US$2,500 Rambler weighing 2,600 pounds (1,179 kilograms) and powered by a 250 horsepower (186 kilowatts) engine.
In April 1910, Thomas B. Jeffery died in Pompeii, Italy, and in June of that year, the business was incorporated under the name of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company, with Charles T. Jeffery as the president and general manager and H. W. Jeffery as the vice president and treasurer.
In 1915, Charles T. Jeffery changed the automotive branding from Rambler to Jeffery to honor the company's founder, his father Thomas B. Jeffery.
As of 1916, G. H. Eddy replaced H. W. Jeffery as the treasurer so H. W. Jeffery could focus on the position of vice president. G. W. Greiner was the secretary, L. H. Bill the general manager, J. W. DeCou the factory manager, and Al Recke was the sales manager.
Charles T. Jeffery survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (a British luxury liner torpedoed by the Germans in World War I) in 1915 and decided to spend the rest of his life in a more enjoyable manner.
Charles W. Nash was caught in a power struggle for leadership at General Motors (GM) after successfully refocusing the automaker's management and production as well as increasing its sales and profits.[1] Although William C. Durant offered Nash an annual salary of $1 million to continue working for GM, Nash saw an opportunity to exercise complete control over a company and purchased the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in August 1916.[2] In 1917, Nash renamed the company Nash Motors.[3]
The Factory
Jeffery factory buildingThe sprawling Jeffery works circa 1915
By 1916, the company's buildings expanded to cover over 20 acres (8 hectares) under roof and all of its facilities had grown to over 100 acres (40 hectares) that included a test track.
Automotive production would continue on the original sites under a number of succeeding companies. The last facility in Kenosha, known as Kenosha Engine, was finally closed by Chrysler in 2010.
The Jeffery Quad, also known as the Nash Quad or Quad is a four-wheel drive truck that was developed and built in Kenosha from 1913, and after 1916, by Nash Motors, as well as under license by other truck makers. The Quad introduced numerous engineering innovations. Its design and durability proved effective in traversing the muddy, rough, and unpaved roads of the times.
The Quad also became one of the most effective work vehicles in World War I.[4]
The Quad was also one of the first successful four-wheel drive vehicles ever to be made, and its production continued unchanged through 1928, or 15 years, with a total of 41,674 units made.[5]
Timeline
Jeffery company employeesCharles T. Jeffery (left) Charles W. Nash (right)
1897 – Thomas B. Jeffery builds a rear-engine prototype motorcar using the Rambler name previously used on a highly successful line of bicycles made by Gormully & Jeffery.
1899 – Positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National Automobile Show in New York City prompt the Jefferys to enter the automobile business.
1900 (Dec 6) – Thomas B. Jeffery finalizes a US$65,000 deal to buy the Kenosha, Wisconsin, factory of the defunct Sterling Bicycle with money from the sale of his interest in Gormully & Jeffery.[6]
1901 – Two more prototypes, Models A and B, are made.
1902 – First production Ramblers – the US$750 Model C open runabout and the $850 Model D (the same car with a folding top). Both are powered by an 8-horsepower (6kW; 8PS), 98-cubic-inch (1.6L) one-cylinder engine mounted beneath the seat, and are steered by a right-side tiller. First-year production totals 1,500 units making Jeffery the second-largest car maker behind Olds Motor Works.[6]
1910 (Mar 21) – Thomas B. Jeffery dies while on vacation in Italy.
1910 (Jun 10) – Charles T. Jeffery incorporates the firm as a $3 million (US$98,100,000 in 2023 dollars[7]) public stock company.[6]
1914 – The Rambler name is replaced with the Jeffery moniker in honor of the company's founder, Thomas B. Jeffery.
1916 (Aug) – Charles T. Jeffery sells the company to former GM president Charles W. Nash.
1917 – Charles W. Nash renames the company Nash Motors after himself.
↑ Foster, Patrick (June 2008). "The Nash in GM's Past". Hemmings Classic Car. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
↑ Auto Editors of Consumer Guide (June 20, 2007). "How Nash Cars Work". HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved December 7, 2020.{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.
Rambler is an automobile brand name that was first used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914.
Charles Williams Nash was an American automobile entrepreneur who served as an executive in the automotive industry. He played a significant role in building up General Motors as its fifth president. In 1916, he bought Thomas B. Jeffery Company, makers of the popular Rambler automobile, and renamed it Nash Motors. The resulting firm played an independent role in an automobile industry increasingly dominated by the Big Three: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.
Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in the wake of the domestic Big Three automakers’ advantages in production, distribution, and revenue, Nash merged with Hudson Motors to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash automobile production continued from 1954 through 1957 under AMC.
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.
The Jeffery brand of automobiles were manufactured by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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.
Crude ideas and designs of automobiles can be traced back to ancient and medieval times. In 1649, Hans Hautsch of Nuremberg built a clockwork-driven carriage. In 1672, a small-scale steam-powered vehicle was created; the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Inventors began to branch out at the start of the 19th century, creating the de Rivaz engine, one of the first internal combustion engines, and an early electric motor. Samuel Brown later tested the first industrially applied internal combustion engine in 1826. Only two of these were made.
Thomas Buckland Jeffery was a British emigrant to the United States who co-founded the Gormully & Jeffery company which made the Rambler bicycle. He invented the "clincher" rim which was widely used to fit tires to bicycles and early automobiles, and in 1900 established the Thomas B. Jeffery Company to make automobiles, again using Rambler branding.
Charles Thomas Jeffery was an American businessman.
Sterling Bicycle Co. was a 19th-century American bicycle company first based in Chicago, Illinois before relocating to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Gormully & Jeffery(G&J) was an American bicycle company, founded in Chicago in 1879 by Thomas B. Jeffery and R. Philip Gormully.
Kenosha Engine was an automobile and engine factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was first opened for automobile production in 1902 by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company and later operated by American Motors. The Kenosha Engine Plant saw all operations halted by Chrysler. It was permanently closed in October 2010 and demolished between December 2012 and April 2013.
The Nash Ambassador is a luxury automobile produced by Nash Motors from 1927 until 1957. It was a top trim level for the first five years, then from 1932 on a standalone model. Ambassadors were lavishly equipped and beautifully constructed, earning them the nickname "the Kenosha Duesenberg".
The Nash Rambler is a North American automobile that was produced by the Nash Motors division of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation from 1950 until 1954 in sedan, wagon, and fixed-profile convertible body styles.
The Rambler Rebel is an automobile that was produced by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) of Kenosha, Wisconsin for the 1957 through 1960 model years, as well as again for 1966 and 1967.
Rambler was an American bicycle brand manufactured by the Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Company (G&J) in Chicago from 1878 to 1900 and subsequently by the American Bicycle Company.
Edward S. Jordan was an American entrepreneur, automotive industrialist and pioneer in evocative advertising copy, which he wrote and used to advertise the automobiles produced by his Jordan Motor Car Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Jordan’s June 1923 advertisement for the company’s Somewhere West of Laramie is considered a breakthrough in the art of writing advertising copy.
Byron J. Carter, was an American automotive pioneer. He was a founding partner of the Jackson Automobile Company, and founder of the Cartercar Company.
The Jeffery Quad, also known as the Nash Quad or Quad is a four-wheel drive, 11⁄2-ton rated truck that was developed and built by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company from 1913 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and after 1916 by Nash Motors, which acquired the Jeffery Company. Production of the Quad continued unchanged through 1928.
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