Grout Brothers was a manufacturer of steam-powered automobiles in Orange, Massachusetts. The three brothers, Carl, Fred and C.B. were set up in business by their father William L., who had made sewing machines under the New Home name in partnership with Thomas H. White. The early cars were sold under the New Home name.
A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted inside the engine. ECEs have a lower thermal efficiency, but carbon monoxide production is more readily regulated.
Orange is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,839 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Thomas H. White, was an industrialist and philanthropist. In 1867 he founded the White Sewing Machine Company in Cleveland, Ohio, predecessor of White Consolidated Industries. He was also an automotive pioneer through the White Motor Company, which went on to produce cars, trucks, buses and tractors. In 1913 he established the Thomas H. White Charitable Trust, which is still active as the Thomas H. White Foundation.
In 1900, Grout offered a four-seat steam trap[2] powered by a two-cylinder engine mounted under the seat. An enclosed body model followed in 1901. An unusual model was the 1903 Steam Tonneau, which was fitted with a cowcatcher at the front.[3]
A trap, pony trap or horse trap is a light, often sporty, two-wheeled or sometimes four-wheeled horse- or pony-drawn carriage, usually accommodating two to four persons in various seating arrangements, such as face-to-face or back-to-back.
1904 Grout steam powered automobile
The 1904 Grout Touring Car was a touring car model. It could seat five passengers and sold for US$2000. The two-cylinder steam engine was mounted horizontally at the center of the car, with the boiler at the front under the typical touring car hood. This engine produced 12hp (8.9kW). The car weighed 2200lb (998kg).
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars.
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force is transformed, by a connecting rod and flywheel, into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is generally applied only to reciprocating engines as just described, not to the steam turbine.
In 1904, Grout introduced a range of conventional four-cylinder gasoline-engined cars, but by then the company had financial problems, and few were made. The last cars were made in 1912.
The steamers were exported to the United Kingdom and sold under the Weston name.
The Grout assembly plant in Orange, Massachusetts, was still standing in 2018 and was also home to Minute Tapioca Company and since 1977, has been the corporate offices of Pete's Tire Barns, Inc. The initial structure is still intact with additions on the sides of the back of the building. Over the years, Pete's Tire Barns has uncovered artifacts from the manufacturing facility including wheels, tires, etc.
The Orange Historical Society Museum currently houses two Grout Automobiles.
Notes
↑ 100 Years of the American Auto Millennium Edition, Copyright 1999 Publications International, Ltd.
↑ Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.14.
↑ Kimes, Beverly Rae (1996). The Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805-1942. Iola, IA: Krause Publications. p.1612. ISBN0873414284.
Sources
Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January, 1904)
Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.14.
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