Smith Flyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Smith Flyer was an American automobile manufactured by the A.O. Smith Company in Milwaukee from 1915 until about 1919 when the manufacturing rights were sold to Briggs & Stratton. It was a small, simple, lightweight, two-seat vehicle with a wooden frame that doubled as the body and as the suspension. A small gasoline engine was mounted on a fifth wheel, or motor wheel, to drive the flyer. The wheelbase was 62", the wheels were 20" in diameter, and the width (tread) was 30". Since the 5th wheel was directly driven by the engine, the engine was started with the driving wheel lifted slightly in the air, and then when the engine was running smoothly, the driver lowered the engine (by means of a lever) gently to start the forward motion.
The direct drive motor wheel was developed by Arthur William Wall of Birmingham, England around 1910 to power a bicycle. The concept of attaching the motor directly to the wheel was not new; Ferdinand Porsche developed one around 1900, but his motor wheel was electric. The A.O. Smith Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin acquired the U.S. manufacturing rights to the Wall motorwheel in 1914 and first produced the motor wheel for use on bicycles, but later added the wooden-framed buckboard car.
In 1919 the manufacturing rights were purchased by the Briggs & Stratton Company, who produced the Motor Wheel as an attachment for bicycles and the Briggs & Stratton Flyer. They made several inprovements in the engine, increasing the bore size, along with a new, all steel connecting rod and flywheel magneto. These improvements increased the power output to 2 horsepower. Briggs & Stratton marketed the Flyer nationwide, and even started a publication entitled Motor Wheel Age.
In 1925 Briggs & Stratton sold the rights to manufacture the Flyer to Automotive Electric Services Corporation of New Jersey. The Automotive Electric Services continued to produce the Flyer until the supply of gasoline engines ran out, then they substituted an electric motor driven by a battery. When the electric motor was substituted, the 5th driving wheel was eliminated and the motor powered a rear wheel. Popularly known as the "Auto Red Bug", the car was produced until about 1929.
A few Smith Flyers still exist in collections around the country, and blueprints for the car are available online.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- David Burgess Wise, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles
- Altman, Jim, “The Motor Wheel”, Antique Automobile, March-April 1971, 19-24.
- McFarlan, Donald, Editor, The Guinness Book of Records, Bantam Books, 1992, page 361.
- Ken W. Purdy, Motorcars of the Golden Past,Galahad Books, NY, Pages 98-99.
- Rodengen, Jeff, The Legend of Briggs & Stratton, Write Stuff Syndicate, 1995, pages 30-39.
