The Selden Automobile

The Selden horseless carriage or automobile was a truly AWESOME machine when Mr. Selden applied for his patent in 1879. Unfortunately he could not find financing for his invention and people were very reluctant to embrace a future without the horse.

Mr. Selden— a lawyer by profession—was able to keep the patent process open until 1895 when he was finally issued his patent.

In 1899, he sold his patent rights to William C. Whitney, who proposed manufacturing electric powered taxicabs as the Electric Vehicle Company, EVC, for a royalty of $15 per car with a minimum annual payment of $5,000. Whitney and Selden then worked together to collect royalties from other budding automobile manufacturers. He was initially successful, negotiating a 3/4 of 1 % royalty on all cars sold by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers, the ALAM. He began his own car company in Rochester under the name, Selden Motor Car Company.

In 1903, Henry Ford asked to join the ALAM but his application was refused because he was an ASSEMBLER of automobiles and not a MANUFACTURER.

As a result, he took the ALAM to court and the trial dragged on from 1905 to 1911. In 1908, the U.S. circuit court judge upheld the Selden patent but on appeal the judge's opinion was overthrown and the court ruled in favor of Ford.

Mr. Selden's fame as the inventor of the automobile was almost completely obliterated from the history books and the credit for making the automobile available to the masses was given to Henry Ford instead.

The Selden auto was a front wheel drive, turbo charged gas turbine engine mounted on the common buggy of the day. The motor is closer to the jet engine than the common automobile of today. It ran very quietly and did not need a muffler because it produced no explosion in the cylinders.

It was light years ahead of anything that Henry Ford produced.

Reference

Greenleaf, William. Monopoly on Wheels, Henry Ford & the Selden Automobile Patent. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1961.

A great source of info on the Selden patent from a pro-Ford writer.