Edgar Apperson
| Edgar Apperson | |
|---|---|
Edgar Apperson, back row, third from left, at Automobile Manufacturers' Association gold medal awarding in January 1925
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| Born |
October 3, 1870 Howard County, Indiana |
| Died | May 12, 1959 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Automobile engineer |
| Years active | 1880s-1950s |
| Known for | Apperson Brothers Automobile Company |
Edgar Apperson (October 3, 1870 – May 12, 1959) was an American automobile manufacturer and engineer.
He, along with his brother Elmer, was the first to create one of the world's first horseless carriages, and Edgar was the first to install the anti-friction bearings and opposed cylinder gasoline engine and the first to design carburators with needle valves and originator of the double ignition system in 1904.
He was born on October 3, 1870 in Howard County, Indiana, the son of Elbert and Anne Apperson. He started working with engineering and mechanics when, while attending high school, he started apprenticing at his brother's machine shop and also made and fixed bicycles at his own shop. Edgar married his wife, Laura Pentecost, on April 12, 1892. In 1889, Edgar and his older brother Elmer founded the Riverside Machine Works, which manufactured bicycles and farm machinery. At the age of 24, they, along with Elwood Haynes, put a gasoline powered marine engine onto a buggy and created one of the world’s first “horseless carriages”. At the time, Edgar had been working at a natural gas company and brought home plans for a motorized buggy with a gasoline marine engine. On July 4, 1894, Edgar test drove the automobile from Kokomo to New York City for the first time, which had a maximum speed of eight miles per hour and, after establishing they would be able to sell these cars to the public, the Haynes-Apperson Company was created. The first year the small company sold nearly a dozen automobiles and, in 1898, the brothers partnered with Elwood Haynes but the partnership soon dissolved. The following year, they both drove the car 750 miles to Brooklyn, New York to a customer, Dr. Ashley A. Webber, and the journey took 21 days of which 10 consisted entirely of driving. Ironically, though, they had no engine trouble and only ever experienced one flat tire, Ashley Webber couldn't navigate the machine and later returned it. Edgar once also delivered a car to Cornelius Vanderbilt's son-in-law in Saratoga Springs, New York and even taught that son-in-law how to drive. Apperson said of the experience, "Each day I'd teach him to drive, but it was slow work. Once he drove the car into its place in the carriage house, stepped on the throttle, yelled 'Whoa!' and went through the rear wall. When I left he gave a twenty-year gold pass, Pullman fares included, for myself and family on the New York Central System".
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