Edwin Rutenber

Edwin A. Rutenber (August 10, 1876–September 1962) was an inventor and businessman. He achieved distinction in the design and manufacture of the first four-cylinder gasoline engine produced in America. He later was an electric appliance manufacturer and inventor.

Born at Sadorus, Illinois, the youngest of five children, Rutenber was descended from German ancestry. His father Darwin Rutenber was a carriage maker by trade.

Edwin A. Rutenber attended the public schools and college. He learned carpentry from his grandfather and carriage making from his father, and inherited a taste for mechanics from both. He made a study of mechanics, learning the machinist trade thoroughly, and in 1892 invented a single cylinder motor. For a number of years he worked to devise a four-cylinder motor of commercial value. In 1898, he produced his first four-cylinder gasoline motor, establishing the Rutenber Manufacturing Company in Chicago to manufacture his new engines, the first four-cylinder engines to be manufactured in the United States. The fame of the design spread and the "Rutenber" motor was used in many early automobiles and attained a worldwide reputation.

On October 3, 1900, Mr. Rutenber was married to Miss Edna L. Rolley, of Morris, Illinois. They had three children. His son Bradley Rutenber (1907-1979) was also an inventor of electric appliances.

In June, 1902, the company was moved from Chicago to Logansport, Indiana and renamed Rutenber Motor Company and from that time E. A. Rutenber resided there. In July 1912, Rutenber disposed of his holdings in the engine manufacturing company, then called the Western Motor Company.

Rutenber then devoted his energies to the manufacture of electric appliances. The Rutenber Electric Company, using the brand name RECO, was formed for that purpose in September 1912. Rutenber invented many of the devices the company manufactured, including the Marion Flip Flop Toaster which he patented in 1914 and was followed by the Marion Giant Flip Flop Toaster. In 1916 the company needed to increase its production capacity, but was constrained at the Logansport site. An agreement to relocate the company to Marion, Indiana and appliances including ranges, irons, grills, toasters, fans and more were manufactured there. By 1919, Rutenber had relocated his residence to Marion.

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