Any Stanley Steamer Stories? (greatest, bomb, invention, years) - History -U.S. and World, studying past, wars, presidents, language, economy - City-Data Forum

round tuit · 07-01-2009, 08:21 AM

I been reading about the twin brothers, F.E & F.O Stanley,

and how their car had only 22 moving parts! These guys were a cross between the Smith Brothers and the Wright Brothers! Heard a few stories from Clinton Maine, any more out there?

John Walmsley · 07-01-2009, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Lehman

I been reading about the twin brothers, F.E & F.O Stanley,

and how their car had only 22 moving parts! These guys were a cross between the Smith Brothers and the Wright Brothers! Heard a few stories from Clinton Maine, any more out there?

It must have been quite a fast car to set a record for steam-powered vehicles that still stands at 205 KM per hour. I read that Jay Leno holds the record for getting a ticket in the oldest car on the LA freeway. He was driving a 1906 Stanley Steamer at 78 mph.

TravisW · 07-01-2009, 03:23 PM

The Stanley Rocket hit 150mph in 1907 right before it broke into little bits and pieces. The early years of automobiles are fascinating. We talk about fuel diversity now, but the early days of the auto had very large proportions of steam and electric vehicles being sold in comparison to internal combustion driven cars.

round tuit · 07-01-2009, 04:48 PM

I heard that the Stanley twins had one advertising gimmick, where one of them entered one end of town and raced at high speed. Just as a traffic cop was ready to pull him over....along came another identical car, with an identical driver, speeding along in the opposite direction!

They had that cop seeing double! It is said that "They'd give a free Stanley to anyone who could hold the throttle open for five minutes!"

http://http://www.auburnheights.org/stanleyhistory/stanleyhist.asp (broken link)

harry chickpea · 07-02-2009, 11:15 AM

The greatest part of the invention was the flash tube boiler, which limited the effects of a boiler explosion. While live steam is inherently dangerous, the greatest issue was with failures of the boilers, which turned them into bombs. By construction of the boiler not as a kettle of water, but a wrapping of small diameter tubes, boiler failures were not automatically fatal.