Buckeye Manufacturing Company

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Buckeye Manufacturing Company
Company typeAutomobile Manufacturing
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1884
FounderJohn William Lambert
Defunct1917
Headquarters
Anderson, Indiana
,
United States
Area served
United States
ProductsVehicles
Automotive parts
Divisions1801-1809 Columbus Ave


The Buckeye Manufacturing Company was a company originally formed to manufacture horse drawn buggy parts. It later had several subsidiary companies, many that were related to the manufacture of gasoline engines and the early automobile. Its subsidiary companies were also involved in making trolley railway cars, fire engines, and agricultural tractors for farmers.

History

The Buckeye Manufacturing Company started in 1884 as the firm of Lambert Brothers & Company in Union City, Ohio. It started business with the sum of two thousand dollars.[1] They initially started to manufacture buggy neck yokes and other carriage parts with a crew of six men and a few young boys that were helpers. J. H. Osborne joined the company within a couple of years and the company name was changed to J. H. Osborne and Company. They added a line of hardware specialties to the business including some tools and a hand-operated drill. By 1890 Mr. Osborne dropped out of the company and the name changed to the Buckeye Manufacturing Company. A single Buckeye gasoline buggy automobile was built by the company in 1890, and offered for sale in 1891, though none were produced.[2]

The Buckeye Manufacturing Company factory burned in 1891. There was a loss of $15,000 (equivalent to $508,667 in 2023) in buildings and materials of which $12,000 (equivalent to $406,933 in 2023) was covered by insurance. They constructed new buildings to replace the ones lost in the fire.[3] The stationary Buckeye engine designed and invented by John William Lambert was patented in 1894. The company then started manufacturing these stationary engines since at the time there was no market for Lambert's automobile. The company was then reorganized and turned into a corporation with a capital stock of $100,000 (equivalent to $3,521,538 in 2023). Lambert became the company's president with his parents taking key positions. His father became the vice president and his mother become the secretary and treasurer.[4]

Buckeye Mfg Co. in Anderson (1910)

The company then moved to Anderson, Indiana, where it was built in the Evalyn industrial park at Third and Sycamore streets.[3] The company expanded in 1903 with the additional purchase of 5 acres (20,000 m2) on Columbus Ave in Anderson. The new factory had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of factory floor space and employed 350 to 400 people. It had the latest up to date equipment and electric cranes. The cost of the new buildings was $150,000 (equivalent to $5,086,667 in 2023).[5] A contract for the iron frame steel work of the buildings was signed with general contractors and the factory constructed. The factory manufactured gasoline engines and about 2,000 Lambert's automobiles per year.[6] There were more than 6,000 Lambert gas engines manufactured and sold up to 1905. Those engines were then made by the Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company, a subsidiary company that made engines for trucks, fire engines, and farm tractors. It was located at the same place in Anderson.[7][8]

Gasoline street car

The company started making in 1910 a fleet of trolley railway cars that were for an interurban railway in Pennsylvania. Each gasoline street car had a capacity of thirty-five passengers. The trolley came equipped with their friction gear-less transmission of the same type used on their automobiles and trucks. The company made an addition to their automobile factory in Anderson to make space to manufacture these mass transit street cars.[9]

Demise

The Buckeye Manufacturing Company manufactured the Lambert automobile, trucks, fire engines, and tractors until 1917. The company factory then was converted to a national defense facility and made military shells, caisson wheels, and fire engines. After World War I in 1919 the Buckeye Manufacturing Company was renamed Lambert Incorporated and made car parts only and no longer made complete automobiles. The company relocated to Dayton, Ohio and Lambert's birthplace of Ansonia, Ohio.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Howard P. Freeman (May 2, 1966). "Anderson One Time Leader in Auto Production". Anderson Daily Bulletin. Anderson, Indiana. p. 42.
  2. ^ "Anderson's Automobile Age". Archived from the original on 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  3. ^ a b "Buckeye Manufacturing Company". Memim Encyclopedia. 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  4. ^ Forkner 1914, p. 148.
  5. ^ "Anderson's Industries are fairly humming". The Indianapolis Journal. Indianapolis, Indiana. December 21, 1903. p. 2.
  6. ^ "Man about Town". Anderson Daily Bulletin. Anderson, Indiana. January 20, 1959. p. 4.
  7. ^ Lucendo 2019, p. 1863.
  8. ^ "Several auto factories in the city before the Remy brothers". The Herald Bulletin. Anderson, Indiana. September 13, 2013. p. 4.
  9. ^ "Adopt Gasoline Street Car". The Times. Munster, Indiana. May 5, 1910. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  10. ^ "Lambert House". Anderson Public Library. December 18, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

Sources

Further reading

  • Nawale,Suraj Dattatray (2014), Multispeed Right Angle Friction Gear, International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR) (pages=184-191}, volume 2, issue 9, ISSN 23210869
  • Netterville, J. J., Centennial History of Madison County, Indiana, Anderson, Indiana, Historian's Association, 1925
  • The Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, The Horseless Age Company, 1902
  • Bailey, L. Scott, Historic Discovery: 1891 Lambert, Claim for America's First Car, "Antique Automobile" magazine, V4, #5, Oct–Nov 1960
  • David Burgess Wise, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles ISBN 0-7858-1106-0
  • Dittlinger, Esther et al., Anderson: A Pictorial History, G. Bradley Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-943963-16-8
  • Huffman, Wallace Spencer, Indiana's Place in Automobile History in Indiana History Bulletin, vol 44, no. 2, Feb. 1967; Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Bureau
  • Huhti, Thomas, The Great Indiana Touring Book: 20 Spectacular Auto Tours, Big Earth Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-931599-09-2
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae, Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805–1942, Krause Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4
  • Madden, W. C., Haynes-Apperson and America's First Practical Automobile: A History, McFarland, 2003, ISBN 0-7864-1397-2
  • Scharchburg, Richard P., Carriages Without Horses: J. Frank Duryea and the Birth of the American Automobile Industry, SAE, 1993, ISBN 1-56091-380-0
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