- George B. Selden
George B. Selden (
September 14 ,1846 inClarkson, New York –January 17 ,1922 inRochester, New York ) was alawyer andinventor who was granted the first U.S.patent for anautomobile , which he invented in 1877.The idea of a horseless carriage was in the air during George's youth, but its practicality was uncertain. In 1859, his father, Judge
Henry R. Selden , a prominent Republican attorney most noted for defendingSusan B. Anthony , moved toRochester, New York , where George briefly attended theUniversity of Rochester before dropping out to enlist in theSixth U.S. Cavalry ,Union Army . This was not to the liking of his father who after pulling some strings and having some earnest discussions with his son managed to have him released from duty and enrolled in Yale. George did not do well at Yale in his law studies, preferring the technical studies offered by theSheffield Scientific School , but did manage to finish his course of study and pass the New York bar 1871 and joined his father's practice.He married shortly thereafter to Clara Drake Woodruff, by whom he had 4 children. He continued his hobby of inventing in a workshop in his father's basement, inventing a typewriter and a hoop making machine.
For a time, Selden represented photography pioneer
George Eastman in patent matters.The Selden Patent
:"See also
Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers "Inspired by the mammothinternal combustion engine invented byGeorge Brayton displayed at theCentennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, Selden began working on a smaller lighter version, succeeding by 1878, some eight years before the public introduction of theBenz Patent Motorwagen in Europe, in producing a one cylinder 400 pound version which featured an enclosedcrankshaft with the help of Rochester machinist,Frank H. Clement and his assistantWilliam Gomm . He filed for a patent on May 8, 1879. His application included not only the engine but its use in a 4 wheeled car. He then filed a series of amendments to his application which stretched out the process resulting in a delay of 16 years before the patent cite patent|US|549160 [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/George_b_selden_road-engine_549%2C160.pdf pdf] was granted onNovember 5 ,1895 .Shortly thereafter the fledgling American
auto industry began its first efforts and George Selden, despite never having gone into production with a working model of an automobile, had a credible claim to have patented the automobile. In 1899 he sold his patent rights toWilliam C. Whitney , who proposed manufacturing electric powered taxicabs as theElectric 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 0.75% royalty on all cars sold by theAssociation of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers , the ALAM. He began his own car company in Rochester under the name,Selden Motor Vehicle Company .However,
Henry Ford , owner of theFord Motor Company , founded inDetroit, Michigan in 1903, and four other car makers resolved to contest thepatent infringement suit filed by Selden and EVC. The legal fight lasted 8 years generating a case record of 14,000 pages. The case was heavily publicized in the newspapers of the day and ended in a victory for Selden. In his decision, the judge wrote that the patent covered any automobile propelled by an engine powered by gasoline vapor. Posting a bond of $350,000, Ford appealed and on January 10, 1911 won his case based on an argument that the engine used in automobiles was not based on George Brayton's engine, the Brayton engine which Selden had improved, but on theOtto engine .This stunning defeat, with only 1 year left to run on the patent, destroyed Selden's income stream. He focused production of his car company on trucks, renaming his company the
Selden Truck Sales Corporation . It survived in that form until 1930 when it was purchased by theBethlehem Truck Company . Selden suffered a stroke in 1921 and died at 78 on January 17, 1922. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester. It is estimated he received several hundred thousand dollars in royalties.References
Based on pages 184-199 of "The Mayflower Murderer & Other Forgotten Firsts in American History", Peter F. Stevens, William Morrow, hardcover, 272 pages, ISBN 0-688-11818-6. Published simultaneously on Wikinfo.
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