Eric Minoff
Vice President, Head of Department - US
LOT 18 ¤
1912 Selden 47-R Fire Chief Roadster Engine no. 1158
Sold for US$50,400 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 18¤
1912 Selden 47-R Fire Chief Roadster
1912 Selden 47-R Fire Chief Roadster
Engine no. 1158
Engine no. 1158
354.4ci Inline Four-Cylinder
Single carburetor
40bhp at 1,200rpm
Three-Speed Manual Transmission
Live Axles with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Springs
Two Wheel Mechanical Drum Brakes
* Built in 1912 in response to Henry Ford's successful litigation of the Selden Patent
* Generous 354.4ci four and 36x4½ wheels and tires
* Fire department livery and equipment
* A monument to the famed Selden Patent
THE SELDEN MOTOR VEHICLE COMPANY
George B. Selden applied for a U.S. Patent in 1879 for a "road locomotive". He prolonged the application with modifications until 1895 until he was granted U.S. Patent 549,160 for a liquid hydrocarbon internal combustion engine powered "road locomotive". Selden, who lived in Rochester, New York and represented George Eastman in his patent application and litigation over photography, knew his business. He sold the patent to the Electric Vehicle Company in about 1900. Thereafter the EV Company set up the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) and charged a license fee on each car built. It sued other internal combustion powered car manufacturers, until it encountered Henry Ford.
The history is foggy, but some sources say Ford applied for an ALAM license and was rejected by ALAM as, let's say, inconsequential. Henry took rejection badly. He refused to pay and when a Ford distributor was sued by ALAM in 1903 resorted to the courts. It took eight years until a court ruled that the Selden patent applied specifically to the Brayton continuous flow thermodynamic cycle engines described in the patent. The 4-cycle Otto cycle engines then nearly universally used were exempt from the patent.
It was a "split the baby" judicial decision that recognized the realities of a burgeoning industry in the United States and around the world. The ALAM monopoly was broken but George Selden and the EV Company had made seven-figure money, in the 1900s a prodigious fortune, and the automobile industry was freed from monopolistic influence.
The backside of the story is that neither George Selden nor the Electric Vehicle Company had ever built a real, functional automobile in the midst of the ALAM litigation. That changed in 1907 when the Selden Motor Vehicle Company was started in Rochester. The cars were conventional, nothing like the motorized carriage described in Selden's patent. They had 354.4 cubic inch Otto cycle inline four-cylinder engines, 3-speed manual transmissions and semi-elliptical leaf spring live axle suspension. A few were built, 7,424 in the seven years before production ceased in 1914 and they bear no resemblance at all to the motorized coach memorialized in George Selden's 1879-1895 patent.
THE CAR OFFERED
This Selden was acquired by the Harrah's Automobile Collection in 1962 from R.A. Taft in Williamson, New York, northeast of Rochester on the shore of Lake Ontario. Not a surprise, it is liveried as a Rochester Fire Department Battalion Chief's car, George Selden's hometown. Liveried in bright fire truck red with gold lettering it is righthand drive, has black leather upholstery and a black leatherette top.
Castle electrified headlights, kerosene sidelights and taillights, body color wood spoke wheels with 37x4½ tires, a single right-side spare, bulb horn, dogleg windshield, contracting band rear brakes, Jones speedometer, gear driven Kellogg tire pump and magneto ignition ensure it will be ready to arrive at any conflagration.
It also has wonderful fire department bling like Dietz kerosene lanterns, a big brass bell in front of the radiator and a Badger's fire extinguisher. The fire department livery is let down by the absence of a siren, but it is likely the imposing presence of this Selden and its prominent bell is sufficient to clear streets of traffic.
And, of course, there's an ALAM Selden Patent plate. This Selden belongs in the garage of a successful and imaginative patent attorney, or that of anyone who has successful deterred them. It is a Selden, but it isn't what George Selden imagined when his patent was granted.
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