Elwood Haynes was a high school principle in Portland Indiana. He went back to graduate school and studied chemistry and biology, and moved back to Portland when natural gas was discovered there, to manage the gas company. He later moved to Kokomo Indiana to manage the gas company there. When he was 34 he became interested in building an automobile, and a few years later, in 1893, he bought a 1 cylinder, 1 HP gasoline engine. He hired some help to build the automobile he envisioned, the Apperson brothers.
Haynes and the Apperson's tested the vehicle on July 4, 1894. They towed it out of town, so they wouldn't stampede the horses on the streets of Kokomo. Haynes drove the car 6 miles at about 6 mph, becoming one of the first automobiles in the U.S. to achieve this distance and speed. Then the Apperson's and Haynes formed a partnership to make automobiles. Later the partners split, and made Haynes and Apperson vehicles as seperate companies. Both makes of autos made automobiles in Kokomo into the 1920s.
Haynes was a contemporary of the Duryea brothers, who obtained a patent on their vehicle. Besides his automobile, Haynes invented a carbuerator, the use of aluminum in automobile engines, the muffler, and stainless steel.
It’s great that more people are focusing on making better environmental choices. Plus technology is making it more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.
Posted by: Web | March 24, 2008 at 05:40 PM