Early “Stanley Steamer” Patent: Ushering in the Age of the Automobile

On this day in 1900, a patent issued for an early steam-engine vehicle naming twin inventors Francis and Freelan Stanley: US Patent No. 657,711, “Motor Vehicle (placing of parts)”. The Stanley brothers would soon form the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, which used this and other patents to develop a notable line of steam-powered cars. The public came to know these as “Stanley Steamers”, and their cultural legacy lives on today—one even appeared in the Pixar movie Cars. A Stanley Steamer set a land speed record of 127 MPH in 1906, a record that stood for five years against other automobiles and was not surpassed by another steam vehicle until 2009.

The Stanley Motor Carriage Company operated for more than 20 years before shutting its doors in 1924 after facing stiff competition from another technology: the internal combustion engine.

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