Benutzer:Chief tin cloud/William Harvey McCurdy
William Harvey McCurdy (* 28. März 1853 in Center Township, (Greene County, Pennsylvania (USA), † 1930 in war ein US-amerikanischer Kutschenbauer, Motoren- und Automobilhersteller und Unternehmer. Er war
Jugend und frühe Jahre[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
McCurdy Eltern waren Joseph und Sidney McCurdy. Sein Vater war ein Kleinfarmer und gelernter Schreiner. Die Familie zog 1866 um nach St. Louis (Michigan). In Jackson (Michigan) lernte William vier Jahre lang das Handwerk des Mühlenbauers und übte diesen Beruf bis 1875 aus. Danach reiste er als Händler durch die USA. 1879 war er in Independence (Missouri), wo er von einem Immobilien-Boom.
He remained employed in the trade until 1875 when a thirst for adventure led him on a cross-country journey as a traveling salesman. Sometime in 1879 he arrived in Independence, Missouri on the eve of the great Kansas City real estate boom and decided to try his hand as an estate agent and insurance salesman, establishing an office at 15 W 9th St. in downtown Kansas City. He married the former Helen Eliza Hess on June 25, 1880 in Cincinnati, Ohio by 1888, the pair had produced four children.
William Harvey McCurdy (1853-1930) was born on May 28th, 1853 in Center Township pa, Pennsylvania to Joseph and Sidney McCurdy, a couple who owned a small farm in Greene County, PA. The family moved to St. Louis, Michigan in 1866 and as his father was an accomplished carpenter, William was apprenticed to a millwright in Jackson, Michigan and after the requisite four years, became a journeyman. He remained employed in the trade until 1875 when a thirst for adventure led him on a cross-country journey as a traveling salesman. Sometime in 1879 he arrived in Independence, Missouri on the eve of the great Kansas City real estate boom and decided to try his hand as an estate agent and insurance salesman, establishing an office at 15 W 9th St. in downtown Kansas City. He married the former Helen Eliza Hess on June 25, 1880 in Cincinnati, Ohio by 1888, the pair had produced four children.
McCurdy and his growing family (a fifth child, Lynn - his first son - was born in 1893) relocated to Cincinnati in 1889 where he became secretary of the Favorite Buggy Company, a well-known Ohio builder. While at Favorite, McCurdy became acquainted with Julius Rosenwald, the head of Rosenwald and Weil, the principal supplier of men's clothing to Chicago’s Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Hercules Gas Engine Company (Ohio, 1912)[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Consequently, the Hercules Gas Engine Co. was formed on November 8, 1912. Construction began on the modern glass-walled factory built adjacent to the existing Hercules complex and the first engines rolled out of the facility in early 1914. Hercules produced engines for a number of retailers under the Ajax, Arco, Atlas, Champion, Economy, Erren, Hercules, Jaeger, Keystone, Reeco, Rohaco, Thermoil and Williams brand names. Business increased to the point where a new cupola was built in 1918 that had the capacity to process 150 tons of molten metal per day. From 1914 until the factory’s closing in 1934, over 400,000 Hercules-built gasoline engines were produced in Evansville.
A second Hercules – The Hercules Motors Corp. of Canton, Ohio is better-known than the subject of this article. Hercules Motors was founded in Canton in 1915 in response to demand for a high-speed, lightweight, heavy-duty gasoline engine for trucks, eventually expanding its product lines to serve as an engine source for more than 500 manufacturing concerns in the U.S. and many foreign countries. It was the last surviving of the three known Hercules-named engine builders and closed its doors in 1999.
Literatur[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Beverly Rae Kimes (Herausgeberin), Henry Austin Clark jr.: Standard Catalogue of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Auflage. Krause Publications, Iola WI (1996), ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 ISBN 0-87341-428-4. (Englisch)
- Georgano, G. N. (Herausgeber): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present; Dutton Press, New York, 2. Auflage (Hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (Englisch)
- Robert D. Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era: Essential Specifications of 4,000+ Gasoline Powered Passenger Cars, 1906-1915, with a Statistical and Historical Overview. Mcfarland & Co Inc (2013); ISBN 0-78647-136-0; ISBN 978-078647-136-2; soft cover (Englisch)
- The Automobile of 1904; Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (Januar 1904), Americana Review, 725 Dongan Ave., Scotia NY (USA); erschienen 1904, deckt auch Importe ab (Englisch)
- Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Herausgeber SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (Hardcover). (Englisch)
- James J. Flink: America Adopts the Automobile - 1895-1910, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), 1970. ISBN 0-262 06036-1 (Hardcover). (Englisch)
- Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: Die internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie - 125 Jahre Marken und Modelle, PC-DVD, United Soft Media Verlag (2008), ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8, ASIN 3-8032-9876-8
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- coachbuilt.com: Hercules Body Co. (englisch) (abgerufen am 15. Juli 2015)