Union Automobile Company - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Union Automobile Company began to make automobiles in Union City, Indiana

Union City, Indiana

Union City is a city in Wayne Township, Randolph County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 3,584.Union City was a stop along the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, a forerunner of the Pennsylvania Railroad that connected Pittsburgh to...

in 1902. It built the Union automobile

Union (automobile)

The Union automobile was based on Lambert's "horseless carriage" gasoline buggy. It had four wheels instead of his 1891 three-wheeled version. The automobile was made by the Union Automobile Company from 1902 through 1905...

from 1902 through 1905. The company was located in Union City, Indiana

Union City, Indiana

from 1902 to 1905. In 1905 it moved to Anderson, Indiana

Anderson, Indiana

Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...

History

John William Lambert

John William Lambert was an American automotive pioneer, inventor, and automobile manufacturer.-Biography:...

's first automobile marketing success was with the model called the "Union." The reason it was called the Union automobile was because of favorable agreements and concessions from Union City chamber of commerce. Most of the automobile components for the Union automobile were made at the Buckeye Manufacturing Company

Buckeye Manufacturing Company

The Buckeye Manufacturing Company was a company originally formed to manufacture horse and buggy parts. It was started in the later part of the nineteenth century and by the early part of the twentieth century was making parts and materials for the Buckeye gasoline buggy automobile as well as for...

in Anderson, Indiana

Anderson, Indiana

, owned and operated by Lambert.

The Union automobile was initially released in 1902. The first friction disk-drive gearless transmission automobile, as designed by Lambert, was on the road in 1901 as an experimental vehicle. The motor for the automobile was a pair of opposed 6 by 4 inches (101.6 mm) cylinders, far in front, crosswise, side chains to rear drivers. One model was a single seater that weighed 1,400 pounds (640 kg) and was equipped with a 4 hp motor. Another model was 1,800 pounds with a 7 hp motor. The motors were built by the Buckeye Manufacturing Company. The motors ran up to 1,500 revolutions per minute and as low as 150 rpm. They had a make and break ignition with current furnished by a magneto. The first model was quickly followed by a second friction driven model, same motor placed crosswise in extreme rear of the car.

Union Automobile Company built in 1904 through 1905 a 5-seater tonneau

Tonneau

right|thumb|260px|1903 [[Ford Model A |Ford Model A]] rear-door TonneauTonneau cover , describes a hard or soft cover used to protect unoccupied passenger seats in a convertible, roadster, or for a pickup truck bed. Hard tonneau covers open by a hinging or folding mechanism while soft covers open...

model. This automobile came with a ten horsepower engine in 1904. In 1905 it was available in a 12 hp model or a 16 hp model. In 1905 the majority of the factory production was done in the Anderson plant. That plant had always made the engines and transmissions for the Union automobile from the start. In that same year the name of the automobile changed from the Union automobile to the Lambert automobile

Lambert (automobile)

The Lambert automobile and Lambert truck were built by the Lambert Automobile Company as an American vehicle from 1905 through 1916.The Lambert automobile motor in the early part of manufacturing moved around on the chassis. It was on the back of the chassis, then in the center, then to the front,...

.

Union Automobile Company manufactured a medium weight gasoline automobile for business purposes and for personal use. The stock of this company was principally owned by the Buckeye Manufacturing Company

Buckeye Manufacturing Company

, manufacturers of parts of carriages and buggies, and the Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company

Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company

The Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company was a company founded by John William Lambert in the later part of the nineteenth century as part of the conglomerate of the Buckeye Manufacturing Company.-History:...

of Anderson, Indiana

Anderson, Indiana

— both of which were owned by the Lambert family. Over three hundred of the initial "Union" automobiles had been made and sold.

Primary sources

Biography of John W. Lambert , written by his son January 25 1935 — obtained from the Detroit Public Library, National Automotive History Collection

Dolnar, Hugh, Automobile Trade Journal, article: The Lambert, 1906 Line of Automobiles, Chilton Company, v.10 January 1906

Forkner, John L., History of Madison County, Indiana, New York and Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914

The Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, The Horseless Age Company, 1902

Secondary sources

Bailey, L. Scott, Historic Discovery: 1891 Lambert, New Claim for America's First Car, Antique Automobile magazine, Vol. 24, No. 5, Oct–Nov 1960

David Burgess Wise, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles ISBN 0-7858-1106-0

Dittlinger, Esther et al., Anderson: A Pictorial History, G. Bradley Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0943963168

Georgano, G. N., The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 1-5795829-3-1

Huffman, Wallace Spencer, Indiana's Place in Automobile History in Indiana History Bulletin, vol 44, no. 2, Feb. 1967; Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Bureau

Huhti, Thomas, The Great Indiana Touring Book: 20 Spectacular Auto Tours, Big Earth Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-9315990-9-2

James, Wanda, Driving from Japan, McFarland, 2005, ISBN 0-786417-3-4X

Kimes, Beverly Rae, Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805–1942, Krause Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-8734142-8-4

Madden, W. C., Haynes-Apperson and America's First Practical Automobile: A History, McFarland, 2003, ISBN 0-7864139-7-2

Scharchburg, Richard P., Carriages Without Horses: J. Frank Duryea and the Birth of the American Automobile Industry, SAE, 1993, ISBN 1-5609138-0-0

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

See also

Primary sources

Secondary sources