Adams Company

The Adams Company is an American manufacturing concern. It was founded in 1883 like grave crosses and park benches. Eugene Adams invested in the company in June 1883 when Roberts decided to retire, and Adams took the position of a secretary and manager. A change of the company name to Langworthy and Adams Iron Works followed in 1885. When Langworthy retired in 1892, Eugene's brother Herbert bought his share and the company was re-organized as The Adams Company, a foundry and machine shop. The plant burnt down the same year in a disastrous fire, and the company opened new facilities at East Fourth Street. Now, machine castings and household devices like a patented floor heating vent with inner rotating portion that distributed warm air in upper level rooms, or laundry stoves were added. In 1895, Fay Oliver Farwell (1859–1935) became manager of the company.

The Adams-Farwell automobile

About 1895, Farwell began experimenting with an internal combustion engined automobile, for which he conceived a horizontally mounted rotary engine with three cylinders. The vertically standing crank shaft was fixed in the chassis. Farwell felt this configuration was lighter than conventional engines as it used neither a flywheel — since the spinning engine crankcase and cylinders acted as their own flywheel when running — nor radiator, because of its air cooled design. Farwell completed the first prototype in 1898. Basically a horse-drawn carriage, he mounted his engine between the front wheels. This proved impractical, so his second car, appropriately named number 2, had the engine installed in the rear as all Adams-Farwells would thereafter. This car used bicycle wheels; the next had wooden artillery wheels. Little is known about car number 4, which probably was similar to number 3, and which was sold to a Dubuque resident. Number 5 was shown at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1905. Now, first orders were taken. With only minor modifications, the car went into - very limited - production as the Model 6 20/25 hp. Referring to its engine, Adams-Farwell frequently used the slogan: It spins like a top. Also mentioned in the cited article is the participation of an Adams-Farwell automobile in the first automobile race in America, but that is refuted by the following citation:

Innovations

thumb|This Adams-Farwell Series 6 40/45 hp [[touring car with a 5-cylinder engine of and coachwork by Connolly Carriage & Buggy Co. (1906) is the only known Adams-Farwell in existence. It can be driven either from the front or rear bench seat.]]

Adams-Farwell automobiles had further unique details. The only available coachwork, called a Convertible Brougham, was in fact a Town brougham, and the "convertible" part was not the top but driver's position. His bench seat in the front of the car was retractable and could fold away in inclement weather, thus forming a splash board. Then, the tiller and driving devices could easily be relocated in front of the rear seat, under the fixed top. These cars could even be started from the driver's seat as they provided a lever that had to be pulled up instead of the usual crank. This car was listed at US$2500, placing it in the lower luxury car field.

For 1906, Model 6 became Series 6. A new Series 6 40/45 hp with a five cylinder rotary was added. The car got a somewhat longer wheelbase, and a Landaulet body style replaced the Brougham, probably very similar but with a convertible rear part of the top. New to the line was a touring car, frequently called a Convertible Runabout. Both body styles were 5-seaters.

The only remaining Adams-Farwell automobile shows a tag by the Connolly Carriage & Buggy Co. It seems this company, not only reputed for quality carriages and coachwork, also built the chassis for the Adams-Farwell. As period advertisements indicate complete cars were offered, there is some evidence they might have built the bulk of the Adam-Farwell bodies.

For 1907, most models were gone, and Adams-Farwell offered only an improved Model 7-A Touring, now with an even longer wheelbase and a higher price. A few of them went to the Dubuque Police Department.

{| class="wikitable"

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Model year

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Model

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Number of cylinders

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Power

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Wheelbase mm / in.

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | Coachwork

! style=="background:#CCCCCC;text-align:center" | List price

|style="text-align:left" |1898

|Model No. 1

|3 rotary

|style="text-align:right" |

|Express carriage

|style="text-align:center" |-

|style="text-align:left" | around 1899

|Model No. 2

|3 rotary

|style="text-align:right" |

|style="text-align:center" |

|style="text-align:center" |-

|style="text-align:left" | 1901

|Model No. 3

|3 rotary

|style="text-align:right" |

|style="text-align:center" |

|style="text-align:center" |-

|style="text-align:left" | around 1902

|Model No. 4

|3 rotary

|style="text-align:right" |

|style="text-align:center" |

|style="text-align:left" | 1904–1905

|Model No. 5

|3, rotary

|style="text-align:right" | 25 hp

|style="text-align:right" |

|Convertible Brougham

Post-automobile company history

right|thumb|A modified 1907 Adams-Farwell engine powered three man-lifting experimental [[helicopters designed by Emile Berliner.]]

Like another builder of rotary engined road vehicles, Stephen Marius Balzer of New York City, the Adams Company offered light gyrocopter engines which successfully powered experimental flying machines by Emile Berliner in 1909–1910 and J. Newton Williams in 1909. Engine production lasted longer than automobile manufacture although it is not clear when this stopped, too. The Adams Company then relied on their iron foundry and manufactured gears, shafts and parts for power transmissions.

F. Oliver Farwell left the company in 1921. He had about 20 patents to his name and tried to build up a business on one he held for a novel transmission for merry-go-rounds. Later, he worked in a gear-cutting company in Toledo, Ohio.

The Adams-Farwell automobile

Innovations

Post-automobile company history

See also

References