It is amazing the number of different designs and construction ideas that formulated in the inventive brains of the early engine designers, the ideas seemed endless. One of the more completely different and innovative must have been the 3 cylinder motor designed by D.Fox Graham in 1903.
John W. Eisenhuth an engine builder had designed a motorcar as early as 1896 which he built in Newark, New Jersey but he decide to move east, where all the action was happening, moving to the Greater New York to continue his experiments. He then moved to Middletown, Connecticut and purchased the Keating Wheel and Automobile Company. In 1903 he also established the Elsenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company. He met D. Fox Graham who had invented the Graham-Fox compound engine and the two companys merged, forming the Graham- Fox Motorcar Company and produced a new car that they called “the Compound”.
In 1903 a prototype design was shown at Madison Square Garden where it was called the Graham-Fox, but when the first production model was produced in late 1903 the name had changed to “The Compound". Their 1904 model was a 7 seater touring car, with a 3 cylinder engine vertically mounted at the front of the car. It produced 35 hp weighed 3100lbs. it cost $6,000 to $7,000 depending on the body style and extras.
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( this is a pre-publication from Historic Wheels, a free 9 page emailed magazine. Written and published by transportation historian Ivan D, Taylor in New Zealand. As its name suggests it covers everything that is on wheelsand is historic no matter be it propelled by humans, animals, steam, electricity, petrol or any other means. To subscribe, just send your e-mail address to, Chadwell.Donkeystud@xtra.co.nz )