George B. Selden
George B. Selden | |
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Born | George Baldwin Selden September 14, 1846 Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester |
Education |
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Occupations |
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Known for | Inventing a version of the automobile |
Board member of |
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Spouse |
Clara Drake Woodruff
(m. 1871–1922) |
Children | 4 |
Parent |
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George Baldwin Selden (September 14, 1846 – January 17, 1922) was an American
Early life and career
In 1859, his father, Judge Henry R. Selden, a prominent Republican attorney most noted for defending Susan B. Anthony, moved to Rochester, New York, where George briefly attended the University of Rochester.
He dropped out when the American Civil War started, enlisting in the
He married shortly thereafter to Clara Drake Woodruff, with whom he had 4 children. He continued his hobby of inventing in a workshop in his father's basement, inventing a typewriter and a hoop making machine.
For a time, Selden represented photography pioneer George Eastman in patent matters. He was also based in Rochester.
The Selden patent
He filed for a patent on May 8, 1879 (in a historical cross of people, the witness Selden chose was a local bank-teller, George Eastman, later to become famous for the Kodak camera[4]).
In 1899 he sold his patent rights to
However,
The case was heavily publicized in the newspapers of the day, and ended in a victory for Selden. In his decision, the judge wrote that the patent covered any automobile propelled by an engine powered by gasoline vapor. Posting a bond of US$350,000, Ford appealed, and on January 10, 1911, won his case based on an argument that the engine used in automobiles was not based on George Brayton's engine, the Brayton engine which Selden had improved, but on the Otto engine.
This stunning defeat, with only one year left to run on the patent, destroyed Selden's income stream. He focused production of his car company on trucks, renaming his company the
See also
- The Wright brothers patent war, another vehicular technology patent lawsuit of the same time period
- George Brayton, inventor of the Brayton cycle engine
Footnotes
- ^ Flink, p. 51 Probably the most absurd action in the history of patent law was the granting of United States patent number 549,160 on November 5, 1895, to George B. Selden. a Rochester, New York, patent lawyer and inventor, for an "improved road engine" powered by "a liquid-hydrocarbon engine of the compression type."
- ^ Flink, p. 51 His own patent application was filed in 1879. He then used evasive legal tactics to delay the patent's acceptance until conditions seemed favorable for commercial exploitation.
- ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 38, 152, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1945.
- ISBN 0-7864-1611-4.
- ^ Greenleaf, William. Monopoly on Wheels: Henry Ford and the Selden Automobile Patent. Wayne State University Press, 1951.
- New York Tribune, p. 11.
- ^ Ted Bartlett (June 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grove Place Historic District". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. p. Continuation sheet p. 2. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
His non-extant workshop was located to the rear of the five Selden Street buildings.
References
- Based on pages 184-199 of The Mayflower Murderer & Other Forgotten Firsts in American History, Peter F. Stevens, William Morrow, hardcover, 272 pages, Wikinfo.
- Flink, James J., The Automobile Age, MIT Press (1990), ISBN 0-262-56055-0
- US 549160, Selden, George B., "Road-engine", published 1895-11-05
External links
- George B. Selden at Find a Grave
- The Selden Motor Wagon Photos of the vehicle, plus articles about the gestation of the patent and the lengthy lawsuit which followed.