George White Buggy Company

 Automotive manufacturer Illinois USA

The George White Buggy Company was an American manufacturer of carriages and wagons and only in 1909 offered also automobiles .

History

The coachman George Oscar White set up his own business in Greenville, Pennsylvania in the 1880s and was brought to Moline, Illinois , in 1886 , where he became managing director and board member of the JH Wilson Moline Buggy Company , a manufacturer of wagons and carriages for passenger transport ( Buggies , Phaetonsand Surreys ). With the bankers and entrepreneurs Philemon Libby Mitchell and Frank Mixter as investors White made in 1891 self-employed and founded the Rock Island Buggy Company . Mitchell and Mixter already owned theState Bank of Rock Iceland , the Rock Island Stove Company and the Rock Island Glass Works and held interests in the Republic Oil Refining Company and the Rock Island Children's Carriage Works . They also belonged to the organizers of the public horse race Moline and Rock Iceland Horse Railway (later Davenport and Rock Island Street Railway System ).

1896 White retired from this company from and founded in rock Iceland (Illinois) , the George White Buggy Company . The company expanded rapidly and grew into one of the Midwest's industry leaders with some 3,000 built 1899 horse-drawn buggies . The successful businessman bought the house in 1903 23rd Street no. 603 in Rock Iceland and rebuilt it in colonial style. The building is preserved. 

In 1909, the company set up a department for the construction of automobiles. The George White was a highwheeler with iron-wheeled carriage wheels 36 inches (91.5 cm) in diameter at the front and 38 inches (96.5 cm) at the rear.  Most High Wheeler were quite crude, They were intended for the unpaved ways outside of localities. 

The George White was more elaborate than a typical highwheeler ; modern use of a chassis made of steel were instead of reinforced wood, as well as the position of the motor under a front bonnet rather than under the driver's seat, and magneto ignition . For power transmission by means of two-speed planetary gear was not the usual drive chain used (some highwheeler had two), but a propeller shaft , which was also performed in a tube. The class standard two-cylinder engine was a four-stroke - Boxer with air cooling of unknown origin. The engine delivered 14 horsepower .

Apart from the wheels, the vehicle came close to conventional constructions from that time. It was a right-hand drive with an external circuit and brake . It is known that four body versions were offered, of which a two-seater and a Surrey .

Interestingly, a more urban clientele was hoped to be found in Chicago. The company seems to have quickly lost interest in this vehicle; Although an expansion of production had been announced in July 1909, it was no longer offered in 1910. 

Occasionally, the car is also listed as white , which can lead to confusion with the same automobiles and commercial vehicles of the White Motor Company .

George White pursued but a little later another idea in the automotive sector: The White's Permanent Top . Available for the Roadster and Touring versions of the Ford Model T , it replaced their factory supplied fabric top. It was firmly mounted; the mohair-lined construction consisted of the roof itself and removable glass doors and side windows. In winter, the weather protection was almost the same as a sedan , in summer the side windows could be removed and the original doors used. 

The White roof was quite elaborately constructed and offered a textile roof cover. In contrast to the standard door, White also had handles inside. The door frames were covered with mohair. That had its price: The roof cost US $ 50 for a roadster of the years of construction 1913 to 1916, US $ 65 for a touring of the years of construction 1913-1914 and US 67.50 for one from 1915 to 1916. Later, the company also produced car batteries.