One year after the start of the 1904 Knox project

[Art Anderson]

It's up on wheels for the first time. Lotta miscues, mis-steps, fits and starts--like being cut from whole cloth, but it begins to look like something besides a collection of parts:

Starting to be a fun project again!

Art

[Jairus]

That it is Art, that it is. Any chance you could post a picture of the real thing too? Many of us were not around back then...

[Art Anderson]

That it is Art, that it is. Any chance you could post a picture of the real thing too? Many of us were not around back then...

It's turning out to be a composite of several Knox trucks, actually

[Fletch]

It's turning out to be a composite of several Knox trucks, actually

Very Impressive Art. Every time I see someone building in brass it makes me want to get my resistance soldering unit back together and get back to building in metal. Thank you for sharing this labor of love with us.

[charlie8575]

I really hope you're still coming to MassCar Art and bringing this along. It's really starting to shape up into something spectacular.

Charlie Larkin

[Eshaver]

Yes Art , please show us a picture of a 1-1 Knox automobile ! Most interesting work too . Ed Shaver

[Art Anderson]

Yes Art , please show us a picture of a 1-1 Knox automobile ! Most interesting work too . Ed Shaver

The Knox project is a composite of a couple examples I found online--not very many decent pics exist (but then not many Knox Waterless cars or trucks exist anymore either--probably about half a dozen or so). They were all chain drive, but in two layouts, some had a single drive-chain system, utilizing a single sprocket in the middle of the rear axle having a differential enclosed in it, while others were built with a three-chain system, one chain connecting the crankshaft/transmission drum (Knox used a planetary, contracting band transmission not unlike that of a Model T Ford--and for that matter, just like the basic layout of a GM Hydramatic of 3-4 decades later) to an intermediate "jackshaft", which then transmitted power to the rear wheels by individual sprockets and chains on each end of both the jackshaft, and on each wheel hub. In this setup, the differential was in the middle sprocket of the jackshaft, which shaft was suspended by bearings in mid-frame. I've chosen to to this latter style, just like the look of the very exposed drive chains outboard of the frame, I guess.

Every 4-wheel Knox I've seen pics of (Knox also made a number of three-wheeled cars and fire apparatus tractors) had the fore-and-aft spring systems I've done on my model. This is a common trait of the Knox cars of which I found pics. It's a very common early Horseless Carriage suspension--the most popular car with them was the legendary Oldsmobile (My Merry Oldsmobile of song and vaudeville) Curved Dash (produced from 1902-1908). These very long leaf sprngs are bolted to the underside of the frame rails, and extend forward to the front axle, and rearward to the rear axle, functioning as cantilevered quarter-elyptical leaf springs. Ertl Collectibles made a 1/25 scale diecast bank of a "1904 Knox Waterless Truck" which they did with full-eliptical leaf springs, three at each end, two at the ends of the axles, one in between those across the end of the frame--but I cannot find any pics to verify if that was indeed done for real, or did Ertl take some license there?

The Ertl diecast is the model that started all this--I was just going to enhance it, superdetail it, but found way too many problems with it, mostly that Ertl made the diecast far too narrow (about 42" treadbase--the width between the wheels--where the real ones are much close to the almost standard 56" treadbase of horsedrawn vehicles and early autos of the time. But, the Ertl model has a body style I really like, so that is gonna be replicated in wood and styrene:

This is the inspiration for the chassis layout I am doing

But this pic really got me to thinking about doing my own, instead of trying to rework the Ertl diecast

One of very few pics showing a Knox engine closeup (and which made me decide to simplify the cylinder a little bit--I estimate that there are at least twice as many cooling pins in that real engine, and they were less than half as thick as what I used--but I have 550 of those pins in my cylinder

The truck body I will build will look like the restored truck up top, except that it will have a screen-side express body (think a rudimentary pickup truck box) with a canopy over the bed and extending out over the driver's area, with rollup curtains for weather protection, but no side curtains, not even a windshield for the driver--but then a delivery vehicle of that time period almost never saw the open road in the country, being a city delivery type truck, and likely never saw more than say, 15mph. That is also why the solid rubber tires.

Art

[Corvette.Jeff]

IM not 100%, but im pretty sure that theres one of these at tarleton state(the college) next time i go visit my sister i can swing by the main hall and take some pics

[Foxer]

Defiantly art, Art!

That is one simple frame and suspension ... but derived from a stagecoach or something I'd expect back then.