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Anchor Buggy Company

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"Largest Buggy in the World" built by the Anchor Buggy Co., for themselves and the Kingman & Co. houses as an advertisement, 1903

The Anchor Buggy Company was an American buggy manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1886 to 1917. After 1917, it operated as the Anchor Top and Body Company till 1927.[1]

The Anchor Carriage Company also had a short-lived automotive branch called the Anchor Motor Car Company (1910—1911).[2]

History

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Anchor Buggy Co.

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Portrait photograph of Alfred F. Klausmeyer

The Anchor Buggy Co. was founded between 1886 and 1887 by Alfred F. Klausmeyer and Anthony G. Brunsman.[1][3]

Herman H. Uckotter was an inventor for the company, who invented a steering device called "the fifth wheel".[4] The company had successfully applied a new principle in fifth wheels and attachments for carriages, with the gear being known to the trade as the "patent anchor fifth wheel and king-bolt".[5][6]

Anchor was one of the largest carriage building companies in the region,[7] and at its peak in 1897, manufactured 125 buggies, surreys and phaetons a day.[8][1]

In later years, Anchor shared its production line with the Lion Buggy Co.; the combined firm was one of the first carriage manufacturers to set up a production line with each worker performing only one task. The firm is also credited with being the first to develop a process for painting wheels using centrifugal force.[9]

Advertising

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Ad for Anchor Buggy Co. with an optical illusion, 1890

An 1890 advertisement for the Anchor Buggy Company featured the "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law" optical illusion; when viewed one way the image looked like a young woman, when viewed another way the image looked like an old woman.[10]

Advertisement poster for Anchor Buggy Co. by Strobridge & Co., 1897

In the late 1890s, Anchor built, what was claimed to be, the “Largest Buggy in the World”, to advertise their buggies at various fair and expositions across the Mid-West.[11][1][3]

Anchor Motor Car Company

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1910 Anchor

In 1910, Anchor was formally incorporated as a stock company, and the Anchor Motor Car Company was set up as an independent automobile division.[1]

The first automobile made by the company was Anchor-35, a 5-passenger "touring car of modern design", with a 35—40 hp (28 tax hp) 4-cylinder engine, and a price tag of $1850.[12][13][14]

But in 1911, after the death of Anchor's co-founder and president Anthony G. Brunsman, the series production of the automobile was shelved.[1] While the automobiles were manufactured only from 1910 to 1911, they continued to be sold till at least 1916.[15]

Anchor Top & Body Co.

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In 1917, as buggy sales declined, Anchor began selling tops with windshields for Ford cars, and later for Dodge, Olds, Buick, and Oakland.[16]

The company remained in business as the Anchor Top & Body Co. till 1927.[17]

Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company

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In 1958, Samuel W. Levinson, founder of the Stuart Manufacturing Company– that made children's night lights and toys– retired from his company, and established another one called the Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company.[18]

From 1958 to 1964,[19] the company created exact miniature plastic carriage models based on the carriages and buggies made by the original Anchor Buggy Company. Levinson had acquired permission from Anchor in 1935 to use their name.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Anchor Buggy, Anchor Top, Anchor & Body Company, Cincinnati, Alfred F. Klausmeyer, Anthony G. Brunsman, Earl M. Galbraith, Oscar A. Brunsman, Auto Tops, California Top". CoachBuilt.com. Archived from the original on 2023-11-29. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  2. ^ Kimes, Beverly Rae (1989). Standard catalog of American cars, 1805-1942 (2nd ed.). Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-87341-111-0.
  3. ^ a b Sneed, David E. (2016-08-31). "Anchor Buggy Company – A Real Giant". Wheels that Won the West. Archived from the original on 2024-03-02. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  4. ^ "Carriage Maker Dies". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, Ohio. 1930-01-29. p. 12.
  5. ^ Park, Benjamin, ed. (1892). Modern Mechanism: Exhibiting the Latest Progress in Machines, Motors, and the Transmission of Power. Macmillan. p. 111.
  6. ^ "Anchor Buggy Company Patented Fifth Wheel Sample". www.bidsquare.com. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  7. ^ "Buggy: Being Displaced By Auto". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, Ohio. 1909-05-21. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Stuckey, Col. N. D. (August 1967). Downing, Paul H. (ed.). "The Carriage Industry Old Timers". The Carriage Journal. 5 (2). Carriage Assoc. of America: 88.
  9. ^ Ryder, Thomas, ed. (September 1983). "A Short History of Carriage Building in Cincinnati". The Carriage Journal. 21 (2). Carriage Assoc. of America: 65.
  10. ^ "Old Woman and Young Lady Illusion, the original". 30 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  11. ^ "The Kingman Jumbo Buggy". Farm Implements. XVII (5): 16B. 1903-05-30.
  12. ^ Kimes, Beverly Rae (1989). Standard catalog of American cars, 1805-1942 (3rd ed.). Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-87341-111-0.
  13. ^ "Automobile Catalogs 1903-1915 (3-TOP Vol. (p.v.) 5 – 109)". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  14. ^ List of Registered Motor Vehicles, with Motor Vehicle Law, Rules of the Road, List of Automobiles showing Taxable Horse-power Ratings Of Pleasure and Commercial Cars, Also Table of Fees. Motor Vehicle Department. State of Connecticut: Secretary's Office. 1913.
  15. ^ Hand, Greg (2018-04-02). "Why Didn't Cincinnati Become America's "Motor City"?". Cincinnati Magazine. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  16. ^ "Anchor Top & Body Co., Cincinnati". COACHBUILD.com – Forum. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  17. ^ "Anchor Buggy". wrenchwiki. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  18. ^ West, Lizabeth (2000). "The Anchor Buggy & Carriage Company". Archived from the original on 2001-08-17.
  19. ^ West, Lizabeth (April 2001). Cincinnati Magazine. Emmis Communications. p. 15.
  20. ^ "Anchor Buggy and Carriage Co. - model carriages". www.vintagestuart7.com. 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
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