A Brief History
On November 5, 1895, an unlikely candidate from Rochester, New York became the first American to patent an automobile. George Selden was actually an attorney that loved to dabble in his workshop. The son of an attorney that represented suffragist Susan B. Anthony, Selden’s attorney work included representing George Eastman (the Kodak camera guy) in patent matters. Selden also patented a typewriter and a hoop making machine.
Digging Deeper
Selden was intrigued by the internal combustion engine displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (built by George Brayton… Is everyone in this story named George???) The original engine was too large to be practical, and Selden set about to make a smaller, practical version. By 1878 he had produced a working 1 cylinder 400 pound version with the assistance of 2 friends, and applied for the engine and an automobile it was to be used for to be patented in 1879, but it took a whopping 16 years to get the patent in 1895.
Selden was not successful at first producing automobiles, and sold his patents to William Whitney in 1899. Selden and Whitney collected royalties from other auto makers and started the Selden Motor Vehicle Company (in Rochester, of course), but in 1903 Henry Ford led other automakers in a lawsuit against Selden contesting his right to demand royalties. The case lasted an agonizing 8 years, and Selden won it, but Ford and friends appealed and won the appeal on the grounds that the Selden automobile was powered by an engine based on the Brayton gasoline engine while Ford and the others were using engines based on the Nikolaus Otto designed gasoline engine.
Selden turned to making trucks, calling the company The Selden Truck Sales Corporation until it was bought by Bethlehem Motor Truck Corporation in 1930. Selden died at the age of 75 in 1922, and although not often remembered for his pioneering work, he did manage to collect at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on his patents. Note: Henry Ford once said that Selden contributed nothing to the progress of the auto industry and in fact the industry would have been farther advanced if Selden had never lived! (Ford was not a particularly nice person.)
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Goldstone, Lawrence. Drive!: Henry Ford, George Selden, and the Race to Invent the Auto Age. Ballantine Books, 2016.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="14868 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=14868">107 Comments
It seems odd that the original inventor and owner of the automobile patent did not produce the first automobile. I am curious to why the royalties lawsuit lasted 8 years. If Ford and the other automakers were using a different engine, would it not have had a patent?
Wow 16 years to get a patent and 8 years involved in a lawsuit, things moved slowly back then. I think Mr Selden was an innovator and I think Henry Ford was arrogant and perhaps jealous of Mr. Selden.
I cannot believe that Selden waited 16 years to get his patent and then sold it. That is a long time to wait just to get rid of it. It is not kind of Ford to say that Selden did nothing for the industry!
I have never heard of Selden before. I think he should get more recognition for his work. I could not imagine working hard on something and not getting credit for it.
This story reminds me of the “Race to Space” from the 1960’s. Everyone was wanting to be “The first” and the competition gets intense.
Ford is who is usually recognized for creating the first automobile. It would be difficult to still have motivation to create the automobile after Selden waited 16 years for a patent. Although he received royalties from other companies I think he still deserves more recognition for his contribution to automobiles.
I think it is interesting to read that these patents were sold. I feel like I have only really heard of people who patent their ideas so that no one will take them, not so they can sell them and make money. I do think that it is a good idea.
I think Selden did contribute to the automobile after reading this. I’m not sure what Ford stood to gain by making the comments he did. Its clear Selden held patents for a one cylinder 400 version of an engine. Very interesting read.
One thing that really surprised me was that the first man to try to patent an automobile was the son of an attorney. This really surprised me because it is expected that attorneys are city goers who don’t “play,” in their garages trying to make automobiles.
I love how ford would thing that the auto industry would be farther ahead. He was a key at new manufacturing techniques not nessicarly at cars.
I have actually never heard of George Selden before. I think it’s crazy how Ford has gotten all of the credit towards the making of the first automobile, when he actually is technically not. I believe that Selden deserves more recognition than we give him.
With Ford getting all of the credit in the car industry, it is easy to see why he was out on the back burner in comparison. I was not even aware his contributions before reading this.
I was never aware of George Selden until I read this article. I wish Selden received more acknowledgement for his contribution to the automobile industry. I find it very selfish for Ford to take Selden’s credit.
I have always just associated Henry Ford with the invention of the automobile. It is sad that he got all of the credit for this industry when Selden contributed a substantial amount. An 8 year long case has to be excruciating, especially when it didn’t end the way that they wanted it to.
I had never heard of Selden until reading this article. After all of the work that Selden did, and he still didn’t receive any of the credit must be tough. For Ford to say that Selden didn’t contribute to the industry is harsh of him to do, and Selden should have received some credit even if it were small.
I had no idea who Selden was before I read this article but I think he deserved more credit than what he got.
In my opinion, Selden should receive a number of amount of credit because he did work for the auto industry. It is not fair to him that many people had never heard of him before reading the article just like me.
Sadly, Selden lost the race to creating the first automobile. He then went and created his own trucking company that made tons of money.
This makes me wonder how many other inventors have either stole someone else’s idea or won the battle for a patent.
I had no idea who Selden was until I read this article. Although it was unfair I do like learning about the true history of things like who stole what from who.
Even though Selden missed out on being named the inventor of automobiles he still managed to make his own trunk company
This is so cool and it makes me happier when you find out places like Harley Davidson starts in Ohio which makes us a lot more important , but the ideas was more creative back the n because they worked with nothing like we have all access today.
It was a shock to me that it took 19 years to get the patent!
When I think about automobile invention I always think of Henry Ford.
Selden is a name that I have never heard when discussing automobiles, Henry Ford is the name I hear. I do not agree wit the comment Henry made but I do believe that he impressively advanced automobiles than Selden.
I have never heard of this before but it’s a shame that it took so long for him to get his patent.
It sucks that he was never able to make it work and that he had to go through a long court battle with Ford.
Who knows, maybe Ford was right.
Ford may have been right or he may have been wrong and we could be sitting years behind in technology now. The world may never know.
Shots fired! I wonder if the back & forth battle that lasted 8 years had anything to do with Ford’s strong, hateful opinion about Selden…
great story, not every one he made anything can he successful
I am not surprised that Ford did this to Seldon, He did the same thing to Harley Davidson.
George Seldon was a very accomplished man. Too bad he didn’t receive any accolades for his inventions. Ford was a formidable opponent with a nasty temperament, seems Seldon did not stand a chance!
I am glad there are articles like these to make sure that we know the name George Seldon.
I sense that Ford had a lot of anger and animosity towards Seldon. They were all racing to be the first and the best at what they did. There is jealousy in every business towards their competitors.
I had no idea that George Selden was the first American to patent an automobile, prior to reading this I had thought that the patent belonged to Ford. Very strange that a lawyer would take on a project such as creating a small internal combustion engine. Also, interesting to know that Henry Ford was so cruel.
It’s a shame that Henry Ford had to be that concerned over his reputation that he had to discredit Selden for his ground-breaking work. I don’t understand why both Ford and Selden could have just collaborated since they both had innovative ideas.
Their egos were too big for them. It would have made sense to collaborate but neither of them wanted to budge and they each wanted to be the bigger name.
I have heard of the Brayton motor and I was shocked about this article. I always thought Henry Ford was first to do this so it was interesting to find out about that. I watched the history channel documentary of Harley Davidson and how it came about. That was interesting, if you like Harley Davidson or even if your a history person it was a great series.
This article has me wondering what my high school history teacher had in her agenda because I remember her saying Ford was the first. I am racking my brain now on what I have learned over the years that would have been easier to just have learned in high school haha!
I thought Henry Ford was the first! I have never heard of Selden before. Very interesting article that seems to contradict what most people think about automobiles.
I have actually read a bit about Seldon before. Most believe it was Ford, confusing his fame for mass producing automobiles for inventing them.
First I’ve heard of Seldon. Ford probably owes his sucess to Seldon but too proud to admit it. In any regard I am glad it all worked out so I don’t have to take a horse and buggy to work.
Well that took a spin on things. I was shocked reading this article. I’ve always thought it was ford.
Thanks to the type of economy that the U.S has to drive others to do better. The Seldon and Ford feud caused the other to make a better product to thrive. Competition brings out the best in everyone.
I wish Selden’s contributions to the automotive industry was better known. Usually we are only think of Henry Ford when we think of pioneers in automobiles. Selden should also be mentioned in more history books for his contributions.
This is the first time I have heard this information. I never knew that Henry Ford was not a very nice person. Good thing I have never supported his company or so called legacy by buying a car from them.
Before reading this, I had never heard of this man. It is interesting to learn about inventors who came close to fame and a major breakthrough, but fell short in the end.
I had heard of Selden before and that there was a rocky relationship between him and Ford, but to see that Ford would rather of had him not live at all was insane!
I had never heard of Selden and not surprising because the big automobile industry never gave him credit for his invention. According to some history books Ford was always out for himself and would take anyone out of the picture for him to be number 1.
It’s hard to think that it took that long to get a patent and go through the court system. If it took that long back then, I can only imagine how long something like that would take in this time period. Is getting a patent hard to do right now?
Before reading this article I was unaware of Selden, I wish he would of got more credit for what he did.
Ive never heard of Selden before. Although he didn’t become big he did manage to collect at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on his patents
I never knew anything about Selden but he seemed like a successful man.
Selden was not really recognized or given the max credit due to him now with that being said I never heard his of him before. He seemed as if he was a very successful person.
I get that the two engines were completely different but I think they would have been more successful if they had tried to work together.
I enjoyed reading the article until I read that Henry Ford took all of the credit for designing the first automobile after suing Seldon because of the patent.
I had never heard of Selden, its sad that he didn’t get credit for his invention. At least he was able to get money from his patent.
I would have to agree with everyone below, I too have never heard of Selden and it is interesting that he did not get credit. It is also crazy how long it took to get a patent.
Good thing the guy was a lawyer since he spent most of his working years in the court. Definitely never heard of him till now.
Wow, this is shocking. I’ve never once heard the name, Selden! I’m amazed by the amount of time it took to get a patent!
As this is what almost everyone has stated i have never heard of the Selden name. It is sad that he did not get credit for what he did.
I never knew that Selden was the first to obtain the automobile patent. I to always was told it was Ford. It’s a shame that Selden never was able to be recognized for his amazing work and talent.
This is indeed an obscure fact. i never knew Ford was not the original inventor.
I have worked in the car business for a few years now. I have learned more about cars than I care to really know and never once have I heard anything about anyone other than Ford! I feel bad that Selden was overlooked and Ford takes all the glory.
I was surprised to learn that it was George Selden to hold the first patent on the automobile, someone who I have never heard of. Moreover, I must say it sounded like Selden and Henry Ford really hated each other. I wonder if Selden died with a sense of resentment for Ford, because Ford appeared to take all the credit for inventing the automobile.
Quite interesting to hear of how Henry Ford treated others and seemed a little greedy as well. I enjoyed reading about George Selden and his vehicle patent. I would like to believe that others, besides Ford, gave this man more credit throughout the years.
To me it seems that Ford didn’t want to give Selden recognition that he deserves.
That Ford guy sounds like a bit of a jerk…
The amount of patience and commitment to this invention is amazing to me. 16 years to get the original patent, and 8 years in court demanding royalties. This guy really believed in himself and his
invention!
Great sign of patience and perseverance. Hard to have both qualities.
I though Ford was the originator of motor vehicles, boy was I wrong. Though he assisted in the progression in them, it was originally George Selden who started the idea of the motor vehicle. Further more, I am disappointed in Ford’s behavior and how he was malicious.
Geesh, can’t we all just get along?
I found it really interesting that an attorney also contributed to such a big part of history in another way. It is sad he didn’t get the recognition he deserved.
I have actually never heard of him before. The small bit of education we get taught in high school only teaches us the most known people in history and most known history events.
It seems Ford got what he wanted, to be known as the first car maker even if he really wasn’t. I would agree with the appeal if they were truly different engine models. Why does it take a patent attorney 16 years to get his own?
I would have liked to meet Henry Ford he was a very knowledgable man that knew how to make money.
It was famous that Ford was the first company that produces cars around the world. On the other hand, Ford don’t want Selden chasing on him.
I wonder if William Whitney was any relation to Eli Whitney?
that was an amazing creating in USA.
Ford was very harsh in saying the automobile industry would’ve been better if Selden had never lived. I think this just proves that Selden had done a great work. People don’t typically not give credit to others unless they are jealous.
I have never heard of Selden or any of his contributions to the automobile. But the article makes it sound like he took the idea from one he saw at a convention. So technically, he was not the inventor so I think it is wrong that he was given the patent.
Before reading this article, I had never heard of George Selden or the fact that he was the first American to patent an automobile. I find it so interesting that Selden was actually an attorney, but he liked to dabble in workshop. It was neat to learn that he was from Rochester, NY. One of my best friends is from that area, I will have to share this article with her!
George Eastman, founder of Kodak (the photography company) was also from Rochester and was an accomplished inventor (film in roll form, which coincidentally makes movies possible).
Men like George Selden and even Thomas Edison fascinate me. The constant flow of brand new ideas is something I don’t understand. Also, the determination that it would take to perfect inventions that these men have designed over the years must be huge.
I can not wrap my head around the fact that men like Thomas Edison could be so intelligent to the point where they were mass producing new ideas and inventions on the fly what seemed so. So much dedication and determination went into their work!
I thought it was crazy that it took 16 years for the patent. Henry Ford really had a strong opinion against Seldon.
Interesting.
I think Ford was just salty that Selden made a car before he did.
Ford is a modern day dream crusher. Poor Selden.
I enjoyed studying the picture at the top. I like the detail.
This is interesting because I have learned a lot about Henry Ford, but never heard of Selden.
I found it interesting that Seldon was actually an attorney, but cars were just a hobby of his.
I found it interesting how Ford held so much spite for Selden, especially how he stated the industry would have been better off without him!
I can’t believe Ford’s lawsuit against Selden lasted 8 years! That’s a long time! I wonder what would’ve happened if the two of them partnered together.
I have not heard of Selden before but it is interesting to read about what he contributed to the beginning of the making of automobiles and what Ford had to say about him.
I was intrigued by how long it took Selden to get a patent and how jealous Ford was of his contributions to auto industry.
What really caught my eye was how Selden turned to making trucks. I also now think Ford was mean and a jealous man.
This article interested me because I know a lot about Henry Ford and hear about him all the time but I have never heard of Selden.
It is crazy to think that the first engine was only 400 pounds and a 1 cylinder and it took 16 years to get it patented!
It is crazy to think where automobiles would be today if Henry Ford would have lost his case against Seldon and only he would have been able to manufacture automobiles.
It is frustrating that history is taught one way but not all of the components seem to be included such as Seldens part in the first automobile
I think it is interesting that when taught about the beginning of the automobile industry, we never learned about Selden’s contributions – we only ever focused on Henry Ford.
when I saw how big Sedlen’s contributions actually were, it makes me wonder what other important people in the creation of today’s culture are not properly recognized.
I have never heard of this person before and now I’m wondering why I haven’t? It’s fascinating to learn that Selden really was the start of the automobile industry.
It’s strange that Selden was the first and not Ford. I do recall learning that Henry Ford was a little rude, but to say Selden would be better off dead is low.
This was an interesting story I didn’t know Henry Ford wasn’t the first person to get a patent for the automobile. I wonder if it still takes 8 years to get one approved. I guess depending on who you believe Seldon or Ford depends on whether Seldon actually helped to automobile industry.