Robert M. Keating's story is America's story. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1862 to poor Irish immigrants, he was just 13 when his father died suddenly. A precocious boy with a knack for mechanics, Keating filed his first patent at 22, started his own bicycle company at 28, and at 32 was producing one of the most innovative bicycle lines in the world in a state-of-the-art factory.
Along the way he flirted with baseball, briefly playing in the major leagues and patenting the game's rubberized home plate. In early 1901 Keating developed and marketed a ground-breaking motorcycle before either Indian or Harley-Davidson, and later successfully sued both companies for patent infringement. His company also manufactured automobiles beginning in 1898, producing both electric and gasoline powered vehicles. At the time of his death at 59, Keating held 49 patents--everything from bicycle and motorcycle designs to lunch-chairs to a modern flushing device for toilets.
This book tells the story of Keating and his Keating Wheel Company, a Gilded Age story of unbridled inventiveness that encapsulates America's transformation into a society that would forever move on wheels.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Keating has delivered an exceptional chronicle of the history of Robert M. Keating and the Keating Wheel Company...the depth of this work is a researcher's (and reader's) dream...no other resource covers the inventor like this one does...recommended to readers interested not only in entrepreneurship but also in the early history of bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles...highly recommended"-Choice.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Interest Age: From 18 years
Produkt-Hinweis
Illustrationen
58 photos and illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Maße
Höhe: 254 mm
Breite: 178 mm
Dicke: 22 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7864-7970-2 (9780786479702)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
After a long career developing workforce and economic development policy, R.K. Keating now lives in New Hampshire.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Prologue: What Hibernicus Heard
Part I.?Beginnings
1.?Wild Irish Roots
2.?The Making of an Engineer
3.?Keating Plays Ball
4.?A First for the Whip City
Part II.?Holyoke
5.?Marciene Whitcomb and the Keating Bicycle Factory
6.?There's a New Wheel in Town
7.?"See That Curve?"
8.?Charles Dexter Rood
9.?Keating Joins the Show
10.?From a Fad to a Boom
11.?Notions of a Horseless Age
Part III.?Middletown
12.?Ends and Beginnings
13.?A Factory like No Other
14.?"365 Days Ahead of Them All"
15.?Best-Laid Plans
16.?The Saddle King
17.?The Governor
18.?Tactics and Flanking Maneuvers
19.?Changes in the Wind
Part IV.?Motors and Mayhem
20.?Keeping Pace
21.?The Royal Blue Express
22.?Matters of Trust
23.?A Trust That Matters
24.?Apple Green, Trimmed in Black
25.?Keating Spins His Wheels
Part V.?Collapse
26.?Garford Makes Demands
27.?Going for the Jugular
28.?The Receiver
29.?Exit Strategy
30.?Milestones and Millstones
Part VI.?What Might Have Been
31.?From Schemes to Dreams
32.?Claims and Counter Claims
33.?The Motorcycle City
34.?Forward and Reverse
35.?Second Chances
36.?The Light Fades
37.?The Curtain Comes Down in Middletown
Part VII.?Return to Springfield
38.?Dark Days
39.?Reboot
40.?Taking On the Big Boys
41.?The Bottom of the Ninth
42.?Requiem
Epilogue
Afterword
Appendices
A:?The Keating Wheel Company Officers and Members of the Board of Directors
B:?Robert M. Keating's Patents, 1884-1920
C:?The Only Original 1901 Keating Motorcycle Known to Exist
Notes
Bibliography
Index
