Sylvester H. Roper in a Speed Boat, circa 1885
THF278586 / Sylvester H. Roper in a Speed Boat, circa 1885
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Artifact Overview
Massachusetts machinist Sylvester Roper built several steam-powered carriages and motorcycles years before automobiles -- as we know them -- appeared. Roper never produced his vehicles commercially. Instead, they were exhibited at circuses and fairs, where crowds marveled at the self-propelled contraptions. Steamboats and steam locomotives were common, but steam-powered carriages were genuine novelties.
Artifact Details
Artifact
Photographic print
Subject Date
circa 1885
Collection Title
Location
By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center
Object ID
2011.0.26.5
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Mounting board
Pencil (Marking material)
Technique
Gelatin silver process
Mounting
Handwriting
Color
Black-and-white (Colors)
Dimensions
Height: 7 in
Width: 9.5 in
Inscriptions
on back: (handwritten) Sylvester Roper / (Grandpa to Bessie Roper) / in his "speed boat" built after model at Sunapee. / This boat was used on Boston Harbor. / Please return to: Mrs. Lester W. Claflin / 8 Storrs Road / Hanover, N.H. / great-granddaugter of / Sylvester
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Related Artifacts
Artifact1865 Roper Steam Carriage
This vehicle is the oldest surviving American automobile. In the 1860s, a small steam carriage running under its own power -- without horses! -- was so startling that people paid to see it driven. It was a curiosity, not transportation. By the time its inventor, Sylvester Roper, died in 1896, new innovators were transforming horseless carriages from curiosities into practical vehicles.