Identical twin brothers, Francis E.

and Freeland O.

Stanley, were New Englanders, born in Kingsfield, Maine, in 1849 into a farming family.

Their mechanical knowledge was largely self-taught on the farm and their venture into the manufacture of photographic dry plates can at best be described as surprising.

Their Newton, Massachusetts factory was to be sold in due course extremely profitably to the Eastman Kodak Company.

The brothers were 47 when they embarked upon motor car manufacture, choosing steam power in view of their familiarity with this form of power on the family farm.

Lightness was their main aim so that the new-fangled pneumatic tyres could be used and the car driven comfortably over the heavily rutted roads of the time.

The Mason Regulator Company provided the first engine, a lightweight two-cylinder double acting unit, and an upright fire tube boiler was made by Roberts Iron Works Company.

The first Stanley took to the road in September 1897, although this and ot...