7846 Elmer A.

Sperry arrived in Cleveland in the later years of the nineteenth century to assist in setting up an electric street railway company.

His credentials had already been established as he had previously invented electric arc lamps and he had been at the forefront of design of advanced electrically-driven mining equipment.

Intrigued by the new fangled horseless carriage, he saw the future not in steam engines or the internal combustion engine but in electrically powered vehicles – he may yet be proved right! His Sperry Engineering Company built its first electric carriage in 1898 and, joining forces with the Cleveland Machine Screw Company in 1899, Sperry entered motor car production.

Coachwork, chassis design and suspension followed closely horsedrawn vehicle principles but here was a state-of-the-art, self-propelled vehicle, running almost in silence, that was capable, allegedly, of 18mph.

Also it was simplicity itself to drive with one multi-functional lever taking car...