The "House" of Invention

     First Car in England Built by a House From Buffalo!

Buffalo Times, February 22 1931

Harry A. House Jr.

   If that sounds a little strange, it's not.  Not if the house was Harry A. House Jr. of 42 Fordham Drive, Buffalo. He designed, built and drove the first automobile in England. His father is conceded by many to have constructed America's initial automobile, which alarmed the citizens of Bridgeport Conn., in 1866.  Retired now after 15 years as chief engineer of the former Wire Wheel corporation of America here, House works daily in a fully equipped machine shop in the basement of his home, perfecting ideas to swell his total of half a hundred patented inventions.

Got First License in 1897

   The first license that England ever issued, which bears his name, hangs in the club rooms of the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain, to which both House and the Prince of Wales belong. The license was issued in 1897 at Somerset House where deeds and records are kept in London. It was larger than a present day birth certificate and bore the royal coat of arms. House and his father, Henry A. House Sr., went to England in 1889 to join Sir Hiram Maxim (machine gun inventor) in working out a flying machine. Wilbur Wright came to England at the time to view the invention.  Several trial flights ended disastrously and backers of the project eventually withdrew their support. The flying machine was abandoned by Sir Hiram and his two American helpers. 

Maxim's Steam Powered Aircraft -1890's 

Made Steam Driven Vehicle

  The elder House returned to the United States while his son remained in England and began experimentations on a self-propelled commercial vehicle. He evolved a steam driven machine which weighed a ton and a half and which was capable of achieving a speed of 30 miles per hour. The steam was generated by kerosene oil and a funnel led out through the top to carry out the heat.  A license had to be taken out before the steam auto could be operated generally on the roads.  There wasn't any form to cover such a situation, so one was hastily and elaborately devised.  It cost House two pounds (about ten dollars) to take out his first license.   

  The government became interested in the vehicle and as a experiment used it for Royal Mail Service. For Six weeks, Houses' automobile carried the mail from London to Riegate, a distance of 30 miles.  Sharply at 10 the steam car would chug off on it's mission while crowds gathered to see the horseless contraption make it's way over the bumpy roads.

Double Decker Comes Next

  Later house designed a double-decker car with a majestic funnel rearing from the top. This machine was taken to France. The inventor holds a gold medal and two silver for his earlier designs in automotive vehicles. The younger came to Buffalo and took up duties with the Wheel Corporation.  He became chief engineer and invented numerous wire wheel designs and processes for making them. He perfected wheel balances, a foot-lifting jack and auto accessories. During the course of his 19 years in England he was made Vice Consul at Southampton. Today he is 65 and still drives an automobile.

Henry A. House Sr.'s Automobile,
Bridgeport - 1866

  The senior House died in his Bridgeport home, at the age of 90, in December of 1930. He had invented mechanical devises for the airplane, auto and numerous other types of machinery. Altogether he was credited with over 300 inventions. The story is told in Bridgeport that a balky horse caused House Sr. to invent the first automobile. "Better no horse at all than one that balks," he said, according to legend, then he set about designing a vehicle to eliminate the cantankerous horse. 

Editors Note:  Hiram Maxim did actually achieve flight by accident although not "controlled." Just a few feet off the ground then crashed. He used lightweight steam engines.  The area he was testing at did not allow for full takeoffs. The steam engines, although powerful enough to lift the huge aircraft could not hold enough water for anything other than a short flight even if it could take off. Search: Hiram Maxim airplane, for details on his flight experiments in the 1890's. I am still researching the Henry A. House Sr. automobile in Bridgeport Conn. If anyone has information on any of the inventions mentioned in this story, please contact me by email.  

Thanks

Brodie's "Tin Hat"

He Made the World's "Most Famous Hat"

Local Genius Invented Many War Devices,

But None So Thankfully Received by 

Doughboys as the Famous "Tin Kelly."

Buffalo Times April 4, 1926

Canadian infantry of the 27th Battalion with
a Lewis machine gun and steel helmets

   It seems that there can't be much romance in hat making, ordinarily, and not if it's an ordinary kind of hat. John Leopold Brodie, No. 806 West Ferry Street, found romance in his creation however, romance and adventure in quantities to satisfy almost anyone. It was Mr. Brodie who invented the Tin Hat of war-time fame. To Mr. Brodie thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands allied soldiers owe their lives. Many of the doughboys with a streak of curiosity to peek over the top of a besieged trench, were saved from an army blanket and last post honors by the tin hat.

   Mr. Brodies' hat was first chosen by the British Government, and later by the United States Government, as the most efficient life saving hat of more than 40 models offered them. Tests proved that the hat was so constructed that it was practically bullet proof, and the cushioning cage inside, resisted the shock. Under service conditions it was found that the hat cut down on head wounds by 60 percent.    

    Mr. Brodie has many inventions to his credit. One was a chain steel visor attached under the tin hats and so arranged as to pull it down in front of the eyed for protection from shrapnel. Another war time invention was a message carrying rocket which could be set for a certain distance as the case might be, and save sending a man a man out under fire to a sure death. Also a face protector for tank operators, other were service smoke helmets and gas alarms, most of which saw a great deal of  active service in France.  He is also said to have developed the "stop and go" traffic light.

   He was born July 10th in Riga Russia and had an adventurous career. As a young man, Mr. Brodie  went to South Africa and was subsequently interested, as an owner, in the development of diamond and gold mines there, and eventually made a fortune in gold and diamonds at the Kimberly and Johannesburg treasure mines. For several of his years there he was closely associated with Cecil Rhodes. He returned to England and invented a chemical process for the manufacture of salt and engaged in that business until 1914. He is said to have refused a Knighthood in England and to have come to Buffalo just after the armistice to live, solely because his wife (Eleanora Thompson), wished to live in the city of her birth. Mr. Brodie for a number of years has been one of Buffalo's most distinguished citizens, richest of all local war millionaires and possibly the wealthiest man in the city. He received his U.S. citizenship in 1924.

   Although reticent about discussing the invention of the most famous hat in the world, he says he conceived of such a hat after statistics showed that about 750 out of a thousand wounded soldiers were suffering from head wounds.  One of the tests that Mr. Brodie put his hat through in order for the government to accept it from among 40 or 50 others,  was to put it on his head and allow it to be struck with a heavy steel bar.  He had so much confidence in  his invention that he was even willing to have the government inspectors shoot at the hat with a 45 caliber revolver while he was wearing it.  This was not considered necessary, however. 

   Mr. Brodie is asking a royalty for the use of his invention from the United States Government. So far he has received nothing but the heartfelt thanks from the thousands of American soldiers.  They didn't know who to thank for the hat when they were in the trenches, and they probably never will know, but they say thanks just the same.
   During the first year of World War I, none of the combatants offered steel helmets to their troops. The soldiers of most nations went into battle wearing simple cloth caps that offered virtually no protection from modern weapons. German troops wore the traditional leather Pickelhaube, also of little protective value.

    The Brodie helmet (also called the shrapnel helmet or Tommy helmet, and in the United States known as a doughboy helmet) was a steel helmet designed and patented in 1915 by John L. Brodie. The War Office Invention Department was asked to evaluate the French Adrian design but they decided that it was not strong enough and was too complex to allow quick mass production. The design submitted by John L. Brodie offered advantages over the French design as it could be pressed from a single thick sheet of steel, giving it added strength. The British Army first utilised the helmet in September of 1915 but it was not until the spring of 1916 that the helmet began to be issued to British troops in large numbers. It was first used in battle in April 1916 at St Eloi. Troops from other countries in the British Empire also used the Brodie helmet as did the United States when they entered the war in 1917. The United States Government initially purchased some 400,000 helmets from Britain.

Search Amazon.com for BRODIE HELMET

Editors Note:  For the record, newspapers in general do not always get every fact correct regarding subject matter (not a big surprise). There were  some conflicting minor biographical information in articles written at different times I found about John Brodie. If ever any reader has additional information regarding John Brodie, that may differ from what I have, feel free to bring it up to me, and I will take it into consideration. Thanks

Harvard Cup Football Packs It In - Sardine Style!

RECORD CROWD OF 50,988 SEES KENSINGTON WIN

LARGEST SPORTS THRONG IN CITY'S ANNALS JAMS 

CIVIC STADIUM FOR SCHOLASTIC GAME

Courier Express October 22 1948

Civic Stadium - Jefferson at Best Streets

   The largest sports crowd in Buffalo history-50,988-saw an alert Kensington High School football team, batter previously unbeaten Bennett, 26-8 last night in Civic Stadium, in the first Harvard Cup grid game ever contested under the lights.

   Civic Stadium ripped, rocked, roared and nearly burst it's concrete seams last night as the largest crowd ever to attend a local sports event,  jam packed the Best Street bowl to watch two high schools vie for football honors. The crowd figure was the official turnstile count as announced by James V. Carney, director of Civic Stadium and Memorial Auditorium. The previous all time attendance mark was set last season when the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns attracted 43,167 to the same stadium. School children of all ages, and adults too, took up every conceivable inch of space in the stadium which ordinarily seats 37,064, to watch Bennett High School and Kensington High school tussle it on the gridiron in the first Harvard Cup series game ever contested at night.

  A record Buffalo Sports turnout of 50,988, occupying every 

  seat in the steeply banked saucer and overflowing all around the 

  track and field, watched Kensington defeat Bennett, 26 to 8 in a 

  Harvard Cup Football game last night in Civic Stadium.

  C-E Photo

  The victory, achieved with surprising ease, was Kensington's third of the season and extended the defending Harvard Cup champions' unbeaten streak to ten over a two year span. Bobby Wilde, a brilliant, deceptive T-quarterback who amazed the huge throng with his ball-handling wizardry; Chris Frauenhofer, an explosive scat-back, Carl Wyles, a power-running fullback, and Jack Thompson, who turned in a magnificent performance at end, covered themselves with glory in the Knight's decisive triumph.

  As a lopsided moon looked down with no little wonderment, the high schools of the city unleashed all the noise and color they could conjure, and under an onslaught of bands, sirens, cowbells and shrieking voices, windows rocked in houses in three counties. Considered to be the greatest boost to high school football since the inauguration of the Harvard Cup series, the event had an advance sale of 50,057, and although no tickets were sold at the gate, dazed officials estimate that another thousand crashed the gates by fair means or foul.  Where they all sat remains a mystery, although it's a known fact the small fry were able to squeeze as many as four into a space ordinarily occupied by one.  At any rate they filled the seats solid from top to bottom. They choked the aisles, They throttled the section entrances. They overflowed the stands, and formed a three-deep ring of noise around the playing field.  

1958 Harvard Cup, Bennett Vs. Riverside
(Photo Courtesy Richard Kozak)

  The  color of the affair was enough to shame the light of a bright moon and the concerted wind from nearly 51,000 screaming throats must have blown all the clouds from the sky. The night was clear crisp, bright and very noisy with youthful exuberance.  According to police Inspector Peter J. Flood, who was in charge of stadium detail, the gates opened at 6:20 p.m. for a waiting crowd of about 5,000. By 7:15, there were more than 30,000 in the stands, and from then on in they never stopped coming. 

   The real action got under way when the orange and blue Bennett Band pitted lungs against the green-gold-white garbed musicians from Kensington.  But that was just a small drop in a large bucket.  At a drum roll and gunshot signal, a circus performance staged by all the High Schools got under way. Youthful performers, dressed in all sorts of costumes, leaped atop wooden stages spaced at intervals around the stadium track, and put on their specialty acts.

Bennett Snow Game 1957

   The acts Included everything under the sun and even a few from under the moon. There were tumblers, acrobats, dancing Scottish lassies, cavorting clowns, cowboys on horseback, trick rope artists, a girls burlesque football team, accordion players and a wailing, discordant German band. After that came, the parade, introduced with a fanfare of trumpets that were only  a pinpoint of sound in an ocean of bedlam. South Park, Emerson Vocational, Burgard, Girl's Vocational and Bennett presented floats which drew ear-shattering roars from the crowd. The floats included Burgard's atomic, hydromatic, dynaflow training car, a Gay 90's Schmoos, a stuffed Bennett Tiger mounted on a truck and a red and silver float depicting ladies-in-waiting before the queen of Girl's Vocational. 

  Things really got hot during the individual introduction of both schools' team members over the stadium loud speaker system, and a crescendo of sound reached a new high as each lads name, weight and position were read off. After team introductions, bands, baton twirling majorettes, color guards and drum majors paraded out onto the field and stood at attention at the east end of the field. The teams of both schools, trim and fresh looking in clean uniforms, formed at the far end of the gridiron.  At the first strains of the National Anthem, the restless noisy crowd quieted amazingly and the sound of it rising to its feet was a vast rustle in the night. It stood, bareheaded and at attention as Miss Gertrude Lutzi, accompanied by the Bennett and Kensington bands, sang the Star Spangled Banner.

Kensington vs. Bennett 1958
(Photo Courtesy Richard Kozak)

  There was a hush as the last note faded, then the stadium erupted into a vertex of sound, as noise makers and healthy young throats conspired to establish some sort of record for noise.  Cheer leaders from both schools spun in the air along with their megaphones. A whistle blew. A football soared in the air. The game was on, and the lid was really off then for the next couple of hours.  

Editors Note:  As of 2018, the 51,000 attendance is still the largest crowd to ever watch a high school football game in New York State and the country.

                                         

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