- Published on
When Electric Cars Were for Women
- Authors
- Name
- DeepHorus
At the turn of the century, the auto industry was young and unsettled, with electric, steam, and gasoline cars competing. In 1898 about 50 carmakers operated in the United States; a decade later the number had increased fivefold. In 1901 companies produced 7,000 vehicles, and by 1910 production reached 181,000.
Before 1911, gasoline engines were hand-cranked, loud and noxious. Fully electric vehicles were easy to start by turning a main battery switch, often with a key, and produced no foul exhaust. Gasoline could be carried in cans, but charging required planning.
Electric carmakers used these advantages to market cars to women and to doctors making night house calls. General Electric made chargers based on mercury-arc rectifiers and created ads featuring stylishly dressed women plugging in cars. One early adopter, Fannie Goodnow, owned a 1908 Bailey Victoria Phaeton and used a GE mercury-arc rectifier to charge it.
Electrical engineer Peter Cooper Hewitt is generally credited with inventing the mercury-arc rectifier. During the first decade of the 20th century he received several U.S. patents for electric lamps and apparatus for transmitting and using currents. Percy H. Thomas, chief electrician for Cooper Hewitt Electric Co., advanced Hewitt's designs with patents 968,896 and 1,163,706.
The mercury-arc rectifier acted as a diode, converting AC from the grid into DC needed to charge a car battery. A small amount of liquid mercury in a glass tube vaporized and glowed as electricity passed through, allowing current to flow one way with carbon anodes. Such a unit took 12 hours to charge a drained battery.
Goodnow, a well-to-do Boston-area woman, had more than six automobile producers to choose from. She chose S.R. Bailey & Co. of Amesbury, Massachusetts. Samuel Robinson Bailey had started in the carriage and sleigh business as a teenager before pivoting to electric cars.
