Franklin at the 2001 Pre-Spring Fling

Ken Schifftner
Coyote and San Diego Corvair Clubs

Why, may you ask, was a 1927 Franklin at the Pre-Spring Fling? Certainly, as car "fanatics", such vintage vehicles are sure enough interesting, but why a Franklin? OK, it is air cooled, but so what?

It has been said that the Corvair and the Franklin were the most significant American air-cooled vehicles of the 20th Century. You may be also surprised to know that there are many interesting links to the design of these vehicles and the engineers who designed them. The Corvair has at least some of its "roots" in the pioneer engineering of the Franklin automobile and particularly with the Franklin inventor, John Wilkinson.

There is an interesting book on the Franklin Automobile Company and its people. Written by Sinclair Powell, "The Franklin Automobile Company" book is the Franklin version of Tony Fiore's "Corvair Decade" publication. The story that follows comes from Mr. Powell's book, the H.H. Franklin Foundation's website, and the Onondaga County Historical Society website that has numerous Franklin pictures and historical tidbits.

Knox, Waltham-Orient, Cameron, Frayer-Miller, Marmon, Premier, Holmes, Fox, Detroit, Chevrolet, Franklin, Brown, and Ner-a-Car, and others all made air cooled vehicles and marketed them to the American buying public. Many of the "public", however, didn't buy. Only the Franklin and the Corvair received some measure of success. The Franklin targeted the upper middle class buyer during the turbulent infancy of the century of the automobile (1902-1934), and the Corvair weathered the equally turbulent "economy/power" market of the '60's. Both succumbed to market changes and demographics which the management could not overcome or, maybe, ignored.

The H.H. Franklin Company was located in Syracuse, NY.. Its founder was a talented "money man" and entrepreneur named Herbert H. Franklin. Mr. Franklin had a cleft palate and had some difficulty with verbal communication but was an excellent writer. He was in the publishing business but dreamed of bigger things. One day in 1893, he met a man named H.G. Underwood who had developed a new process called "hydrostatic molding". It involved inserting pressurized molten metal into a form or "die". H.H. Franklin saw the potential in this and cut a deal with Mr. Underwood. The H.H. Franklin Manufacturing Company was formed. He, a publisher and real estate speculator, was in the "die casting" business. One of the first.

The Manufacturing Company struggled at first but he began to sell die cast parts to local companies such as those making typewriters. And parts for bicycles.

In the late 1900's, bicycles were the all the rage (remember the Wright Brothers were bicycle makers). Enter a handsome and talented young Cornell educated engineer named John Wilkinson. John got a job in Syracuse working for the Syracuse Bicycle Company. He puttered around, however, with air cooled gasoline powered engines. Not single cylinder. Multi-cylinder. A local group of investors were impressed with Wilkinson's four-cylinder engine and related ideas and a partnership was established. The following is a photo of John Wilkinson and one of his original vehicles. The engine was mounted under the seat and the chassis was suspected to be a modified Locomobile.

It was 1900 and Wilkinson was excited about getting into the automobile business. The investors however, faltered, and they eventually defaulted on their agreement with John*. One investor, however, Alexander Brown, himself and inventor saw the potential if he could find a good businessman to pursue Wilkinson's ideas. That man was H.H. Franklin, a friend of Brown's.

(*After the Franklin became popular, the original investors sued Wilkinson and Franklin trying to get the newer designs, but lost in court).

Wilkinson was hired and the H.H. Franklin Manufacturing Company started to design and produce real automobiles.

John Wilkinson was much like our Ed Cole. As true engineer and inventors, their focus was on the product and its performance. They both researched various methods of manufacturing and were flexible in their appraisal of alternative technologies. They both sponsored an environment where "It can be done" was the motto. Under the guidance of Wilkinson, air cooled engines of 4 to 12 cylinders were produced, even a "supercharged" version when the competition was pushing large and powerful water-cooled designs. Under the guidance of Ed Cole, the innovative Corvair was produced when competitors were turning out modifications of conventional water-cooled technology that, with few exceptions (the "hemi" comes to mind) were uninspiring.

Wilkinson was one of the original members of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and contributed numerous patents and technical papers to the body of knowledge from which the modern automobile is made.

He, from the start, used a four-cylinder engine configuration. This expanded to six (6) cylinders, eight-(8), and, for some models, a twelve- (12) cylinder version. Franklin cars were noted for their light weight, ease of handling, and fuel economy. And speed, not on the track, but between cities. Franklin would run fuel economy trials and achieve over 40 miles per gallon! Like the Corvair, this was far higher than most contemporaries.

Wilkinson used aluminum extensively. At one time, Franklin Manufacturing used more aluminum than any other single commercial entity in the world. The "die casting" roots served them well in casting blocks and cylinders. Bronze alloy fins were shrunk fit to the cylinder barrels and both downflow and crossflow air-cooling paths were used. The following is a sectional side and front view of a 1908 four cylinder Franklin engine.

Notice the low level camshaft. Also notice the hemispherical combustion chamber and concentric, yes, concentric valves.

(Note: The "From the Collection of the Onondaga Historical Association" is upside down on the following image. The engine isn't.)

This engine has a propeller type fan gear driven off the crankshaft. Some engines had blowers with reverse pitch blades (such as on Neil and Blanche Sorensen's 1927 Franklin) that pushed the air upward through a plenum then downward over the fins. Some Franklins were designed with suction type fans driven from the flywheel. Later designs (around 1929) were of crossflow air pattern which was said to be superior.

Early Franklins were noted for their "barrel" shaped hoods. The following image shows an early (about 1908-1910) barrel hood Franklin.

John Wilkinson prided himself in an engineering staff where there were few specialists but a lot of generalists. Any engineer could tackle a specific task (contrast that to today's engineering specialization!). One key person was a non-engineer named John Burns. Burns was the "fix-it" part of the equation. He could make it work. The following photo shows the two "Johns".

John Burns is on the left and John Wilkinson is on the right.

Recognize the above clutch disc? John Burns held the patent on the flexible center type clutch disk that reduced driveline vibration. The center spline was mounted in a flexible carrier to allow the clutch to engage smoothly. My goodness! Are those rivets?!

Franklin sold to the upper middle class primarily, doctors, lawyers, professional people. They also were popular with aviation buffs. Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both owned Franklins. My Aunt Lu and Uncle Frank also owned one. The following Franklin advertisement was typical for the period.

As with many companies, friction developed between the management and the engineering department. In about 1924, Wilkinson and others wanted to make a lower priced Franklin (to sell for about $1000). Ford had the Model T and Auburn, Chevrolet, and others were shifting towards lower priced models. Many Franklin dealerships also sold lower priced models which were siphoning off sales. The demographics were changing, too. Workers could now afford a car but they couldn't afford a Franklin. In good years, Franklin sold about 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles, limited in part by their cramped manufacturing facility in Syracuse.

H.H. Franklin initially agreed to make a lower cost version and prototypes were even made. It was suddenly terminated, however. Some say that Franklin was simply not financially strong enough to alter their manufacturing process (they used an almost hand-made type assembly process while others were automating). No firm reason was given.

Wilkinson left the firm in 1924. He sold his stock and went into semi-retirement. Franklin, instead, insisted on selling into a market that was gradually changing. The trend was towards large, multi-cylinder engines within their chosen market. The "prestige" factor at the time was the length of the hood and how many cylinders the engine had. Witness the twelve- (12) cylinder Cadillacs and enormous Duesenbergs of the time. Fewer people in its market appreciated the engineering technology and economy of the Franklin. They wanted POWER. (Where have we heard that before?).

The H.H. Franklin Company gradually faded away. By 1934 it was bankrupt. Many point to the failure of H.H. Franklin himself to see the market changes. In 1929, for example, he went heavily into debt to increase production far beyond what previous sales projections allowed. When the "Crash" hit, thousands of Franklins went unsold. The marketing was a bit shoddy. When "supercharged" engines were being marketed, Franklin came out with their own. All it did, however, was blow some of the cooling air into the carburetor!

The location in wintry Syracuse did not help. Parts had to be trucked in at great expense, whereas the competitors in Michigan and surroundings were relatively close to their suppliers. Don't worry about H.H.. He retired a wealthy man in spite of the failure of the business.

Franklin did not have his "Ralph Nader". Reports were, however, that the large banking institutions had a less than favorable view of the smaller automobile companies. With GM and Ford blossoming, why bother with a little firm in New York State?

Wilkinson and Franklin pioneered the use of four cylinders in a production vehicle, the float feed carburetor, the "valve-in-head" cylinder head construction, co-pioneered the six cylinder engine in 1905, pressure oil lubrication in 1906, automatic spark advance in 1907, electric carburetor primer, extensive use of aluminum, and the fully enclosed car body on a volume basis.

The casting techniques used in manufacturing the Corvair block and heads can be traced back to Franklin and its pioneering use of aluminum. Advocacy of the short stroke combustion technique on air-cooled engines can be linked to papers written by John Wilkinson and others at Franklin. Wilkinson's legacy in advocating standardized replaceable parts for cars through SAE and other groups was adopted, in effect, by firms sharing components among their various product lines (witness connections between Corvair parts and some of its brethren at GM).

It can be argued that GM did not see or simply did not adjust for the true market for the Corvair just as H.H. Franklin could not break from the up-scale market he had chosen. People wanting shear power in their cars helped thwart the Corvair (at least versus the Mustang) just as it had the Franklin. There was a high horsepower Franklin available (12 cylinder) but by that time people wanted it in a newer package.

The Corvair, like the Franklin, was/is an engineer's car, a driver's car. It takes a person who understands the inventiveness of both designs to truly appreciate them. Both vehicles, in their own yet related way, have left an indelible mark on the history of the automobile in the 20th century.