King, Charles Brady, 1868-1957

Charles B. King was the first person in Detroit to build and drive a gasoline-powered automobile, on March 6, 1896. He was born on Feb. 2, 1868 in Camp Reynolds, an Army post on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. His family moved to Detroit when he was 14. A lifelong inventor, he invented the pneumatic hammer and other pneumatic tools. In the automotive field, King worked with Henry Ford and the Duryea brothers building gasoline engines for the Duryea Motor Wagon Co. During World War I as an aeronautical mechanical engineer, King helped develop several aircraft engines. After the war King sold his business and from 1917 to the end of his life, in 1957, lived in Larchmont, N.Y.

From the description of Papers of Charles Brady King, 1894-1951. (Detroit Public Library). WorldCat record id: 52101824