A -Z OF STEAM VEHICLES
BENSON
Benjamin S Benson of Baltimore, USA was a crawler track pioneer. He patented steam-powered machines in 1881 and 1886. A feature of the latter was Pedrail-like round pads on the tracks, an idea that was revived on the 1911 Yuba Ball Tread gasoline tractor created by W J Benson (a relative?) and C A Henneuse from C L Best.
The Benson name also cropped up at the Benson Automobile Co of Cleveland, Ohio in 1901. It built about a dozen steam cars that were based on bicycle maker Henry F Eastman’s design made in the same city in 1900. This had a single-cylinder engine and the unusual feature of an all-steel body. The Eastman Metallic Body Co subsequently took its ideas to Detroit.
BENTEL
Like Eastman, the originator of the Benson car, Theodore F Bentel was a bicycle maker, this time in Pittsburgh,
