Stanley, Francis Edgar

Stanley, Francis Edgar

twin brothers, inventors, manufacturers; both born in Kingfield, Maine. Francis was a portrait painter and a photographer in Maine. The two brothers joined together in 1883 and formed the Stanley Dry Plate Company, but they sold the business to Eastman Kodak Company (1905). They invented the "Stanley Steamer" automobile (1896), the first steam motorcar in New England. They built 100 cars, sold their business (1898), repurchased the business (1902), and organized the Stanley Motor Carriage Company (with Francis as president). They made over 10,000 "Steamers" before they sold the business in 1918, the same year in which Francis died as the result of an automobile accident.