On the 5th of November (my birthday, thank you!) 1895, George B Selden was granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
George Baldwin Selden (1846–1922) was an American inventor and patent lawyer best known for his involvement in one of the most notable legal battles in the early automotive industry. Born on the 14th of September, 1846, in Clarkson, New York, he was the son of a prominent lawyer and politician. Selden trained in law, becoming a patent attorney in Rochester, New York, but his interests extended into mechanical inventions, particularly the burgeoning field of self-propelled vehicles.
Selden’s most significant contribution to automotive history was his patent for a “road engine” powered by an internal combustion engine. In 1879, he filed a patent for a carriage powered by a modified Brayton-cycle engine. His idea was not for a working car in the modern sense but for a conceptual vehicle using a small, lightweight engine suitable for road use. Importantly, Selden delayed the approval of his patent for many years by using a legal technique called a “submarine patent”, which involved amending and adjusting the patent to defer its formal issue. This allowed him to keep the patent pending until the automotive industry began to take shape, giving him the advantage of controlling the rights to produce cars in the United States once his patent was granted in 1895.
The patent, number 549,160, effectively gave Selden a potential monopoly on all petrol-powered vehicles in the United States, even though he had never produced a commercially viable car himself. He licensed the patent to the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), a coalition of early American car manufacturers. Companies like Packard and Cadillac paid royalties in order to avoid legal entanglements, but not all car makers complied. Among the most notable dissenters was Henry Ford, whose company refused to acknowledge the validity of Selden’s claim.
The resulting legal conflict became a defining moment in the history of the American automotive industry. In 1903, Selden and ALAM sued the Ford Motor Company for patent infringement. Ford argued that Selden’s patent was overly broad and did not apply to the engines used in his cars, which were based on the more efficient Otto-cycle engine rather than the Brayton-cycle concept described in the patent. The legal battle continued for years, drawing significant public attention. Initially, in 1909, the court sided with Selden, ruling that his patent was valid. However, Ford appealed, and in 1911, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the decision. The court concluded that Selden’s patent only applied to the specific form of engine he had described, which was outdated and not in practical use. This ruling effectively ended Selden’s monopoly and opened the way for mass car production without the burden of royalties.
Despite this setback, Selden remained a figure of considerable interest during his lifetime. His work symbolised the complex intersection of invention, law, and business in the age of industrial innovation. While he did eventually build a few experimental vehicles, his reputation was largely tied to his skill at navigating the patent system rather than to any direct engineering accomplishments. He was a reminder that in the early 20th century, as much of the automotive industry was being established, legal manoeuvring could be as powerful as mechanical ingenuity.
Selden’s later years were quieter, though he continued to work as a patent attorney and remained engaged with the automotive field. He died on the 17th of January, 1922, at the age of 75, in Rochester. His legacy is viewed with a mixture of curiosity and caution: he was a man who recognised the potential of the motor car before it became a reality, but his role as a “patent troll” in the eyes of some contemporaries made him a controversial figure.
In the broader history of technology, George B. Selden shows us how intellectual property can shape, and sometimes impede, industrial progress. His story reflects the tension between innovation and legal control, and his name endures as a footnote in the saga of the American automobile, illustrating both the power and the limits of the patent system in a period of rapid technological change.