Keystone (steam automobile)

The Keystone Steamer was an American automobile manufactured from 1899 until 1900 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

[1] Keystone Match & Machine Company was founded in 1894 and offering bicycles from 1896.

It featured runabout coachwork and was powered by three small single-cylinder steam engines built into each of its rear wheel hubs in a way that they worked as a radial engine.

It was tried to avoid the use of sprockets, chains and a differential gear as each wheel worked completely independent from the other.

[4] Engineer J. G. Xander, who mainly developed the Keystone Steamer, went to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he manufactured steam and gasoline engines, and offered for a short time the Xander automobile, built on custom order.