His tenacity and determination to improve on everyday objects helped enhance the quality of life for established businesses, as well as the average person.
At the age of seventeen, with help from his mother, Sterling Elliott packed a bag and left home.
Mr. Elliott's first well-known invention was the non-turning front axle and self-equalizing brake system he incorporated on his four-wheel quadricycle when he discovered that the wheels on the bike squealed when turning.
With this in mind, Mr. Elliott went home and into his pantry that was between the kitchen and the dining room, there he fastened a piece of string between the inside surfaces of each door.
Although this patent expired in 1907, the records show that a number of early automobile manufacturers paid royalties to Elliott for this invention.
In 1887 Sterling Elliott made a four-wheeled bicycle which he called a quadricycle and with it experienced all the problems that automobile manufacturers were later to face.