The May 1909 issue of the Commercial Vehicle
announced the formation of W.C.P Taxicab Company:
"BROADWAY DEALERS ENTER TAXICAB FIELD
"Superior
Service to Be Established on May 1 by Wyckoff, Church & Partridge, a
Leading Concern in the Pleasure Car Trade in New York City—Rockwell Cabs
to Be Used
"Of the
many developments in the taxicab field announced during the past month in many
parts of the country, the most important is the announcement of the plans of
the recently organized W. C. P. Taxicab Co., of New York City.
"Beginning May 1, this
company is to operate a service the garage of the well-known automobile
dealers Wyckoff, Church & Partridge, at Broadway and Twenty-sixth
street 11 cabs,
built by the Bristol Engineering Co., of Bristol. will be id it is asserts
seventy-five
on the streets on or about 1 September.
"The cabs will be with
special of the usual type, painted orange yellow and trimmed in black and having
hoods over the driver as well as leather tops, running gear will also be
yellow. On the and on each door will appear the W.C.P. crescent monogram.
The drivers are to be in uniform consisting of long double-breasted top
blue-gray with black collar and cuff bands edged in orange, and black cap
trimmed with orange cord embroidered orange crescent monogram.
"An important point in which
the new cabs will differ from the majority of taxicabs now operating in
New York is that the taximeter instruments to be fitted to them will be
driven from the front wheels instead of the rear wheels. This is the
method that is considered to be fairest to the patrons of the service,
and it is one that is likely soon to be made compulsory by ordinance in
New York, Chicago, Washington and Boston. It is probable that Jones taximeters will be
fitted to the first seventy-five cabs put in operation, but the Bristol
Engineering Company is at work on a meter of its own which it hopes to
have in readiness to be applied to the subsequent cabs to be delivered
to the W. C. P. Taxicab Co.
"Drivers are to be selected men picked from the large list of chauffeurs
compiled by Wyckoff, Church & Partridge during the years in which they
have conducted a large motor car agency and retail business in New York.
"In
an endeavor to give the public an unexcelled service and to eliminate so
far as possible all causes for complaint and dissatisfaction, the
company has already taken steps to provide cab users with blank forms
and return post cards, inviting criticism and comments.
"The
rates to be charged will conform to the tariff adopted this spring by
the New York Taxicab Co., and the new Taxi-Service Co., of New York;
that is, 50 cents for the first half mile or fraction and 10 cents for
each subsequent quarter mile. These rates are considerably less than the
legal cab rates that have prevailed for years during the regime of the
horse cab, which is $1 per mile or fraction thereof.
"Organization of the W. C. P. Taxicab Co. developed out of the efforts
of C. F. Wyckoff and E. S. Partridge, of Wyckoff, Church & Partridge,
and A. R. Rockwell, F. E. Moscovics and DeWitt Page, of the Bristol
Engineering Co.—men who are directly responsible for the design and
construction of the Rockwell cabs. An 'interesting working arrangement
has been decided upon, whereby the executive work in connection with the
service, such as direction of the affairs of the company,
correspondence, making of contracts, receipt of telephone calls and all
clerical work, will be taken care of by the Wyckoff, Church & Partridge
interests, while the operating end will be managed by the interests
representing the Bristol Engineering Co., which has leased the basement
of the garage at Broadway and Fifty-sixth street, and will assume charge
of hiring and paying the drivers, furnish all supplies and generally be
responsible for the rolling stock and garage.
"There is ample room in the basement of the model garage and sales
building erected three years ago by Wyckoff, Church & Partridge, for the
accommodation of the seventy-five cabs it is expected to have in
operation before fall, as the space now devoted to "dead" storage will
be given up to this purpose and the storage and charging of electric
vehicles will be discontinued. Later, as the taxicab business develops,
additional space can be devoted to it either by confining the storage of
private motor cars to owners of Stearns cars alone (which the concern
sells) or by the addition of two more stories at the top of the present
building, whose foundations and lower walls were built with the
expectation of ultimately running the
building up to a height of eight stories.
"The
Rockwell cab, which was brought out last winter and was exhibited at the
Grand Central Palace show, shows evidence of good designing and superior
workmanship. It embodies the usual up-to-date characteristic? of the
landaulet type of vehicle used for taxicab purposes but departs in a
number of important respects from conventional lines. The engine, for
example, has four cylinders cast in one block with valves all on one
side and with bore of 3-1/2 inches and stroke of 4 1/4 inches. It is rated
at 18-20 horsepower. Ignition is by Bosch high tension magneto with fixed
spark; lubrication by gear driven pump taking oil from a reservoir in the
base of the engine; and cooling by geared centrifugal pump. The steering
wheel is on the left, where the driver can see better to avoid passing
vehicles, and the change speed levers and hand brake are in the center
of the floor board at the driver's right. They rise directly from the
top of the gear box, in which is housed a three-speed transmission
system with special interlocking gears, whose shafts are mounted on New
Departure ball bearings especially designed to take end thrust. A
three-plate floating ring clutch of special design and mounted on ball
bearings is employed.
"The
front axle is very heavy in design, to withstand all shocks, and the
hubs are provided with ball bearings. The rear axle is of the full
floating type with ball bearings designed to take end thrust. A double
set of brakes —internal and external—operate on the rear wheel hubs The
chassis frame is of extra heavy pressed steel channels, the dash cast
aluminum and the running board; stamped steel. The vehicle has a
wheelbase of 106 inches, tread of 53 inches and the wheels are fitted
with 32 by 4-inch pneumatics. The turning radius permit! the machine to
be turned around in a 5o-foot street. Accessibility of the various parts
was a point especially aimed at in designing the cab, and it is claimed
that the power plant can be removed in twenty minutes."
The Bristol Engineering Company was a subsidiary of the New Departure
Mfg. Co., a firm founded by Albert R. Rockwell just after the run of the
century in Bristol, Connecticut. In April of 1912 another
Rockwell-controlled firm, the Connecticut Cab Co., assumed control of
the W.C.P. Taxi Co., reorganizing it as the Yellow Taxicab Co.,
historically the first firm to use the "Yellow Cab" moniker in
Manhattan.
