Frederick Kübler

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Frederick Kübler (b January 26, 1861, in Ludwigsburg, Germany; d May 28, 1937, in Esslingen, Germany) from Cannstatt, Germany, near Stuttgart, was vice president and superintendent of William Steinway's New York-based Daimler Motor Company for some time until he resigned as superintendent in January 1894. (Diary, 1894-01-20)(2)

Kübler apparently continued as an officer of Daimler Motor Company, since both the 1896 History of Long Island City, New York and a feature article in The New York Times in 1896 list Frederick Kübler as vice president of William Steinway's Daimler Motor Company in Astoria, New York, and general manager of the Steinway, Long Island works during this period. William's Diary, however, does not refer to Kübler as being "general manager."(4)(6)

In 1886 William Steinway began corresponding with Gottlieb Daimler, a German inventor and co-developer of a small internal combustion engine that ran on liquid petroleum fuel.(3, p.320) In August 1888, William Steinway secured the North American rights to existing and future Daimler patents.(3, p.321) Within a short time, Daimler Motor Company was founded in New York (7), and on February 2, 1889, the first board of directors' meeting was held.(3, p.321)(Diary, 1889-02-02) Although at first the company imported Daimler motors from Germany, soon production of motors for the company "was taken over by National Machine Company in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1891, and it was this company which engaged in license production of America's first operational engine based on Gottlieb Daimler's original design drawings."(1) Later William suggested that manufacturing be done near the Steinway plant in Long Island.(8) By early 1892 William wrote in his diary that the "Daimler Motor Comp New Building all Finished"(Diary, 1892-01-30), so it is possible that the production of Daimler motors in Steinway village near the Steinway & Sons factory began around this time. The Daimler factory was enlarged in 1895.(6)(Diary, 1895-01-13) The gas and petroleum engines produced were used primarily for stationary machines and boats.

Before his resignation, Kübler "quite ably" reported to William on the "unfortunate" Daimler Motor Company (Diary, 1892-10-03), participated with William and two others in an "investigation" of the company (Diary, 1892-10-23), showed William Gottlieb Daimler's experiment with a "Wagonette" (Diary, 1893-10-18), talked with William about "selling out" Daimler Motor Company (Diary, 1893-11-17), and took part in "quite a talk" with William and Louis von Bernuth "as to Daimler Motor Company" (Diary, 1894-01-06).

Following Kübler's resignation as superintendent of Daimler Motor Company, he was replaced by a Mr. Weimann. Kübler apparently continued as an officer of the company and met frequently with William Steinway. Less than five months after his resignation, for example, on the evening of May 17, 1894, Kübler called on William to talk "about purchasing, with G. [Gottlieb] Daimler, the assets of Daimler Motor Comp."(Diary, 1894-05-17). Roughly six months later, William related that he and his son-in-law Louis von Bernuth, had "a long talk with Kübler about the future of Daimler Motor." (Diary, 1894-09-23) Three days later, on September 26, 1894, "Kübler, Weimann, L. v. B. [Louis von Bernuth] + I [William Steinway] have meeting and set sat & sun to take up stock in Daimler Motor Co." (Diary, 1894-09-26) At his Gramercy Place house in New York before noon on Sunday, November 4, 1894, William met with Kübler and was "horrified to find that the unfortunate Daimler Comp. has again lost some $18,000. since Januy 1st as I predicted." (Diary, 1894-11-04) A month later, William reported that Kübler has called on him with an offer from Gottlieb Daimler to buy $5,000 worth of Daimler Motor Company shares. (Diary, 1894-12-05) William dismissed the offer as "quite unsatisfactory." (Diary, 1894-12-05) Early in 1895, on February 3, Kübler was involved in a "long consultation" with William and Louis von Bernuth "as to Daimler Motor Company Matters, and their projected building." (Diary, 1895-02-03)

Daimler records show that Kübler had also worked for Daimler in Cannstatt, Germany from late 1885 to early 1892—prior to his time in New York with Steinway's Daimler Motor Co.(2)

On March 8, 1896, William and his son-in-law Louis von Bernuth had "a long talk" with Kübler, who had just returned to New York from Germany at William's urging. (Diary, 1896-03-08) Less than three weeks later, on March 25, William told Kübler that he (William) could not put any more money into Daimler Motor Company in 1896. (Diary, 1896-03-25)

Daimler Motor Company effectively died when William Steinway died in November 1896. Kübler was the principal of Daimler Manufacturing Company, a new company formed in August 1898. This firm obtained the assets and old physical plant of the Daimler Motor Co. (7)(3, p.415) The new company in the early twentieth century built an "American Mercedes." Production ended, however, when fire destroyed the plant about a decade after William's 1896 death. (2, p.415)

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Sources:

1. "A Car for America," available from Daimler Global Media site. http://media.daimler.com

2. Daimler Archives (Daimiler Konzernarchiv Stuttgart)

3. Fostle, D.W. The Steinway Saga: An American Dynasty. New York: Scribner, 1995.

4. Kelsey, J.S. History of Long Island City, New York. Long Island City: The Long Island Star Publishing Company, 1896, pp. 53-58. At archive.org website.

5. Lieberman, Richard K. Steinway & Sons. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995, p. 116.

6. "North Beach, Steinway, Long Island: Motor Without Steam," The New York Times, July 12, 1896, p. 25.

7. Salemi, Michael. "The Nearly Forgotten Story of the Mercedes from Long Island." The Star, January-February, 2011, p. 44.
http://races.phmclients.com/images/uploads/STAR_AmerMercedes.pdf

8. Wilkins, Mira. "Crosscurrents: American Investments in Europe, European Investments in the United States." www.h-net.org