Milton Reeves
Milton Othello Reeves (August 25, 1864 - June 4, 1925) was an early pioneer of the American automobile industry. He held more than 100 patents.
Biography
He was born on a farm in Rush County, Indiana on August 25, 1864 to William Franklin Reeves and Hannah M. Gilson and educated in Knightstown. He married Amanda Melvina Kirkpatrick in 1882. Reeves died on June 4, 1925 in Columbus, Indiana, aged 60. He was buried in Columbus City Cemetery in Columbus, Indiana.
In 1879 Reeves worked in a sawmill in Columbus. He noticed that workers could not control the speed of the pulleys used to power the saws. This caused the wood to split and a large amount of wastage. After some months of study and experimentation, Reeves invented a variable-speed transmission to control the saws speed.
In 1888 Reeves and his brothers, Marshal and Girney purchased the Edinburg Pulley Company and renamed it the Reeves Pulley Company. Marshal was the driving force behind this venture having first invented a tongueless corn plow in 1869 and in 1875 together with his father and uncle formed the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Company. In 1879 the company name was changed to Reeves & Co. Reeves, with his interest in motor vehicles, began to develop a motocycle and in so doing adapted his variable speed transmission. The transmission became a product line in its own right for the Reeves Pulley Company because of its multiple applications.
