First Steering Knuckle Installed in Watsontown PA

The Daily Item 1976

Watsontown - The first steering knuckle, commonly used in automobiles, was made and marketed in Watsontown by the Herd Wagon Company, about 1875

The Daily Item 1983

The first steering knuckle, now commonly used on automobiles, was placed on a front axle for commercial use by the Herd Wagon Company in Watsontown about 1875.

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I can find no mention of a Herd Wagon Company in Watsontown. That doesn't mean that it didn't exist, only that I can't find a record of it.

According To The Carriage Museum Of America, 

These were the Carriage and Wagon Makers in Watsontown Pa

Geringer T. F. (repairer), Watsontown

*Kamp John T. (dealer), Watsontown

Troxell John (repairer), Watsontown

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According to the book

Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How cyclists were the first to push for good roads & became the pioneers of motoring By Carlton Reed

The Tie-Rod  steering mechanism was developed in the 1880s by cyclist and cycle builder Sterling Elliot.

To permit automobile wheels to be turned by the steering spindle and steering knuckle assemblies are hinged on the end of an axle.

The pin that forms the pivot of this hinge is known as the king pin or steering knuckle pin.

Elliot developed the steering knuckle assembly for his Quadricycle, a four wheeled cycle he built for his wife in 1886.

(Shown in the photo above)

Many of the earliest US Motor car manufacturers paid royalties to Elliot in order to use his cycle axle.  The patent expired in 1907.

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