Timeline
1845 - Thomas Jeffery is born in Devon, England.
1863 - Jeffery emigrates to the US and moves to Chicago, Illinois.
1878 - Jeffery partners with Phillip Gormally and starts the Gormally & Jeffery Bicycling Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois.
1882 - Jeffery invents the "Clincher Tire".
1897 - Jeffery's builds a rear-engine Rambler prototype using the Rambler name previously used on a highly successful line of bicycles made by G&J.
1899 - Positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National Automobile Show in New York prompt the Jefferys to enter the automobile business.
1900 - Jeffery sells his stake in G&J to the American Bicycle Company.
1900 (Dec 6) - Thomas B. Jeffery finalizes a $65,000 deal to buy the Kenosha, factory of the defunct Sterling Bicycle Co. with money from the sale of his interest in the G&J.
1901 - Two more prototypes, Models A and B, are made.
1902 - First production Ramblers - the $750 Model C open runabout and the $850 Model D (the same car with a folding top). Both are powered by an 8-hp, 98cu. in., 1-cyl. engine mounted beneath the seat, and both are steered by a pioneering right-side tiller (a new concept at the time). First-year production totals 1,500 units making Jeffery the second-largest car maker behind Oldsmobile.
1910 (Mar 21) - Thomas B. Jeffery dies while on vacation in Pompeii, Italy.
1910 (Jun 10) - Charles T. Jeffery incorporates the family's car business as a $3 million public stock company.
1914 - Charles T. Jeffery replaces the Rambler name with the Jeffery moniker in honor of Thomas B. Jeffery.
1915 - Charles T. Jeffery survives the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast
Read more about this topic: Thomas B. Jeffery