Twin Coach Company records

Finding Aid

Prepared by Mary Denise Robb, May 10, 1991; updated May 2019; Last updated: September 2022.

Inclusive Dates: 1914-1956
Extent: 3 cubic feet (1 document case, 2 record storage boxes, 1 oversized document tube)
Physical Location: 11th floor

Historical Note: The Twin Coach Company was founded in Kent, in 1927, by brothers William B. and Frank R. Fageol. The brothers originally started their business in Oakland, California in 1916 and manufactured trucks for World War I use, as well as pleasure cars for domestic use. They brought the first model of their "Safety Coach" east in 1923, and settled in Kent in 1924 as the Fageol Motor Company. The company was sold to American Car and Foundry Company of Dayton, Ohio, in 1925. During 1927, however, after the Fageols' development of the new form of public transportation called the "Twin Coach," the brothers re-established themselves in their original Kent location as the Twin Coach Company.

The Fageol Motors and Twin Coach companies were instrumental in the history of public transportation in the United States. The dual-motored "Twin Coach" was the first urban transit or streetcar-type motor coach designed and built by anyone. The Twin Coach Company ranked second in urban bus manufacturing for approximately twenty years, and it sold to major corporations across the country. It also broadened its scope to include the manufacture of airplane parts and machine engines, as well as a new house-to-house mail delivery truck called the "Pony express".

In 1958, Twin Coach sold its marine engine business and moved its headquarters to Cheektowaga, New York. In 1962, stockholders approved a name change for the company, and the Twin Coach Company became the Twin Industries Corporation.

Charles A. Blair came to the Twin Coach Company from Detroit, and stayed with the company for many years. An engineer and inventor, he developed safety devices for large-scale machinery and received national acclaim in his field. By the 1950's he had reached the position of Plant Superintendent.

Scope and Content: This collection includes a variety of records originating with Twin Coach including photographs, technical materials, blueprints and drawings, employee information, correspondence, and artifacts.

Acquisitions Note: The diversified records and objects in the Twin Coach Company collection were donated to the Kent State University Archives by Laurel Wilcox on December 1, 1983. Wilcox had previously purchased the collection at a garage sale, and decided that Kent State University was the best place to house the records. The metal grill plate and pin were donated to the Archives by Frank Klein. Additional items were donated in 2004 by Joseph H. Lipscomb whose father, also Joseph H. Lipscomb, worked for the Company's purchasing department from 1926-1943.

Arrangement: The materials in the Twin Coach Company collection have been organized into the following series:

• Series 1: Twin Coach Company Records
• Series 2: Charles A. Blair Papers
• Series 3: Fred Ziegler Collection
• Series 4: Joseph H. Lipscomb Papers

Series 1: Twin Coach Company records

Box 1
Folder -- Contents

1. Employee lists: Fageol Safety Coach Co., March 18, 1952; August 11, 1952
2. Property: Lists of properties, December 9, 1954 and Blueprints and drawings of property lines, 1936-1956
3. Specifications: "Standard Coach Specifications," undated
4. Specifications: General, undated
5. Publications: Twin Coach Annual Report, 1938 Bus Times, 1935
6. Publications: Fageol Motors Fageol Safety Coach, 2 eds., circa early 1920s
7. Publications: Outside California Safety News, v. 36, no. 4, December 1952 Monitor, v. 25, no. 11, Nov. 1952 Kirk and Blum Blower Systems, 1926
8. Photographs
   Scope and content: These photographs are primarily from the Kent plant and include pictures of employees, the plant site, manufacturing, and photographs of specification sheets.
9. Metal plates & pin
10. Set of drawings/plans, 1954
    Physical Location: Filed in oversized document tube.

Series 2: Charles A. Blair papers

10. Correspondence: General, 1916-1954, mostly Fageol Motors memos, August-September, 1926
11. Correspondence: "Roller Shear Guard and Press Brake", December, 1952; May, 1956
12. Correspondence: Twin Coach Co., copy to Blair, March, November, 1926
13. Correspondence courses: Chicago Technical College, 1918
14. Correspondence courses: Associated Drafting Engineers, 1926
15. Patent Records, September 29, 1914; March 23, 1921
16. Blueprints: Miscellaneous, 1920-1944; undated
17. Blueprints: "Typical Tool Drawings" with index; Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, Akron, Ohio, 1942
18. Miscellaneous drawings, 1920-1950, undated
    Physical Location: Some of these drawings are filed in oversized document tube.
19. Miscellaneous papers, 1915-1954, undated

Series 3: Fred Ziegler collection

Acquisitions Note: This part of the collection was purchased from Frank Klein, book dealer. The collection was previously owned by Fred Ziegler, an employee of Twin Coach. It contains many advertisement promotions, blueprints, specifications and manuals pertaining to Twin Coach. Materials cover dates during the 1950's with the exception of the Goodyear Zeppelin material which covers 1929-1932.

Box 2
Folder -- Contents

1. Advertisements
2. Fageol Van Truck-1953 Advertising and Promotional Program
3. Annual report, 1952
4. Annual report, 1953
5. Certified Dimensions for Miller Fluid Power Stock Cylinders
6. Correspondence: Inter Office memos, blueprints, 1956-1957
7. Diesel notes, 1954-1955
8. Drafting chart
9. Employees, 1950
10. Engineering procedures and relation to production, 1952-1953
11. Engines
12. Ensign Liquefied Petroleum Gas Carburetors Manual 105
13. Goodyear Zeppelin Corp.: Engineering Manual (blueprints), 1929-1932
14. Graphs-Mileage costs
15. Hubbard-Antisdel, 1952
16. "The Insider", April 1944
17. "Kent Historical Society" [newsletter]: v. 18, Fall, 1994
18. Map of Stow, Ohio
19. Miscellaneous
20. News articles, February 2, 1992
21. Operation and Maintenance Manual for DWX [and] DWXL Series: April 1, 1949
22. Photographs, 1929
23. Photographs, 1933
24. Photographs: buses in service, undated
25. Photographs: trolly, rail, and trailer, undated
26. Photographs: interiors, undated
27. Photographs: specification drawings and manufacturing photos, undated
28. Photographs: Outboard Motor Assembly-VIP
29. Photographs: Outboard Motor Assembly
30. Program Conversion: Folder
31. Rt. 59 Highway-Ohio Dept. of Transportation,  1991; 1993
32. Sales
33. "Service Letter": May 8, 1947; March 1, 1950 (2 copies)
34. Specifications: American Standard Abbreviations for Use on Drawings: Approved October 18, 1950
35. Specifications: Blueprints
36. Specifications: Blueprints and Drawings
37. Specifications: Blueprint for Entrance Door - Travel layout
38. Specifications: FL Model Outline-Picture, Drawings
39. Specifications: GM Hardware, October 4, 1951
40. Specifications: Blueprint-Lubrication Chart-Model 48TT2
41. Specifications: Blueprints-Parts
42. Specifications: Model 40-R Streamline Rear Engine - Urban Coach, September 9, 1935
43. Specifications: Model 40-R Streamline Rear Engine - Urban Coach, Binder
44. Specifications: Propane equipment
45. Specifications: "Propane Motor Fuels-L.P.G. Liquid Petroleum Gas, 1950
46. Specifications: Roose Master Operations and Instruction Manual and Drawings,  1953
47. Specifications: Standard hardware, 1955
48. Specifications: Streetcars and buses
49. Specifications: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, March 22, 1926
50. "Suburban Coaches"
51. Torque Converter Instruction Set
52. Torque Converter Seals
53. Trolley Coach Lubrication Guide

Box 3
Folder--Contents

1. Compco Shortway Repair and Tune-up Manual, 1940 Master Edition
2. Drafting Room Standards
3. Aerojet-General Corporation: "Engine Service Manual and Parts Catalog," undated
4. The Fageol Engine
5. Fageol 44 Marine Engine
6. Maintenance: pt. 1
7. Maintenance: pt. 2
8. Maintenance manual (copy 2)
9. Maintenance manual: binder
10. Maintenance manual- Convertible Coach Model F-32-F
11. Maintenance manual - Supplement- Winterized Coach Model F-32-F
12. Operator's Handbook- Convertible Coach Model F-32-F
13. Operator's Handbook - Fageol Pony Express Model F.P.E.
14. Replacement Parts
15. Replacement Parts: Binder
16. Training Manual Number 3: "The Theory of Operation of Alternators"
17. Map: Total vehicles in operation, November 18, 1952
18. Publication: Bus Transportation, June, 1939
19. Publication: "Ohio's Transportation Needs and You",  June, 1990
20. Publication: "Technical Data Sheets--Latest Twin Coaches--Including New Transverse Motor Type," undated [Includes information on models 37-R, 40, 30-A, 30-AS, 23, and 19.]
21. Publications: Miscellaneous

Series 4: Joseph H. Lipscomb Papers

22. Publication: "Twin Coach Corporation", undated, but after 1926
    Scope and Content: Lists addresses of offices; executive officers; and includes brief notes on the history of the company; 4 pages.
23. Envelopes addressed to the Twin Coach Company from Martin C. Van Der Wal and the Honolulu Rapid Transit Company, 1937
24. Personnel Directory, March 15, 1938
25. Newspaper clipping: "Messages Pour into Coach Co. in Tribute to Taylor." Monday, January 10, 1938
    Scope and Content: Regarding the death of Twin Coach treasurer H. G. Taylor.
26. Ten Year Club Membership Card, April 15, 1941
27. Photograph in Twin Coach Company clip, undated
28. Twin Coach song (tune -- Field Artillery Song), undated