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James Calvin Reber (1868 - 1933)

James Calvin Reber
Born [location unknown]
Ancestors ancestors
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 22 Sep 1892 in Myerstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvaniamap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 65 [location unknown]
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Profile last modified | Created 1 Feb 2019
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Biography

James was born in 1868. He was the son of James Reber and Sarah Potteiger. He passed away in 1933.

Incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania on January 1, 1905, the Reading Metal Body Company produced early composite aluminum-clad bodies for a handful of regional automakers which included Acme, Chadwick, Duryea, Garford, Matheson, Palmer-Singer, Premier and Studebaker (Studebaker-Garford). The firm specialized in limousines, town car and closed bodies and would occasionally construct bespoke bodies, one known example being a limousine body on a 1906 Rochet-Schneider 80 h.p. chassis. The firm commenced business at the corner of 7th Ave. and Spruce St., Reading, Penn., adjacent to a siding of the Phildelphia and Reading Railroad. The plant was located one block away from the former Acme Mfg. /Acme Motor Car Co. factory, two firms which Reading Metal Body’s president, James C. Reber, had earlier been associated with.

James Calvin Reber was born on June 22, 1868 in Adams, Pennsylvania to James Tobias (b. Apr. 29, 1834) and Sarah (Potteiger) Reber. To the blessed union were born six children: C. Alice; Clara R.; Valeria E.; Benjamin F.; Morris B.; James C. Reber. He started his career working as a clerk for Bard, Reber & Co., cor. Eighth and Penn Sts., a prosperous Reading hardware store owned by his father James T. Reber.

On Sep. 22, 1892 James married Mary Jane Uhrich (b. July 29, 1867 in Myerstown, Lebanon County, Penn. to John and Jane P. [Leinbach] Uhrich) in Myerstown, Pa. and to the blessed union was born 3 children: John Uhrich (b.Oct. 6, 1893); Mary Uhrich (b. Feb. 1896) and James Valentine Uhrich (b. Feb. 1, 1898) Reber.

Soon after his marriage Reber got into the bicycle manufacturing business, forming the Metropolitan Cycle Co. with John G. Xander. The firm's 'Neversink' bicycles were manufactured in a 4-story 40' x 100' factory located adjacent to the Philadelphia, Reading and Pennsylvania Railroad on Neversink Ave., Reading.

Reber's father got on board the bicycle craze and in 1894 the pair organized the Acme Bicycle Company, James T. serving as president and James C. as secretary and general manager. Acme manufactured the 'Pennant' and 'Stormer' bicycles (unrelated to the Acme Cycle Co. of Elkhart Indiana) until the firm's factory and machinery were destoryed by fire on March 24, 1897, causing aloss of $75,000. The Rebers entered into an agreement with the American Bicycle Co. who continued to construct Acme's Pennant and Stormer bicycles into 1899 while the plant was rebuilt. It was during this time that Reber began to experiment with the automobiles, and by 1901 he had constructed the first 'Reber', a small carriage equipped with a two-cylinder, vertical engine. The Rebers formed the Reber Mfg. Co. and brought in Pittsburgh engineer James Haslett to design a car along the lines of the French imports, that were popular at the time.In January of 1903 Reber annopunced the introductino of the Reber, a 12 h.p. touring with a detachable tonneau. The Rebers got Jakob Nolde and George D. Horst, the principals of Reading's Nolde & Horst hosiery mill, interested in the project and on July 9, 1903, the Acme Motor Car Co. filed articles of incoporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the manufacture and sale of vehicles and motors. Victor Jakob, formerly with the Mercedes Company in Germany, was brought in as chief engineer and designer. The firm was announced tothe trade in the June 17, 1903 issue of Horseless Age:

“The Acme Motor Car Company have succeeded the Reber Manufacturing Company, of Reading, Pa., and have applied for incorporation with a capital stock of $200000. The officers are George D. Horst, president, and James C. Reber, treasurer and general manager.”

During 1904, Acme brought out a succession of models which included a one-cylinder runabout, two twin-cylinder runabouts (one a chain-drive model, and the other a bevel-gear, shaft-drive job, and a four-cylinder touring and a landaulet.

In June, 1905, Frank A. Devlin, a Chicago dry goods executive, bought out Nolde & Horst's shares in the firm. Within the year Acme was in receivership, and on July 9, 1907, the Acme Motor Company's assets were purchased by Herbert M. Sternbergh, who continued to manufactured small numbers of Acmes until 1911 when he formed the S.G.V. Co. with two partners; S.G.V. standing for Messrs. Herbert M. Sternbergh, Robert E. Graham, and Fred Van Tine.

For more details on the Acme and S.G.V, please click here.

By this time James C. Reber had left the firm he founded a decade earlier (Acme) in order to get into the automobile body business.

Sources





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