Diamond T History

I received some info from Leroy that was typed up by Lon Arbergust some time back and I thought I would pass it on to you.

The original name given to Diamond T Trucks was
“The Nations Freight Car”
Please click read more(or discuss) for the rest of the article…..
In the late 1880 Mr. J.E. Tilt of Chicago was a shoe manufacturer. Mr. Tilt had several shoe stores and around 150 employees. The shoes had a reputation for high quality and were made especially for Marshall Field Co. To show the quality, the shoes carried the “Diamond T” trademark: the diamond for quality and the T for Tilt. C.A. Tilt, J.E. Tilt’s son adopted this same trademark in 1905 for his own Diamond T Motorcar Company.
C.A. Tilt started work in his father’s shoe factory in 1896. He spent eight years in lower level jobs to become Acting Superintendent at the age of twenty-four. He subsequently managed a large stock farm at Beloit Wisconsin, for a year. He returned to Chicago to work for Charles W. Knight, inventor of the famous Silent Knight Motor.
Mr. Knight was a business tenant of the Elder Tilt, renting part of a building next to the shoe factory. C.A. Tilt spent 1904 and 1905 working for Mr. Knight. In the fall of 1905, Tilt formed his own company. It started out as a corner machine shop at the shoe factory.
There are a number of interesting stories regarding the financial backing for Tilts start in business. One has it that he and his father were not on the best of terms at this time. A 1925 article in The Motor Truck states Tilt founded the company with “its original capital being Mr. Tilt’s hard earned savings of $1’000”. Some have suggested the funds may have come from his mother.
Percy Bartlet, founder of “Bartlett Lifting Devices Inc.” of Chicago worked at Diamond T from 1914 to 1921. He says J.E. Tilt did not want C.A. Tilt to get involved with Mr. Thorne, who’s father was president of Montgomery Wards. This venture was evidently broke up. Diamond T was financed according to Mr. Bartlett by Peter and Joseph Theurer owners of Schoenhofen Brewing Co. known as Edelweis. Both Theurer brothers later committed suicide over a business failure.
The Diamond T Motor Car Company started out Just as its title suggests as a builder of motorcars. The company built only passenger cars from 1905 to 1910. The autos were of a “roadster” type with a four-cylinder engine. They were sold only in the Chicago area.
The first Diamond T Truck was built for the L. Wolff Manufacturing Co., a large plumbing supply concern. The Wolff Co. had been a customer of Diamond T Autos.
The truck was as were all Diamond T units an “assembled” job. They were made up of components supplied by manufacturers other than Diamond T. “Old No. 1” had a four cylinder continental engine, Timken axles, Brown Lipe transmission and a A.O. Smith frame. The truck also had chain drive. It was being used well in to the thirties on the streets of Chicago.
The business was almost all local until 1915 when a limited factory branch dealer organization was developed. The company grew in to a nationwide distributor. A new much larger factory was built at 26th street and the Belt Railroad in 1917. The trucks were built on a continuous assembly line rather than in stalls, as was common practice of the day.
During WW1 Diamond T built 1500 class B trucks for the Army. The class B truck used a motor that was developed by Mr. C. C. Hinkley and others. Diamond T started using these Hinkley four cylinder engines in its civilian units immediately after the war.
There was an active campaign to expand the dealer organization in 1919. The slump of the 1920’s hurt this endeavor but the company continued to grow.
There were of course various technical and styling changes through the 1920’s. An enclosed cab with three-point rubber mounting was introduced in 1923. There was a total restyling in 1926 with electric lights replacing oil. One could get pneumatic tires as well as solids.
Late in 1927 and 1928 Diamond T made a drastic change. The trucks went from heavy duty, slow high tonnage units to a more modern design. These new trucks had six cylinder Hercules engines; four-wheel hydraulic brakes, fully enclosed cabs, and were lighter and much faster.
Styling became an important selling point. The trucks were no longer advertised as “The Nations Freight Car”, but as “The Handsomest Truck in America”.
The Company was now one of the three largest independent truck manufacturers building only trucks. It is at this point on that Diamond T began to build its reputation as a style leader and moving billboard.
It’s an interesting note that Diamond T went from 100% car production to 100% truck production.