The Keystone Steamer was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 manufactured from 1899 until 1900 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...

  .

Manufacturer was the Keystone Match & Machine Company, founded in 1894 and offering bicycles from 1896 . In 1899 the company offered an interesting but complicated steam car

Steam car

A steam car is a light car powered by a steam engine.Steam locomotives, steam engines capable of propelling themselves along either road or rails, developed around one hundred years earlier than internal combustion engine cars although their weight restricted them to agricultural and heavy haulage...

. It featured runabout

Runabout (car)

Runabouts were a popular car body style at the beginning of the 20th Century. They were small, inexpensive, open cars. Most runabouts had just a single row of seats, providing seating for two passengers. Many also had a tonneau at the rear to provide optional seating for four or five...

coachwork

Coachwork

Coachwork is the body of a horse-drawn coach or carriage, a motor vehicle , a railroad car or railway carriage. Usually reserved for bodies built on a separate chassis, rather than being of unitary or monocoque construction...

 and was powered by three small single-cylinder steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s built into each of its rear wheel

Wheel

A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...

 hubs in a way that they worked as a radial engine

Radial engine

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...

. It was tried to avoid the use of sprocket

Sprocket

A sprocket or sprocket-wheel is a profiled wheel with teeth, cogs, or even sprockets that mesh with a chain, track or other perforated or indented material. The name 'sprocket' applies generally to any wheel upon which are radial projections that engage a chain passing over it...

s, chains

Chain drive

Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles...

 and a differential gear as each wheel worked completely independent from the other . The vehicle could reach a maximum speed of 20 mph .

Planned production included also trucks, but the Keystone Match & Machine Co. gave up all automobile projects in 1900, concentrating instead in producing matches and machinery for that purpose .

Engineer J. G. Xander, who mainly developed the Keystone Steamer, went to Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

 where he manufactured steam and gasoline engines, and offered for a short time the Xander automobile, built on custom order .