The Keystone Steamer was an American automobile manufactured from 1899 until 1900 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.[1]
Keystone Match & Machine Company was founded in 1894 and offering bicycles from 1896.[2] In 1899 the company offered an interesting but complicated steam car. It featured runabout coachwork and was powered by three small single-cylinder steam engines built into each of its rear wheel hubs in a way that they worked as a radial engine. It was tried to avoid the use of sprockets, chains and a differential gear as each wheel worked completely independent from the other.[3] The vehicle could reach a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).[4]
Planned production included trucks, but the Keystone Match & Machine Co. gave up all automobile projects in 1900, concentrating instead in producing matches and machinery for that purpose.[4]
Engineer J. G. Xander, who mainly developed the Keystone Steamer, went to Reading, Pennsylvania where he manufactured steam and gasoline engines, and offered for a short time the Xander automobile, built on custom order.[4][5]