Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Twin Coach Company records

Special Collections and Archives

Twin Coach Company records

Special Collections and Archives

Twin Coach Company records

Twin Coach Company records

Finding Aid

Prepared by Mary Denise Robb, May 10, 1991; updated May 2019; Last updated: January 2024


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

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
    Scope and Content: This includes drawings of components and tools. No blueprints or design drawings of complete vehicles.
    Physical Location: Filed in oversized document tube.
  11. Kump, Royce I.: Employee paystubs, July 2-September 3, 1944
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Cathy Carroll, Alliance, Ohio, November 2010.

Series 2: Charles A. Blair papers

  1. Correspondence: General, 1916-1954, mostly Fageol Motors memos, August-September, 1926
  2. Correspondence: "Roller Shear Guard and Press Brake", December, 1952; May, 1956
  3. Correspondence: Twin Coach Co., copy to Blair, March, November, 1926
  4. Correspondence courses: Chicago Technical College, 1918
  5. Correspondence courses: Associated Drafting Engineers, 1926
  6. Patent Records, September 29, 1914; March 23, 1921
  7. Blueprints: Miscellaneous, 1920-1944; undated
  8. Blueprints: "Typical Tool Drawings" with index; Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, Akron, Ohio, 1942
  9. Miscellaneous drawings, 1920-1950, undated
    Physical Location: Some of these drawings are filed in oversized document tube.
  10. Forms and Stationery, undated
  11. Twin Coach Directory, June 1954
  12. Map of Detroit, Michigan, with Car Lines Indicated, 1915
    Physical Description: Index listing to car lines in upper right of map is torn off and missing.

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

  1. 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.
  2. Envelopes addressed to the Twin Coach Company from Martin C. Van Der Wal and the Honolulu Rapid Transit Company, 1937
  3. Personnel Directory, March 15, 1938
  4. 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.
  5. Ten Year Club Membership Card, April 15, 1941
  6. Photograph in Twin Coach Company clip, undated
  7. Twin Coach song (tune -- Field Artillery Song), undated