The Hartley Steam Motorcycle/Trap/Car was the invention of a Chicago entrepreneur and it was one of the cars that participated in the 1895 Chicago Times Herald race. The engine was of a rotary design and could be powered by almost any fuel, liquid or solid.
The Hartlely Power Supply Company produced a compressed air car in 1897 and a gasoline tricycle oin 1899 before giving up on powered transportation.[1]
The Hartley Steam Motorcycle as it appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine in an 1896 article promoting an early New York automobile race.
[1]Kimes, Beverly Rae, and Clark, Henry Austin, Standard Catalogue of American Cars, 1805 - 1942, 3rd Edition, (Iola, WI, Krause Publications, 1996), p. 680. Kimes & Clark reference an article in the Chicago Times-Herald, suggesting much additional information is yet to be found.
