George B. Selden

This article is about George B. Selden, an American patent lawyer and inventor of a version of the automobile. For an American investigative journalist and media critic, see George Seldes.
For other people named George Selden, see George Selden (disambiguation).
George B. Selden
Selden in 1871
Born
George Baldwin Selden

(1846-09-14)September 14, 1846
Clarkson, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 1922(1922-01-17) (aged 75)
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Resting placeMount Hope Cemetery, Rochester
Education
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • inventor
  • lawyer
Known forInventing a version of the automobile
Board member of
Spouse
Clara Drake Woodruff
​
​
(m. 1871⁠–⁠1922)​
Children4
FatherHenry R. Selden

George Baldwin Selden (September 14, 1846 – January 17, 1922) was an American patent lawyer and inventor from New York who was granted a U.S. patent for an automobile in 1895.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ Flink, p. 51 Probably the most absurd action in the history of patent law was the granting of United States patent number 549,160 on November 5, 1895, to George B. Selden. a Rochester, New York, patent lawyer and inventor, for an "improved road engine" powered by "a liquid-hydrocarbon engine of the compression type."
  2. ^ Flink, p. 51 His own patent application was filed in 1879. He then used evasive legal tactics to delay the patent's acceptance until conditions seemed favorable for commercial exploitation.
  3. ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 38, 152, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1945.