The Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first American auto manufacturer to open for business. In 1893, Frank Duryea and his brother, Charles, designed what is believed to be the first gasoline-powered automobile built in the U.S. Since it didn't need a horse, it was called a “horseless carriage,” which took its first short test drive in Springfield, Mass. Although the first in the U.S. auto business, the Duryeas did not develop into a major manufacturer.

Inventor and scientist, Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe (1832-1913) patented a process for water gas production of "illuminating or heating gas." This gas making process fundamentally consists of the spraying of oil into water gas (blue gas) in a hot vessel for the purpose of increasing the calorific value of the gas. This carbureted water gas process was soon the most important manufactured gas in the United States of its time. He later invented a number of important and basic devices for use in atmospheric observation and metallurgical processing. Earlier, during the Civil War, he had created a military balloon force to spy on Confederate troops.