Root & Vandervoort Engineering Co. (1920-1924)
East Moline, Illinois
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| This is an R&V Knight radiator emblem (1923-1924) mjs Size: 65mm high 45mm wide MM: Fox |
The Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company was established in 1899 by Orlando Root and W.H.Vandervoort for the production of gasoline engines. They had organised the Moline Automobile Company in 1904 and had manufactured the Moline and Moline-Knight motor cars (see Moline/Moline-Knight) up to the end of 1919. From 1920, the Moline-Knight continued in production but under the new name of R&V Knight.
The R&V Knight in 1920 was a 43 hp four-cylinder model offered in touring and sedan styles, and a 60 hp six-cylinder model in a wider variety of body styles. The four-cylinder model was dropped for 1924, the last year of production of the R&V Knight, because, in an attempt to maintain cash flow, the company had sold the rights to the R&V four-cylinder engine to the Yellow taxi company in 1923.
The Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company company was in financial trouble from the outset, mainly due to the combined effects of debts incurred by the Moline Automobile Company when called by the US government to move to production for the war effort and to the lack of payment by the government for the work done during the First World War. The depression following the war was too much and it was all over for the R&V Knight.
Emblems
The R&V Knight four-cylinder Model R and the six-cylinder Model J had a V-shaped radiator and carried a shield shaped, blue and white enamel radiator emblem depicting Sir Galahad, see example below. This R&V Knight radiator emblem is very rare.
This R&V Knight radiator emblem is also found with a polished metal finish and sometimes with a gold finish. This Emblem was riveted to the radiator and had small holes top and bottom. The nickel plated version shown above has been restored and the mounting holes wrongly filled in.
The Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company company was in financial trouble from the outset, mainly due to the combined effects of debts incurred by the Moline Automobile Company when called by the US government to move to production for the war effort and to the lack of payment by the government for the work done during the First World War. The depression following the war was too much and it was all over for the R&V Knight.
Emblems
The R&V Knight four-cylinder Model R and the six-cylinder Model J had a V-shaped radiator and carried a shield shaped, blue and white enamel radiator emblem depicting Sir Galahad, see example below. This R&V Knight radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is an R&V Knight radiator emblem (1920-1923) mjs Size: 65mm high 46mm wide MM: None |
This R&V Knight radiator emblem is also found with a polished metal finish and sometimes with a gold finish. This Emblem was riveted to the radiator and had small holes top and bottom. The nickel plated version shown above has been restored and the mounting holes wrongly filled in.
The R&V Knight six-cylinder Model H for 1923 and 1924 had a flat radiator and the radiator emblem was attached using a central, threaded fixing stud and an upper locating stud. This black and white enamel R&V Knight radiator emblem is similar to but not identical to the previous emblem, see example shown above at the top of this post. This R&V Knight radiator emblem is very rare.
The following R&V Knight emblem is a mystery. I can find no evidence that this emblem was used as a radiator emblem. It is more likely to have been used as a hub emblem on later versions of the R&V Knight Model H but I cannot confirm this. This R&V Knight emblem is very rare.
The following emblem has two holes, which may not be original, but, if original, may have been used for mounting the emblem on the spare wheel carrier:
The following R&V Knight emblem is a mystery. I can find no evidence that this emblem was used as a radiator emblem. It is more likely to have been used as a hub emblem on later versions of the R&V Knight Model H but I cannot confirm this. This R&V Knight emblem is very rare.
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| This is an R&V Knight emblem (c1924) jbec Size: 57mm diameter MM: None |
The following emblem has two holes, which may not be original, but, if original, may have been used for mounting the emblem on the spare wheel carrier:
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| This is an R&V Knight emblem with possible mounting holes (c1924) sam Size: 57mm diameter MM: Unknown |
If you have details showing where and when these R&V Knight emblems were used, please let me know, in order to update this post.
The following is a small R&V Knight hub emblem:
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| This is an R&V Knight hub emblem (c1920-1923) mjs Size: 46mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The following photos show two other R&V Knight hub caps:
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| This is an R&V Knight hub cap (c1920-1923) dkc |
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| This is an R&V Knight wire wheel hub cap (c1921) jbec |
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