SAMPSON

Alden Sampson Manufacturing Co.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1905-1910)
Detroit, Michigan (1910-1912)

This is a Sampson emblem (dates uncertain)  mjs
Size: 57mm diameter   MM: None

The Alden Sampson Manufacturing Company had briefly produced a passenger car called the Alden Sampson in 1904 but in 1905 decided to confine itself to the manufacture of Sampson trucks. 

The main Sampson product initially was a 40 hp four-cylinder 5-ton capacity chain driven truck but by 1909 the Sampson range had widened to include smaller trucks of 1-ton, 2-ton, 3-ton and 4-ton capacity, all with chain drive. In 1910 an 18 hp two-cylinder half-ton truck was offered using shaft drive. From 1908 to 1910 Sampson also built a small number of road trains, which were tractors with 40 hp engines and generators which provided electric power to motors in each of two six-wheeled trailers.

In 1910 Alden Sampson came under the control of United States Motors and Sampson production moved to Detroit where a new low-priced 30 hp four-cylinder truck called the Hercules was also built. In 1911 it was decided to build a passenger car again. The new 35 hp four-cylinder shaft drive car was called the Sampson. But Sampson was out of business in 1912 with the collapse of United States Motors.

Emblems

Early Alden Sampson trucks displayed an "AS" script attached to the radiator core, see example shown on the original truck photo in the following Alden Sampson advertisement from about 1906:

Alden Sampson truck ad showing a radiator script (c1906)  ms

The following Alden Sampson hubcap shows a similar "AS" logo:

This is an Alden Sampson hubcap (c1908)   dkc

The 1910 Sampson truck in the following original photo carries a "SAMPSON" capital letter script style radiator emblem:

This is a Sampson truck displaying a "SALMSON" script style radiator emblem (1910)   dpl

The following original photo shows a 1-1/2-ton Sampson truck with a smaller capital letter script style "SAMPSON" radiator emblem:

Sampson 1-1/2-ton fire department truck showing a radiator emblem (1911)  tpw

However, not all Sampson trucks at this time carried a radiator emblem. The following photo taken at the 1911 Chicago Auto Show shows Sampson trucks, which have no radiator emblem but display the "SAMPSON" name in capital letters on brass scripts attached to the radiator core:

This shows Sampson trucks at the Chicago Auto Show displaying radiator scripts (1911)   dpl

The following are examples of brass Sampson radiator scripts. Original Sampson radiator scripts are rare.

This is a Sampson radiator script (c1911-1912)     mjs
Size: 365mm wide

This is a Sampson radiator script (c1912)     ms
Size: Unknown

The following original photo from 1911 shows two similar Sampson trucks:

Sampson trucks (1911)    dpl

The truck on the left has no radiator emblem but has a radiator script, which is like the capital letter script seen on the 1911 Chicago Auto Show trucks shown earlier above. 

However, the truck on the right has no radiator script but does have a radiator emblem, which shows the "Sampson" name with a large letter "S" followed by lower case letters rather than the capital letter script style radiator emblems shown earlier above, see close-up photo shown below:

Sampson truck with different script style radiator emblem (1911)  dpl

The 5-ton Sampson dump truck shown in the following original photo from 1912 displays a similar "Sampson" nameplate script attached to the chassis frame below the driver's seat and a round radiator emblem:

Sampson 5-ton dump truck with rad emblem and nameplate (1912) tpw

Close-up showing a round radiator emblem and chassis nameplate 

The round red, blue, white and gold painted Sampson emblem shown above at the top of this post is believed to be a Sampson radiator emblem. This Sampson radiator emblem is very rare.

However, the round radiator emblem seen on the Sampson dump truck in the photo shown above appears to be larger than the Sampson emblem shown at the top of this post. I cannot find any photos or illustrations of Sampson vehicles, which show the round Sampson emblem at the top of this post. It is possible that this emblem was used for the Sampson automobile built in 1911 but I cannot confirm this.

If you have details of the use of the round Sampson emblem shown at the top of this post, please let me know, in order to update this post.