Louis Semple Clarke

Louis Semple Clarke was a genius most people have never heard of — yet every driver today owes him a debt. Spark plugs, left-hand steering, shaft drive instead of chains, and the modern oil circulation system all trace back to his innovations.

Born in 1866 into a wealthy Pittsburgh family, Clarke didn’t need to work — but couldn’t resist inventing. As a boy, he turned his workshop into a laboratory of ideas, designing cameras, experimenting with electricity, and even building an electric boat for his family’s lake.

By the 1890s, Clarke was sketching automobile designs. In 1896, he co-founded what became the Autocar Company, insisting on breakthroughs that became industry standards: porcelain-insulated spark plugs, left-hand drive for safer roads, and America’s first shaft-driven car.

Autocar grew rapidly and, by 1908, was producing commercial trucks. Under Clarke’s guidance, the company built vehicles that served through both World Wars and earned a reputation for engineering excellence and reliability.

Clarke never sought fame — he preferred his workshop, pipe in hand, tinkering and perfecting. Living from the Civil War to the dawn of the Space Age, he witnessed the world his inventions helped create. Though history often overlooks him, Louis Semple Clarke’s legacy lives on in every car on the road.