Waltham Manufacturing Company  Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898. Waltham Manufacturing Company was founded by Waltham businessmen around engineer Charles Herman Metz (1863-1937). Metz encouraged two employees to build a steam car of their own in the company's premises, which led to the Waltham Steam. Metz imported French "Aster" engines, and secured the U.S. distributorship for De Dion-Bouton engines. Further, he imported this maker's tricycles and quadricycles. Using De Dion-Bouton patents, WMC started building their own Orient Autogo and "Orient Autogo Quad" in 1899. An early investor in WMC, Charles A. Coffin (1844-1926), first president of General Electric, ordered an electric prototype in 1898, which didn't go into production. Metz experimented with engines mounted on bicycles. The evolving Orient Aster was one of the very first U.S.-built motorcycles. Metz was assisted by famed French bicycle racer Albert Champion (1878—1927) who arrived in the U.S. around 1899, becoming one of the first professional motorbike racers. Metz is even claimed to have found the expression "motor cycle" for his new vehicle, first used in an 1899 advertisement. Further, engines of Metz' design were developed and produced. WMC's first car was a motor buggy called the Orient Victoriette, followed by two runabouts in 1902 and 1903. About 400 of the earlier model were sold; the younger "Orient Runabout No. 9" was not a success with about 50 examples built. In 1902, Metz left the company, founding Metz Motorcycle Company and C.H. Metz Company in town soon after. Engineer Leonard B. Gaylor succeeded him at WMC. The same year, Gaylor introduced a very light model with friction drive, sold as the Orient Buckboard. It seated 2 passengers and sold for just US$425, making it the lowest-priced automobile available. The vertically mounted air-cooled single-cylinder engine, situated at the rear of the car, produced .