View source for Twentieth Century Motor Company

== Founding ==
Gerald "Jed" Starnes founded the Twentieth Century in or about 1985. In addition to building a factory, he had an entire town built to house his six-thousand-member workforce. Among its customers was [[Henry Rearden]], when Rearden had only an ore mine to his name. Rearden would place his order in 2001.

Jed Starnes' workforce included a skilled lathe operator named '''Jeff Allen''', who worked at the firm since 1991 and became shop foreman, and at least two engineers. [[William Hastings]] (fl. 1989-2007) was the senior of the two; the other was [[John Galt]] (fl. 2004-2007), a young graduate of [[Patrick Henry]] University in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], who had majored in [[physics]] and [[philosophy]]. John Galt built a prototype of the invention that would make him famous, though not in the usual manner: an [[John Galt#The electrostatic motor|electrostatic motor]] that could draw its energy from the atmosphere and run virtually without stopping or refueling.