The Technology Century: 100 Years of The Engineering Society 1895-1995

THE TECHNOLOGY CENTURY

ISBN 1-56378-022-4

>$45.00

About lr'IHIE TECIHlNOLOGY CIIT1NT'URY Advances in technology thought of generally as humankind's ability to manipulate the environmen t have regularly brought profound and unforeseeable changes in our daily lives and social conditions. And in the past hundred years, technological developments have multiplied and synergized with each other in ways that may stand 1995 in unparalleled contrast to life a century earlier.

Regarded as the centenary year of the automobile, 1995 also marks the centennial of ESD - The Engineering Society, which is commemorating the event with the publication of this book. The coincidence is hardly purely accidental.

The rise of the automotive industry has brought with it the need for many highly trained scientists and engineers. Michigan's educational institutions - and ESii) - are outshone by no one in producing and polishing professionals to serve all facets of the engineering field.

Few inventions ha~e sped the pace of social and technological change like the internal-combustion-engine vehicle; one has only to look at the attendant developments in manufacturing, corporate and labor organization, mass production and marketing, globalization, and competition-driven innovation to begin to appreciate the role of the automobile in revolutionizing our world. Then there's the way in which roads have changed the planet's very complexion, auto and industrial emissions have beclouded our air, the demand for fuel has made more turbulent the international atmosphere, and increased personal mobility has affected family and community structure.

As a birthplace and an original

THE TECHNOJLOGY CENTURY 100 Years of ESD -

The Engineering Society 1895-1995

l\!Iike Davis, editor

Cover, frontispiece ancl section front illustrations: Detroit lndustry, South Wall, fresco by Diego Rivera (Detroit Institute of Arts; gift of Edsel B. Ford)

CEN'J'E N'.\' IAL MISSIO:\ ST1\TE\1J·::"'T OF l~SD

III J895 t!te Associfltio11

-

TH E E VCJNFi<_:Rt1\

c SOC/l•:TY:

of Crflrl11ate E11gi11eers was esta/Jlis!terl i11 A1111 A1bo1; M ir!t. to .rnjJ/Jott r111rl

promote t!te grow:!lt of !lte e11gi11eeri11g flllrl tec/1110/ogy !Jflserl i11r!1tslries by provirli11g lnPe11gineeri11g co1111111t11ity wit!t oppomfllities to s!tflre k11owlerlge 011rl irleas. T!te Sotie~v's Ce11te111tifll Ce/e/Jratio11 will commemorate a11rl e11!tr111ce aware11ess of 100 years of fldtil-ve111e11ts 011d co111ri/Jutio11s by its members 011rl t!te e11gi11eeri11g professio11, a11rl co111i1111e suppo11 of ils fo1t11r!i11g p11rposes wit!t programs mir! flttivities to e11to11 rr1ge r111rl sti1111tlflte ero11omic growt!t fl 11rl scie111ifir rlisrove1ies i11 1/Je 21 st ce11t11 ry.

Copy rig ht © 1995 b y ESD - Th e E n g in ee rin g Socie ry as publi shcd b y E ngin ee rin g ~l ec hnol ogy Publi shing, In c.

All ri g hrs reserved.

No pan of rh is b ook m ay bc reprod uced or used in a n y form or by a n y mcans - gra phic, electronic, mcc hani ca l, inc luding via ph otocopy ing, rccording, taping, o r inforrnation srnrage a nd re u ieval system s - without w ritte n permissio n of ehe publi sh e rs.

Printed in T h e U nited Stares of America.

ISBN 1-56378-022-4 II

Contents Presidents' Messages Editor's Foreword

VII

IX

SECTION I

THE ENGINEERING ENDEAVOR ESD- The EngineeringSociety: Membership Makeup, Past Presidents The Technology Century: A Retrospective ESD - The Engineering Society The ESD F oundation

ESD Conferences and Expositions Engineering Education

3 5

12 17 20 22

SECTION II

AUTOMOBILES: PICKING UP SPEED The Automotive Industry

28

Scientific American Excerpt

31 35

General Motors Ford Chrysler Automotive Innovations The Independents Automotive Suppliers Cars and the Environment

45

53 61

71 76

80

SECTION III

IMPLICATIONS: THE "PEOPLE SIDE OF PROGRESS" Detroit Area Demographics Building: Detroit Grows Upward and Outward Minority Movers and Shakers Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Albert Kahn A Bevy of Builders Detroit Edison MichCon Consumers Power Ameritech

89 95 103 107

111 117 122 127 130 132

The F orgotten Cache! of Phone Exchanges

137

City Utilities The Road N etwork

140 144 111

Contents 148 152 156 159 164

Railroads Mass Transit Systems Air Fields and Fliers News and Communications Modem Medical Care

SECTION IV

TECHNOLOGY AND ENTERPRISE Chemical Industry: Riches From the Rocks Diversification: Masco Glass: Window of Opportunity Electrical Equipment: Square D Manufacturing Equipment Materials Processing: Ore and More Invention and Initiative Aircraft Apparent Stinson Before Motor City: The Stove Capital "Arsenal of Democracy": Retooling for Tanks Refrigerators: Cool Idea Fighting Obsolescence in the Office: Burroughs Shipbuilding and Outfitting Pharmaceuticals: Parke Davis and Stearns Railroad Equipment Toys: Daisy and Lionel

169 173 176 181 184 189 191 193 197 200 204 208 211

213 217 220 222

SECTIONV

FAST FORWARD: THE FUTURE Perspectives: U niversity of Michigan Panel Discussion

227

CONTRIBUTORS

243

SPONSORS

247

IV

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A Worldvvide, Full Service Construction Co111pany Servicing The Autolllotive Industry Since 1916 .

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Walbridge Aldinger Ford Motor Company Ql Constructor Supplier

Corporate Headquarters 613 Abbott Detroit, Michigan 48226-2521 313 963-8000

Chn;sler Corporation Platin11111 Pentastar Constructor S11pplier

We applaud your achievements, efforts and goals as the premier society for all engineers.

We are honored to have served your members f or over 20 Years !

Best Wishes from all of us at Michigan Benefit Plans P.0. Box 215080 Auburn Hills, MI 48321

1-800-682-6881 Providing Group Insurance Discounts for Automobile, Homeowners, Workers Compensation, Blue Cross!Blue Shield, Disability Income Insurance.

Presidents' messages From Joh n G. Petty "\Vhc rc there is no vision, the peoplc peri sh"

r111swer 111iglt1 be in rite applicatio11 of teams to rlcve/op socifll sol111io11s.

Tlte E11gi11eeti11g Society, rm1sis1i11g of a variety of rliscipli11es a11rl i11rlus11ies, is irlert!(v s11iterl 10 (1(1 fls fl crttalyst 111 111a1:rltali11g actio11-orie111erl, i111errlepe11rle111 1er1111s romp riserl of VCI)' mpable 111e111be1J ftm11 ESD r111rl 011r sister r111rl brotlter fljfiliate sorieties to ltelp i11 solvi11g r1 111ytiarl of c!tallmges faci11g 11s.

Fliese 1ea111s will 11eerl learlers witlt visio11 a11rl p(//1iripa111s wlto ltave a rlesire to ltelp i111ple111e1111r111gible sol111io11s torlflyfor tlte be11e_fi1 of 10111orrow. lt is 111y visio11 1!tr11 all ESD 111e111bers will 111rti•e rt vflftmble co111rib111io11 to riteji11111t! of 011r cltilr!mt r111rl grr111rlrltilr/1w; b111 i11 orrler /o rlo so, em!t 011e of 11s 11111s/ bffome rtäively i11volverl torlay.

(Prm·crbs 29:18)

As rite 2 Ist ce111111:v rlaw11s rwrl ESD - Tlte li11gi11eeri11g Soriety e111brtrl.'s 011 its seco11rl I OUyeflrjo11mey, rite ft1111 re will be r1s brigltt as we cr111 i111agi11e if we eaclt tal:e persrmrtl respo11sibilitv torlay 10 111rtl:e it so.

Let '.r 1101 r1ccep1 rite c11nw1 pre111ise tltat 011r offsp1i11g will ltrtve rt loru:er str111r/arrl of livi11g r111rl be less semre i11 tlteir olrl age !ha11 tlteir prerlecessors. "/'ltesr v isio11less prerlil1io11s will 011z1• co111e tme if we co111i1111e t1:vi11g to solve !0111orrow'.1 cltrtlle11ges witlt outrlrtterl or s!opgap 111easures ofyesterrlrty.

114' m11 rtll be vety gmtifierl to be rt pr11t of tlte wor/rl of n1gi11ee1i11g, i11 wltirlt tlte e11rl resrt!ts rtre "1r111gible." /1'.1 tltese 1m1gible, pror/11r1ive re.rnlts 1ltr1t ltrtvr perpe111rtterl "tlte goorl l{fe."

011 tlte otlter ltr111rl, ru:e ltave Sffll i11 rere111 yea1:1 a va1iez)' of so111ewltrt1 "i111r111gible" b11si11r!SS flrtivities r111rl govem111e111 progm111s erorle tlte/01111rlfltio11s of wlta! we view f/s !hat ''goorl life."

Howe-ue1; I 111us1also 110/e tltat tltere fll"C personal jflr/01:;- tltfll 111iglt1 be viemwl r1s i11trt11gible tltrtt ltr1ve marle r111rl will m11ti1111e 10 111ah r1 sig11ijiff111! ro1111ibu1io11 to 011rgrow1!t, surft as our JjJirit11fll/111orrtl vrtl11rs, i111flgi11atio11 r111rl fflitlt.

110 live i11 a ro111plex wor/rl r111rl, 1lte1r:fore, rite sol111io11s to rite dmllmges fflti11g 11s flre eq1wlzJ' co111plex. Co111plex projects ltflve bem V(!IY efferlivezv e11gi11ee1r:rl 11si11g tlte "tM111 " {11ot co111111it1ee) approad1. '/'ll(refore, it 01Jo11lrl appear tltat at leflst prt11 of rite

ESO P resicle nt-elect 1995-96

From John Rakolta Jr. Wltat mt i111po11r1111 yMr for tlte ESD - Tlte l.i11gi11eeri11g Sotiety: its /UOtlt m111ive1:1a1y. A11rl wltrtl r111 lto11or it ltas bee11 to serve as presirln11 of Iltis grer1/ orgr111izrttio11 a/ s11r:lt a 1110111e111 i11 its ltis101y. r.r111e1111ials alru:ays give 1ise 10 re.f!ectio111101 Ollz)' 011 mty g1m1 i11s1i1111io11 j· ow11 ltistory /;ut 011 its plmr: i11 tlte e-ue11/s of its time. 111 pa11si11g to reflerl 011 fSD 's role i11 tltis regio11 '.I· mir/ eve11 broarler ltis101:r, I m11 eq11ally aü!Jfrl by jJflsl arco111plislt111ett/s a11rl by tltose poiserl for 1m liza1io1111ow r111rl i11 tlteft11111t!.

Tltis rw!f!1111ifll bool:, tltis rollr1bomtive rlom111e111 - dt'srribes flllrl rlepias tlte Sfil'Cf'jJi11g arltirve111mts a!l!ib111a/;/e 10 engi11eni11g r111rl 1et!t11ologJ' arlvr111res i11 tlte last / OU yean 'f'o see, i11 worrls r111rl pir111rt's, rite 111'./ulrli11g of rite m11rli1io11s of 111orlem life - 111a11y of wltir!t we ltmri/1• 110/ia r111y11101r - i11stills botlt prirlt i11 rite prog1ns we !tau marlt r111rl ltumility at tltr powe1:r 11ow· a/ our to111111r111rl.

Tltis rl1wl 11a1111r: of respfftfor rite pasl r111rl p1rs1'11/ 1111r/erlits tlte a!!it11rlt witlt wltit!t m·e 11111s1 lool· to rite j i1t11!7'. We 11errl 10 embrare tltr ft1!1117' sec111t! flllrl i11sfiirt'rl by mfwt lws go11e /;(ft11r.

1-fo'&:evet; we 11111st tah rmr: 1101 !o st1ff11111b eitlter 10 co111plare111y over 011r c111n111 mpabilities 11or /o rlisro11mge111e11! tltrtl /1flsl prow•rss m 11 '1bt111r11rhrrl. 110 slto11/r! 1101 set 0111:»el'-'·es i11 a lteat 10 011/fJflre 011r/01t!n11111e1:r. b111 r1s lto/rle1:;- oftlte b111011 ofprogn:ss tltat

ltas passet! 10 us, to 1i1dessly bear fo r tlte 11ex1 lap of rite COlll/l/01/ jJlll:rnil. /11 thfll cffo11, wr 11111s1 b1wtlte rleepz)' rite spirit of i11spim1io11, for tltr11 is tlte so111u - tlte flrlrlitio11al i11grerliml rt!111os1 fro111 0111sirle 011rselvrs tltat enables us 10 see 0111sirl1! rite orrli11r11J', tlte li111i1erl, rite ''box" of m'ltrll is. !o wltat co11lrl be. IVitlt i11spiratio11 fil'e r111rl 011r rlesrenrlr1111s lllfll' rlo g1t!rl!

1lti11gs 1ltr11 l·:SD 111e111bl'!'s will loo/: bad· 011 ru.'itlt respert a11rl r1we /(}(} yt'mJ jiv111 11ow, r1s fil'f rlo torlay. R111, 111os1 i111po11a11tzv, tlte)• will, rts fil'e rlo 11ow' looh11g fit 011r ltistot'.)', beco111e impirerl toffe-

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1994-95

VII

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Although yöu ~ect exceprional peifomiance from C~l~ CorPb~rion ' .vehicles1, you,.s~(mld also eipect it -from -our peo{i!e !Ibat's why we've deyeloRed a pro~ called Cust~mer One. A renewed comminnent to customer ~"

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satisfacrion at each level of •. ' products. Customer Oi:e. lt's . the Chrysler Corporarion. a new way of looking ar our .

A 'com_mitµient that involves perfonnance. Put•it to the test. e\leryone . from inanagement .

IEW ~ to the factocy to the dealership.

111!.l'll li • J eep Cladge A comminnent we take very ~ l!ml Di\isions of thc Cb11·slcr Corporation. seripusly,1to help make our servf,ces a~ good as our

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Foreword After my proposal was approved by Chris Dyrda's publications committee, 1 was handed a small book from the ESD library. lt was a SOth anniversary book published by the Cleveland Engineering Society (now defunct) in 1930. Perhaps not surprisingly, its format followed very much that laid out for this volume.

Quite another aspect of creating our anniversary book was assembling competent writers and historians with a very short lead time to "Job One." Fortunately 1 could draw upon the resources of journalists as well as amateur and professional historians with whom 1 bad become acquainted over my years as both joumalist and historian. In many instances, 1 was able to identify contributors with unique knowledge of their subjects.

The challenge was to mold professional joumalists into competent historians, because history requires time devoted to research, a luxury rarely afforded writers facing hourly or daily deadlines. By the same token, it was necessary sometimes to trim the exhaustive narratives of subjects dear to the hearts of historians.

The contributions of those journalists engaged as public relations professionals generally required t~e least nurturing, once they could be persuaded that thIS was a project worthy of their employer's time. Some of the PR efforts were staff-produced and, accordingly, are anonymous.

Because several writers provided more than one article, we decided to group their biographical sketches together in a special section, rather than appending them to each contribution.

When ESD's century began in 1895, it was a world in which electricity and telephones were just beginning tobe employed, a world without cars and planes and radios and movies and television, a world where the mechanical typewriter was a relatively new invention. lt was a world in which Detroit was just another medium-sized, regional city - like most northern cities, a place of European immigrants and foreign-language churches, neighborhoods and newspapers. A simpler world in many respects, but one filled with terrible insecurities balanced by unlimited opportunities.

The subsequent 100 years for Detroit truly was The Technology Century. We wonder what our next 100 years will hold, and how it will be characterized.

en 1 was asked to submit a proposal for ESD - The Engineering Society's centennial publication, the first thing 1 did was peruse the annual directory issue of ESD Technology to see who the members were. Because the first objective was to serve ESD's constituency.

The second task was to tell about Detroit's technologies and industries during the world's most momentous 100 years.

The third requirement was to consider how future generations would react when they pick up this book 10, SO or a 100 years from now and try to understand what was going on herein 1995.

What I outlined would first relate the history of the organization whose hundredth year was being celebrated. Of course, any centennial of a Detroit organization had to recognize that this was, and is, Motor City, the home of the auto industry as the mass production enterprises which put first the nation and then the world on motorized wheels. An industry that was celebrating its own centennial a year hence. Then, what did the auto industry cause to happen around it, as it grew? There was the infrastructure - the people, the builders, the suppliers of services to support those people and the factories.

But Detroit has been far more than just the auto industry. There were many industries that flourished here, gained worldwide influence, some still present, others long gone. Their stories had to be told, both to remind the readers of 1995 and to inform those in the future. Conventional histories tend to be either anecdotal memories or recordings of political events. Stories of enterprises seldom seem to be included. The ESD anniversary provided an ideal platform for these annals of The Technology Century.

Finally, a centennial publication should offer a view of the future. Since any student of technology knows that inventions can't be predicted, the challenge was to avoid looking ridiculous even a few months later, when predictions could fall by the wayside as completely unforeseen developments leap ahead. lt seemed appropriate, given ESD's founding by University of Michigan College of Engineering graduates, to assemble a trio of faculty members to ponder the future of today's technological community.

-Mike Davis, editor-in-chief

IX

0 NLy YOUR MOTHER IS MORE 0 B s Es s ED SAF ETY. WITHYOUR

Ford SafetJ En9murs: Kann I I. Pr.-.,1h) lo. ~rc1 r Pm,qmm, .ll1kr fosrrr.

Wh e re wo uld we be wirhour o ur m orh ers? Th ey take ca re oj u s and protect us. So, we're pr oud to say, ll'h e n ic co mes ro saje9 u a rdin 9 dril'ers, at FO RD MOTO R COM Ptl 1 \ ·y ou r materna l in sti n ci

b eco mes 1'cry ANTl - LOC f.:.

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co ns icl crccl obsessii·e . Bur and scc uriry

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Past: Not Just Prolog 0

Detroit area 's innovators make it a microcosm of the industrial age

General Motors.

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Vou're driving in broad daylight. Suddenly, a car's lights catch your eyes. They could be our new daytime running lamps (DRLs). These special low-intensity headlights help alert other drivers with light, like your car hom can alert them with sound, according to Jay Minotas, a member of General Motors' safety team.

They're simple, practical, and easy to use because they come on automatically. And research shows they reduce collisions, and that can help save lives. GM is introducing daytime running lamps in 1995, and they'll be shining on all its vehicles by 1997. Right now, no other domestic auto company offers them.

Jay says he hopes that will change: ''The sooner every car and truck has DRLs, the safer we'll all be!'

Other (2.81.)

Motor Vehicle Mfg. (22.81.)

Gen. Mfg. &Equip. (9.71.)

Environmental (6.01.)

Consultants (3.01.)

Mtrls/Steel/Chemicals (8.31.)

Design Firms (4.51.)

Automotive Suppliers (19.3)

Construction (7.61.)

Utilities &Gov t Agencies (10.21.)

Engr. Ed. &Research [S.81.J

As shown in this pie chart, automotive interests constitute 40 % of the ESD 's 1995 membership, hardly surprising in the wor/d's "Motor City." (ESD)

Past presidents 1902-03 E. E. 1-laskell 1903-0-1 F. C. McMath 190-1-05 T. 1-1. /-linchm,1n, Jr. 1905-06 ). D. Sanders 1906-07 Benjamin Douglas 1907-08 E. S. Wl1eeler 1908-09 Francis C. Sl1e11ehon 1909- 10 William R. Kaies 1910-11 T. F. M cCricke11 191 1- 12 Ralph Collamorc 1912 -13 B.). Denman 1913-14 E. J. Burdick 1914-15 1-1. 1-1. Esselstyn 1915 -16 O rlon W. Alliec 1916-17 1-/orace H lane 1917- 18 W. P. Putn,1111 l. R. 1-loffman 1918-19 Charles Y. Dixon 1919-20 D. J. Sterre/I 1920-2 1 0. V. Williamso11 192 1·ZZ M. W. Taber 1922-23). R. M cColl 1923-24 l. E. Wi//i,1111s 1924-25 Frank Burto11 1925-26 George 1-1. Fenkell 1926-27 Georse R. T/10111pson 1927-28 William F. Zabriskic 1928-29 Charles). Peck

SD - The Engineering Society traces its origin to an engineering group founded on june 14, 1895. Out of this group came the Engineering Society of Detroit, which was incorporated on ...._ _ April 15, 1936. Within three months, the membership rose to 1,000. Six years later, the membership reached a total of more than 3,000, and the Society moved into its new headquarters, made possible through gifts from the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham fund, administered by the Rackham Engineering Foundation trustees. Today, 100 years from its inception, ESD membership stands at more than 8,000, making it the largest metropolitan engineering society in the world. listed below are the names of the dedicated leaders who have served as president of ESD down the years.

1929-30 John P. 1-lallihan 1930-3 1 E. M. Walker 193 1-32 A. S. Dougla ss 1932-33 F. 0. Clcments 1933-34 /-/. l. Walton 1934-35 /-/. S. Ellington 1936-38 John 1-1. /-/un i 1938-40 James W. Parker 194 1-43 Harvey M. Merker 1943-44 Thomas A. Boyd 19-14 --15 Elwy11 C. Balch 19-15--16 1-larold S. Ellington 1946--17 Clement J. Freund 19-17-48 George R. T/1omp so11 19·18-49 S. M Dean

1949-50 Frank H. Riddle 1950-5 1 Grant S. W ilcox, Jr. 1951 -52 J. l. Mcloud 1952-53 Kenneth A. Meade 1953-54 William E. Stirton 195 4-55 Earl Bartholomew 1955-56 Raymond Foulkrod Georse 1-1. Miehls 1956-57 filmest Boyce 1957-58 William H . Graves 1958-59 George A. Porter 1959-60 Fred J. Meno 11 1960-6 1 Frederick Bauer 1961·62 Clyde l. Palmer 1962-63 1-loward M. Hess

3

1963-64 Glenn V. Edmonson 1964-65 Walter l. Couse 1965-66 John M . C1mpbell 1966-67 Donald E. Jahncke 1967-68 Dona ld N. Frey 1968-69 1-/arvey A. Wagner 1969-70 Sol King 1970-7 1 William M. Du// 197 1-72 l. B. Bornhauser 1972-73 Morton S. Hilben 1973-74 James S. Owens 1974-75 Fr,111cis E. Cogsdill 1975-76 Robert R. Johnso11 1976-77 Kenneth l. Hulsing 1977-78 William P. Panny 1978-79 Jack l. Korb 1979-80 Alfred M. Entenman, Jr. 1980-81 Richard E. Marburger 198 1-82 Sydney l. Tcrry 1982-83 Rei nhold M. Tischler 1983-84 Creighto n C. Lederer 1984-85 Roy 1-1. link 1985-86 Alex C. Mair 198 6-8 7 Dr. Serge Gmtc/1 1987-88 Daniel 1-1. Shah,1n 1988-89 Dr. Stephen R. Davis 1989-90 Douglas R. Allen 1990-9 1 Edgar E. Parks, P.E. 1992-93 1-/arry Tauber 1993-94 lydia 8. L.JZurcnko, M.E. 1994-95 Donald). Smolenski P.E.

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DETROIT PICTURE MAP

SllOWING 771B .llBM7DB LOClfT'IONS OF THE

lfUNCIPAl. POIN'n OF INTBRBST AND M.4N1' OF THB MANVFAc:lVRJNG ANDAVTOMOTIVE l'LANT.f OF 1"1101«L INTSREST.

DESf(}NED AND DRAWN II'I FRANK. BAR<:IJS

n surveying Detroit's engineering and technological accomplishments, one is tempted to simply reiterate the obvious - Detroit made cars and cars have made Detroit. In the rest of the United States and throughout the world, Detroit is seen as the Motor City and little eise.

To be sure, Detroit has been the premier industrial city in the world in the twentieth century, the birthplace of mass production and the promoter of mass consumption. American automobile nameplates reflect the contributions of Detroiters to the automobile industry Ransom E. Olds, Henry Ford, John and Horace Dodge, David Buick, Walter P. Chrysler, and even Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit.

Metropolitan Detroit, however, has also enjoyed a distinguished and noteworthy industrial and technological history weil before the coming of the automobile in the early twentieth century. Even after the automobile industry dominated the Detroit economy in the 1910s and 1920s, the city continued to serve as the home for scores of innovative industries other than automobile manufacturing. Today, Detroit is no longer the center of automobile manufacturing, but it nevertheless has remained the intellectual capital of the American automobile industry, with most of the industry's managerial, styling, and engineering talent remaining here.

Many of the articles in this volume provide detailed information about Detroit's highly-diversified industrial base of the l 9th century. Some of Detroit's

Industry & lts Engineers 100 years of technology and innovation

by Dr. Charles K. Hyde

TOP: This 1939 "birds-eye" view of Detroit shows

the location of many companies and installations long forgotten. Through the magic of computer graphics, the publishers were able to correct easily a mistaken identification in the original art. (Bob Cosgrove col/ection) PAGE 7: This view of Woodward Avenue at Cadillac Square in the 1BBOs shows that technology had just barely arrived. Electric light towers rise high over the City Hall lawn (center and right) but the streetcars are still horsedrawn. (Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library)

5

No OTHER WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM HAS BEEN PllOVEN AS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE.

lf you'd like to see an impressive before-and-after story, just take a look at what steel has done for the modern automobile.

In fact, we've shown how to shed 140 or more unwanted pounds from the body-in-white of a typical North-American four-door family sedan. All without sacrificing safety, and at a cost savings of $40 per car. And that's just the beQinning.

Thirty-one steel producers trom

North America, Europe and Asia are now developing steel design concepts for the ultra-lightweight car of the future.

And when you consider steel's recycling track record and affordability, it could very weil be the only material that's capable of meeting the government's "Supercar" objectives of high mileage, low cost and increased recyclability.

Which is one thing you can't

say about all the alternative material "fad diets."

Call l-800'5TEEL WORKS for more information about losing weight with automotive steel.

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DRMNG THE FUTURE. American Iran and Steel Institute Automotive Applications Committee

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earl y indus tri es were tied to t he rich min eral a nd fo rest reso urces o f the G reat Lakes basin. Ea rl y iron and s teel man u facturers located o n Detroit 's wa terfront , o n Zug Isla nd , ancl in Wyandoue; Lake Superio r co pper interests buil t a !arge copper smelter o n the Detroit River sou th of Fo rt \Vay ne; and bul k che mical man ufacture rs located in so uthwest Detroit and Wya ndotte, producing soda ash , salt, a nd salt products.

nameplatcs on thcir products. Much of thc Det ro it automobi lc incl us try's co n ti n ued s uccess resul ted from hundrcds of !a rge and s mall improvements to the des ig n of cars ancl to the way a ut o make rs buil t them.

1nnovati o ns s uch as th e electric sei f-starter, s tecl w hccls, h ydraul ic bra ke systems, high-eo m pression engines, thc a ll -steel body, safety glass, auto mat ic t ransmissio ns , and co untless o the r improve ments have propelled the au to industry forward.

Un fort unately, the firms which served as s upplie rs to thc au tomobile co mpan ies a nd the remarkab le men who led them a re typicall y rclega ted to near-o bsc uri ty in the histo ry boo ks. The Doclge bro th ers ma n ufact ured e ngines. t rans missio ns, and other compo ne nts fo r Olds a nd Fo rd from 1901 un til 19 1-+, w hen they in troduced th eir own na meplat e. O t her ea rl y Detroi t s upp liers w ho made s ubstan tial cont ribu ti ons to the s uccess o f the automobile ind ustry includecl the l<clsey W hecl Co mpany, la te r l<elsey- Hayes; the Ho lley Brothers Co m pany (ca rbureto rs); Timken-Detroi t Ax le Company ( ro lle r bearings); th e Edward G. Bude! Man u faetu ring Com pany (stee l bodies) ; a nd the Fis her Body Co m pan y. A !is t of impo nant s up plie rs cou ld be ex panded to severa l pages, if s pace permitted .

KEY INDUSTRIES The pha rmacc ut ica l ind us t ry, led by th c Parke, Davis Co m pan y a nd Fredcri ck Stearnes and Company, rose to national pro m inence in the l. 870s and re main ed a majo r e mploye r in Detroit we il in to thc 20t h cen tu ry.

Other key indus tries included s h ipbu ilding in Detroit, Wya ndotte, a nd Ecorse; the man u facLUre of rai lroad cars and wh eels; and the s tove indus uy Detro it was th e larges t produce r o f pa rlo r and coo king s toves in t he Un ited States in the 1880s an d re ma ined a cen ter of stove prod uc tio n un ti l the 1920s. By t he turn of the twe ntieth ce ntury, Detroit was a c ity with hundreds of fou ndries ancl mach ine s hops, and th o usa nds of entrep re neurs a ncl s killecl workers ex perie nced in thc meta! t rades.

T he remarkable growth of the Detroit a nd Michi gan a u tomobile ind us try in the 20t h century ancl the eme rgence o f the Big Th ree a re reca llcd e lsewhe re in this volume. T his was la rgc ly th c Story of a fcw innova tive, visionary me n - O lds, Fo rd , Leland , t he Dodges, Buic k, Durant, C h rysle r, and o t hers - w ho made Mich igan the automo bile capita l of th e worl d. They have achievecl a degree of imm o nality through t he

N OT J UST CARS Ou tsid e o bse rvers of Detroit a nd cvcn its own rcsidents o ftcn vicw sou theas t Mi chigan's eeono my as co m plete ly au tomobi le-o ri ent ed. In fact, hundreds o f manufacwring firms ma king no n-a ut o mo tivc products havc s urvived ancl n ouris hed in this ccntury. T he Burro ug hs Addi ng Machinc Co mpan y, wh ich moved to

7

·· The Team of The Century .~i~heQfficial

publisher for ESD-The Engineering Society, we are

1~F.~Dlill-1tiitito:present THE TECHNOLOGY CENTURY as a chronicle of ESD's ·kll·i•:11~i''11•0 n

years of achievements and commitment to industry.

··: · 11he production of this book was no small task. But with dedication aridteamwork, we at Engineerng Technology Publishing, Inc. were able .to provide the finest in writing, editing and graphics, as well as a monu·_ mental effort to solicit supporting advertisers.

As a contract publisher working integrally with our client and its publi:·__ cations committee. we are expected to offer these turnkey services. And bec(;luse we have the team of the century, we can.

Introducing our team:

ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY PUBUSHING, INC. Barbara Kelvin, President John Kelvin, Publisher ,_ David Tell, Managing Editor, Art Direction · ~evin Campbell, Advertising Manager Karen Thomas, listings Coordinator Pat Dewitt, Advertising Assistant Douglas Kelvin, Pre-press Manager

ESD PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Roger Bestien, NARMCO Group John T. Benedict, Standards Con.sultant Mike Davis, Editor, The Technology Century Dr. Ralph Kummler, Wayne State University J. Douglas Mathieson, ESD Stoff James Meloche, French & Rogers Rich Moizio, ESD Staff John Petty, General Dynamics Karen Torigian, Giffefs Associates

~ ·=·}1

Engin-eering Technology Publishing

27421 Harper Ave. St. Clair Shores, MI 48081 810-774-3530

i.'-

Detroit from St. Louis in 1904, remained one of the major manufacturers of office equipment and computers until its recent merger with Sperry to form Unisys.

Detroit was a significant manufacturer of civilian passenger aircraft with the Stout Metal Airplane Company in the l 920s and the Stinson Aircraft Company (19261948). Kelvinator and Frigidaire, both leaders in introducing electric home refrigerators, had early factories in Detroit. Southeast Michigan's diverse products include air rifles (Daisy); toy trains (Lionel), and circuit breakers (Square D), to name a few. More recently, southeast Michigan has become a center for the manufacture of automation equipment, including numerically-controlled tools and robots.

The automobile industry demonstrated its collective manufacturing genius during the Second World War, when Detroit literally became "The Arsenal of Democracy" and produced a flood of war goods. That Detroit could produce large volumes of trucks, tanks, and other wheeled vehicles surprised nobody. But the remarkable speed and flexibility of the auto industry's designers, engineers, managers, and skilled workers in making unprecedented volumes of unfamiliar products astonished the world. Detroit's factories produced aircraft and aircraft engines of all descriptions; artillery; small arms and ammunition; gyroscopes; radar equipment; bombsights; marine equipment; and scores of other products.

Beginning with the Second World War, the auto industry began moving its manufacturing facilities into the nearby suburbs, including Warren, Center Une, Livonia, and Wixom. This migration reflected the shortage of large blocks of vacant land in Detroit by the late 1930s and the desire to build sprawling singlestory factories like the Ford Rouge complex. From the 1950s on, the industry built new plants even further afield in southeasl Michigan, for example, in Sterling Heights, Lake Orion, Ypsilanti Township, Fiat Rock, and Trenton. The auto makers also located their new factories in the Sunbelt and overseas, to further reduce production costs.

only at the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly (Poletown) plant and at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly plant, both opened in the last decade.

Detroit and southeast Michigan are no longer the center for automobile production in the United States.

This region remains, however, the administrative and intellectual capital of the American automobile industry, and in some respects, is the capital of the global auto industry as weil. The Big Three have maintained their corporate headquarters here, including the venerable General Motors Building (1922) in Detroit's New Center, designed by Albert Kahn; the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters, heuer known as "The Glass House" (1956) in Dearborn; and the ultramodern Chrysler World Headquarters (1995) in Auburn Hills.

The Big Three have kept their design, engineering, and testing facilities in southeast Michigan as well.

Ford uses the former Ford Airport in Dearborn as a test ground, while its major engineering and design facilities are located in a half-dozen major buildings nearby.

General Motors operates a vast proving ground at Milford, dating back to 1923, and an enormous, beautiful Technical Center in Warren, begun in 1956. Chrysler recently opened its new Technology Center (1993) in Auburn Hills, moving its engineering operations from Highland Park. Although the Big Three no longer employ the large factory work force of the past, the auto industry remains a major employer of designers, engineers, technicians, managers, and other white-collar workers.

Later sections of this volume consider Detroil's innovative architects, who designed the auto industry's factories and offices, as weil as the expanding city that developed as a result of the industry's success. The importance of Albert Kahn's radically new factory architecture to the success of Henry Ford and the other automakers cannot be emphasized too much. At the same time, we should not ignore the engineers who contributed to Detroit's phenomenal growth in the first half of the 20th century through their work in transportation and public utilities.

The Detroit River, an important conduit for trade from Detroit's founding in 1701, has also been a major transportation barrier until the twentieth century.

Detroiters were instrumental in designing and building two tunnels and a bridge to overcome this obstacle. The Michigan Central Railroad Detroit River Tunnel (1909) used steel tubes sunk in trenches for the segment passing directly under the river, a distance of 2,620 feet.

This was the first tunnel in the United States to use this particular design. The Ambassador Bridge ( 1929) had the longest main span ( 1,850 feet) of any suspension

PLANT Ă&#x153;BSOLESCENCE Detroit's automakers began to neglect the oldest generation of massive automobile plants starting in the l 960s and finally abandoned and demolished many of them in the 1980s and l 990s. Enormous manufacturing complexes such as Dodge Main, Chrysler Jefferson Avenue, and Uniroyal are gone, while other plants like Ford Highland Park, Packard, and Murray Body Company are used mainly for warehousing. Automobile assembly within the city of Detroit proper continues

9

Detroit's downtown right after World War II was a bustling center of high-rise office buildings and hotels erected just before the Grea t Depression of the 1930s. Within a few years, urban rene wal, expressways and depopulation began to change this appearance dramatically. (The Detroit News)

aniclcs in th is vo lume. Space does no t pe rmit a listing o f a ll o f Lhe men and womcn w ho have esta blished so utheast Michiga n as a ccn ter o r tec h nological an d eng in ee rin g innovat ions nat io nall y and internat io nall y, bot h w ith in th e au to mobi le incl us try ancl in o ther areas. The s ame v ita lit y a ncl inn ovative s piri t is s till evident th roughou t th is regio n a nd wi ll g uara ntee that th e ncx t 100 yea rs wi ll be sou theas t Mic h igans second Tcch no logy Ce ntury.

bridge in the world w he n co m plcted, but los t its reco rd to the George Washi ngton Bridge in l 93 1. Finall y, the Detroi t-Windso r Ve h icu la r Tu n nel ( 1930), which a lso used a trench-a nd-tube design, was the th ircl major s ubaqueo us ve h icular tunncl bui lt in th e Un ited States.

T h e e ng in ee rs w ho des ig necl the va rio us sys tems which providc so ut heast Michigan with clcc tri city, gas, water, scwe ragc, and te lc pho ne scrviccs h ave a lso co ntri b u tecl migh til y 10 thc regio n's grow th ove r the last cc nt u ry. Th eir work is d isc ussed in cletail in seve ra l

11

ne hundred yea rs ago, 13 yo ung eng ineers heeded the ca ll of Dr. Mortimer E. Cooley (later to become Dean of Eng inee ring a t the Uni vers ity o f Mic higan), a nd fo rm ecl the Detroit Associa ti on o f G raduale Engineers .

To day, as the Eng ineering Soc iety of Detroit, th e Assoc iation has grown into the largest local eng inee ring society in th e world.

Dr. Cooley's call came at a critica l time : he hacl rece ivecl worcl tha t Uni ve rsity Regents were ques ti o ning the value of an eng inee ring eclucatio n , thus o pening up the possibil ity that th e eng ineering prog ram would be dropped or dras tically revised .

Realiz ing t hat a fo rmal protest from a n o rgan izecl group could be in nuentia l, th ree Mich igan e ngineering alumni , Gard ner S. W illiams, H. G. Fiele! ancl H. R. l<in g, drew u p a co nstituti o n and by- laws for s uch an o rga nizatio n. These were presented o njune 14, 1895, at a dinne r in De troit's C ham ber of Com merce cafe.

Attencl ing were engin eering alumni ancl most o f the University's eng in ee ring faculty. They s ubsequen tly adopted th e co ns tituti.on and by-laws, and the Associatio n thus was fo rmecl w ith Wal te r S. Russe! chose n as its firs t pres ident.

Th e s upport of t he n ewly fo rmecl Associatio n he lpecl cl iss uade th e Regents. T hey LOok no ac tion. The Co llege of Engineering has since gone o n to earn a n enviable reputatio n for the ca liber of its gracluates.

The Engineering Society Detroit has the honor of many firsts & foretnosts

By Anrh ony J. Yan ik

TOP: A view of the northwest corner of Warren and

John R, the site of The Engineering Society's new building just prior to construction commencing in 7940. (ESD)

12

M OVED TO DETROIT ln l 90 1. the Associatio n decidcd to expand its mcmbership 10 inclucle enginecring graduales of other unive rsitie , prompting a name change 10 that of the "Detroit Engineering Society" (DES) . Mo nth ly meetings were movecl from Ann Arbor to the St. Claire Ho tel on the corner of Ranclo lph and Mo nroe in clowntown Detroi t, a locn ti on mo rc cemral to the socicty's growing membership. A common feature of these mectings was the presentation of a tcchnical paper by one of th c members. In time th c Society began to sponsor papcrs by we il kn own auth o ritics wo rking in the cngineering ficld .

After th c move to Detroit, the Society resolvecl 10 form special commillees from amo ng the membership, sevcral of which offered invaluable technical assistan ce 10 the city, then grappling with ex panding wa ter suppl y, sewage, ancl lighting neecls. Out of one s uch comm illee camc a manual of building codes and safety o rdin ances which was adopted by urban communities in Indiana, O hio, and so uthwestern Ontario as weil as Michiga n. oon the littlc clining roo m of the St. Claire Hotel became too small for these gathcrings, and DES began 10 meet at various othcr locatio ns. Residencc was takc n up in room of the Em ployer's Associatio n in the Stevens ßuilding from 1906 until 191-1- when the Society rentecl offi ees in a three-story builcling o n -+6 Wes t Gra nd Ri vcr where it remained for four years.

By this time, DES had expandecl fro m its 13 original members 10 somc -+37. This number clroppecl substantially when many enterecl the armed serv ices during World Wa r 1. Thc subsequent loss in dues incomc was instrumental in DES accepting an offcr from the Detroi t Chamber of Commercc in 19 18 to set up its offi ces in the latter's build ing at Lafayette and Wayne.

The end of the wa r did not bring back the expectcd bui lclup in membership. In fact , by 1922 attcndance at the monthl y mee tings hacl become quite meagcr, inclicating a cleciclcd dro p in intercst in a local cnginecring orga ni za tio n. lt was the consensus of th osc members st ill acti vc that the lack of a perm anent home was at thc root of their problem, aggravatcd by the fact that their idcnti ty hacl become qu ite lost amo ng all the other activities then taking place within the Board of Com mercc bui ldi ng. N umerous meeti ngs we re hclcl umil mcmbcrs camc 10 the conclusion that they shoulcl seek a largc, fine home not far fro m the downtown district, thc int eri or of which they could turn into offi ces ancl meeting rooms, and to which they could late r add an auditorium.

In 1923, a lctter ballot of the members resulted in a 75 percent acce ptancc for this directio n. Within a sho n time, $15,000 was raisecl , enough to make a 25 percent down paymen t on a largc, three-story mansio n al -+78 West Alcxandrine, as weil as alter its interior.

DES officers then proceedecl to hire a full-tim e aclministrat io n staff to servicc the mo nth ly meetings, technical sessions and other activities involving thc members hip. Not long after, they were eontactecl by the Un ive rsity of Michiga n wit h a requcst fo r space within the new quarte rs where it could conduct accreclited extension courses, the first ever to be presentecl outside the Ann Arbo r campus.

HARD HIT By 1929, wi th membership hav ing escalated to 871 over the intervening s ix yea rs, mo re room once agai n was needed. The DES ßoard of Directors vo ted to seek funds for a major expansion of the Alexancl rine propen y. No sooncr hacl it made this decision than the Great Depression desce ndecl upon the na tio n. By 1934, DES had lost 75 pe rcent of its members because they could not affo rd 10 pay their ann ual dues, minimal th ough th ey were. The resulting drain o n clues income was so acu te that DES no longcr was able to meet the Lax, mongage and interest payments on the Alexa ndrine builcling.

Faced with bankHa rolcl S. rup tcy, Ellington, an arc hitect then DES presiclent, sent a letter to past and present members asking for financial assistance ancl s uggestions by which the Society could regain solvency.

One of the recipients of this letter was ßryso n Horto n, a Harold S. Ellington (ESD) trustee of the Ho race H. Rackham an d Mary A. Rackham Fund. The Rackham Fund had been created in L933 according 10 the terms of the will left by :Vlr. Rackham at his death, and was intended for the s upport o r ed ucatio nal o r technical efforts to improve public wclfare, educat io n and train ing. Mr. Ho n on suggested that DES petition th c Trustees for fina ncial aid because o r its work in promoting the advance ment of the engi-

necring profession. (A nd th e professio n did incleed nced ad vaneing. 1n a letLer daLed March 13, 193-+, a Mr. W. P Thomas mentioned thal window washers working for Wayne CounLy we re being paid $ 110 per month, whercas engi neers in coumy em ploy were ea rn ing only $75 per month. ) Mr. EllingLon and other DES members hcld several meetings wit h th e Rackham Trustees beginning in ovember 1934, meetings Lhat culminaLed in a gra nL of abo ut $50,000 which enabled thc Society to meet its mosl pressing financial neecls.

Early in 1936, Rac kham TrnsLees approaehed DES and reeommended that it reorga nize as a non-profiL corporation. Accordingly, o n April 15 , 1936, DES became thc Engineering Society of DeLroit (ESD).

Offi ces were rented in the 1-loLel Staller in clowntown DetroiL, and th e Trus tees set asicle a $500 ,000 funcl for ESD o perations. The fund was tobe admi nisterecl by a new ly incorporated Rackham Engineering FoundaLio n.

WiLh more rcso urces at its command , ESD began to expand its operalions.

Th us the Junior Secti on of the ESD was fo rmed early in 1937, comprisecl of mem bers between the ages 21 Lo 30 who had eompleted a bac helor of science dcgrec.

OPPOSITE: At the peak of its activities in the post-

war period, the Rackham Building was hast to both professional training and social events. This member dance scene, probably in the 1960s, also shows the handsome art deco inferior design of the building before a 1974 fire. (ESD)

son Molür Company). In 1930, Lhis number was only 36 or 7 percent of the active members hip. ßut in 1938, auto company representati on swelled to 500.

Once again the Un ivc rsity of Michigan en terccl the ESD picLUre. After the University annou nced that iL was looking for a sui Lablc building site in Detroit in which it co ulcl cond uct its ex tension courses, Rackham interests proposed that ES D and th c University of Michiga n joi nLly cons Lruct a Horacc 1-l. Rack ham Memorial ßuilcling that would meet boLh their neecls.

On Dec. 6, 1938, ES D members voted overwhelmingly in favo r of the proposa l, and building plans werc initiatecl. As approved by all panies, a single building woulcl be constructecl . ESD woul cl own th at pan in which it conducLecl its business ac tiviLi es, ancl U. of M. Lhe rcmaind er in cluding th e auclitorium , w hich prompLecl Rac kh am Trustees to award U. of M. an ex tra $1 million fo r its share of the costs. Final land purchases were macle earl y in L940 when Mrs. Rac kha m macle a fu rth er gift of $750,000. ConsLrucLio n commencecl on Ju ly 1. of that yea r, and the splend id Memorial building s ubsequently was dedicatccl o n Jan. 28, 1942 , as the U.S. was entering Wo rld War II. Although ES D suspencled business activities for the duration of the war, the Rac kham Memorial ßuilcling remained acti ve as a mccting plaee fo r the defense indusLry and the 111 il iLary.

O nce the wa r ended, ESD res um ed iLs normal operations. To hclp re LU rni ng veterans brush up on Lheir cngineering train ing, the Society adclecl review co urses leacling Loward Pro fessio nal Engineering Registrati on in thc s tate of Michigan (ancl conLin ues to offer s uch courses Locla y).

RACKHAMS TO THE RESCUE In May 1937 , ESD Mary A. Rackham (ESD) received a seco nd $500 ,000 from th e Rack ham Fund for th e ex pressecl purpose of eonstructing a perman enL, new headquarters. Mrs. Rac kham thcn adcled ano ther $500,000 eight months later from her perso nal funcls. lndeecl a permanent new heaclquarters was so rely neeclecl. The Society hacl experi encecl phcnomenal growth over Lhe prior few years, fro m 523 activc members in 1930 to 2,396 in 1938.

Moreove r, Lhis growt h was characterized by a marked increase in members who were from the au tomo bile incl us try. For example, in L9 14 , o nly 2-+ represented autos, the mosL well known being Henry Fo rd and Howard E. Coffin (one of Lhe fou nders of th e !-lud-

C ENTER OF A CTIVITY

For th e next 20 yea rs ESD and the Rackham Memori al ß uilding served as the center of engineering acti viLies within the Detroi t area . All Dctro iL Lechni cal societies used it as their meet ing place. They were s up1-l-

poned by ES D's publication, "The Foundation,„ which providecl chedul es o r o ncoming mec tings and an no unce mcnts or ruture tec hnical programs.

In 1953, the ociety instituted an ann ual Outstanding Young Engincers award progra m. The ini tial rccipient, Donald Frey, j ustifiecl ES D's choice. He cven1ually becamc hcacl or Ford Division, ancl later chairman or Bell & Howcll. o r crit ical impact were th e rio ls thal occurrecl in Detroit in 1967 ahcr which th c affiliatccl tcchnical societics gracl uall y bega n IO movc thei r evcning technical programs to sitcs outside or the Ci ty. Ultima tcly thcir rcl ocation away rro m thc Rackham ßuilcl ing createcl a subs tantial clrop in E D rcvenuc rrom thc lass or mcct-

ing room rcntal rccs and income rrom food an d bevcrage salcs. Neither lass coulcl be offsct by changes in membcr hip clues alo ne.

Finances became all thc more strainecl in th c fall or 1974, when an acciclen tal rirc gutted the ESD wing of thc Rac kham builcling and createcl s ubstantial smoke clamage 10 the Universi l)' or lich igan quane rs. The Rackharn ßuilcling was forcecl to close for onc yea r whilc th c necessary repairs were macle. lncluclecl in the repair costs was an extra burclcn or S 1.5 million above insurance claims to bring thc rebuilt structurc up to an upclated Detroit coclc. O n a brighter note, ESD mcmbers cont ributcd thc funds uscd to rcfu rn ish 1hc intcrior.

l.'i

function the raising of scholarship funds for deserving engineering students from the local area.

More recently, on Oct. 20, 1988, ESD filed an amendment to its Articles of lncorporation changing its tax status from that of a professional and business league to a charitable, scientific and educational organization.

In 1994, a combination of factors developed that forced the ESD administration to make several hard decisions. These factors were a gradual escalation in monthly operating costs (a 350 percent increase over the past 25 years), the need for $8.5 million to bring the property up to the current Detroit fire code and for an additional $2.5 million to initiate changes in building access to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Unfortunately, the affiliated technical soc1eues continued to conduct their evening meetings and conferences away from the Rackham site in the suburbs of Detroit, even after a controlled parking structure was built adjacent to the Rackham building in 1976 at a cost of $1.5 million (of which $1.1 million was underwritten by the Rackham Engineering Foundation).

On the plus side, the ESD wing of the Rackham Building served as a daytime meeting place for several of the Society's 420 corporate members such as Ameritech, Detroit Edison, Albert Kahn Associates and the automobile companies.

REVENUE RELIEF Nevertheless, the income lost from evening activities continued to be a burden. To compensate, ESD decided to experiment with lectures and technical conferences of its own. lt proved to be a wise decision.

Today, the return from these two sources alone represents 75 percent of the gross revenues of the Society. In fact the scheduling of ESD lectures and technical conferences became such a demanding effort that the Society opened a Conferences and Expositions Regional Office in Ann Arbor in 1984 to provide the necessary support.

Also worthy of mention is that over the past 20 years, ESD has instituted a number of annual awards that have been favorably received within the professional and local communities. Probably the most significant of these is the prestigious Gold Award annually presented to an engineer, scientist or technician of the metropolitan Detroit area for outstanding work in his or her field. Twenty-three people have been honored thus far beginning with Walker Cisler of Detroit Edison in 1972. Another key event has been the Annual Construction and Design Awards program inaugurated in 1974. Each year ESD selects several outstanding new building complexes completed that year, and honors the members of the construction, engineering and architectural industries responsible for them.

Other awards that have been initiated are the Outstanding Student Engineer Award, first instituted in 1980; the Horace H. Rackham Humanitarian Award, now in its l 7th year, which has recognized such luminaries as Elliott "Pete" Estes, Richard Kughn and Lee lacocca; and the Distinguished Service Award whose 41 past recipients include a former Detroit mayor, Murray D. Van Wagoner.

Special mention also should be made of the Society of Engineers' Wives (SEW) originally formed during the dark Depression days of the l 930s as the women's' auxiliary of the DES. SEW has as its major

WAYNE 'ESTATE' The solution came in the form of a proposal from Wayne State University under which the lauer would sign a 25-year lease to use the ESD wing of the Rackham facilities and provide the funds necessary to bring the building up to the current fire code. lncome from the lease would be sufficient for ESD to meet its share of the Rackham Building's monthly operating expenses. ESD also would continue to occupy office space for its administrative staff.

ESD presently is evaluating whether it would be more beneficial for the staff to move to a location closer to its membership base. A recent demographic study by the Lawrence Technological University for ESD has indicated that the geographical center of the extensive ESD membership is located at 12 Mile and Orchard Lake Roads.

Present needs aside, ESD's record of achievements in promoting the engineering and scientific professions within the Detroit area are recognized across the nation. For generations the society has provided a forum where technical ideas could be discussed and brought to the attention of interested people, ideas that bear on the physical progress of the society in which we live.

Today ESD is one of only three local community engineering societies in existence, the other two being in Chicago and Cleveland. Of the three, ESD is by far the most active, thus the one that most meets the definition of a living engineering society. If the past is any indication of the future, ESD can look forward to the next millennium with utmost confidence that it will provide its members with a leadership that bodes success for the individual as weil as the community.

16

Foundation

Excellence ESD 's philanthropic programs foster progress by 1\ nrhony J. Ya nik ence ancl Engineering Fair of Metropolit an Detro it , the Engineering and Science Fell owsh ip Fund (whi ch annua ll )' s uppo n s a n e ng ineer or scien tist to work in Wash ing ton) , the Science Coun and Resea rch Ins titute (recogn ized for its expertise in reso lving dis p utes of a scienti fic nature) , the Enginee ring Socie ty of Mich iga n (whi ch s ponsors interns for the Michigan Legislative Bureau and provides tec hn ical assistan ce to th e s tate Legisla ture ancl o th er educati o nal programs s ponso red

by ESD).

Cred it for initia lly mo lding the Fund into th e fo rce it has become we re its o riginal o ffice rs: Robert Koval (presiden t), Do na ld Wickh am (v ice presiclent), and Creigh to n Ledere r, J o hn Harlan, C ha rles Hc rd el a nd G lenn Edmonso n (directors).

On Dec. 12, 1984, the Endowmen t Fund's name was changed to th e "ES D Devclopmc m Fu nd" to bcuer c haracte rize its activities.

T hcn, in 1987, T he Devclo pmen t Fund in troducecl what has beco me its mos t impo rta nt fund-ga t hering ac ti vi t)' the a n nua l Leacle rs hip Awards Di nner.

Through the Leadershi p Awa rds, the ESD honors those indivicl ua ls who have bee n o uts ta nding in promoting th e aclvancement o f scie nce and engineering ancl whose

fter more than a clecacle of evolut io n and progress, the Eng inee ring and Scie nce Developme n t Founcla ti o n , th e socie ty's prima ry fun cl-raising a rm , is la unc hing a n e ffon cles ignccl to sec ure ESD's prominence in educatio nal progra mming into the future.

FULure LI N K, a $5 millio n campa ig n, is a co ll abo rative e ncl cavo r to bring the Interna tio nal Science a nd Eng inee ring Fair to Detroit in the year 2000, to end ow the Scie nce and Engi neering Fair of Metropo litan Detroit in perpetuity, a ncl to c reate a fun d whic h wi ll guarantee adequate reso urces fo r ESD's man y educatio nal ancl o utreac h effo n s.

The Fou ndati o n was originall y incorpo rated as th e ESD Enclowment Fund on Jul y 20, 1984, to bring a se nse of foc us to th e Society"s fu ncl- gathering acti vities.

Suc h focus was lacki ng as eac h ESD activi ty sought its own operating mon ies, so metimcs ap proac hing the sa me funcli ng sources within the sa mc timcframe, often with disappointing re ults.

Th c Endow ment Fu nd o ffice now became the so le funclra is ing agen cy fo r the fo llowing gro ups: Th e Sei-

TOP : An aerial view of the University Cultural Center, taken about 1950, shows how the Rackham Buildinlf (/ower le ft) has /ong been a major structure in the area. The photo preceded major expans~ons ?f the Detr01t

Institute of Arts (center foreground), Detroit Public Library (center) and Wa yne. State Umver~1ty (rear). The Detroit Historical Museum and the Center for Creative Studies were yet to be bwlt. (The Detroit News) 17

Bircls flock together for protection. As it turns out, sodowe.

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We've not only done all the legwork in finding these plans. We've tailored them to the preferences of you, our men1bers. The coverage is easy to update as your needs change. And it stays with you, even when you change jobs.

To speak with a custmner service representative, call l 800 424-9883, or in Washington, DC (202) 457-6820, between 8:30 a.n1. and 5:30 p.m. eastem time. lt's one time when the numbers are all in your favor.

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~

•

•

n 1987, The Developmenl Fund introduced what has become its most important fund-gathering activity - the annual Leadership Awards Dinner. Through its Leadership Awards, the ESD honors those individuals who have been outstanding in promoting the advancement of science and engineering and whose community involvement warrants recognition. The dinner takes place annually, and is considered one of the most outstanding events within the professional community. Equally outstanding has • been the calibre of the Award recipients over the years: • 1990 - Donald E. Petersen, president & CEO, Ford Motor Company • 1991 - Lee A. lacocca, chairman & CEO, Chrysler Corporation • 1992 - Lloyd E. Reuss, president, General Motors Corporation • 1993 - Louis R. Ross, vice chairman & chief technical officer, Ford Motor Company • 1994 - Robert J. Eaton, chairman & CEO, Chrysler Corporation •1995 Lee M. Gardner, president & CEO, Masco Tech lnc.

E. Michael Mutchler, vice president & group executive, GM Power Train.

Kenneth L. Way, chairman & CEO, Lear Seati ng Corporation

• 1987 - F. James McDonald, president & CEO, General Motors Corporation Harold A. Poling, president, Ford Motor Company Harold K. Sperlich, president, Chrysler Corporation • 1988 - Alfred R. Glancy, III, chairman & CEO, Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. Walter J. McCarthy, Jr., chairman & CEO, Detroit Edison Co. S. Kinnie Smith, Jr., president, CMS Energy Corporation & Vice Chairman, Consumers Power.

William P. Vititoe, president & director, Michigan Bell Telephone Company • 1989 - Robert C. Stempel, president & CEO, General Motors Corporation

tric and Rockwell International also have pledged support of the undertaking which will solicit the support of corporations, foundations, and individuals committed to the enhancement of math, science and engineering education in southeast Michigan.

With the earnings from the Leadership dinners and the returns from the FutureLINK program, it appears that the future of the ESD Foundation is secure. This will guarantee ESD the financial wherewithal to assume a more prominent role in critical educational programming in the future.

The current Foundation's Board members arc tobe commended for this strong cffort: Donald Smolenski, P.E., Ph.D.(prcsident), John G. Petty (vice president), Stanley K. Stines, P.E., Ph.D. (trcasurer), Erica Gordon, (secrctary), William Birgc, P.E., Charles M. Chambers, Ph.D., Susan M. Cischke, Timothy A. Fino, P.E., Norman Gjostein, Ph.D., ]. Douglas Mathieson, John Rakolta, Jr., Richard Rossio, P.E., Ronald L. Roudebush, and Paul T. Sgriccia, P.E., (directors).

community involvement warrants recogmuon. The dinner takes place annually, and is considered one of the most outstanding events within the professional community.

Another name change occurred in 1992 when the Development Fund became the Engineering and Science Development Foundation, now more commonly known as the ESD Foundation.

HONORED AS HosT In December of 1993, Detroit was honorcd with its selection as host of the International Science and Engineering Fair in the ycar 2000, and a new committee was formed to be responsible for its planning, promotion and implementation. To make certain that it would have the financial means of providing this support, the ESD Foundation incorporatcd this effort into "FutureLINK." The FutureLINK campaign was launched with a $1 million challenge gram from General Motors in honor of ESD's Centennial celebration. General Elec-

19

SD's Conference and Expositions Office

has highlighted changes in environmental law; administrative procedures regulating conin Ann Arbor, Michigan. This office taminated soil and ground researches, develops, designs, and coorwater and the availability of state f unding for remediation. dinates conferences and expositions for • IPC Conference and Exposinon-members as well as members of the tion. Now in its 24th year, the society. ESD has been organizing conferences and IPC Conference and Exposition continues to attract an internaexpositions since 1971 (seminars and classes were • Advanced Coatings Techtional audience of industry nologies addresses the already offered before then) and is continuingly very leaders and technical experts. most important concerns involved in events regarding information exchange.

Originally, IPC stood for of both producers and "International Programmahle users of industrial coatControllers." Today, it ings. This currently embraces all of the techniques includes presentations on and technologies affecting physical properties of plant-floor automation, includcoatings, coatings for plastics, and durability and applicaing controls, sensors, software, communications, systems tion. integration, simultaneous engineering, and training and • Advanced Composites Conference and Exposition presentations management of people, as well as programmable logic conand exhihits cover body, chassis, powertrain and infrastructrollers. In 1995, IPC as the centerpiece joins the Internature applications, materials science, manufacturing processtional Robots & Vision Automation Show and MotionExpo es and recycling of composites, polymer composites, ancl and The Motion Control Applications and Technology metal matrix composites.

Show to form the single largest event of its kind in North • Air, Water & Waste Technologies Conference and Exposition, America, International Automation Week, the Manufacturan environmental management conference. This conference ing Solutions Show. and exposition offers a broad range of topics that address • lndustrial Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators Training the problems and issues of all aspects of environmental Course was designed, with upgrades over the years, to premanagement, and provides a forum to bring together engipare indivicluals for the state certiflcation exam offered neers, inclustry and policy makers to discuss the latest in through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. techniques, equipment, regulatory compliance, and man• landfill Design/Geosynthetics Conference will focus on cold agement issues. climate lanclflll design, with emphasis on liner frost damage • Alternate Fuel Vehides/Environmental Vehides Conference ancl protectivc measures needecl. Leachate treatment ancl and Exposition provides vehicle manufacturers, researchers, management and gas gencration will be the focus of special clevelopers, suppliers and regulators of all inclustries with tutorial sessions. This conference is clesigned for environthe opportunity to present their work, products, and permental engincers, consultants, contractors, owners and spectives concerning the challenge for improving fuel econoperators. omy, reducing energy clepenclency and striving for cleaner • Laser Applications/Optics Conference & Exposition provides a air. The ultimate objective of minimal impact on environforum for the introduction to lasers and electro-optics in the ment ancl low fuel consumption will require joining the best manufacturing arena. In addition to current applications, efforts of all contributing disciplines. new and proposed systems are discussed.

•Computer Graphics explores new developments in CAD ancl • Michigan lndustrial Expo (MIE) is the marketplace where plant CAM. The conferences includes applications of plant floor managers, owners, engineers, manufacturing and purchasing and engineering office communications ancl networks such pcrsonnel will view industrial applications, proclucts, and as MAP, TOP, ancl local area networks in manufacturing. services. MIE will facilitate business in Michigan and the Rapid prototyping ancl solid modeling are tutorial and workGreat Lakes Region bringing users to the people who manushop topics. Attendees are platform team members ancl facture and provide business services here.

OEM suppliers working on concurrent engineering projects.

• OSHA Courses are a series of classes presented to train people • Construction Activities Committee (CAC) was established to who deal with, or may potentially deal with, hazardous foster improvements in the construction inclustry by promotmaterials ancl substances. Courses are designecl to fulfill ing increased communications and stimulating the exchange OSHA requirements for initial, update, and supervisors' of ideas. Bi-monthly business meetings and a luncheon training. series are coordinated through the committee which is com• Professional Engineers Licensing Review Course prepares attenprised of members representing a balanced cross section of clees for thc State of Michigan P.E. licensing exam. leaders in the construction industry, inclucling design profes• Society for Environmental Sciences (SES) is a group of environsionals, owners/users, contractors, suppliers and support sermental professionals whose mission is to promote the free vices. exchange of ideas and technologies; communications • Environmental Response Planning Conference was developed bctween govcrnment, business, academia citizens and to assist those in the environmental sector to adclress the activists having a stake or concern in environmental issues; most recent changes in environmental laws affecting ownerand the study of environmentai science and engineering ship of property in Michigan, as well as to evaluate ancl among today's youth. Businessmeetings and a luncheon manage the risks confronting the economic clevelopment scries promote this mission to members and non-members community and professional service providers. The program

Conferences, courses, expos & semznars

is located at 2350 Green Rd., Suite 190

20

GRADUATE

STUDY

The University of Michigan College of Engineering GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS â&#x20AC;˘ Master of Engineering Aerospace Engineering Air Ouality Applied Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Systems Automotive Engineering Concurrent Marine Design Construction Engineering and Management Manufacturing Occupational Ergonomics Optical Engineering and Ultrafast Technology Radiological Health Engineering Space Systems â&#x20AC;˘ Master of Science Technical Information Design and Management Oualified candidates at participating work sites may pursue graduate degree programs through the Michigan Engineering Television Network (METN). Off-campus students meet the same rigorous standards and earn the same academic credit as on-campus students. For information on METN programs, contact METN at (313) 936-0252.

FOR INFORMATION Graduate Professional Programs University of Michigan College of Engineering 2423 EECS Building Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2116 U.S.A. Tel: (313) 763-2304 Fax: (313) 763-9487 e-mail: frbec@engin.umich.edu

hilc thc applicati on or cnginccring pri nciplcs clates bac k many ccnluri cs, thc acl vcnl o r pro rcssio n or enginccring is rclativcly rccenl. Unt il thc mid- l 700s , th e t itlc or "cnginccr"' was rcservccl for thosc wh o constructccl cngi ncs or wa r or built wo rks clesignccJ lO servc mil ita ry purposcs, such as fo rtirications.

At abo ut thc time or the 1\m crican Revo luti on, "civil enginccr" camc into use, clcscribing those occupicd with buildin g roacls, cana ls, harbo rs, clocks, clrainagc projects, ancl machinery of all Lypcs. Mi litary or civil wo ul cl rcmain thc o nly two classiri catio ns of cnginecring wcll into thc inclustrial rcvolut io n. Abo ut 1850, 1hc ficlcl o r mcchanical engincering was rccogni zccl , fo llowccl shon ly artcr by mining engi nccring. As th c l 9 th ccntury closccl, cnginec ring bega n an cra of cnormo us cxpansion and spccializati on that co ntin ucs 1oday.

Engineering Education Jlfichigan has led in establishing

sites, odva11cing standords for technicoI troining hy D r. l fo: h ~ml I¡:. \ l arhur.~l: r an d l\rnn : J.Ann l:n J r.

No

TOP: Built in 1908 as an orphanage, this building in Highland Park later was the First hom e of the Ford Trade School. Later, in 1932, Russe// Lawrence /eased the fa cility from Ford to house the new Lawren ce Institute of Technology. Wha t is now Lawrence Technological University remained in the building until 1955, when it moved to a new campus in Southfield. (LTU)

F ORMAL T RAIN ING

At th c time o r thc Civil Wa r, most incli vid uals calling thcmsc lvcs cng in cers actual ly hacl no fo rmal trai ning. lns tcacl , thcy had lcarn ccl thro ugh ap prcnticeships.

Engineering as an organi zcd pro fcssio n hacl its o rigins amo ng survcyo rs, pa n icularl y th osc cmployccl in locating ra il roacl ro utcs.

As thc greal wave o r SClllemcnl cnvclo pccl Mic higan th ro ugh thc l 870s and 1880s, thc n umbcr or Surveyo rs incrcasecl stcadi ly in rcspo nsc Lo thc burgco ning

22

e n ro lled in e nginee ring! th e Recogni z ing d evelo pme nt o f Michi ga n's vas t reserves o f iro n ore a nd copper and the need fo r personnel w ith the necessary mining skills and tec hnical k nowledge , w h at is LOclay Mic higa n Techno logical Uni ve rs ity was fo und ed in l 885 a L t he Uppe r Pe ninsul a town of Ho ug hto n.

South eastern Mic higan's growth as a ma nufacturing cente r, panicularly fo r such goods as cooking a nd heating stoves, ca rriages, the new-fangled au to mobile, ancl other mass-produced items at 1he daw n o f the 20 th ce ntury helpecl lead to the la unch of the stale's first inclepende nt engineering college in 189 1 by 1he Young Men's Christian Assoc iatio n (Y MCA) - the Detro it lns1i1u1e o f Tech nology. Fo r the sa me reaso ns, in 19 11 wh at is today the Un iversity of Dctroit-Mercy began a college of engineering. In 1928, th e Detro it Board of Educa Lio n esiab lished a school o f engineering wh ich in 1934 beca me pan o f what is now Wayne State University. W ha t is today Lawrence Tech no logical University began offering engineering d egrcc progra ms in 193 2, la1er add ing arc hi tecture a nd engineering technology progra ms.

T he majo r American automo bile com pani es fu rther inn uenced tee hnologica l educa ti o n in M ich iga n in the ea rly pa rt of the 20th century by establis hi ng educatio nal divisio ns. In 19 19, General Mo to rs Co rp. set u p w ha t eventually cvolved in to today's ind ependenL G MI Engineering a nd Man agement Insti tu te. lts fi rst engincering clegree was o ffe red in 1923. In 193 1, Chrysle r Corp. launc hed the Ch rysle r Inst itute o f Eng ineering w hi ch fo r many yea rs offered degrees up to 1he master's levcl fo r employees. In 19 16, ihe Henry Fo rd Tracle Sc hool was introcluced by the Fo rd Mo tor Co. T he to p 1rad e school g rads were ad miued to the Fo rd Apprentice School w here they we re able to take coursework rclated to a u to mo tive d esign and ma nufac1uring.

Thc Un ive rs ity of Michiga n- Dea rbo rn began o ffering e ngineering degrces in 19 60, Western Mi ehigan in 1961, Oa klancl Unive rsity in 1963 , and Saginaw Ya llcy in 1984. Calvin College laune hed engineering degree

need . T he scope of e nginecri ng in teresis a nd aclivities also wide ned . IL was a period o f unpreced ented infrastruc ture expa nsio n , inve ntio n , harnessing o f new 1echno logies, ancl ma nufacturing fo r newly clevelo ping mass markels.

Tech nological educati o n in the Un itecl Sia tes has i1s roo ts in the m ili ta ry tra in ing o fferecl a t West Po int.

Engineering educa1io n fo rmally can be traced to ihe l.820s, when No rwich Uni ve rs ity in Vermo nt a nd Renssclaer Po lyiechn ic Institute in New Yo rk were fo uncled , the lau e r wi th the goa l of "appli catio ns of science 10 the co mmo n pu rposes of life." A nava l e ngineeri ng progra m was begun a t Annapolis in 1845 . In 1850, Rensselaer became a fo ur-yea r engineering college.

Fo unded in 18 17, th e Uni versity of Mic higan became , in 1853, 1he fo u nh eoll egia te insti tu Li o n in the na Li o n (a nd the first in the sta te) to o ffe r courses in engineering. lt was sixth in 1he na iion 10 eon fer degrees - 1he firs l two s tud en ts were graduated in 1860.

1n 1882, Un ivc rsity o f M iehi ga n professo r C harles Greene proposed a bill to 1he Legisla tu re aimed at elimina Ling inco mpe tent surveyo rs and improving prope r1y record s - o ne of the fi rsLsuc h laws in the coun try.

Coun ty s u rveyo rs stro ngly o pposed the measu re, and it took u ntil 19 19 to ado pt 1he firs t Michigan law req uiring registratio n o f surveyors, eng ineers, and archi tects.

1n L937 , a new ac Lcreaied the Sta te Board o f Regis traLi o n for Arch itecLs, Professio na l Engineers, a nd Land Surveyo rs.

T he sta le's seco nd collcgia Le progra m in enginee ring bcgan in l 885 a t w hat is today Michigan Sia te University. By 1896, o ne-third o f MSU's students were

2-l-

OPPOSITE: Ransom E. Olds donated funds to build Michigan State University's former Hall of Engineering dur-

ing World War I after an earlier structure burned to the ground. At the time, State was still known as Michigan Agricultural College. (Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections) ABOYE: University of Detroit-Mercy's Engineering & Science Building, a facility for the education of thousands of auto industry engineers since it was founded in 1911. (University of Detroit-Mercy) BELOW: The University of Michigan 's earliest engineering /ab, shown here, was established in 1881. A much /arger building, also long gone, rep/aced this tiny structure in 1897. (U-M College of Engineering) programs in 1985. Ferris, Central Michi ga n, and Lake Su perior State Universities are among maj or proviclers of e ngitechnology nee ring clegree programs. Many of Mi chiga n's leadin g co mmunity colleges have also clevelopecl s trong associate programs in tech no logical fielcls.

Clearly, there have bee n huge aclvances withi n the engineering professio n in Mich igan over the past 100 years.

Most of th is ad va ncern en t is tied directly to irnp rov ing collegia te e duca tio n , cleveloping standa rds of performa nce, a ncl being relentl ess ly dedicatecl to qua li ty.

Mich iga n has evolved as a worlcl leacler in tec hnology ancl its applica ti ons, as weil as being a ce nter of rnanufacturing, resea rch , and develop rnent. lf hi story is any measure, it is expected that the strong partnership

'

.,

between industry and t he sta te's collegia te institutions clevotecl to engineering and relatecl technological professions will contin ue to prosper ancl thrive.

25

Auto Motivated I nventors, investors, industrialists 0 remake Detroit in a new image

America 's First successful motorcar was the Duryea, shown here after it had won the First auto race in which the contestants Finished, run in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day 1895. f. Frank Duryea is at the tiller. (National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Pub/ic Library) he Du ryea broLl1ers had been tinkering with th eir gasoline powe red ve hi clc fo r seve ral ycars. 1n 1895, th cy dec idcd that it was time to build o thers like it to seil.

T h us they in co rpo ratecl the rirs t co mpany to man u fae ture gaso line ea rs in the Uni ted States. Ă&#x;y th c close o r 1896, they had managed tO bu ild 13 o [ th em.

Soo n they werc j o incd by o th er mo re s uccess rul earl y gasoline e ngine propo ne nts s uch as Elwood Haynes, th e bro the rs Apperso n, Alexande r W into n a nd Ranso m E. O lds . Com pe ting aga ins t th ese gen tlemen were th e powe rru l mo torca rs, and t he tw in bro the rs, Franc is a nd Freeland Stanley, w ho had po pularized the stea m ca r. Within the decad e following the turn o[ th e ccmury, hmveve r, it becam e ap parent that neithe r elcctrics no r s teamers eould o ffset the ad va ntages o r gaso line power. By 1905, the lau er do mina ted sales.

Foeus o r that do mina tio n was the Detroit-La nsing a rea rrom w hi ch came tWO o f every th ree autom obiles prod uccd in the natio n . Cadi llac, Ford , a nd O lds alo ne were respo nsible fo r half that numbe r.

The man mos t ins trum enta l in form ing t his ea rly Mic hi gan- based d o mina nce was Ra nsom E. O lds . His low- priced run abo ut had become so po pula r th at he fo und himselr cxpc rim eming with the rud imenta ry tcc hn iques o r mass product io n in ord cr tO kcep up with sales. Olds' o utpu t rose fro m 425 cars in l.90 1 to 6,500 in 1905 - a lmost tw icc that o r Cadi llac, its nearcst co mpe ti to r. Th c s ucccsses o f O lds, Cadillac a nd

A Vehicle f or Progress The Auto l ndus!tJ' 1895-1995

by Anrhony J. Yani k

28

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Horse vs. Buggy Early cost comparison f avors the horseless carriage courtesy of Chris Dyrda (Reprinted from Scie11tific A111erica11, Jan. 27, 1900)

·,

CC"~

[Kt1terod ai tlio Poai OIDco or No• Torli:., N, Y„ u Second ci... llati.r.

l.\lpyrtirht, 11000. bf M11nn A Co.)

A WEEKLY JOUltNU OF PltACTICAL INFOJ:MATION. AilT, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, Vol. ft:~r'sri 4.)

CHE~llS'l'l:Y,

ANH MANUFAC'l'UltES.

NEW YORK, JANUARY 27, 1900.

~~--~~~--~~~~~

village resident in one of the English counties has communicated to a local journal an estimate of the relative cost of keeping an automobile and horse and carriage. He arrives at an economy in f avor of the motor of $4 7. 75 on the total expenses f or the year, and he does it thuswise: The cost of the horse is $115, and of the dog-cart $135; the interest on which outlay, at 4 112 per cent f or one year, is $11.25; the keep of the horse, at $2.50 a week (it must be remembered that these prices are for keep in a country village), and license and shoeing, bring up the total expense for the year to $159. This he compares with a five-horsepower automobile costing $850, the interest on which, at 4 112 per cent for the year, is $38.25. Adding to this a tax of $21 and expense of $52 for fuel (petrol in this case), at the rate of 75 cents for 35 miles, and 25 cents for the same distance for lubrication, he reaches a total annual expense of $111.25. lt will be noticed that in the above estimate there is no repairs account, an item which we think the average unskilled automobilist of the Juture will find to be, perhaps, the most serious of all, outside offuel. In this case, however, the automobil ist was something of a mechanic, possessing a lathe, a vise, etc., and he was equal to making all ordinary repairs himself; moreover, he argues that in any case the accidents that may happen to a horse, and the more or less frequent visits of the veterinary, will f airly well offset repairs to the automobile. just here we would suggest that in view of the f act that the mechanism of the automobile is necessarily complex, and in many f orms of motor susceptible to easy disarrangement, it would be well f or all intending purchasers to acquire some elementary knowledge of the simpler tools of the mechanic; and we think it is not unlikely that the coming rage f or automobilism, which, unlike that f or the bicycle, will prove to be lasting, will give an added impetus to the study of practical mechanics in our schools and colleges. In any case the business of automobile repairing will be one of the most important and profitable of the new industries of the future.

attempted to enter that market between 1901and1910.

Only a few endured, arnong which were Mack, White, International Harvester, and the Grabowsky brothers' Rapid Motor Vehicle Company later purchased by Will Durant. Rapid then was combined with the Reliance Motor Truck Company to form the General Motors

later Ford were all the more notable because they survived the lively scramble for sales that ensued during the first decade of the 20th century as some companies vied for leadership.

Nor was this struggle for eminence limited only to automobiles. About 444 truck manufacturers had

31

Tru c k Co mpan y, now called Ge nera l Motors Truck and Bus. In 1908, two eve nts took place that p rofo undl y a ffected Lhe U.S. au Lo indus t ry: He nry Fo rd introduced hi s every man 's car, the Model T, and W illiam Durant formed Ge neral Motors (G M), a conglomerate of independelll automob ile compan ies.

A CCELERATED PRODUCTION

purchased Doclge Brothers in 1928. ( Doclge was a !arger compan y than C hrysler a t th e time.) The following year C hrys ler caplll red ove r 8 percent of th e sales market, a notable achievem enL al a ti me when Lwo o f every three cars sold in the U.S. were eith er a Fo rd o r GM proclucl. T he Big Two had now beco me th e Big Three.

AUTOMAKER ATTRITION Compelition was further recluced during the Greal Depressio n w hi ch pul Lo resL scores of ve nerable, low volume car compa nies thaL hacl ex is tecl for over 20 years, s uch as C unning ham , Auburn , Franklin, Locomo bile , Marmon , Peerl ess, Pierce-Arrow, and Stutz. By 1935, nine Ly percem of cars sold across the natio n came from the Big Three. The re ma ining ten percem was d ivided among o Lher Depression s urvivo rs Huclso n, Packard, Nash, W illys-Ove rland , Graham Paige, ancl Stuclebaker.

T he '30s also were notabl e for a nothe r far reach ing cven t - Lhe signing o f a labor agreemenl between the United Automobile Wo rkers and General Motors on February 11 , 1937. T hi s agree me nt lecl Lo the evemua l un io ni za Lio n of a ll auto mo bile wo rkers . lm mecliately fo ll owi ng Wo rld War II , th e ind ustry se ul ed into a Big Three ancl Lilllc Fo ur ( Hudso n, Nash , Stud eba ker, Packard ) rclations hi p w iLh one new bu ilder, Kaiser-Fraze r, pushing for entry. lnt roducecl in 1946, Kaiser-Frazer sales lcaped Lo 4.8 pe rce nt o f th e market by 1948 during the pos t war car sales boom , buL it co uld not s us tain Lha L pace. Eight s ho rt years later it dropped out o f the passe nger car scene.

The Lillle Four also dicl very weil immediaLely fo llowing World War II , then ran in to troubled Limes. In May 195-+ Hudson and as h merged, foll owed by a nam e change Lo Ame rican Motors Corpo ration (AMC) in 1957 . AMC had s uccess duri ng the 1950s and 1960s because of its foc us on s mall er size veh icles . lt was absorbed by C h rysle r o n Aug. 5, 1987.

Stuclebake r and Packard a lso merged in 1954.

Howeve r, Lhe ha llo wecl Packard na meplaLe s urvived o nly four more years. Stude bake r cars comi n ued 10 be bu il t until 1966, then Loo passee! from the scene.

Undau nted by the problems o f the inde pendents, Vo lkswagen began expo rting a li mitecl number of its compac L BeeLle ca rs in to the U.S. in the 1950s. The Beetlc so o n caught the public imagi natio n. By l 959, iLs sales had g rown to 668,070 uni ts ancl U.S. manufacturers co untered wiLh a Ourry of co mpac L car moclels puuing a tempo ra ry halt to the impo rt s urge.

Henry M. Leland, shown here in his office at Lincoln Motor Car Company about 1920, was a pioneer prec1S1on parts bui/der for the infant auto industry in Detroit, later making a success of Cadillac Motor Car Company with interchangeable parts before it was folded into General Motors. (National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library)

Ford's emerge nce as a n a utomobile power was the swifter. The low priced Model T, int rod u ced in 1908, soo n came in Lo s uch g reat cl ernand tha L Ford moved into a !arge new fa c tory. In 19 13, he introd uced the eleme n LS of the moving assembly line to furth er inc rease productio n. This ex traordi nary change in the tec hniques of ma nufac turing a llowed h im to produce 1-+6 Model Ts pe r hour in 1.913. By compa riso n, in 1908, initial Model T producLio n at best was only 7.5 per ho ur.

Genera l Mo to rs clevelopecl more s lowly. Prio r Lo Worlcl Wa r 1 it rece ivecl s ti ff com pe Li Lion from s uch significa nt ncw ma rques as Dodge, Hudso n , Hu pmob ile , Studebaker, Nash , Maxwell a nd W ill ys-Ove rland , if th e likes of Fo rd was not e no ug h. Wi llys-Overl a ncl proved to be a particula rl y stubbo rn co mpetitor, running seco ncl in sales Lo Ford fo r most o f Lhe World Wa r 1 clecacle. Wi ll ys th en o ve rex tenclecl itself fina ncially a ncl hacl LO be resc ued by the C hase Natio nal Ba nk. Wi ll ys made a s trong recove ry in the late l 920s o nl y 10 be ha rd h it again by the Great Depressio n.

When Alfred E. Sloa n Loo k ove r th e leade rs hip o f GM in 1923, that corpo ratio ns fo rtun es began 10 c hange dramatica lly. In less tha n 10 yea rs, Sloan broug ht Ford 's 16 year do m inance as indus try sa les leader to an e nd.

A sig nifica nl new e ntry within the a uto mo tive circles was Ch rysle r Co rpo ratio n , o rga n izecl in 1925.

Ch rysler moved qui ck ly into u ppe r sa les ra n ks after iL

JAPANESE ' INVASION' Suc h resp ite was s hort-lived. By 1968, Volkswagen

32

When this photograph of the General Motors Corporation board of directors was taken May 15, 1928, they were the most successful such group of men in the world. GM had overtaken Ford for the Number One sales position- a distinction still held 67 years later - developed management concepts later to be widely copied and introduced annual styling changes, "stair step" marketing of automoti ve products and numerous technical advances. The three men in the center of the front row are Alfred P. Sloan, jr. (GM president 1923-37), Charles f. Wilson (president 1941-53) and William S. Knudsen (president 1937-1940). General Motors) BELOW: William Crapo Durant, the former Flint buggy manufacturer whose organizational zeal led in 1908 to the creation of General Motors Corporation, in 1911 to the Chevrolet Motor Company and finally his ill-fated Durant Motors in 1921 . He was president of GM from 1916 to 1920. (General Motors)

sales had regained their mo me ntu m and we re u p to o ne m ill ion u nits .

Such num bers en ti ced Japa ncse car makers to enter th e U.S. a u to moti ve market w ith s ma ll cars of th cir ow n: Nissan in 1965, Toyo ta in 1966, Mazd a in 1972, an d Ho nda in 1974.

Adding to the burden o f problcms represe nted by s u c h new co m pe ti ti o n was th e inte rven ti o n of the federal gove rn ment in 1966 w he n Pres ident Lyndo n J ohnso n s ig ned the Nat io na l Tra ffic a nd Mo to r Ve hicl e Sa fe ty Ac l. Th is Ac t regul ated the safe ty pe rfo rma nce of ve hi cles sold w ith in the Unitecl Sta Les. O the r fed era l inLerventio ns we re th e Clea n Air Ac l o f 1970

regulating tai l pipe cm issions, a nd the Energy Po li cy and Co nservation Act o f 1980 mandating a series o f g rad ual inc reases in fu el econom y.

In Oc tober ] 973, t he ind ustry was roc ked by the Arab o il em bargo, a nd in 1979 by Iran hos tage crisis .

Gas prices j um ped to $1.30 per ga ll o n , ca using U .S. ca r sales, es pecia ll y o f fu ll-size moclels, to fall to the ir lowest po int in 25 years. Market pe ne tra tio n o f the s ma ller-s izecl J apanese cars benc fited fro m the crises, rising from 10 perce nt in 1978 to a pea k of 35.6 percent in 1989. This n um be r has s ince dropped as U.S. ma kers counterecl with proclucts especia lly focused o n quali ty and durab ili ty, a ncl recl uced the costs of thei r ma n ufacLuring operatio ns. T hese act io ns s ho uld stand the m in goocl s teacl as thcy head into thc nex t millen nium.

Loo ki ng back over the last 100 yea rs o f au tomo bile man u facture, it is d iffi cu lt to imagi ne th at it represents the e ntry (ancl in most cases cleparture) of we il over 3,000 makes of ca rs and 1rucks. Mo re impo nantl y, it has witnessed the entry of cou nt less, colo rfu l, da ri ng entre preneurs, each of w ho m has co nt ributecl in some way to the s uccess o f t hc most va lu ecl ind us try, a nd the reby to the s ucccss of th e Unitecl Sta res as a worl cl ind us trial powe r.

In 1924, General Motors pioneered construction of a private proving ground for testing prototype models. At the time of this 1935 photo at GM's Milford property 40 miles northwest of Detroit, GM engineers were racking up 21,000 lest miles daily over the 1,268-acre's site's 23 miles of roadways. Shown are a Buick sedan and a Chevrolet coupe. (General Motors) he founding o f General Motors on Sept.

16 , 1908, drew little attention. Motorca r firms were appea ring virtually everywhere. Success for the young automotive concern was no t predestined . There was no guarantee of a place in the market or assurance o f any profit. Of the nearly 1,000 companies that tri ed to build and seil motor vehicles prior to 1927 , less than 200 con tinued in business long e nough to even o ffer a commercia lly suitable vehicle.

Most o f the co mpanies that co mprised the fl edgling General Motors Compa ny were weak, ancl their operations were uncoo rclinatecl. Many were in debt. lt was not until th e l 920s, when a new concept of manage ment was forged ancl a new concept of procluct e me rgecl, that GM really began to prosper.

General Motors' sales fo r its first full fiscal yea r e nding Sept. 31, 1909, totalecl 25 ,000 cars ancl trucks, 19 percent of total U.5. sales. Ne t sales totalecl $29 million and its payro ll a t the peak o f the manufacturing seaso n numberecl more than 14,000, mostl y in Michigan .

Today, General Motors is a global co mpan y with alrnost 3 00 operatio ns in 3 7 s tates a ncl 171 cities in the United States. In addition , GM o f Canada operates 20 plants, GM de Mexico operates 5 locations , and GM has assembly, man ufacturing , distributio n or warehousing operations in 51 other countries, including equity inte rests in associated compa nies.

The Massive Manufacturer GM broke the 1nold in its birth, growth as corporate giant

35

In L994, GM sold 8,328,000 cars ancl trucks worlclwide with net sales of $ 155 bill ion and employment averagi ng 693,000 workers.

GLOBAL ( ONGLOMERATE

GMs global business operations are in six sectors: No rth Amcrican Operations and Intern ational Operations, which together comprise the largcst worlclwiclc manufac turer of cars and trucks; Delph i Automotive Systems, the wo rld's larges t and most dive rsified automotive supplicr company; General Motors Accepta nce Corporati on, providi ng autorn otivc financing and other financial , insura nce and mortgage crvices; Electronic Data ervices, global leadcr in application of information tcchnology, and Hughcs Elcctronics Corporation, a lcadcr in automo tive elcctronics, space and clcfense clectro nics, and telecommunications tech nologies.

The nucleus of the original General Moto rs was thc ßuick Mo tor Car Company. lt was formed in 1902

by David ßuick in Detroi t and late r movcd to Flint, Michiga n, where William Crapo Durant, "king of the carriage makers," took contro l. Duranl , who bras hl y predicted that "a million cars a year would someday be in demand," ovc rsaw ßuick's rise to become the second larges t and most inOuential automobile manufacturer in the counuy He also began organizing a network of suppliers and prod ucers.

When General Motors Compa ny was ineorporated as a New Jersey firm , Fli nt had a population of abo ut 25,000 and four s trectcars. lt was more than three mon ths before Flint papers carri ed a singlc s tory abou t the new enterp rise.

Ea rly members of the infam GM fa mily of cars were Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakl and (now Pontiac), Ewing, Marquette, Welch, Scripps-ßoo th, Sheridan and Elmore, together with Rapid and Rel iance trueks.

Only fou r of the car lines - Buick, Oldsmobile, Cad illac and Oakland - continued making cars for more than a shon time after their acquisition by GM. Chevrolet became part of the corporation in 19 18. ßy 1920, more than 30 companies had been acqui red by General Motors, by purchase of all or part of their stock. Two were forerunners of major GM subsidiaries - the Mclaughli n Motor Company of Canada ( which latcr bccamc Ge neral Moto rs of Canada Limited) and the Fis her Body Company.

Although lcgall y a New J ersey corporation, all of GMs original fac ilities wcre in Michigan , and Durant encouraged othcr firrns to locatc thcir facililics in the state.

'SELF STARTER'

About the samc time GM was gctti ng started in Mic higan, an cnginccring devclopmcnt that was to bccome inOuential in GMs subsequent lcadership in rcscarch was occurring in Dayton, Ohio - the introduction of the electric self-starter. Designed by Charles F "Boss" Kettering at his Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, it first appeared on 19 12 Cadi llacs.

By doing away wi th thc dangerous and unpredictable hand crank, it dcfi ni tely populari zcd motoring and made motor cars accessible to a greater part of the population.

"Boss·· Kcu cring latcr becamc thc tcchnical mastermind of General Motors, in chargc of its unparallclcd rescarch and cnginecring programs. He joined GM in 1920 when his cornpany was rn crged into GM , and moved the Resea rch Laboratorics to Detroit in 1925. He remained wi th GM until his retirement June 2, L947.

The company officially became General Motors Corporation on October 13, 1916, when incorporation papers we rc filccl in Delawa re.

During Worl cl Wa r 1, GM, turnecl its facil ities ancl ex perience to the proclucti on of wa r rnaterials.

Despite having no ex perience in ma n ufactu ri ng mili tary hardware, th e young Am erican auto mo bile indus try comple ted a tu rnaround fro m civil ia n to wa r p roductio n within 18 months. The resulL was an outpouring of weapo nry c redited w ith the winni ng o f Lh e war, changing Lhe face o f Eu rope, a nd laun c hing Lhe Un ited States into th e rol e o f a wo rl d power.

IL was a ls o in t his sa m e period that Alfred P Sloan , jrâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; firs t became assoc iated with Dura n l. Sloa n was head o f the Hyatt Ro lle r Bearing C ompa ny o f Ha rriso n, New Jersey, w hen Durant broug ht iL into General Mo to rs through acqu is itio n o f the Uni ted Mo to rs Corporatio n . He wenL o n Lo gu id e Genera l Moto rs fro m 1923 until 1956, firs t as pres id ent and then chairman.

Under Sloan 's directi o n, General Mo to rs g rew from a firm that acco unted for a bout 10 pe rce nt o f U.S. new car sales in 1923 to becom e the largest prod ucer of cars and truc ks in the wo rld.

"Billy" Du ranL crea ted a n en terprise that in 1908 co ns is ted o f jus t o nc Lruly s uccessfu l au to ma nufac wre r (Buick ), but iL co nta ined the bu ild ing blocks lO beco m e a mul tiface ted corpo rati o n. His entreprene u rial creatio n was late r d irec ted by men w ith the abilities to harn ess and o rganize its po tential during a n expans io nary peri o d o f U.S. indus try - when the U.S. and Ge nera l Mo to rs werc em ering the e ra of m od e rn managem enl.

T OTIERING TITAN By 1920 , in th e mids l o f a na lio nw icl e ccon o mic cris is, GM was o n Lh e verge o f fin an cia l

OPPOSITE: The first Chevrolet produced in

the company's Detroit plant in 1912.

Founder Billy Durant is standing in the bowler hat at the right and his son Cliff is at the whee/. Nam esake race driver and car developer Louis Chevrole t is standing hatless. The following year Chevrolet moved to Flint. lt was merged with GM in 191 8.

(General Motors) RIGHT: From the 1920s to the 1980s, GM prided itself on its engineering advances and styling leadership.

Shown here in 1958 are the executives responsible for that reputation in the peak years of the 1950s. Left to right are Charles A. Chayne, vice president in charge of Engineering Sta ff; GM president Harlow H. Curtice; Dr. Lawrence R. Hafstad, vice president in charge of Research Staff, and Harley }. Earl, vice president in charge of Styling Staff. (General Motors)

colla pse. T he cris is ma rkecl a turn ing po int in General Mowrs' h is tory. New me n were asked Lo assu me its leacl ers h ip. A new co ncept of ma nage mem was forged a ncl a new co ncept o f procl uc t em erged: coordi natecl poli cy co ntro l replacecl Lhe u ndirected effo rts of the prev io us yea rs .

As iLs principal a rchi tec l, Sloan was c redited wilh c reali ng not o n ly an orga nizatio n wh ich savecl Gene ra l Mo to rs, but a new management concept thal was adopted by man y of the wo rlcl 's !arge, d iversified businesses.

Fu ndame nta lly, the co ncept invo lves coo rdina tio n of th c enle rprise u nd er to p ma nagem en t, direct io n of po licy throug h to p-level commi ttees a nd delega tio n of o pe rating respons ib ility throug ho ut Lhe o rgan izati o n.

Wi thi n Lhis framewo rk, ma nagem ent s taffs conducl ana lys is, advi se po licy co mmittees ancl coo rdina te admi nis tratio n . General Mo to rs th us became a n o rgan izaLio n o f o rga nizatio ns.

Sloan's idea was Lo establish "decentra lized operatio ns and respons ib iliti es with coordina ted control. " AL thc indiv idual level, his po licy was si m ple: "G ive a ma n a clea r-c utjo b and let him do il. " His new product co ncept was "a car for every p urse ancl purpose. " lt led to d iffe re nt k inds of ve hicles fo r different custo me rs, and contin uing im prove me nt of all GM ve hicles. Peo ple were bu ying m o re Lha n j us t basic Lrans po rta li o n. They also wa n ted co m fo n , good looks, perfo rmance tha t was better tha n j ust ad eq ua le, ancl above all , per iodic im p rovem en l.

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Quality Co111rol & l11spectio11

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Prod11ctio11 Dies

Automated Weiding Systems

Hot Test & Dynamometer Systems

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All of our commitment:

Progressive Tool & lndustries Co. pledges to support, promote and participate in a quality improvement process and to provide our staff with the education, re ources and cnvironment necessary to supply defect-frce products and Services in accordance with your rcquirements.

~ PICO ~ TttEWASll( OF OUAUfY'

Progressive Tool and lndustries Co. 2 1000 Telegraph Road â&#x20AC;˘ Southfi eld Michigan 48034 â&#x20AC;˘ (3 13) 353-8888

GM cleveloped man y be r 195 4, a nd th e Corporaautomotive "firsts" which tion celebrated i ts 50th enhanced its success. Prio r ann iversary in 1958 with a ycar- long Go lden Miles tone to World War II, they inclucled the fĂźst all-s teel celebralion. Cadillac built iLs one- piece roof, two-cycle GM 's SOth anniversary models in 1958 were the two-m illionth ca r the same year - j ust eight years after di ese! truck engines, inde- new Chevrolet lmpa/a (front), with Pontiac, pe nclent fro nt-wheel s usOldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac parked behind. reac hing i ts fi rs t mi II ion pe ns io n ancl automat ic (General Motors) OVERLEAF: In the 1970s, the marle transmissio n.

T hrough the l 960s GM industry was battered by the effects of the oil set mo re sales a nd earn ings By 1941, GM accounted embargo, which doubled energy costs and caused for 44 percent of to tal U.S. buyers to seek out economy cars - which were reco rds, ancl aclcled severa l sa les, co mparecl w ith 12 almost all imports. GM's answer was this 1976 new ca rs and trucks to iLs percent in 192 1. model ranges to serve mo re Chevrolet Chevette, produced both in North AmerEven befo re Ame rica's diverse needs and tastes o f ica and overseas. (General Motors) entry into World War 11, customers. New small cars GM was turning ou t were introclucecl by C hevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac a nd new frontweapons alo ng w ith automobiles. After the U.S. went to wa r in 1941, GM's inclustrial skills we re Lo tall y a ppliecl wheel drive luxury ca rs we re launchecl by Olclsmobile a ncl Cadillac. with g reat effec tiveness. Civilian automobile proclucLi on was ha lted ea rly in 1942 and the Co rpo ration's Genera l Motors was also grow ing as a worldwicle plants we re completely converted to the war effon. enterprise duri ng this pcriod. The company's business hacl reac hecl beyo ncl th e U.S. al most from its beginGM's co ntributio ns during World War II a rc a dramatic example o f the vital impo rtance o f a nation at wa r nings; expo n s of American-buil t vehicles began in 1911, only three years after the compa ny was fo r mecl. being able to call upon well- managed and experienced In th e 1920s, GM opened pla nts to assembl e some of industrial resources. From 1940 to 1945 , GM delivered clefense mate rial valued at $12.3 billio n.

GM's American cars in Euro pe, Sou th America, Africa ancl the Far East; the re wcrc 19 by 1928.

WART/ME (HANGEOVER But th e maj o r European rnarkets o uts ide the U.S. The success o f GM's tremenclous wartime role lay ancl Canacla callecl for different kincls of cars, ancl GM in its management philosophy. Decentralizecl, highl y cleterminecl it need ed to co mpete as a European manunex ible Opera tions with iocalizecl manage me nt capabilfacture r. Accorclingly, GM purc hasecl Vaux hall Mo tors ities macle possible the total a nd almost overn ig ht co nof England in 1925, and Ada m O pe l of Germany in versio n from civilian producli on to war material capa1929. bility, o n a timetable never believecl possible by the POSTWAR E MPIRE e nemy.

Following World War 11 , Gene ra l Motors revivecl GM 's war production s pannecl products from the Opel and Va uxhall a nd ex pandecl its vvo rlclwicle operaLi nies t ball bearings to massive tanks, nava l s hips, fighte r planes, bombers, g uns , cannons, and projectiles. GM tions. Full engineering and manufacturing operations alo ne Lurnecl out 13,000 ai rplanes ancl o ne- fou rth of a ll were also establishecl in Braz il ancl Aust ra lia, and U.S. a ircraft eng ines. assembly and marketing opcrations were expanded in man y oth er cou ntri es.

Ca r-making resumecl after the war, ancl postwa r econo mi c expansio n saw produc ti o n a ncl sales soar.

In the 1980s GM enterecl the small car market segment in Europe w ith the Opel Co rsa and Vau xhall The cars of the '50s were all-new, and their styling ca pturecl th c public's pent-u p desire for change.

Nova , built in a new plan t in Spain . GM thus became a Fo r GM in th e Uni tecl Stares, the decacle of the '50s competito r in all the majo r ma rket segments, and was o ne of cclebrations, sales recorcls, anniversa ri es, began the g rowth tha t h as made Opel/Vaux ha ll a nd ingeni o us innovatio ns in styling ancl enginee ring.

Europe's best-selling car line, a nd GM Europe its most profitable vo lume vehicle man u facturer.

Cadillac celebrated its 50th a nniversary in 1952; the following year in june, Buic k built its seve n-millionth In the earl y 1970s, whe n global econom ies were auto mobile. GM's 50-millionth automobi le, a 1955 buffeted by two petroleum crises, GM embarkecl o n a n Chevrolet Bel Air, rolled off an assembl y line in Nove munprececlented program to redesign its en tire North

39

Ame rican vehicle lineup for beuer fuel economy. Yirtually all of GM's car lincs were redesigned from bodyand-frame, rea r-whecl-drive, to in tegral-body, fro ntwheel-drive d esigns . We ight and exterior size were reduced, wi th vehicl e interio r roo m ancl co mfo n retained.

Then-GM Chairman Tho mas A. Murphy called it "th e most comprehens ive, a mbit io us, far-reaching, a nd cos tl y program of its kind in the h istory o f ou r industry."

T he first "d ownsized " cars were GM 's 1977-model full -size a u tos - abo ut a foot shorter and 700 pounds lighter tha n their preclecesso rs . Thcy provecl an instant hit and wcre fo llowcd by redesig ned 1978- moclel intermed iates, 1979-mode l pe rso nal luxury ca rs, 1980moclel fron t-w hecl-drive compacts, 1981-mode l fro ntw hecl-drive s ubcompacts, 1982- mocle l fro nt-wheeldrive micl-size moclels, a nd the U.S. industry's first compact truck.

As th e '80s bega n and Roger ß. Smit h became c ha irman , GM faced the c ha ll e nges of modern iza ti o n.

Responding to cus to mers' co ntinuing de mands for mo re fuel-effi eielll vehi cles at reaso nable prices, the compan y launched an un prececlentecl $40 bi llion, fi veyea r capital s pencl ing program whi ch o pened the way fo r dram ati c tec hn ologica l progress throug hou t General Motors. New auto assc mbly pla nts werc opened in Orion Towns hip and Detroit/ Ham tramck, Mich. ; We ntzv ille, Miss. , and a new truck assembly center opened in Fo n Wayne, Incl . O ther pla nts were extensively mode rni zed.

( OM/NG H OME 1n 198 1, General Moto rs Acccptance Co rporation and Moto rs lns urance Co rporatio n , the Corporatio n's fina nce and ins uran ce opera ti o ns, moved th eir headqua rters fro m New Yo rk to Detroi t.

Later that ycar, in a maj o r realignm en t of GM's wo rld w icle truck and bus opcrati o ns, thc truck and bus g ro up too k o n res po nsib ility for the desig n , e ngineering, man ufacturin g, sa les and service of all Gene ra l Motors tru c ks, buses and vans.

A major projec t in vo lving GM 's ßu ic k Mo to r Divi s ion began in 1983. lt in vo lved a co mp lete reva mping of the ca r assembly o perations in Fli nt to produ ce a ll - new fro nt w hee l-clr ive a uto mo -

biles fo r the 1986 mocle l year. Rcfe rred to as "ßuick Ci ty," the co ncept also im·olves s u pplier firms and ultimately created nearl y 5 ,000 jobs in the integra ted complcx.

Ln 1984, GM restructured its Non h America n Passenge r Car O pe rati ons into two integrated car groups.

T he two gro ups, Chevrolet- Pontiac-GM of Ca nada (CP-C) a nd ßuic k-Oldsmobilc-Cadillac (ß-0-C), hacl complete responsibili ty for eng inee ring, manufacturing , assem bly, a nd marketing o f th eir proclucts.

A new milesto ne for t he U.S. automobile inclustry was reac hed in February L984, w he n GM and japan's Toyo ta Moto r Compa ny formed a j oilll ve nture to prod uce a new small car in a p la nt which GM had p reviously closecl in Fremo nt, Ca lif. The joint venture co mpa ny was named New Un itecl Motor Man ufacturing, lnco rpora ted (N UMMI ), and its first auto mo bile came on the marketjune 13, L985, as the Chevrolet Nova.

In a transaction co mplcted O ct. 18 , 1984, Gene ral Moto rs acq uired Electro n ic Data Systems of Dallas, Texas. Ope rating as an inclepe nclc n t co nsoliclated subsid ia ry, EDS, has grown as a world leader in the informatio n technology industry. lt serves G M through mo re effecti ve managem en t con trol of the co mpany's data processing, business info rmation ancl co mm unications services, as weil as se rving its co n ti nuall y growing !is t o f wo rldwide business and governme nt clients.

Also in 1984, GM added Saturn to its vchicle clivisions, thus addi ng a sixth au tomobi le brand. Saturn Co rpora tio n is headquanerecl in Troy, Mich iga n , and prod uces its cars in a h igh ly integratecl p la nt a t Sp ring Hili, Tenn., 30 miles south o f Nashvi llc. Saturn's innovati ve procluctio n, management, perso nnel and retailing polic ies have prod ucecl a fam ily of s ubco mpacts that co mpete wit h japan ese imports ancl a business philoso ph y that ac hieves industry-leading c usto me r sa tisfac ti on levels.

In m id- 1985, GM diversified ancl expancled its capabiliti es in advanced tec hnology when it purchasecl l-lug hes Aircraft Co mpa ny, based in Los Angeles, Calif„ for $5 bill io n in cas h ancl securities. This acquis iti o n acceleratcd the rate of applicat ion of e lectronics in to G M's a uto motive proclucts, an d prov idcd GM wi th wo rl d re nownecl sys tems engineeri ng reso urces. GM co m bi nccl i ts Delco Electro n ics Divisio n and some o the r GM tec hni cal

units wi th l-lug hes Lo crea te a nevv subsidia ry, GM Hug hes Electron ics Co rpo ra ti o n (GM HE ) .

(Rena mecl Hughes Electron ics Corporatio n in March , 1995.)

During the '80s, General Motors imp lementecl more change than in all of the previous seve n clecacles of the Corporation's his1995 Chevrolet Blazer sport/ utility vehicle, one of GM 's tory with new most popular and successful vehicles of the mid-decade. pla nts , new tech no loSUMMING D OWN (General Motors) gy, new p roclucts, a Recog ni z ing it new cornmit rnent to would face many cha llenges go ing into the 2ls t ce ntucost effic iency, and a new cornmitment to its people. ry, co nfronting fo reig n co mpetitio n ancl a global econoIn the '90s, it is apparen t that all a utomob ile manmy, GM embarked on a tough cost- reduction co urse. ufacturers are affected by economi c uncerta inties, comThe year 1986 bega n a periocl of plant clos ings, signi fi petitive pressures, in tense global competi tion, stri ngen t cant reduction of its worldw ide workfo rce, phasing o ut fuel eco no m y demancls, toughe r ern issions standarcls, of noncompetitive or obsolete component manufacturand a pace of change rnore challenging than ever. ing opera tio ns, and overall recluctio n of operating In 1991, the Ame rican a u tornotive inclus try susex penses. Together wi th th e o peni ng of s ix new plan ts tained fi nanc ia l losses unparallel ed in its his tory. The and inves tmenls Lo retool and modernize o the r fac ili cha lle nges facing GM were pa rti cula rly acute, pri rna rities, these effo rts were clesign ecl to make Ge nera l ly in the No rth Ame rican a u tomotive o pera tions, and Motors a cost-co mpetitive procl ucer of hig h qua lity despite s trong reven ues a ncl earni ngs of its s ubsidiaries, procl UClS. GM recorded overall losses in 1990, 199 1 ancl1992.

GM 's co mmitme nl to qual ity was in tens ifiecl in GM acceleratecl fundamenta l changes in its ways of 1987 w hen GM execu tives and leade rs o f thc United doing busin ess. Plants were iclled , the salariecl and Automobile Workers (UAW) fo rmed the Quality Nethourly work force was red ucecl thro ugh attrition ancl wo rk, a joint effort for s trategic clevelopment and proretiremen ts , execu tive compe nsation was reclucecl and ducti on o f h igh quality, customer-val ued prod uc ts. man y non-core assets wcre so lcl.

In Oc tober 1987, General Motors ancl the UAW C ustorner sa tisfac ti on became an overricling consigned a his toric three-year labor agreement that u nde rcern. Every clivision estab lis hecl 24-hour Roadsicle scored a new s piri t of team work ancl pa rtn ership Assistance programs, ßumper-to-ßurnper Plus warranty between ma nage men t a ncl labor. T he agreeme nt, covered every part of every GM car ancl light truck for reac hecl without a wo rk s toppage or s trike cleaclline, three years or 36,000 mil es, a ncl GMAC's Sma rt Lease includecl unprecedentecl job secu rity prov isio ns ancl program was in trocluced to offer customers the o ption estab lished joi nt s tucly co mmittees a t GM plan ts to lease a G M vehicle w ith typ ica lly lower mon th ly payaro uncl the U.S. to review operati o na l co mpe titi veness ments. and find ways to improve qua li ty a ncl effi ciency. The The year 1992 was one of major management j ob sec urity provisio ns we re a ug me nted in s uccessive changes a l Ge nera l Motors. GM launchecl a majo r reorco ntracts in 1990 and 1993 . gan ization Lo stream li ne its business practices ancl turn 1n 1987 , GM 's Sunraycer, a solar powe red car arou nd its North American O perations (NAO) , which desig ned ancl built by several GM units, won the inaureplaced the C-P-C and ß-0-C Groups . These changes gura l transcontinen tal Wo rld Solar C hallenge race in were focused to achievc GM 's vision of to tal custo mer Aus tral ia , ou tdis tancing its neares t compe ti tor by more satisfactio n a nd resto re profitabi li ty. GM's new structhan 600 mil es. lt's Oawless performance ove r the sixture lecl to more flexi ble decisio n-making processes, day trek was fun her evidence of GM's leaclers hip in mo re effi cient use o f Lec hnical ancl capital resources , new a uto mo ti ve tec hnologies, inc ludi ng e lect ri c and manageme nt acco un tability for procluctio n o f prop ulsio n , lig htwe ight materials ancl aeroclyna mi cs. h igh-value, high -q ua li ty products ancl ser vices.

O n the g lobal fron t, GM p urchased 50 percent of ( ENTRALIZED EXPERTISE Saab Au to mobile AB of Sweden in 1989. GM's Inte rnati onal Opera tions now wo rk w ith Saa b to cleve lop, The GM Techn ical Cen ter co nsolidatecl its s taffs to ma nufacture a nd market Saab passe nger cars wo rlclbeco me the NAO Tec hnical Cente r. A cen tra lized Vehiwide. cle Launch Ce n ter (VLC) was formecl to concen trate GM's e ng ineering ancl technical resources fo r develop-

-l 1

ing new products; engineers from the car and truck divisions were joined by engineers from the Engineering Center and the Manufacturing Center to work as a team.

GM's component manufacturing divisions were consolidated into the GM Automotive Components Group Worldwide (ACGW) (renamed Delphi Automotive Systems in February, 1995) creating the largest supplier organization in the industry. Its focus became global, and its business units that did not have growth or profit potential were closed or sold.

Responding to the competitive realities of the marketplace, GM acted to restore the Corporation's operations and financial structure for long-term health. The objective was fundamental change, with minimum disruption, to eliminate redundancies, focus on valueadded activily, and improve the overall responsiveness of the organization.

A variety of approaches were used to make significant reductions in both the salaried and hourly work forces, while still providing an effective safety net for displaced employees. The Central office staff was reduced from about 13,500 to about 2,300 with many of the functions transferring to operating units.

Among successful marketing innovations, GM launched the "GM Card" in 1992. lt is a Mastercard credit card which enables users to build up annual credits of 5 percent or more on each item charged, and apply them toward the future purchase or lease of a new GM vehicle.

GM's difficulties in the past few years were in a sense an overdue wake-up call for the company. Its long period of success had made it easy to ignore the significance of change and the signs of potential future problems, as the corporation's legendary leader, Alfred Sloan, had warned could happen when he published his memoirs in 1963. The lesson is that, for unrivaled leaders, success itself can breed complacency, myopia and ultimately, decline. Other leaders in several industries and businesses have had the same harsh wake-up call in recent years.

The most urgent challenge was to reverse the financial losses from the North American Operations.

In 1993, intensified efforts yielded results in the areas of customer focus, product quality, global sourcing and advance purchasing, lean manufacturing, commonization of processes, systems, and parts, and integration of global resources.

And in 1993, GM and Toyota signed an unprecedented agreement for GM to supply North Americanbuilt cars to Toyota for sale in Japan. GM will build

right-hand drive Chevrolet Cavaliers in the U.S., which Toyota will purchase and sell in Japan.

The year 1993 was a watershed one in GM's drive to retum to profitability and reassert industry leadership. Reflecting a major improvement in North American Operations (NAO) as well as strong eamings from International Operations, GMHE, EDS and GMAC, the corporation earned a total of $2.5 billion, a dramatic and gratifying turnaround after three straight years of staggering losses.

RECORD EARNINGS In 1994, GM recorded all-time record net income of $4.9 billion, and all of GM's business sectors reported strong sales and earnings. Its success was spread across all its business sectors and geographical operations; North American Operations were profitable, and GM Europe was that region's most profitable volume auto manufacturer.

EDS and Hughes Electronics also reported record earnings in 1994 and strengthened their positions in fast-moving technologies of information management and telecommunications. Hughes' launch of DIRECTV was the most successful new product introduction in consumer electronics history.

Automotive Component Group Worldwide (ACGW) (now Delphi Automotive Systems), became a separate business sector of the Corporation in 1994.

With sales of over $26 billion, and 190 operations and 17 technical centers in 31 countries, it is the world:S largest automotive systems manufacturer. Growing rapidly, in the '90s, it has established manufacturing operations, customer service offices and joint ventures in China, Japan, Europe and Australia. lt is now a supplier to virtually all the world's automobile manufacturers, as well as a strategic partner to GM's vehicle operations.

Looking to the future, GM is in transition from a base of multinational and regional operations to consolidated global strategies. Planning is under way to coordinate many of the North American and International vehicle platforms, the common structural systems which are the basis of its cars and trucks. With common engineering and manufacturing systems and common components, GM will be able to offer a greater variety of vehicles tailored to needs and tastes of customers in the various worldwide markets and build them with lower costs.

As John F. Smith, Jr., GM chief executive officer and president stated, "GM is changing its ways and will continue changing."

42

lt's pure joy. At Budd, ehe veT)' idea of getting an auwmotive program geared up and rolling wward inc:roduction lights a spirit and enthusiasm you won'c find in any other company. That's because our greatest thriU lies in knowing that we can do it. Concepting. Design. Engineering. Prototyping. Testing. Pre-production validation and manufacturing. Buddhas the capability, the facilities and the bright eager minds to can-y a program through every step of the way. lt doesn't matter whether the need is steel, frames, sheet molded composite, castings or cold-weather starting products. There's enough state-of-the-art technology and fi"esh new thinking at Budd to make anyone tuho loves cars feel just like a kid again. Phone Budd at (810) 643-3520 and join the excitement.

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3't1 Automotive

1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 "Fastback" symbolized the muscle cars of the 1960s and 70s. (Na tional Automotive History Collection, D etroit Public Library)

Ford: On The Fly M oving asse1nb!y line is one of the nzost widely recal!ed of 1nany innovations

- - - o rd Motor Co mpany cn terccl thc business wo rld wi thou t fanfare o n Jun e 16, 1903, when th e latc Henry Ford and l l associates fil cd incorpora tion papers at Michigan's Sta tc Capitol in Lansing. Wi th an abundancc of fait h , bu t only $28,000 in cash , the pio neering inclustrialis ts gave bi rth to wha t was to become o nc of t hc wo rld's largest co rpora tions.

Few compan ies a rc as closcl y ide ntified w ith the h isto ry and develo pmc nt o f Amcrica th roughout the 20th centu ry as Fo rd . Ancl pe rha ps no o ther America n fi rm is as weil known across the globe.

At the time o f its incorporation , Ford was a tiny operation in a convcn cd Det roit wagon factory staffcd with lO peo ple. Today, th e compa ny is thc wo rld's fou nh -largest ind ust rial corporation and the seco ndlargest producer o f cars a nd trucks, w it h active manufact uring, assembly o r sa lcs o pcra tio ns in 3 1 countries o n six contin en ts.

So me 338,000 mcn a nd womc n now co me to wo rk cach day in Ford factorics, labora to ri cs a nd o ffices around the wo rld. Fo rd proclucts are sold in mo rc than 200 natio ns and tcrritorics b)' a global network of some 10,500 deale rs. And thc company's a nnua l sales cxceed the gross nati o na l produc ts of many industrializcd natio ns. Fo r some 30 yca rs, Ford has sold morc veh icles overseas than any o th cr U.5.-based manufac tu rer.

Like mosLgrca t cntcrpriscs, Ford's begi nni ngs we rc modest. T he co mpa ny had a nxi o us mo mcnts in its infan cy, balanci ng t hc scalc of bank ruptcy preca riously.

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'/1w Indianapolis 500®, !11dy 500® and fodyC"r f„ an: tmdcmarks of tl1c lndia 11 apofis Motor Spccdway. lm/yCar 11 mlcr cxc/11sivc /iccnsc lo Cl1ampio11 s/1ip Auto Racing Teams, lnc.

But one month after incorporation a ray of hope sho ne when the first car was sold to a Chicago dentist namecl Pfennig. A wo rriecl group o f stockho lders, skeptically eyeing a ba nk balance that had dwincllecl to $ 223.65, breath ed easier, a ncl a young Ford Motor Compa ny hacl take n its first step.

Du ring the n ex t five years , young Henry Ford, as chief cngineer and la ter as presid ent, direc ted a developme nt a ncl production program wh ic h s tarted in a conven ed wagon facto ry on Mack Avenue in Detroit a nd late r moved to a !arger builcling a t Piquette and Beaubien Streets. ln th e first 15 months 1,700 Model A cars chugged ou t of the old wagon fac tory. Ă&#x;etween 1903 and 1908, Henry Ford a nd his cngineers used the first 19 leu ers of the alphabet lO d esignate their creati ons, although some of the cars were ex perimen tal and never reached the public.

The mos t s uccessful of the early productio n cars was the Model N - a small , light, four-cylindcr machine which we nt on the market a t $500. A $2,500 six-cylinder luxury car, the Model K, sold poorly.

Thc Mode l K's failure, along with Mr. Fo rcl's insistence tha t the compa ny's fu ture lay in the product io n of inex pcns ive cars for a mass m arket, caused increasing fric ti on bc tween Mr. Ford and Alexander Malcomson , a Detroit coal deale r who had been inst rumental in raising thc ori gi nal $28,000. As a resul t, Mr. Malcomson left the company and Mr. Ford acquired enough of his stock to increase h is holdings to 58- L/2 percent. He became president in 1906, replacing John S. Gray, a Detroit banker.

FlNANCIER FACTIONS Squabbles among the stockholcle rs did not threa ten the yo ung compan y's future as seriously as clid a ma n named Geo rge Seiden. Mr. Seide n had a pa tent on "road loco mo ti ves" powered by in ternal combusti on e ngincs. To pro tect his pate nt, he fo rmed a powerful syndicate to license selccted manufacwrers a nd collec t royalties for every "ho rseless carriage" built or sold in Ameri ca, a ttempting to monopoli ze the industry.

Hardl y had the doors been opened at the Mac k Avenue facto ry w he n Selden's synd ica te filed suit aga inst the Ford co mpany whic h bravely had gonc into business wi thout a Seiden license.

Faced wi th the choice of closing the doors or fight ing a bauery of a ttorneys who already had wh ipped big-

Henry Ford shown in his First experimental car, the Quadricycle, run on Detroit streets june 4, 1896. The Model T didn 't arrive for another dozen years. (National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library)

ger co mpanies into line, Hen ry Ford and his partners decided to fight.

Eight yea rs later, in 1911 , after incredibly co mplica ted co urt procecdings, Ford Motor Compa ny wo n the baut e wh ich freed it and th e e ntire auto indust ry from Selde n's strait jacket.

Oespite harassments from Sclden's syncli cate, the liule co mpany ke pt imp rovi ng its mac hines, ma king its way th ro ugh the alphabet un til it reached the Mod el T in 1908. A considerable improvement over all previous models, this car was an immedia te success.

Nineteen years ancl more than 15 million Model T's late r (1927), Ford Motor Co m pa ny was a giant industrial co mplex that spanned the globe. lts cars had started a n urban revoluti on. lts $5 day and the philosophy behind it had started a social rcvolution. lts moving asse mbl y line had s tartecl a n inclus trial revolution.

During those years of hect ic expansion, Ford Motor Compa ny: • began producing trucks a nd tractors (19 17); • beca me wholly Ford's Highland Park plant about 19 15, the hom e oFthe Model T, the m oving assemowned by bly line and the $5 day. Note streetcar terminal in foreground on west side oFWoodHenry Fo rd a ncl ward Avenue. In 1995, the administration building - abandoned and much-neglecthis son , Edsel , ed - and factory buildings at the right rear used largely fo r warehousing still stood. w ho succeeded (A lbert Kahn Associates) BELOW: On /uly 3, 1945, Ford was the First automaker to his fa ther as resume civilian production. Here young Henry Ford II, released from Navy duty in pres iden t in 1943 to help m anage the company, presents keys to that First postwar car to Presi1919aftera dent Harry 5. Truman. The presentation was m erely symbo/ic. When Truman re/inconfl ict wit h quished the presidency in 1953, he still owned the 194 1 Chrysler Royal two-door stockholders sedan purchased new when he was in his second term as U.5. Senator from Missouri. over the m il(Mike Davis collection) lio ns to be spent to build the giant Rouge for the first time on April 1, manu fac turing 1932 . Ford was the firs t co mplex in company in histo ry to cast Dearborn , su ccessfull y a Y-8 e ngine Mich. ; block in one piece. Expens • bough t the Lintold Mr. Ford it couldn't be coln Motor clone. lt was many yea rs Company before Ford's co mpe titors ( 1922) ; and learn ed how 10 mass-pro• bui lt the firs t of d uce a reliable Y-8. In the mea nti me, the ca r a nd its 196 Ford Tripowerful engine became the Motor a irplanes darling of pcrforma nceused by America's first commi nded Ameri cans. me rcial airli nes 1n 1938, six years after (1925). the V-8 was introduced , proBy 1927, time had cluction startecl on the Mercu ry w hich became Ford's run out o n the Model T. en try in the grow ing meclilmproved , but basically unchanged for so many um-pri cecl fiele! .

In 1942, civilia n car proyea rs , it was losing ground to more stylish , powe rful machines offered by cluction carne to a halt as the compan y th rew all its Fo rd 's com petito rs. O n May 3 1, Ford pla nts across the resources in to thc U.S. war c ffo rt. l nitiated by Edsel coun try closed d ow n for six months w hile the co mpaFord, th is gia nt wa rt ime progra m produced in less tha n ny retooled for the Model A. three yea rs 8 ,600 four-e ng ined B-24 " Liberato r" 1t was a vastly improved car in all respects. More bombers, 57,000 ai rcraft engines, ove r 250 ,000 j eeps, tha n 4 ,500,000 Model Pis, in several body styles and a tan ks, tan k destroyers, and oth er pieces of war machi nwid e va ri ety of colors, ro lled onto the nation's highery. ways between late 1927 and 1931.

REVERSE SUCCESSION ßut even the Model A even tually reached the end Edsel Ford died in 1943 just as his program was of the line whe n co nsumers d emanded mo re luxury reach ing its max imum effi ciency. A saddened Henry and power. Ford Moto r Company delive red both with Ford resumed thc presidency un til th e war's end when its next entry - the Fo rd Y-8 - which the pu blic saw

49

Automotive Company

Driving Technology INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY Textron Automotive Company delivers innovative automotive engineered systems as a single source, ful l service supplier for three different product groups:

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For drivi ng tech nologies and innovative teamwork , we supply up-front value.

INTERIORS Textron Automotive lnteriors specializes in providing auto industry customers with totally integrated interior systems; we have the proven capability to manage programs from concept through delivery. Utilizing the capabilities of our Textron Automotive Techno/ogy Center, we are able to reduce system costs whi le pioneering methods to achieve new, unique designs.

EXTERIORS Textron Automotive Exteriors provides the auto industry with world class products. lncluded in the scope of our production capabilities are: painted fascias (both custom injection molded and RIM) , body side moldings, lighting assemblies and a variety of interior components. Our Textron Automotive Technology Center ensures that we are consistently at the forefront of new developments in cost-saving applications for composite materials.

FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS Textron Automotive Functional Components completes the circl e which estab li shes Textron Automotive Company as a leading full-service supplier to the auto industry. Comprised of CWC Castings, Randall and McCord Winn, we supply a broad range of functional components , from near net cast cam shafts to precision stampings to complete window washer systems and comfort seating systems.

i i U i t!•): 1Automotive Company Troy, MI (810) 616-5100

he resig ned fo r the seco ncl time. His oldcst grandson , Another significant cve nt in the company's history Henry Ford 11 , became prcsident on Sept. 2 l ,19-+5. occurred in January 1956, when Ford commo n stock Evcn as He nry Fo rd ll was sold to the public for drove t hc indus try's firs t the firs t tim e. The com pa ny now has so m e 287 ,000 post-wa r ca r off the asscmbl y li n c, he was mak ing stockhol ders. pla ns Lo reo rga n ize a ncl On Oct. l , 1979, He nry deeenLralize thc co mpany.

Ford II ret ircd fro m the Losin g mo ney a t th e ralc o r positi o n o r chid execu tive severa l millio n clo lla rs a o fficcr, ha nding ove r that res po n sibility to Philip momh, Ford Moto r Company was in criLica lly poor Caldwcll. Mr. Caldwell also co nditio n to rcsumc its p rcsucccccled Mr. Fo rd as war positio n as a major facc hairman of thc Board on March 13, 1980 . Mr. Fo rd LOr in a fie rcely compeli tive auto industry. In much thc re tired as a n officer and sa me manner as his grandfaemployee or the company on Oct. l , 1982, but con tinued to se rve on the co mpather had faced problems at the co mpan y's bcginning, Henry Fo rd 11 tackled thc j ob or builcling an auto mobile ny's Board or Direcwrs and as c ha irman o r the Finance Committee until his dcath o n Sept. 29, l987. company a ll over aga in. His postwa r reorganization and cxpa nsio n plan ra pidly rcsto recl th e co mpan y's hca lth.

W he n Ph il ip Caldwcl l retircd as Chairma n o r the board a nd c hid execut ive o ffi ccr, Donald E. Petersen I-Iav ing relinquished his co mpany's opcration to his s ucceeded him in that positio n Feb. 1,1985. W he n Mr. gra nclso n, Henry Ford lived quicLl y w ith his wi rc, Cla ra , until he cl icd on Apri l Pete rse n re ti red Marc h 1, 7, 19-+7,at agc83.

1990, he in turn was sucAno thc r impo n ant figceeded by Haro ld A. Polure in t hc co mpa ny's history ing. in th c post-war years was Ford Motor Co mpany Ernest R. Ă&#x;recch w ho served is the second-largest car as chairma n fro m Ja n. 25, and truck prod ucer in the 1955, until he was succccdworld a nd is ranked third cd by Henry Ford II o n Ju ly on the Fortune 500 list or 13 , l 960. the largest U.S. industrial Para ll eling Forcrs co rporatio ns, based o n domcsLi c growth has been a sales. In 1991, Fo rd 's fore ig n cx pansio n program wor ldwide sa lcs a nd revwhich began in 1904, just e nucs tota led $88.3 b illion. o nc yca r a rter th c co mpany Although Ford is betwas fo rmccl. O n Aug. 17 of te r known as a manufac LUrFord's standard pickup truck, for many years the er o f cars, trucks a nd tracthat yca r, a modes t plant o pcned in the small town or /argest-selling vehicle model in North America, if tors , it n ow produccs a Walkcrvi llc, O nl. , w ith the not the world. (Mike Davis collection) TOP: 1995 w iclc range or o ther prodFord Taurus sedan, the nation 's top selling passenger u cts including indus trial impos ing nam c or Fo rd car for several years running, and a styling /eader for engincs, Moto r Co mpan y or Canacla, cons tru ct ion nearly a decade. (Ford Motor Company) Lld. machi ncry, glass a nd plasFrom this s mall begi ntics. And Ford is estabning has grown an overscas lis hcd in a dive rs ity o r orga ni zation o r manufac tu ri ng p lants, assc mbly plan ts, othe r businesses incl uding fina nc ia l services, insurpan s d cpots and dca le rs, with Fo rd rcprcscntcd in ance , a uto motivc replacc ment pa rts, clectron ics a nd some 200 countrics and tcrritorics around th e world. land clcvclo pmcnt.

About 60,000 co mpa nies wo rldwidc s upply Ford with goods a nd services.

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Haden, inc. is a wholly-owned subsid iary of Haden Maclellan Holdings plc which has serviced industry since 1890. Throughout our relationship with the automotive industry we have taken great pride in the technical advances we have made to help improve our customers' product quality and productivity. Haden has been the originator of key advances such as the glass walled center downdraft Hydrospin®spraybooth, Hydropac®flotation cell sludge system, and DryPure™paint sludge dryer. Haden continues to be the worldwide technology leader with high efficiency Hydrospin 111 spraybooths, Air Radiant® ovens, and automotive quality powder paint systems.

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hen Wa lter P Chrysler fou nded Chrys ler Co rporation in 1925, the Chrysler Technology Cen te r was p roba bl y beyo nd eve n his wi ldes t dreams. He could hard ly have imagi ned a $1 bi llio n complex w he re tea ms of designcrs, engineers and manu fact u re rs work toge the r in 3.5 m ill io n squa re fee l of the mosl sophislicated labo ratori es and tesling faci lities in the world.

T he Technology Center, in Aubu rn l-lills, Mich iga n, rep resents th e next era o [ Chrysler's h istory.

Chrys ler is poised as a lea n, bold, quality-focused company where teams of ernployees develop and build cars and trucks totally focused o n c ustomer needs. Teamwork wi ll lead the company into the 2lst cen tury, but it was the vision and ambition o f one man rnore tha n 70 yea rs ago that began the Ch rysler Co rpora tion sto1y C hrysle r Corpo ration, founded on June 6, 1925, has a h istory as rie h and colorful as that o[ its fo unde r, Wa lter P C h rys le r - a man so intrigued wit h au tomotive tec hn o logy that he bought, disassembled and reasse mb led an a utomobile before he learned to drive.

Wa lter Chrys le r was born in Warnego, Kansas, on April 20, 1875. He began an ambilious career in the railroacl industry as a mach inist's a pprentice w he n he was 17. Chrysle r ea rned his rnaster rnec hanic's papers in J.899 ancl n ine yea rs later, at the age o f 33, becarne th e younges t man ever to hold the post o[ su pe rinte n-

The Chrysler Story Last, smaflest of the B ig Three - but not the 'least'

TOP: Walter P. Chrysler checks over one of his

brand new, snappy-looking 1924 Chrysler roadsters in the summer of that year. Chrysler, a former General Motorsand Willys executive, had been brought in by bankers and investors to save the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers car company. (Chrysler Historical Collection)

.'i.1

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Gallagher - Kaiser Corporation A Detroit, Michigan Firm Since 1952

Joseph P. Kaiser, Chairman Robert S. Kaiser, President Spray Booth

d ent of motive powe r for the Chicago Great Western Rail way.

W h en he j o in ed the Ame ri can Locomolive Co mpany as manager of its Pius burgh Wo rks in 19 10, hi s c uri osity a bo ut the in fam automobile indus try led him to buy his firs l auto mobile, a Locomo bi le Phaeton.

Two years la ter, C hrys ler turn ecl hi s fasci n a tio n fo r a utomobiles into a career by jo ining the Buic k Mo to r Car com pany in Fli nt, Michi ga n , as works manager. Bllic k beca m e Gen eral Motors' firs l auto motive d ivisio n w he n GM incorporaled in 1916. A year la ter, Wa lter Chrysler was nam ed the d ivisio n's presiclent and general manager.

RETI RED, TH EN REHI RED ln 1919 , in adclition lO h is responsi biliti es al Ă&#x;uic k, Ch rysler became General \llo to rs' first vice presiden l in cha rge of manufac turi ng. Fina ne ially independem at age 45, he retired from Genera l Motors in 1920. Ă&#x;u l, within a yea r he was wooed out of retiremenl to beco me execu tive vice presiclenl o f Willys-Ove rland which was in financial troub le. He was latcr hircd to aid th e ailing Maxwell Motor Ca r Com pa ny, lnc.

He was na med chairman of Maxwell Motor Car's Reo rganization a ncl Manage ment Com miuee an d rcvitalized the co mpany with the develop me nt of th e Chrysler Six - Ameri ca's first medium-priced, hig hstyled automobile. By janua ry 1924, Maxwel l Moto r Ca r had set an industry salcs record when sal es of the Chrysler Six reached 32,000 unils.

Chrys le r Co rporali o n was inco rpora ted in Delaware on june 6 , 1925, as a successo r lo the Maxwe ll Moto r Car. Walter C hrysle r bcca me cha irman of the board and presiclent. ln 1925, the com pany imroduced the Ch rysle r Four, Sc ries 58, whic h had a top speed of 58 mph. More than a million people visited showrooms in th e first four days the corporation displayed the nevv au to mo t ivc wo nder. By the fall of 1925, more than 3,800 dealers wcre selling Ch rysler cars an cl,

lntroduction of the Dodge Brothers' new car in Boston in 1914. John and Horace Dodge became millionaires on Ford stock received in exchange for supply of major parts for early Ford cars, and launched their own make very successfully. Both died in 1920, and Chrysler acquired the company from Wall Street bankers in 1928. (Chrysler Historical Collection) BELOW: In a three-month period in the summer of 1928, Chrysler Corporation launched the low-priced Plymouth car, acquired Dodge and introduced the middle-priced DeSoto. In the 1930s and '40s, specially built DeSoto cabs became almost the standard in /arge American cities. These 1936 De-Solos were ready for a Yellow Cab driveawa y from the factory, probably at Wyoming and Ford Road. (Chrysler Historical Collection)

ing the firs t car to d rive into a ncl out of the Grand Canyo n.

By 1929, Chrysler hacl grow n to bccome one of the ßig Three lead ing au to mo tive The man ufac tu rers. co mpany end urecl the Great Depressio n of the '30s thro ugh cost-cutting mcasurcs but never cut bac k o n rcsca rch ancl clcvclopmcnt. That clec isio n paid o rr in l 933 when Ch rys ler becamc the o nly automotivc company whose sales surpassccl the recorcl 1929 salcs year.

Chrysler's commi tmcnt to R& D in thc I 930s resul tecl in scveral Chrysler cnginceri ng innovatio ns incl ucling the patentcd "floating Power," an cnginc mounting system which succcssfull y isolatccl enginc vibrat io n away fro m the pascngcrs ancl rcsulted in a smoother ricle.

In 193-+, Chrysler int rod ucecl thc Chrysler AirOow ;111d De Solo Ai rOow vc hiclcs, raclically s tyled fo r their time with thc ind us tr/s first onc-piecc curvcd glass windshield. Engi nccrcd for a s mooth ridc, thc AirOow was equ ippcd with Chrys ler's first Aut omatie Overdri ve Trans mission.

Chrysler con ti nucd to expand its opcrations by cstablish ing Chrysler de Mcxico in 1938 as an im porter and distributo r of Chrysler prod ucts. Subscqucntly, the company bccame an assc mbler and latcr a man ufactu rcr of power trains. Chrysler de Mexico was co ntrolled

by Mcxican capital until 1971 whcn Chrysler acquirecl majo rity owncrs hi p. Today, Chrysle r de Mcxico operatcs nine faciliti cs in Mcxico, incl ud ing lwo vc hicle asscmbl y plants.

Walter Chrysler lcd the corporation through the carl y yea rs of innovati on ancl North American expansion until hc rcsigncd thc presiclcncy on j uly 22, 1935. l lc remaincd chairma n of the board un til his dcath on Aug. 18, 1940. He is rcmembcrecl as an inspircd cnt reprencur and an carly patriarch of Amcrica's auto motive industry.

~

Chrysler built its reputation around a trio o f engineering ''greats; shown here are Fred Zeder, second from le ft, and Ca rl Breer, at far right, with the streamlined Airflo w introduced fo r 1934. The third m ember of the trio, Owen Skelton, is not pictured. (Chrysler Historical Colle ction) BELOW: 1953 Dodge Coronet, a conservative technical achievem ent for the time - smaller on the outside, bigger on the inside - which didn 't meet public acceptance. Two years later, Chrysler joined industry trends toward bigger, flashier and more powerful. (Chrysler Historical Collection) by 1926, the corporatio n had risen fro m 57th to fi flh placc in ind ust ry sales.

Chrysler had cxpandcd its opcrations 10 Canada as weil. The Maxwell -Chrysler Company of Canada bcgan in 1924 in Windso r, Ontario. Thc company incorporated as Chrys ler Corporatio n of Ca nada, Ltd . in 1925. \.\lindsor, an ind ustri al eil)' ~tc ross thc rivcr fro m Detro it, q uickly bccamc Canada's largcst automolivc manufacturing cen tcr.

In 1928, thc De Soto an d thc first Plymo uth pri cccl fro m $670 to $725 to appeal to consumers with avc rage incomcs - wcnt into prod uctio n in thc Unitecl States. That samc ycar, Chrysler bought Doclgc ßrothers, lnc., au to moti vc bui lclcrs with a solid reputa tion fo r maki ng vchiclcs with ruggecl dcpcnclabi1ity. The Dodgc ßro thcrs becamc fa mo us fo r builcl-

TANKS AND T RUCKS In the 1940s, American indus try turned from consumer to defense production. Chrysler pa n icipated in many defense projects, mosl no tably production of the 32-ton She rman M4 tan k. Chrysler produced 18,000 Sherman tanks, the main co mbat ve hi cle of the U.S. and its Allies in World War II. Approxi mately 500,000 Dodge trucks were also produced for the war. By 1945 , Chrysler had supplied more than $3.4 billion in military equipmen t to the Allied fo rces.

After the war, Chrysle r responded to the need for increased car and truck production by building or buying 11 plants between 1947 and 1950. In the 1940s, Chrysler introd uced the Town & Co untry seda ns and convenibles and began limited productio n of its first hard top convertible in 1946. In 195 1, Ch rysler inlroduced the first production power s teeri ng vehicl e. The first key-operated ignition and safety-cus hioned dash were other Chrysler innova tions of th e ea rly '50s, as weil as the Torsio n-Aire s uspe nsion system in 1957.

K. T. Keller became chairma n of the board o n Nov. 3, 1950, as C hrysler entered the space age by s igning a contract with the U.S. Army to build the Jupiter space exploration missiles. In 1952, one of Ameri ca's firs t successful space Oights ca rried two monkeys to an al titude of 350 miles at the top of a Jupiter missile.

When hostilities erupted in Korea in 1950, Chrys ler again supplied mili tary produ cts, including tanks, military trucks and air raid sirens. By the end of the Korean police action, C hrysler had participated in 31 government projects worth more than $1. 1 billion .

Chrysler's engineering department developed several landmark innovations during the 1950s including four-wheel, self-energizi ng hyd raulic d isc brakes and the famous "Hem i" V-8 engine.

Chrysler engineers created the hemispheri c combustion chamber V-8 engine, the Hemi , in 1951. The Hemi engine was a rela tively expensive option for reta il customers. lts costs o ften equaled a third of the purchase price of the car. Ch rysler stopped producing the Hemi in the mid-50s du e to the costs. Howevcr, in 1964, C hrysler imroduced a high-powered sport version of the engine - the legendary 426 Hemi - wi th mo re than 400 horsepowe r under the hood. Richard Petty made the 426 famo us in his NASCA R racing.

Only about 11 ,000 of the specialty engines were built between 1964 and 1971. Car enthusiasts still co nsider the Hemi to be the ultimate internal combuslion engine.

Other Chrysler d evelop ments in the 1950s have beco me standard features on today's veh icles. The elec-

Lee A. lacocca was educated as an engineer at Lehigh and Princeton and joined Ford as a manufacturing engineering trainee at the Rouge, later switching to sales and rising to president. After a falling out with Henry Ford II, he became chairman of Chrysler and is credited with saving the company in the early 1980s. Here he is shown pitching a 1981 Plymouth Reliant "K-car" at a press conference in 1980. (Chrysler Historical Collection) PAGE 59: 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager, second generation of the company's pace-setting front-wheel drive, car-like minivans. Chrysler completely revamped its car and truck lines in the early to mid-1990s.

(Chrysler Corporation)

WIEN YOU THINK OF ROCKWELL, YOU'VE THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING. So just how many products and services do you think Rockwell Automotive offers to OEM's? Here's a hint: lf it opens, closes, pushes, pulls or tums, we have designed, engineered and manufactured a component or system to play apart in it. In fact, you may know us for one thing and be totally surprised that we do so many other things as well. For instance, did you know that Rockwell Automotive is a manufacturer of not only suspension systems, wheels, sunroofs and automotive electronics but also of door and access control systems, seat adjusters and all kinds of heavy vehicle components?

So as your business goes global, think local-with Rockwell Automotive.

ll' Roclfllllell Automotive When you think of Rockwell, you 've thought of everything.

Lric window li fL sysLem (1950) , power steering and OriOow s hock absorbers (195 1) made cl ri ving safer and easier. Drivers of Chrysler proclucls builL in 1955 were Lhe firs t Lo enjoy the pleasures of Chrysler's all -transisLor car radios. Ancl, two yea rs later, curved siele windows ex pancled Lhe possibilities fo r automotive design.

1n L960, afLer 33 years, procluction of the De Soto car line came to an end. The same year, Chrysle r introduced the 45 rpm automoti ve record change r with 14 record capaci ty. Three years later, Chrysler offered the industry's first five- year or 50,000 mile warranL)' on drive train components.

Chrysle r experienced a number of transitions in Lhe 1960s. On April 29 , 1960, L. L. Colben became chairman of the board , followed by George H. Love the next year on Sept. 2 1, 1961 ancl Lynn A. Townsencl on Jan. 1, 1967.

In 1963, uncler Love's leaders h ip, Chrysler in troclucecl the Turbine. The vehicle was powerecl by a wrbine engine, similar Lo today's jet engi nes.

Only 50 of the vehicles were manu factured for consumer research and testing. The Turbine never wen t into full procluction, but the research rcsults were ineorporated into defense vehicle Lechnology.

total U.S. ear rnarket feil while the market share for impons rose to 23.4 pereent.

In thc midst of the finaneial erisis, j ohn j. Riccardo becamc ehairman on Oet. l , 1975. Responding to growing economie trouble, Ri eeardo hired Lee A. lacocea as Chrysler presidcnt on Nov. 2, L978. Ten months later, Riecardo resigned ancl lacocea was clected chairman on Sept. 20, 1979. lacoeca applied his cxperiencc of 32 yea rs with Ford Motor Company to mcet the ehallcnge of rej uvenating Chrysler's sagging opcrations. Chrysle r redueed costs, restructured its manage ment and reeruited new executi ves to deal with its scrious financial problems.

Despite these measures, external faetors eontinued to li mit Chrysler's abili ty to finanec its programs fu ll y. Chrysler was foreed Lo seek assis tanee from the fedcral governmenl in the form of loan guara ntees.

In late Dee. 1979, U.S. Congress the passee! the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Ae t, which Preside nt J imm y Caner signed imo law on Jan. 7, 1980. The aet proviclecl Chrysler $ 1.5 billion in federal loan guarantees.

Concessions from UAW-re presented wo rkcrs, wh ite-eollar employees, s u ppliers, eredi tors ancl lcnders kcpt Chrysler operating clespite reeo rd losses of Sl. 7 billion in 1980. Chrysler eut inventories by Sl billion, rcclueed white-eollar staff by 50 perecnLancl cut its break-eve n poinL by 50 perccnt in its drastic elforts to manage finanees.

Through the travail , Chrysler doublecl its Oeet average miles-per-gallon ancl in 1978, introd ueed the first clomestically procl ueed from-wheel dri ve small cars - the Dodge Omni ancl Plymouth Horizon.

Ch rysler was also thc first American compan y to eonve n its Oeet to from-wheel dri ve. Chrysler was on its way to recovery. "ff yo u ean find a better ear .â&#x20AC;&#x17E; buy it. " This ehallenge became Chrysler's battle cry in its recovery fight. lacocca began appearing in Chryslers advertising in july 1980 and becarnc one of the most recognizable businessmen in the world .

1n L981 , Chrysler repon ecl reeord losses, but the eom pany saw light at the end of its financial tu nnel fro m th e headlamps of its new K-cars. Devcloped on a limitecl buclge t, the Dodgc Ari es ancl the Plymouth

CLEARING THE AIR

Chrysler innovaLion continued in L966, when engineers modifiecl engines to crea te the Clean Ai r Paekage, an exhaust emission conLrol system. The from seat s houlcler harness and the separate, scl f-eontainecl rear wind ow heater/dcfroster system we re a mong Chrysler safety innovations in 1966.

As it became inereasingly diffieulL to produce s mall cars in the United States profitably, Chrysler began imponing and dis tri buting s mall passengcr ears ancl trueks built by its j apa nese panner, Mi tsubishi Motors Corporation.

Chrysler sel sales records in 1972 and 1973, but gasoli ne shon ages, political uncenai nty, high interest raLes, severe inOatio n and weakening eonsumer eonfidenee drove Chrysler in to a financial crisis in the mid'70s. Ameriean consumer demand soared fo r smaller, more fucl-effi eiem ears. japanese manufacturers were the first Lo respond, making great inroads imo the U.S. market. The eombined clomestic market share of the

:)9

Reliant, code-named the "K-cars," enjoyed sales success, which Chrysler rode to profĂźability in 1982. The momentum continued, and for the first time since 1973, the company was profitable for four consecutive quarters. In August 1983, Chrysler paid off the federal loan guarantees seven years early, at a profit of $350 million to the U.S. government.

largest U.S. automotive company. The $800 million acquisition included the world-famous Jeep, three automotive assembly plants, 1,600 dealerships, and a joint venture, Beijing Jeep Corporation of Beijing, China.

As a result of the acquisition, Chrysler launched the Eagle brand in 1987, the first new Chrysler brand since 1927 when the Dodge brand was launched.

Chrysler continued its commitment to value and safety throughout the 80s. In 1987, Chrysler introduced an unprecedented 7-year/70,000 power train warranty and a 7-year/100,000-mile outer body rust protection warranty. The continuous-flow fully electronically-controlled fuel injection engine was a key product development in the early '80s. Chrysler became the first company to offer air bag restraint systems as standard equipment, in 1988.

In the summer of 1989, Chrysler began a $1 billion cost cutting and restructuring program to focus its resources on its core automotive business.

The restructuring led Chrysler to begin a new approach to car and truck production called "platform teams" where representatives from various departments - such as design, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing and marketing - work together on a single vehicle line through its entire life cycle. Each team functions like a small company with total operating responsibility. The team approach cuts development time, because everyone works together from the start.

The Dodge Viper, a V-10 roadster, was the first vehicle developed by a platform team. Following the successful development of the Viper platform were the 1992 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a new line of family sedans with innovative cab forward design: the 1993 Chrysler Concorde, Dodge lntrepid and Eagle Vision.

Iacocca dedicated the Chrysler Technology Center in 1991, a 3.5 million square-foot megastructure on a site where the corporation's new world headquarters is scheduled to be completed in 1995. The facility supports cross-functional work among product design, engineering, manufacturing and other departments in vehicle development.

MINIVAN MADNESS In November 1983, production of Chrysler's minivans, the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager, began. The minivans created a new market segment and changed the way American families traveled. Minivans became Chrysler's best-selling vehicle and the company was well an its way back to economic health.

More than a decade later, despite an onslaught of domestic and international minivan competition, Chrysler continues to dominate the U.S. minivan market and has captured more than 20% of Europe's minivan market.

Chrysler expanded into electronics and aerospace activities and enlarged its international operations in the 1980s. In 1984, the company reported its best earnings year ever and reorganized itself into a holding company made up of four operating divisions Chrysler Motors, Chrysler Financial, Gulfstream Aerospace and Chrysler Technologies.

Chrysler continued its overseas expansion as it acquired 15.6 percent equity in ltalian luxury car manufacturer, Officine Alfieri Maserati SpA, in 1984. The relationship between Maserati and Chrysler ended in August 1988 and the equity was later sold.

Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation formed Diamond-Star Motors Corporation in 1985, as a joint venture company to manufacture small cars in the United States. Production of the Plymouth Laser started three years later in Normal, Illinois.

After a nine-year absence, Chrysler re-entered the European market in 1987 by exporting the Chrysler LeBaron convertible, the Plymouth Voyager and the Dodge Daytona. All the vehicles were sold in Europe under the Chrysler badge. Later that year, Chrysler Motors purchased Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini SpA, the maker of the famous Countach. Today, the Italian specialty automotive manufacturer produces the Diablo - the world's fastest production automobile - as weil as other sports cars and high performance marine racing engines. In 1993, Chrysler sold Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini SpA and its subsidiaries to MegaTech Ltd. Chrysler also made its biggest acquisition in 1987, purchasing American Motors Corporation, the fourth

URBAN INVESTMENT In 1992, Chrysler dedicated the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in downtown Detroit, a $1.6 billion investment, including product development costs, to manufacture Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicles. Chrysler built the plant in Detroit's inner city to offer continued employment to its dedicated workforce

60

the introduction of the new sedans - the Chrysler Cirrus and Dodge Stratus - and the new coupes - the Chrysler Sehring and Dodge Avenger. The Cirrus was named Motor Trend's "Car of the Year." In 1995 Chrysler introduced the next generation of minivans the 1996 minivans with the industry's first driver's side sliding door.

Today, Chrysler's aim is to become the premier car and truck company in the world by the year 2000.

Chrysler continues its aggressive five-year product development strategy to produce a product line for the second half of the decade that's just as exciting as the first.

and support the city, rather than following an industry trend toward building new plants in rural sites.

The year 1992 brought a changing of the guard at Chrysler. On March 16, the board of directors named Robert J. Eaton as vice chairman and chief operating officer. Lee lacocca stepped down as chairman and CEO on Dec. 31, 1993, and the board elected Robert Eaton to fill the posts effective Jan. 1, 1993.

In 1994, Chrysler set a company record for U.S. retail sales and earned more money - $3.7 billion than in any other year in the company's history, including 1993, the previous record. That year also marked

Automotive Milestones H ow internal combustion vehicles avoided the scrap heap of history by f'vlichael

J. Kollins in regular production vehicles. These stages naturally are reached at different times. In preparation of this list an endeavor has been made, unless otherwise stated, to show the year when any given feature was first incorporated in cars that were sold to the public. After the mid-1930s, dates generally are for model year application.

Of course no listing of this kind can ever be 100 percent complete or 100 percent accurate; however, it is believed that most of the major historical events of lasting interest and most of the important features of present-day car construction are included.

This material was compiled by certain members of the SAE Automotive History Committee, under the leadership of Michael Kollins, from Horseless Age, Motor Age, Motor World, Automotive Industries, Automobiles of America and other publications. While every effort was made to make this list as full and accurate as possible, iL is not infallible but rather subject to corrections, revisions, and addilions.

ince its inception in 1893 when the first American gasoline automobile was built, almost every year of progressive development is marked by an outstanding "first" in the automobile industry. During the first five years ( 1893-1898) progress was slow, but after Winton's first delivery of a car to a purchaser in 1898, the public became interested. Development then became rapid. Each year thereafter was marked by some historic engineering advance or innovation of worth, except for the war years of 1917-1918 and 1942-1945.

The accompanying listing gives the dates of the most important occurrences in the development of the automobile in North America, and the introduction of the more influential features in automobile design. The dates of the origin of different practices in design in some cases may be somewhat indefinite. Any new device or practice is first conceived by the engineer, designer or inventor, and finally may be incorporated 61

INVENTOR /COMPANY

DEVELOPMENT/INNOVATION

1769

Nicholas Joseph Cugnot (France)

Steam-powered traction vehicle for military transport

1804-05

Oliver Evans (United States)

Steam-powered massive dredge moved through the streets of Philadelphia and down the banks of the Schuylkill River.

The clriving wheels gave way to paddle wheels to propel the dredge upstream. (Perhaps the first amphibious vehicle.)

1821

Richard Trevithick (England)

5team-powered vehicle featuring transmission with gears

1828-30

Goldsworthy, Gurney & Walter Hancock (England)

5team-powerecl coaches in regular service between cities

1835

Alfred Drake (Philadelphia)

Began 20 years' experiments with internal combustion engine

1844-45

5tuart Perry (New York City)

Constructed turpentine-fuelecl, 2-stroke-cycle engine

1860-62

Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir with Alphonse Beau de Rochas (France)

Four-stroke-cycle hydrocarbon benzine engine installed in road vehicle, 1862. Traveled several times between Rue de la Roquette in Paris and Vincennes. Lenoir's engine was equipped with the prototype of the modern sparkplug and distributor.

Thc German publication "Zur Frage Freien Concurrenz in Gasmotorenbaue" acknowledged the success of the vehicle.

1865

Siegfried Marcus 1Austria)

Hyclrocarbon-gas powered engine and vehicle; did not patent

1873

M. A. Bollee (France)

L'Obeissant steam-powered coach for 12 passengers

1883

Delamarre-DeĂ&#x;outteville (France)

With the assistance of M. Malandin, successfully constructed and operated vehicle with 4-stroke-cycle engine equipped with what was believed tobe the first carburetor. Prior to this all hydrocarbon engines were fuel injected or wick capillary action.

1885

Gottlieb Daimler {German) with August Otto ancl Eugene Langen

Founcled famous Deutz factory to construct Otto (4-stroke) cycle engine. Daimler built his first car in Cannstatt and patented the first carburetor. German records and patents also seem to confirm that the first car to leave the Karl Benz factory in Mannheim was in December 1885

1893

Charles E. & Frank Duryea (U.5.)

"Buggyaut," first appearance of gasoline-powered horseless carriage in U.S., Springfield, MA

1894

Elwood Haynes (U.S.)

Tcsted first car in collaboration with Eimer & Edger Apperson

1895

George B. Seiden

Patent issued (November 5) for a "hydrocarbon gas engine later ( 1911) successfully for roacl or horseless carriage use" challenged on basis it was Brayton-cycle, not the Otto-cycle engine used by all motorcars by then.

Won first motorcar roacl race, Chicago to Waukegan (Nov.28)

Duryea Charles Brady King (U.S.)

Testecl his car on streets of Detroit. Featured 4-cyl. en-bloc engine (March 6)

Henry Ford (U.5.)

Tested 2-cyl., 4-hp "quaclricycle" in Detroit (June 4)

1897

R. E. Olds (U.5.)

Organized Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing; tested first car on August 21

1898

Alex Winton (U.5.)

Elwood Haynes John Wilkinson

Made first commercial sale/delivery of vehicle (March 24) First U.S. manufacturer to use aluminum alloy Designecl and built first 4-cyl. air-cooled engine; later used in Franklin on 1902 models

1899

R. E. Olds

Organized Olds Motor Works (May 8) , moved from Lansing to Detroit First Packard built (November 6)

1896

Packard

1900

Buffalo Engine Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden R. E. Dietz

Overheacl camshaft engine, Buffalo four cylincler First auto show - New York First auto race - Old Madison Square Garden First kerosene lamps for automobiles, 20 c .p .

1901

Olds Motor Works

Packard

Fire (March 90) at O lds Motor Works; on ly one curved-dash O ldsmobile saved. After fire, startecl system of sub-contracting to outside suppliers, sett ing pattern for the industry.

Predecessor company to Cadillac M otor Car Co. organized (November 30) Steering w heel replaced tiller (right-hand drive)

1902

H aynes Autocar Locomobile

Chrome-nicke! steel in automobile Shaft drive to rear wheels via U -joints First 4-cyl. production engines (Locomobile)

1903

Buick Ford Motor Company Cl yde Coleman Winton Premier W iedley A. 0. Smith Peerless A. W. Spicer Tincher

Bu ick Motor Co. organized in D etroit (May 5) lncorporatecl in Detroit (June 16) Electric starter patent # 745, 157 Nov. 24 First 8-in-1ine engine, Winton Bullet #2 Racing Car Air-cooled eight-in-line overhead-valve racing engine First pressed steel fram e Tilting steering columns Uni versal joint and propeller shaft replaced chain drive Air brakes Glass windshielcls introduccd

1904

SAE Jan. 19

Formation of Society of Automobile Engineers (forerunner of SAE), New York City: first president. Andrew L. Riker Independent front suspension Engine full-pressure lubrication Automatie carburetors Shock absorbers Acetylene gas for automobile lamps (Packard)

H enry Ford Co.

Sizaire-Naud in (France) Pierce-Arrow Holley, Shebler, Detroit Lubricator, etc.

E. V. Hartford Presto-Lile 1905

Remy Brothers National lnclustry Charles Y. Knight

First American magneto for igni1ion First 6-cyl. engine Folding tops introducecl Sleeve va lve engine pa1ented; successfull y applied, 1908 Radiator had flattened tubes, able to expand in case of overheating or freezing

Reo

Northern

Spring front bumper developecl Left hancl drive (steering wheel) lnventecl torque converter Transmission hacl free-wheeling feature Constructed a 12-cyl. raci ng car Designecl and bui lt a 4-cyl. experimenlal car with leverless control at S1urlevant Mill Co. of Boston. A three-forwarcl spcecl (automatic) transmission with gears engaged by centrifugal clutches. H e also designecl the Sturtevant power-actuated brake, the first known use of the "servo-system."

Drove Stanley Steamer a milc in 28.2 seconds, avg. speed 127 .66 mph, Ormond Beach, Florida Airbrakes and air clutc h control o n Northern passenger cars

1907

Clyde J. Coleman Hewitt Motor Co. Marmon

Second patent, electric startcr, #842,827 Jan. 29 lntrocluced a water-cooled V-8 engine-powered limousine Built air-cooled V-8 engine

1908

Thomas Flyer Cadillac, Henry M . Leland C. Harold W ills O tto Zachow & W illiam Besserdich-FWD

Wins New York-to-Paris racc Received DeWar Trophy for interchangeability of parts Developed use of vanadium steel for Ford Motor Co. Developed first successful 4-wheel-drive vchicle (Clintonville, W isconsin). Production, 19 10.

Silent camshaft timing chains First engine supercharger

1906

Ray 1-tarroun M oon Dr. Foettinger (Germany) Haynes Maxwell T. J. Slurtevant (U.S.)

Fred Marriot-Slanley

Morse-Whitney/ Link Belt Chaclwick

63

Inatough youneeaa- o p ner.

Pick our brains.

GEAutomotive

May 2, 1933.

Des. 89,787

A E N O RTHUP

AUTOMODILE f1lcd Jan.

1909

rn.

2 Shcets-Sheel l

1933

Detroit, Michigan

1910

19 11

1912

191 3

V. H . Bendix Jeffrey, FWO, M & S

1914

1915

1916

Ford Packard

INVEN t81foduction of Fordson tractor F f/J:lf-l9ffe 299·cubic-inch V-1 2 racing engine; later, 905-cid, BY then 1250-cid Liberty aircraft engine ~-... ~ P~;t~ 16 from Thomas B. Jeffrey Co. · A3'TOG~tö!Sarles w, Nash, former GM president AMos

Jl.-_

Nash Motors

..

1917

Budd, Michelin Chevrolet Packard Studebaker Paige-Franklin Nash car Moon

Steel disc wheel s Chevrolet V-8 engine Packard V-1 2 sets speed records al Sheepshead ßay ( 130.4 mph) " hot spot" manifold to improve fuel vaporization V-type w indsh ield Nameplate first appliecl Stylish one-piece p late-glass winclshielcl

1918

Nash Nash 4-pass. coupe

First pillarless coupe body design

Beco mes world 's largest producer of trucks

1919

Packard, Franklin Ultra Safety G lass

1920

Geo L. Weiss, W. D. Packard Engr Co. Packard

1921

Dr. Thomas M i dgley,

lectric vaporlze in intake manifold Shatterproof safety glassilirst pplied G lass Founders Corp.,M illtown, NJ

Jr.

Duesenberg

1922

Lincoln Motor Co.

65

ll 1,494)

1923

Aluminum Manufacturing Company Rickenbacker Motor Car Co. Cole V-8 Oakland (GM), Cole, DuPont Chemical Packard

Cast aluminum d isc road wheel Tandem flywheel Balloon ti res (with Firestone), clay modeling "Duco" nitro-cellulose fast-drying lacquer finish lntroduces in-l ine-8 engine with Lanchester vibration damper, 9 main bearings and 4-wheel m echanical brakes

1924

Chrysler

lntroduces Uanuary) high-compression, 7-main-bearing, 6-cyl. car with hydraulic 4-wheel brakes, Purolator crankcase oil filter Constant-mesh" Traffic transmi ssion;" forerunner of synchromesh transmission D i stribution of ethyl high-octane gasoline Bal loon tires standard a n most cars lncorporated (June 6) Skinner lubricating o il rectifying system; forerunner of ful l-flow fi lter Hypoid rear axle (angle set) Safety shatterproof glass in production cars l 8-inch wheels, 30 x 6.00 tires Underslung warm-drive rear axle Bragg-Kliesrath power-brake booster

1927

Reo Flying Cloud Paige Detroit Reo Wolverine Studebaker Oldsmobile, Studebaker AC D ivi sion, GM

lnternal-expanding 4-wheel hyd raulic brakes 4-speed interna l gear transmission Full crankcase venti lating system Westinghouse Air power brakes Chromium plating of bright metal Mechanical fuel pump

1928

Dodge Victory Six Great Britain Ford, Owen Dyneto Ford Motor Co. Plymouth Dodge

Body floor-panel integra l with car frame; forerunner of unitized body Fluid coupl ing an London buses Electric windshield wipers Triplex shatterproof windshield on Ford, Lincoln First produced Uune 14) Acquired by Chrysler Corp. (Jul y 30)

1929

Cadillac Cord

Selective synchromesh transmission Front-wheel-drive

1930

Chrysler Nash Cadillac Oakl and, Viking

Downdraft carburetor Starter button an instrument panel V-16 overhead-valve engines V-8 engine in low-priced car

1931

Marmon Pl ymouth & Studebaker lndustry

V- 16 engines Vacuum spark retard and centrifuga l spark advance Freewheeling an Auburn, Plymouth, Studebaker, Graham, Hudson, H upmobile, Marmon, Peerless, Willys Startix (Bendix) automatic starting on Auburn, Hudson-Essex, Rockne, Studebaker Synchromesh transmission "Mother of pearl" )acquer finish Convex (sphericai) headlamp Jens (C. M . H all l amp) Centrifuge brake drums an Chrysler & Imperial X-member chassis frame

lndustry O ldsmobile Reo Royale Chrysler Budd Auburn 1932

Duesenberg Packard, Pierce-Arrow lndustry Reo Royale Goodyear Airwheel Tires Packard, Olds General Motors & Chrysler Corp

Supercharger an Duesenberg SJ V- 12 engines with hydraulic valve silencers Silenci ng improvements in fan, muffler, air intake langest wheelbase 7 passenger sedan 152 inches 7.50 x 15 Extra low Pressure Tires Automatie carburetor choke Vacuum operated clutches - Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, Plymouth Stellite exhaust va lve seats Power brakes

Chrysler Imperial Packard, Imperial, Duesenberg

66

Shell-type main and rod bearings, Needle roller bearings in propellor shaft U-jo ints Bold new trend in styli ng: " Blue Streak" w ith sloping windshield pillars, om ission of traditiona l radiator shell; radiator filler under the hood; clam-shell-type fenders w ith w heel opening following tire outl ine; chassis had banjo-type frame at the k ick-up location, w ith parabolic openings in frame-rail web for rear axle tube; frame had outrigger spring hangers and body brackets; engine featured "Bohnalite" aluminum head 1933

Reo Royale

2-speed self-shifting transmission (no clutch pedal); forerunner of the automatic transmission Pressed metal roof on closed cars "NI Resist" exhaust valve seats Fl<mged rea r axle shafts

Pierce Silver Arrow Franklin Chevro let & Pontiac 1934

Warner Overdrive on Chrysler & DeSoto Airfl ow Independent front wheel suspension on production cars, (knee action) - GM, Plymouth, Doclge, Chrysler Six Semi-un itized body construction, Airflow models O ne-piece, curved glass windshield, Custom Imperial Airflow Clear v ision ventilatio n Hili holder on transmission (November) Pre-selected electro-vacuum gearsh ift One piece stamped steel roof on closed models

Ch rysler, DeSoto Chrysler & Genera l Motors Ch rysler, DeSoto Chrysler Ford Studebaker Hudson, Terraplane

1935

GM Packard, Stout Packard, Chrysl er Nash

All steel turret top, pressed m etal roof in production Independent suspension with torque arm Raised body belt-line and cha ir-height seats U nitizecl body construction

1936

Studebaker Cord 810

"Safety Catch" rotary door latches Concealed headlamps, front-wheel-drive V-8; pre-selected electro-vacuum gearshift; unitized construction (subframe with powertra in modu le bolted to the unitized body) Rear-engined, open-seating "m inivan" predecessor; on ly a handful produced

Stout Scarab

1937

Chrysler Chrysler Corp.

Graham

Adjustable front seat-fore/aft, up/down Safety flu sh-faced instrument panel and control s Graham-Braclley farm tractor for M ontgomery Ward distribution

1938

Buick, Olds Nash Pontiac Nash

Fou r-coil spring suspension Full-sized bed optional on sedan models Column-mounted gearshift lever "Weather Eye" thermostatically-controlled heating, air system

1939

O lds Chrysler Hudson Packard Chrysler, Dodge, DeSoto Chrysler GM & Chrysler

Hydramatic drive, 1939 O ldsmobi le Fluid drive, fl uid coupli ng, 1939 New Yorker & Imperial Airfoam cush ions Air conditioning in passenger cars Pillarless 5-passenger club coupe 2-speed electric w indshield wiper motors Sliding sunroof

1940

lndustry

Nash "600"

Sealed beam headlamps on 1940 model s; most cars have column shift General pu rpose (GP) 1/4 ton vehicle developed for A rmy; Willys and Ford contracted to build; later nicknamed " Jeep" from the initials GP "Unitized" body-and-frame construction

Pac kard Clipper Packard Packard, Cad illac, Imperial Chrysler Buick

Innovative styling (fade-away fenders) Elimination of bolt-on rear fenders Electro-hydraulic power windows and power seat "Safety rim" wheels on 1941 models Dual carburetors

American Bantam

1941

67

1942

lndustry

Passenger car production suspended for duration of WWll (Ford produces last civilian car Feb. 10)

1946

Willys Jeep

Civilian versions of WWll military vehicle plus all-steel station wagon model Overhead camshaft engine in a "minicar"

Crosley 1947

Studebaker

First post-war models have "two-way" styling with wrap-around backlite

1948

Tucker Cadillac Buick Hudson lndustry

Butyl-bonded windshields; about 50 produced Rear body-quarter fins "Dynaflow" torque-converter automatic transmission New post-war "step-down" body design "Low-pressure" tires for better ride

1949

Kaiser, Frazer, Chrysler Corp. cars Cadillac, Oldsmobile

H atchback body design (Kaiser Traveler & Frazer Vagabond) lgnition-key starting contro l High-compression overhead valve V-8; Cadillac's "oversquare" 33 1-cid at 150 hp@ 3800 rpm w ith hydraulic valve lifters, five main bearings and 7.5:1 compression ratio replaced a flathead 140-hp @ 3400 rpm 346-cid engine with three mains and 7:25 compression ratio. Olds "Rocket V-8" was 303 c id and 135 hp, founded "88" series with later "stock car" auto-racing successes.

Curved one-piece safety glass windsh ield Coilspring telescope-strut damper unit

Nash Triumph (England) I LJ50

Ford of England Chrysler Nash Chevrolet

McPherson-strut independent front suspension 4-wheel disc brakes on limited-production Crown Imperial Seal belts in Rambler model First automatic transmission in "low price" field, "Powerglide" torque-converter type

1951

Chrysler

" Fire-power" hemispherical combustion chamber engine on New Yorker & Imperial Headlamps located in front grille Tinted glass Power steering

Nash-Healy Buick Buick, Chrysler

Four-venturi and four-throttle-blade carburetor " Easamatic" treadle-vac power brakes Suspended brake and clutch pedals 12-volt electrical system, Crown Imperial

1952

1953

1954

1955

Packard Ford, Mercury Packard

Packard torsion-level ride, full-length torsion-bar suspension with electrical automatic leveling â&#x20AC;&#x17E;â&#x20AC;&#x17E;_..____...._________.,"""''---Removable hardtop roof

Thunderbird'_ _ _ Packard

Nylon and Orlon interior trim materials

1956

Cadillac, Packard, DeSoto, Plymouth Packard, Chrysler Corp.

Chrysler Imperial Ford

Color anodized aluminum exterior trim Push-button automatic transmission controls Electrically-controlled door latches "Safety package" option with seatbelts, extra padding

1957

Chevrolet, Rambler Ford Ranchero Ford Sky l i ner Thunderbird Chrysler, GM

Fuel injection (vacuum-mechanical and electronic) Passenger-car-styled p ickup truck Retractable hardtop convertible Telescoping steering column Viscous fan drive

68

Imperial Merc ury Turnpike Cruiser

Curvecl door glass and compouncl-curvecl windshield Windshield-header-mounled fresh-air intakes Powcr-operated rctracl able rem window Powcr-operaled fronl seal mechanism w ilh memory conlrol Four 5.75-inch-diamcl er "dual" hcadlamps Rcar-facing th ird seal in stalion wagon

Imperial, Chrysler, M ercury Plymouth 1958

GM, Mercury, Imperial Chrysler & Imperial Ed sei Arnerican Motors

Air suspcnsion Cruise Control Sclf-adjusling brakes Re-in1roduction of 100-inch-wheelbase "Arnerican" model as "cornpac l car" - model had bccn disconlinucd in 1954

1959

Chrysler Corp.

Morris Minor (England) Various

Swivel front seats Fronl-whccl -drive wilh lrnnsvcrse engine O u1side rearview mirror adjuslable from inside

1960

Plyrnoulh Valianl Chevrolet Corvair Ford Falcon, Valiant, Corvair

Alternator charging syslem as slandarcl equipmenl) Air-cooled opposed six-cylinder engine in rear wilh trans-axle drive lnlroduc tion of "compact" passcnger cars by Big Three to supplement "fu ll-sizcd" Ford, Plymouth, Chevrolc l V-6 and V- 12 truck engines Rolary cngine developed

GMC Truck NSU (Gerrnany) 1961

Ford Motor Co., Cadillac Ford Econoline, Chevrolel Greenbrier

Exlcndccl chassis lubricalion inlervals "Box on w heel s" lighl truck designs w ith forward conlrol, chassis adaptecl from compacl Ford ancl Chevrolet passenger cars; patterned after Europcan models 1-\lu111inu111 V-8 block (2 15 c id) OuJI 111as1er-brake-cylindcr Rclurn of four-door convcrl ibl e ''1-lalf-eighl " slant four cyl. wilh flexible clriveshaft and rear iransaxle

Buick Special, Oldsmobile F-85 Cadillac & AMC Lincoln Continental Ponl iac Tempest

1962

Goodyear Buick Special Ford Fairlane, Mercury Meteor

Polyesler fibre tirc cord Firsl U.S. passenger car V-6 engine "ln1cr111cdiate-sized" cars inlroduced; producl proliferalion conccpl begins

1963

Gooclyear Pon1iac lnduslry Chrysler Corp.

Tirc "inner spare" Transistorized ignition syslcm (oplion) Posilivc c rankcase vcn1 ila1ion system for cmission con1rol Scalbelt anchors Standard for oulboard fronl-seal occupants Turbine-engine powered car (lim iled produclion)

1964

lndustry Ford Muslang, Plymoulh Barracuda Cadil lac

Fron! scalbcl ts sl andard Sporty "pony ca rs" introduccd, based on compac l chassis i\ulomalic headlamp on-off conlrol

1965

lnduslry

Au tornalic lransmission quadran t uniform w ith " P-R-N-0-L" pattcrn; rearseat bell anchors Standard

1966

O lclsmobile Toronado Ford Bronco PontiJc Tempest Lincoln Conlinenlal GM, Chrysler,AMC lnduslry

Rc-introduction of fron1-wheel drive 4-whecl-drive ulility/ recrcalion vchicle by major manufacturer; O vcrhcarl camshafl 6-cyl sla ncbrd Power front d isc brakcs slandard Collapsible slcc ring column Rcar sca1bcl1s standard

1967

lnduslry GM

Dual braking syslerns slandard lgnilion-kcy-in-swilch warning buzzer

1968

lnduslry

Exhausl cmission conlrols sl andard; shoulder bells mandatory for oulboard fronl seal occupanls "Conlrollcd-crush" fronl body design (selected models) Venl less siele windows Hcadl;unps on warning buacr

Ford Molor Co. GM American Motors

69

1969

GM

Safety door beams for side impacts; reintroduction of locking steering columns as anti-theft measure

1970

AMC Gremlin Chrysler Corp.

Sub-compact Headlamp delay system

1971

Chevrolet Vega Mercury Monterey

Silicon-impregnated aluminum cylinder block Driver "air bag" supplement for front impact protection (limited production for selected fleets)

1972

Chrysler Corporation

Electronic ignition

1973

lndustry

5 mph crash front bumpers

Mft~419. 196~ndustry GM

1975

:~.-11

l.807

.·"' ,.

Seatbelt ignition interlock system (discontinued after 6 mo.)

Four rectangular head lamps (selected models) "Monolithic" catalytic converters for emission control

GM & Chrysler:Corp:., 1976

"Lean Burn" engine to control emissions lndustry's last production convertible - for several years

„.,,

Significant downsizing and weight reduction of full-sized cars Electronic anti-lock brakes (Standard on selected low volume models - Lincoln Versailles, Mercury Grand Monarch)

~

1978

Full production of domestic front-drive transverse-engine cars Diesel V-8 (converted from 350-cid gasoline engine) "Mini-spare" short-range temporary spare tire

\.-'~:i.?.

All-wheel-drive passenger vehicle Automatie overdrive transmission (selected models) Electronic instrument duster Stainless-steel body sports car "4-6-8" V-8 engine option (discontinued after one year) Reintroduction of folding top convertible Mid-engine, two passenger car sports car, "Enduroflex" plastic body panels 1984

"Minivan" garageable small, forward-control passenger van

r

r

1991

V-10 engine in sports car

1992

lntegrated child restraint seat.

CFC-free air-conditioning. lntroduced 4.6-liter SOHC iron-block V-8, first of new "modular" engine family.

"Northstar" 32-valve, 290-hp, 4.6-liter V-8 aluminum block engine w/quad overhead camshafts, mated to front-wheel drive electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission. (April 23, 1992 public introduction) ;·.\'. ',j:

,::5

('(~ Ca:•e.:; ::·, .51dm?y Oldbcrq ·

H3.'!i:a.7z

d~3~;~

"lnTech" 32-valve, DOHC 280-hp, 4.6-liter aluminum V-8 rear-drive version of "modular" engines. (Oec. 26, 1992, public introduction).

"LH" series six-passenger sedan family with "cab forward" styling, longitudinally-mounted V-6 front wheel drive, wide 62-inch stance.

1994

Oodge Ram pick-up truck

40/20/40 split front seat and V-10 engine option.

1995

Lincoln Continental, Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique

"MicronAir" flltration system.

70

he term "indepc ndcnts" mate ria lized in the lau er hal f of the l 930s. By then, the Great Depressio n was o n the wa ne . Au to co mpan ies that had s urvived bu t wcrc no t me mbers of the ßig T hree (Ge nera l lo to rs . C hrysle r, and Ford ) foun d themselves rclegated to this hypo th eti cal ca tegory.

T he lndcpc nden ts co nsistcd prcdominantly o f the Hudso n Motor Car Co m pa n)', as h Moto rs, the Packard lo tor Ca r Compa ny, St udebaker Corpo ration, a nd W illys-Overland. Th cy we rc t hc highest vo lume prod u ee rs o utside of the Big T h rec a ltho ug h thci r co mbined salcs rcprese n ted sl ig ht ly lc s t han 10 percen t o f the market. Still , they are wonhy o f men tion because of their long, rich blood li nes, lines that extended in to the very earl y days o f the a utomob ile.

Mos t revcred was th e Pac kard Motor Ca r Co mpa ny. Pac ka rd was the o lcles t of thc 1nclcpc ndcn ts, ha vi ng bcen offic ia lly incorpo ratcd in Warrcn, O h io in 1900.

By 1903 , wea lthy Detroitcr l lcnry J oy hacl pu rc hased a co ntrolling interes t in Packard w ith h is friends , and moved the com pany to Detroit. J oys goa l was to prod uce o ne of the fines t luxury cars in the Uni ted States.

Fo r the next four decades he s ucceeded admirabl y. O utside of Cad illac, w hi ch bendi ted from General Motors' protectio n , and Lincoln, whic h was s uppo rt ed by the Ford Motor Co mpany, Pac ka rd was thc o nl y lux u ry ca r manufacture r to s u rvive the G rea t Depression - a nd o nly by a w his ker. The compan y rcvivcd aftc r Wo rld War II a nd expc ricneecl its best salcs cvc r in 1948 . lt

Independent Automakers Quoint-sounding now, fir1ns were11 't 111arginal, but 111any are only nzenzories IJ,· ..\nrhon\· J. Y:mi k

TOP: Baseball great Babe Ruth poses with 1937

Nash Ambassador 8. (Chrysler Historica/ Collection)

71

ter P. Chrysler be brought in to manage 'vVillysOverland¡s affai rs.

Chrysler remained for two years. When he left, the compan y was solven t again , and J o hn Non h \l\lillys had maneuve red himse lf back into the company's chairmanship.

BRIEF RESURGENCE

was a s ho n -li ved s uccess. Six yea rs later Packard was fo rced 10 merge with Studebaker in o rder to survive, but the merger was ill fated.

By l 958 the Pac kard marque was dropped.

Second oldcst of 1he lndependents was Will ys-Overland, l'ou ndecl as Overland in 1903 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The compan)' almos t expirecl cluring the panic of 1907, but was rescuccl by o ne of its dealers, John No nh Willys.

Will ys seized cont rol of the virt ua ll y dcfun ct co mpany ancl made it solvent. By 19 12, Willys had become the number two scllcr behincl Ford. lt held th is positio n unt il the severe recession that followed Wo rld War 1 forced the company to borrow a !arge sum of money from the Chase Natio nal Bank in Ma nhattan to meet its deb1s.

Chase insisted that Wal-

Roy D. Chapin, Sr., w ith 1933 Hudson roadster.

(Chrysler Historical Collection) BELOW: John North Willys. (National Automotive Histor y Collection, Detroit Public Library) OPPOSITE, TOP: 1946 Willys Jeep station wagon, one of the most significant automotive concepts of the century, forerunner of the highly popular sports/utility vehicles offered by most automakers in the 1990s. (Chrysl er Historical Collection) OPPOSITE, BELOW: George W. Romney, CEO of American Motors in the late 1950s and early 1960s before turning to public life as governor of Michigan. He is credited with being father of the "compact car " concept. (Chrysler Historical Collection)

Du ri ng the 1920s, Wil lys-Ove rl and o ncc mo re became a s ignil'ica nt force within the ind ust ry, bu1 the Great Depression se111 it recling int o receivership . The compan y was reo rganizecl , and survived, bu1 no longcr as a major playe r. 1ts place in auto histo ry has bcen sccured by vin uc of its being prime builder of the ind o mitablc Jeep of Wo rl d Wa r 11 fame.

Willys was absorbed by the Henry J. Kaiser Com1953 and pany in renamed Willys Motors, lnc. The passenge r car port ion of Wi ll ys was abando ned in micl-1955 so that Kaiser could focus its ene rgies upon the commercial vehicle Jeep li ne. The la11er becamc so successful an operation that Kaise r changccl the namc of Will ys Motors, lnc. to thc Ka iser Jeep Corpo ratio n in March 1963. Ownership of Ka iser Jeep changed hands in Fcbruary 1970 when 1hc company was purchased by America n Motors. On Aug. 5, 1987, American Motors Corporat ion was acquircd by

Chrysler Corpo rat ion pri marily ro r the highly successrul Jeep line.

Thus W illys-Ove rl ancl co nti n ues to li ve w ithin the J eep namep late.

The Stude ba ker brothers •vere th e leacling wagon makers in the natio n w hen they clec iclecl to clabblc in T he ir a uto mob iles. nrsl entry was a n e lectri c des ig nc d by Thomas Ediso n in 1902 fo ll owecl by a gaso line powered veh icle in 1903. Neithe r was marketccl ve ry scriously.

In 1908, Studcba kc r purchased a o ne th ird inte res t in the s tock o r the newly for mecl E- M-F (Eve ritt-M etzge rFla nders) Company, buying out t hat co ncern in 19 12 afrer E-M-F rosc to third in d o mestic sales. By the micl l 920s, on ly Ford a nd Genera l Moto rs outranked Stuclebake r in total assets. A se ries o f poo r bus i ness clecis io ns fo rcecl the com pan y into rece ive rs hip in 1933, bu t it rcvivecl uncl er new manage me nt. Stucleba ker re mainecl moderatel y successful fo r the nex t 20 years, then saw its fo n u nes clcclinc a lo ng with thosc of th e o ther inclcpenclents . lt mcrged w ith Packard in 1954, a move that pro lo ngecl its life fo r another d ozen years. T he last Stuclebaker ca r was built in 1966.

"CLosEo CARs' OPENING Th e Huclson Moto r Ca r Co mpa ny was form ecl in 1910 by Howa rcl E. Coffin a ncl Roy D. C ha pin. Joseph L. Huclso n of de partment s tore famc su ppliecl its ca pita l. lt was Huclson's Essex Coach of 1921 that crca tccl an ind us try trcnd toward closcd ca rs . Until the Esscx came alo ng, 90 perce nt of cars so lcl were o pen models because they we re 30 to 50 percen t chca per tha n closcd ca rs. Hudson·s owners cut the cos t o r manufacturing costs of a closccl car clrastica ll y w hic h cnablecl them to offer the Esscx Coach at a price slig htl y above tha t of an open car. So popu la r was pub lic rcspo nse to a low priced closed car th at o th er makc rs soo n fo llowecl Huclso n's leacls. Huclso n s urvivccl thc G rca t Depress io n, and prospered in thc sell crs' markc t th at fo llowecl Wo rld War 11 , but salcs sli ppccl 50 perccn t bc twecn 1949 and 1953 . lts mergcr w ith Nash in 195-+ dicl no t bea r frui t.

Th e Hudson nam cplatc disappcarccl from active ranks in 1957.

Fifth membe r of t he l ndcpe nclen ts grou p was th c Nash Mo to r Co mpany ownecl by Charles W. Nash.

Nas h had wo rkccl h is way u p from iron sorte r in the Durant-Don Ca rri age Works to thc presiclency of Buick , thcn General Motors. He rcsignecl from GM in 19 16 whcn Durant rega ined co ntrol of that compan y, ancl pu rchascd 1he Thomas B. Jcffcry Com pan y, changing the lattcr's namc to Nash . For thc next two clecades, Nas h ca rs wc rc among the top tcn in sales. In 1936, a t thc age o f 72, Nash re tirecl from activc managemen t. He selec tecl Geo rge Maso n or Ke lvina tor, ma ker of rcfrigc rators, as his successor, resul ting in a Nas h-Kelvinator merger. Mason late r was joinecl by George Rom ney who became prcsident in 1954 when Maso n cl ied. Nash fo llowed the t rcncl o f o ther 1ndepc nclen ts ancl merged with Huclson in 1954 to form the Ame ri can Moto rs Corporatio n (A MC ). Ro m ney's c m p has is o n builcl ing s ma ll ca rs brought success to AMC, so much so tha t th rough the 1960s ancl most of the l 970s, the Big T h ree o ften was rdcrred to as the Big Four. In 1970 AMC fe it s t rong enough 10 take ovcr Kaiser-Jeep. Duri ng t he la ter 1970s, however, as the sales o f importccl small cars rosc markecll y, AMC fo rtun es declin ed. In 1979, Re nau lt of Fran ce purc hasecl 46.6 pc rce nt of AMC Stoc k, cffec ti vely taki ng con1ro l o f the compan y. ßy

marked th e begin ni ng o f the company's dea th th roes, and no Hupmob iles we re built in 1937.

1n 1938 the co mpany resortecl to the un usual move of buy ing t he d ies o r the fro n t w hecl drive, coffin-nosed 8 10/812/ 1936/193 7 Co rd a nd reworking them into a rea r drive Hu pmobile offs hoot. Hupmob ile's ex iste nce came to an J 987, Rena ult , now sul"One of the lesser independents in Detroit in the 1920s ignoble end in 1939 fering moncy problcms and 30s was Graham-Paige. This "shark-nosed" Super- when the Ci ty o f Detro it o r its own , acceptecl an charged Graham of 1938 won gas economy trials and art rcfusecl to p rovicle it offer fro m C hrysle r Co rdeco styling acclaim, but like Chrysler's Airflows of the re lief from d e lin quent porati o n to purc hasc middle '30s, failed to capture the conservative public taxes and the Hup p AMC. T hc lat ter s ubsctaste.

The company survived after World War II as Kaiser- Motor Car Co m pany quently beca m e thejeeptional Automotive History Collection, Detroit went b us t pay ing them .

Frazer.

(Na Eagle Divis ion of Public Library) BELOW: Packard, m ore than any other T he last car carrying the Ch rysler. symbolized the classic car. This ca. 1930 Hupmobile nam e was make, always A seco ncl t ier of classic Packard shown here was photographed at a m eet built in jul y J 940 . "lnclc pc ndents" bear ing at Greenfield Village in 1958.

(Mike Davis collection) T he Gra ham- Paige m cnti on wou ld be the Motor Co r po ratio n Hupp Motor Car Comorigi nall y was fo rmecl pany, G raham-Paige, and by Harry jewett in 1909 Kai se r-Frazer. as th e Paige-Detroit Ă&#x153;NE-H UPPMANSHIP Motor Ca r Co mpan y, Frecl Pa ige bei ng its The Hupp Mo to r presicl e nt. Sales were Car Company was o rgam ecliocre a t best until n ized on ov. 8, 1908.

1923 when they reached lts firs t car, a four-cylina hig h or 43,556 units . de r runabou t ca lled the j evvett the reafter tired o f Hupmobi le, was introt he automobile wars , duced in February 1909 and acceptecl an offer a t th e Detroit Automofrom the bro th ers Grabile Show. lt was priced ham in 1927 to buy hi m at $750. Two yca rs later, ou t. T hc Gra ha ms hacl so ld the ir highl y s uccessful Robert l lupp resig ned a fter a row w ith o th er co mpan y truck manufacturing compan y to Doclge Ă&#x;rot hers the o fficers who desircd to acl cl an expensive to uring car year bcfore, but fo uncl thems clves with too much time clesign to accompany the low p ricecl runabo u t. (Hup p on their ha nds. hcnce the Paige-Detroit p urchase. They hacl onee been a car tcs ter for R.E. Olds. Like O lds he changecl t he co mpan y's nam e to the Graha m-Paige hacl been foreed out of his ow n company, and had gone Mo to rs Co rpora ti on, and introcluced a n e n tire ly new on to fo rm ano th er u ndcr his in it ials. lt went bankrupt lin e o f auto mob iles. in two years, ancl !-lupp s ubseque ntl y clisa ppearecl from The ir first year production of 73 ,195 cars was the th e automotive sce ne. ) hig hest ever reco rcled by a new line to that date. Plans Th e !-lupp Motor Car Co mpan }' ( minus Roben to expa nd procluction we re immediatel y co ns idered, Hupp) grew s lowl y, a nd annua l s a lcs ncvc r exceeclecl but cast as idc oncc th e G rea t Dep ression bega n. In the five fig ure marle J-lu pmobile's bes t ycar was 1928 1932 , G ra ham-Paige sa les plumme tecl to 12,967. Th e w hen it buil t 65,862 c;u s. The Grea t Dep ressio n

7-1

Grahams s truggled to keep the company solve nt, and succeeded.

In August 19-H, Joseph Graha m sold a !arge block of the compan ys s tock to Jose ph \\/. Frazer, former head of Willys-Overland. lmmediatel y thercaftcr Frazer was voted in as chairman of the board . Frazer hi red J-loward Darrin to de ign a radicall y ncw ca r with the intent of hav ing a firs t rate product available fo r sale in the buye r"s markct that was ccnain to fol low the end of Wo rld vVar II. To carry out these plans, he needed more mo ney.

ve hiclcs, but Kaiser sales had fallen off badly. Car procluction final! ~· \\'aS ha lt ed in June 195-1. The next month the Kaiser a sembly lines \\'ere switched exclusivclr ove r to Jeep commercial ve hicles.

Today the te rm ··1ndependents"' , is rarcl y used , if ever. The o nl y compan ies that migh t qua li fy wo uld be U.. transplants of such worldwide corpo ra tions as Honda , Nissan , Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and BMW.

T WO-FER-ONE PRODUCTION

Entcr the short-l ived Ka iser-Frazer Corporation with Joe Frnzer as its prcside11t. Fraze r also would cont inuc as presidcn t of Gra ham-Paige, and the two companies would build ca rs off th c same Darrin de ign sharing the samc plan t! They then purchased the cmpt)' Villow Run ex- bo mber plant, and began to pul i11to place thcir unique form of two-compan y productio n. Output was to be two Kai er ca rs fo r each Graham-Paige. 11ow called the Fra=er.

Costs were to be di vided on the same rati o: t\\'o-thirds Kai er, one-third Graham-Paigc.

When Kaise r and Frnzer protot)'pes wcrc displayed at the Waldorf-r\storia in New York in Ja11uary 19-16, they created a sensation , More investmen t mo ney was needed. Kaise r q ui ckly raised his two-th irds s hare, but Frazc r failed .

Kaiser then proposed that Frazer sell the Graham-Paige au to mobil e operati o11s to Ka iscr-Frazc r so tlrn t hc cmdd have a free hand in rais i11g thc ncccssary finan ccs. The salc took place o n Feb. 5, l 947. Exit Gra ham-Paigc as an auto mobi le prod ucer.

Kaise r-Frazer now stood on its ow11 merits. lnitiall y it clid ve ry wcll . Sale exceeded 100,000 unit s each year betwecn 19-17 th roug h 195 1, elevati11g Kaisc r-Frazer among the top ranks of the Independent . r\ dimi nutive l lenrr J. lodcl was acldecl , a11d a drastic redesign of the Kai er madc in 195 1.

The company feit stro ng enoug h w purchase \•Vill ys-Overland in r\ pril 1953 fo r the rights to th c latter's co mmercial Jeep \

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Fisher Body, organized in 1908 by a fa m ily of buggy m akers to supply bodies fo r the rapidly growing automobile industry, was acquired by General Motors in the 1920s. GM kept the Fisher Body plants separate from car assembly plants until the 1980s. Here, in about 194 1, Fisher body workers install temporary bracing required to position the door pillar be fore welding it into place. In 1995, such tasks are handled by robots. (General Motors)

Suppliers Meet Demand Relying 011 outside skill den1011stroted outo1nokers' sovvy b' .\1 Flc.:m ing

t can be a rgued tha L the auLomoLive s u pp lier ind us Lry ernerged rro m a fire Lhal dcs Lroycd Detro it's O lds Moto r Wo rks plant in Ma rch 1901. T he only th ing saved was an expe rime ntal c urved-dash roadster. In gcuing back to business as fast as possible fo llowing thc d isastc r, Ransom E. Olds had no choi ce but lO usc the one surviving car as a mod el to order pans and s ubassemblics from s ma ll s hops in the Detroit area. T he curveddash O lds rno bile runabout became an instant s uccess, e ncou ragi ng o ther pi o neer auto compani es to seek outside so urces for pans. Many of thosc shops became maj o r au to motive s upp liers, so me beca rn e auto manufac turers and Detroit became thc Motor Ci ty.

So the theo ry goes. Bu t there we re o ther fac to rs be h incl the origin a ncl evolu tion of Dc troi t's - an cl Arn eri ca's - automot ive supplier ind us try.

From the beginning at the LUrn o f th c ce ntury, au tomobile companies were prirnarily pans assemblcrs, no t ma nufacture rs. They relied on outside firms for ve hi clc bodies, engi nes, whecls and o thcr cornponents.

Th c rcason was purcly eco no mi c. Thc c hcapcst, fas test, least risky war to become an auto company was to placc the burde n o r fixed ancl working capital o n s upplicrs. lt macle more sense to rcnt a small assembly plant than to buy o ne. Besicles, ve hiclcs coulcl be asse mblecl faster tha n th e 30- to 90-day c rccli t per iocl parts manufacturers a llowccl.

So thc c hoicc was clca r: O ncc thc basic clcsign o f a ca r was cs ta blished, pans making was jobbccl ou t to

gave up the Olds contract in 1903 to supply Ford instead) and Henry M. Leland, whose shop had earlier landed the job of making Oldsmobile transmissions.

Drop forgings came from Brooklyn, N.Y., while radiators, fenders and other sheet metal parts came from Detroit's Briscoe Manufacturing Co. By 1909 Detroit was producing 25 different makes of cars, which prompted many suppliers to locate plants and businesses in other Michigan communities including Pontiac, Saginaw, Flint, Lansing, Monroe, Port Huron, Grand Rapids and Muskegon.

The fast but recklessly growing industry attracted not only original-equipment suppliers, but also entrepreneurs who saw opportunity and fortune in auto parts and service.

independent shops, mm1m1zmg the auto company's capital needs for wages, materials, machinery and factory space.

Consequently, the automobile of the early l 900s became a combination of components which were already being produced for other uses such as stationary and marine gasoline engines, carriage bodies and bicycle wheels.

Sources of materials to make parts were also readily available. By the start of the 20th century, there were four rubber companies Firestone, Goodrich, Goodyear and U.S. Rubber. Dow Chemical was an automotive supplier almost from its inception in 1897 with the discovery of magnesium. In 1901 United States Steel was created from several smaller steel companies.

Little wonder that Ford Motor Co. was able to begin business in 1903 with meager paid-in capital of only $28,000, a dozen workers and a small plant just 50 by 250 feet. The company manufactured nothing, relying on suppliers for vital parts including engines, transmissions and axles purchased from a Detroit machine shop run by brothers John and Horace Dodgc.

A

'0RPHAN' Ă&#x153;PPORTUNITY

Alfred 0. Dunk started the Auto Parts Co. in 1908, buying up the assets - parts invemory, drawings, machinery - of bankrupt companies, with the idea of becoming the replacement parts source for the companies' orphan vehicles as they began to break down. At one time he owned 756 auto companies that had gone out of business.

Another visionary was Robert Simpson, a blacksmith in Litchfield, Mich., who in 1912 converted his shop into a garage and repair business, later supplied parts directly to automakers and eventually started Simpson lndustries.

Meantime, spiraling automobile production began causing problems for suppliers who were sometimes hard pressed to keep up with customer demand. The failure of just one supplier to provide a needed part could cause costly vehicle assembly delays. Before long the larger, established auto companies began taking matters into their own hands.

Ford, the volume leader in those days, assured itself of the parts it needed by taking the entire production of some suppliers, making them virtually subsidiaries. In addition, Ford began manufacturing many of its own parts.

Another solution to the problem was to gain control of parts companies. That was the approach taken

by General Motors, under William C. Durant, which acquired control of Weston Mott, Hyatt Roller Hearing, Delco, Remy Electric, AC Spark Plug and other suppliers in the years 1909-1919.

Along the way, some of Detroit's pioneer suppliers became multi-millionaires and some became vehicle manufacturers themselves. The Dodge brothers had opened a machine shop to make transmissions for Olds Motor Works in 1901-1902. In 1903 Henry Ford

SELLING POINT

Some auto companies even bragged that all they did was assemble parts. Wayne Automobile Co., a Detroit firm, said in 1904, "This gives (us) the advantages of the very best facilities of the best American constructors, far better than any one factory could hope to maintain, and reduces the flat cost to the lowest terms."

Olds Motor Works (later Okls Motor Vehicle Co.) is an example of how "automakers" of that period relied on a wide range of outside suppliers. In 1900, as his company began production, Ransom Olds bought bodies from Detroit's C.R. Wilson Body Co., a carriage maker that had started building bodies for horseless carriages. As production increased, Olds also bought bodies from Byron E Everitt of Detroit and H. jay Hayes of Cleveland.

Olds initially ordered wheels from Weston-Molt Co. of Utica, N.Y., a manufacturcr of bicycle wheels which started shifting its emphasis to automobile wheels in the late 1890s. By 1902 Olds was purchasing most of his wheels from Prudden Co. in Lansing, batteries from Sipe & Sigler in Cleveland and roller bearings from Hyatt Roller Bearing Co. in Newark, N.j.

Since Olds manufactured engines, he originally had planned to produce other mechanical parts, but demand became so great that by 1901 he decided to have his engines built by the Dodge brothers (who later

77

ducers cleclinecl steacli ly aftcr 1920, the num ber o r su pplier com pan ies kept increas ing.

1n the frec-w heeling clays fo ll ow ing \"/orld Wa r 1, many en t repreneurs bccame int eresLecl in entering thc lucra tive auLo market; but few co uld clream of cloing so if th ey hacl to proclu ce th eir own parts. Fortunatc ly, many rel ia ble manufac lll rers were ava ilable specializing in bodi es, cngines, transmissions, ignition systems, racliators an cl brakes - whatevcr the Dodge touring car bodies, which began production at Budd Manufacturing Co. 's aut o company clesirecl. plant in Philadelphia in 1915, were loaded onto freigh t cars and shipped som e 700 The suppl ie r bus iness miles to the Dodge Brothers plant in Detroit. The a/1-steel bodies wholesaled for $42 prospcrccl, ancl au to moeach. (The Budd Co.) biles builL of a conglomera t io n of part s by offerecl eaeh broLh er 50 shares of s10ck in his new comva rious s uppliers bccam c kn ow n as "asscmblecl" cars. pan y, proviclecl Lhey woulcl procluce engines fo r him. In Thc "assc mb lcd'' car hacl so mc aclva ntagcs . As a 191-+ Lhe Doclges stan ecl up Ll1eir own aut o company, ru le, it was bui lt of cxcellenl pa n s maclc by wc lland five yea rs laLer receivecl 525 million fo r their origknown and respcctccl manufac turcrs who so ught to inal in vestmenL in Ford (pl us many millio ns in Ford ac hieve top qua lity by specializatio n. cl iviclencls in Lhc intervening years).

C OMPONENT CARS ß UDDING INDUSTRY Thc Columbia Six auto mobile, buil t in DctroiL in 1n 1908 Frecl j. and Charl es T. Fisher organizecl 1.916- 1925 , was an „assemblecl„ car composecl of pan s Fisher Bocly Co. 1n 19 19 Gene ral Motors bought an fro m man y repULablc s up pliers. Thc Columbia claimccl interest in th e firm (then boug ht iLlock, stock ancl barLO be "Thc Gem or th c Highway" wiLl1 such novclti cs as re! in 1926 for an est imatecl 5208 milli on in GM stock), Lhe rmos taticall y contro llccl racl iato rs, !arge 14-inch and ash MoLo r Co. acquirecl an in terest in Seaman brake clrums and ·· no n-synchro ni zing spri ng Suspenßody Corp. Those moves heralcled Lhe vin ua l disa psio n·· which guarclecl passengers fro m "vitality-sap ping pea rance of inclepcnclenL bocly- ancl coach-builcling roacl shocks." The 1922 moclcl had a 50-ho rscpower companies wi Ll1in Lwo clecacles. An excepti on was Continental '·Red Seal" cnginc, Durs ton trans missio n, ßucld Man ufacturing Co., whose first procl uct was the Timkcn ax les and bcarings, Auto-li tc clectrical cqui pOak lan d all sLeel touring-car bocly built in Philadelphia ment, Bo rg & Bcck clut ch, Spicer uni versal joints, starting in 19 12. In 1925 Lhe Liben y MoLo r Ca r Co. in Ge mmcr stcering gea r, Harriso n racli ator ancl a sedan DeLro it wenL into rcceivership ancl Bucld acq uirecl the bod y built by Erdm an-Guider. Aclvc rtisements stressed 86-acrc plant complex o n Charl evoix ancl Co nner in that Columbia was an "assemblcd" car built of "the south easL DeLroi l. best component pan s mo ney coulcl buy, macle by speMeantime, preclictio ns that th e Lrencl by au lO mancial ists in thc ir fi elcls." ufa cturcrs Lowa rcl produ cing th ei r own parts woulcl As it turnecl o ut, however, buying all or most of wreak havoc on indepenclenL suppl ie rs werc not born e the compo nem pan s fro m o utside suppli ers was ecoout. In fact, while Lhe number of molo r vehicle prono mical o nly as long as the complctccl car could be

78

sold at a reasonable profit. The cars of mixed ancestry did not do well when competition became tougher and price-cutting began. By the mid- l 920s, when the postwar boom became less frenzied and people grew more particular about what they bought, many became suspicious of "assembled" makes, thinking they were not well designed or manufactured.

That fear was often groundless because the parts usually were well-known brands supplied as original equipment for many other makes of automobiles. The record shows that, while the number of motor vehicle producers declined steadily in the l 920s and succeeding decades, the parts and material suppliers serving Detroit havc continued to number in thc many thousands, even as the 2 lst century approaches.

Today, encouraged by both auto company downsizing and globalization, the supplier network is a mixture of old names including Budd, DuPont, General Electric and Solvay, relatively new names like ASC, Automotive lndustries and Delphi, and a host of foreign-based companies such as Bosch of Germany, Lucas of England and ~ippondenso of Japan.

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Environmental regulations impacted the auto industry in both its products and its plants. Fifty- thousand-mile durability of vehicle emission controls required extensive use o f computerized laboratory lest cells such as t/1is.

(General Motors) n 199 5, thc s till rclativcly new cnginccring d isciplinc of dcali ng with cnviro nmcntal conccrns is onc of th c 1110 t complcx. challcnging and politicall r-c hargcd in the profcssion. lt i1wolvcs rcducing or rcmoving real or pcrccivcd thrcats to th c cnvironmcnl and lO h uman hcallh. II dcmands ncw assumpl ions ancl new approachcs to prod uct clesign, ma nu fact urc and application as weil as plant d csign and opcrati on. lt invo lvcs today's cng inccrs with mon ito ring. mcasuring and cont ro lling plant and produ ct cfOucnts ancl choiccs o n cncrgy consumptio n ancl conservation that manr of thcir prcdcccssors did1Ăź cven know cxistccl. T his is clo ne in a climat c of changing federn! ancl statc regul atio ns ancl Standards, and aga inst a backgro und of unrclcn ting dcbatc ovcr whcth er tlt c:sc s hou lcl be stifTcnc:d , lcft alo nc, or scrappcd . Following is a bricf histo ry of somc cvcnts, cc ntcrcd around auto mobiles, which promptccl thc clcvclopmcnt of th is cxacting clisciplinc.

In 1895. ancl fo r clccadc to comc. facto rr mokcsiacks bclching black. sul phu rous smoke we rc !:> igns of growth ancl unstoppa blc progress - thc t\ mcri can Way. Toclay, anythi ng cvc n rcmo tcly g rny coming rrom a smokestack can prompt instan t litigatio n from c11vironmc11 tal gro ups. Convc ntio nal wisdom a century ago, and for somc time to comc, helcl thc land as thcrc fo r cxplo itation and thc nation¡s natu ra l rc!:>o urccs as incx haustiblc.

At th c turn of th c ctntury. what was to bccomc kn ow n as th c cnviro nmcnt al 1110\'Clllcnt ct ntcrcd 0 11

Going, Going, Green Enviro11nzental policy . . nnposes constratnts, . . . .

1nv1tes 11111ovot1on, . . ..

111c1tes oppos1t1on h y J. I{.

\Ya q.~o

HO

three men: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt. The lauer two worked as a team. Pinchot headed the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Roosevelt Administration. Between them, they assigned a top priority to protection of federal lands and water resources to assure their availability for future generations. Their goal - conservation, labeled at the time "the gospel of prudent use." Sierra Club founder John Muir preached what is now termed the biocentric view; all life has a right to exist, and to destroy plants or animals for personal gain is somehow immoral. His objective - preservation, or the protection of nature as is.

Conservation was more appealing to lawmakers, but only marginally. Often begrudgingly, legislation was passed soon after the turn of the century, and later enlarged upon, geometrically expanding what previously had been a token system of national parks and forests. Next came passage of an act to protect inland waterways. Having won on trees and streams, Roosevelt extended his goal. In 1908, he invited the governors of all the states to a White House Conference on Conservation. lt resulted in a declaration that the protection of human health is an inherent goal in conserva tion. Two generations later, Muir's philosophy of preservation would come into its own as the environmental movement, and when it did it included but went beyond the 1908 Roosevelt expansion. lt sought to conserve not only trees and fish, but all life, including human life. The movement seeks a system aimed at protecting this life from anything that might threaten it.

Uncle Tom's Cabin. Carson focused on a narrow range of chemical pollutants and their effect on the environment. lt was her thesis, expressed in a spare style that bordered on the poetic, that the poisoning of the earth by chemical pesticides, most specifically DDT, threatened the destruction of nature and life. Her calm and reasoned exposition of available scientific data traced the flow of chemical contaminants in water and air through the food chain, eventually reaching men, women and children, shortening their lives and posing grave genetic danger to future generations. What kills flowers and trees, animals and birds, she reasoned, will in time kill human beings as weil.

Carson was not the first to warn against DDT, but she was the first to do it in warm, moving prose, and she struck a chord that resonated rather than fading away. Following her book's publication, ecological insults were no longer regarded as isolated events, but rather as parts of a tragic pattern: man's sometimes deliberate sometimes inadvertent destruction of planet earth. A huge oil spill from an oil rig off the cost of Santa Barbara, Calif., the stagnant inversion of foul air over Donora, Pennsylvania, the discovery that toxic PCBs were being dumped into the Hudson River, the contamination of food fish by mercury discharged by industries into waterways, and the day that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire because of the heavy concentrations of industrial chemicals ... these and other incidents were no longer treated as local phenomena but as mounting evidence that a pattem of abuse of the environment reflected a national policy of indifference. Slowly at first, environmentalism emerged as a political issue. Then it escalated.

PROSPERITY FIRST, EARTH SECOND In the next 60 years, through two world wars, a 10year depression, and finally the balmy economic boom years of the Eisenhower era, the emphasis was on increasing production. Environmental concerns were not congenial to the thinking of the times, particularly if they threatened interference with productivity. In the l 960s, this mindset began to change.

April 22, 1970, when Earth Day observations were held in cities and at universities across the land, is considered a watershed date in the history of the environmental movement. :That's the date that environmental awareness entered the mainstream national consciousness.

But what could be seen as anational indifference to ecological concerns actually began to melt in 1962, when marine biologist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published; first in condensed form in the New Yorker, and then as a thin book. In its own way it was as seminal as Harriet Beecher Stowe's much thicker

ENVIRONMENTAL FRENlY In 1966, Congress passed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and a year later, the first version of the now much-amended Clean Air Act. In 1969, it passed the National Environmental Policy Act requiring the federal govemment to analyze and report on the environmental implications of its activities. In the following year, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute of Occupational Safety, and the Environmental Protection Agency which set safety standards for workplaces.

Within the next two years, Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, a sweeping pesticide control law, a noise control act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Legislation passed by Congress in ensuing years stiffened the initial measures and added dozens, fulfilling a declaration by President Richard Nixon in his

81

tactics of the civil rights and antiwar movements being used so effcctively by the new organizations, and made the transition into thc environmental movement. Tims redefined, they have grown to a level of prominence and havc attained a degree of political clout their founders could never have imagined.

One vicw of the sociological and political phenomenon dasses the environmcntal movement as a series of pitched battles over technological issues waged by idealists who understand thcir objectives only vagucly and have an even flimsier grasp of what is involved in achieving those objeclives. This view is often pul forth by those with technical expertise who, for the last quarter century, have been lasked wilh revamping products and production methods to mect thc flood of federal regu1ations that the movcment helps spawn. One of the earliesl challenges for these experts was emissions control.

In 1970, the Clean Air Act was amended to require a 90 percent reduction in automotive emissions, tobe reached incrementally. At the time the amendmenl was passed, the technology to meet thc first increment due in 1975 - did not exist for cars produced in high volume. Eventually it was revealcd thal the 1975 datc for thc standards was selcctcd by the congressional staff preparing the amendments by thc simple process of subtracting 5 from 1980, thc date for those Standards in an early draft. When auto industry reprcsentatives pclitioned for review and revision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came up with interim Standards by the simple process of subtracting what the industry was requcsting from thc original 1975 standards, splitting the difference and tacking it on to the industry request.

The stale of lechnology was not considered in the technological demands being inflicted by law on industry. Automotive engineers were faced with politically imposcd deadlines for technological breakthroughs.

This is not the way, somc argued, tliat science and cngineering usually works.

February 1970 State of the Union address that the l 970s "absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, ils waters and our living environment."

Whether it reflected enlightenment or political savvy, this stalement was made weeks before Earth Day and the nominal launching of the environmental movement. In a sense, then, victory was in hand before the war began. Ironically, the movement was merely in a larval stage by the time much of the basic environmental legislation had been enacted into law. The first of the new-style environmental groups, the Environmental Defense Fund, wasn't founded until 1965. After a group of Long Island, N.Y. lawyers sued successfully to block local use of DDT, they decided to form a "club." From the start it was a different type of group: it introduced enduring innovations in the use of science and the law to support demands for ever stiffer regulations and for enforcement of those already on the books.

Soon there were hundreds of environmental groups - now thousands if one counts local grass roots groups - some formed around a single issue, others lobbying, litigating and educating the general public on a broad range of environmental issues.

Where did they all come from? Some, such as the Union of Concerned Scienlisls, began as an antiwar group, fighting to halt the conflict in Vietnam. When the war began to wind down in the early l 970s, its minuscule staff was faced with either closing up shop or finding a new issue. They optcd for the latter, selecting commercial nuclear energy as their second target, generating intense public scrutiny of the industry. The UCS staff of dozens now concentrates on a dozen projecls, from insecticidc-free agricuhure and transportation lo international arms control and renewable energy.

GRASSROOTS GROUPS Other groups wcre spawned by organizcrs who, during the Vietnam debate, became convinced that special interests, particularly big business, controlled the nation's government. To counter this influence, they formed citizen action groups to protect the interest of the individual. In the minds of many aclivists the environmental movement is a device for introducing true democracy to a republic that has evolved into an oligarchy.

Old-style conscrvation groups - the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Socicty, and the National Audubon Society, to name but three - suddenly found themselves anachronisms. They reorganized, adopted the

Ă&#x153;RAWING A LINE In a loose sense, not a few cnvironmental regulations werc imposed on industry in the same arbitrary manncr. In defense of thc process il is argued Lhat industrial contamination of land, air and water, and producl designs that often threatened human health, were obvious, and thc process of correcting this abusc of land and lifc had to bcgin somcwhcre. Standards in the form of mandatory numbers wcre the most logical starting point to get industries moving. Self-rcgulation obviously wasn't hacking it.

82

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sense where the public was coming down, and equally quick to give them what they wanted.

But the influence activists had on the national attitude towards cars was transcended by the impact of the two oil embargoes during the l 970s. Many motorists reacted by becoming more resentful of the makers of cars, whose products seemed to visit gas stations too often, than they were of the Arab states which had temporarily turned off the tap. One automotive writer at the time described his job as "covering the auto industry's painful transition from enthronement as a mass love object to oblivion as a costly anachronism." Radical activists responded to the embargoes by demanding a phase-out of gas burning cars. Moderate groups lobbied Congress for mandatory curbs on gas consumption and compulsory marketing of natural gas-powered and electric vehicles. Congress, however, was already working on the former, and California was eventually to come up with the lauer.

The congressional solution, supported by all mainstream environmental groups, was passage in 1975 of legislation mandating establishment of corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards, currently 27.S miles per gallon. Environmentalists gave full support to legislation introduced in 1990 by Sen. Richard Bryan of Nevada that would have boosted the CAFE standard to 40 mpg by 2001. Industry representatives like to point out that Bryan drives an Oldsmobile averaging less than 20 miles per gallon, proving only that the quality of the cars made in the last twenty five years has improved considerably more than the quality of debate over federal actions mandating that improvement.

In Califomia, which led the way in 1960 with the first air pollution standard, the state Air Resources Board in 1990 approved rules requiring that, by 1998, 2 percent of all cars sold must be ZEVs (zero emission vehicles), rising to 10 percent in 2003. The standard, in effect, mandates electric vehicles. Massachusetts and New York have also passed laws promoting the sale of ZEVs. Activist groups are asking members in other states to lobby for the passage of similar legislation, making il the issue of the moment.

Almost from the start, a quarter of a century ago, environmental groups established a symbiotic relationship with liberal elements in government. The groups would generate ideas, and the legislators would pass legislation incorporating some of these ideas, although but a small fraction of those proposed. The more significant impact of activists has not been in influencing legislation but in forcing the implementation of the legislation, either through litigation or working with

Air pollution from cars is a good example. After the first major Califomia smog experience in 1943, the state assembled academicians, lawmakers and auto engineers to examine the problem. The principal blame fell on the car. The study sat on the shelf. The first federal research program on air pollution began in 1955, and the first national conference on air pollution sponsored by the Public Health Service was held in 1958.

The car was singled out in each instance as the major contributor. But the auto industry didn't react until 1960, after Califomia set auto emission standards requiring crankcase blow-by valves on all engines.

Even then, the auto industry's first reaction was to resist. In 1966, the National Academy of Sciences reported that transportation contributed 59.9 percent of the 125 million tons of principal pollutants dumped into the air annually, and cited the automobile as the chief offender. So air quality standards were set albeit somewhat arbitrarily at first - however, not only for the automotive industry but for all types of manufacturers as well as coal- and oil-buming utilities.

In hindsight it can be stated that automotive industry resistance compounded the burden on engineers tasked with meeting new air and water quality and product safety standards. Time and money which could have gone into advancing existing technologies was diverted instead to developing a defense of a basic industry posture that the standards were either unachievable or achievable only at a cost destructive to the economy. And there was another basic tactical error.

To some observers, carmakers appeared to have entered the age of environmentalism and consumerism so convinced of the nation's love for their product that they were slow to realize the seriousness of the crisis they faced. Their Washington lobbying offices were soon to be skeletal when compared to the staffs some activist groups were building up to influence Capitol Hili. Long into the game, carmakers still regarded car owners as their best lobbyists.

(ONSCIOUSNESS RAISING Activists, however - to some extent armed with lessons learned while teaching the general public to loathe U.S. involvement in Vietnam - created a grassroots movement that soon grew into a groundswell of public opinion in support of demands that all industry protect the environment and public health, and that the government force industry to so act. Americans may love their cars, but activist citizen education programs created a consensus that they love clean air and safe products more. Elected officials were quick to

84

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By the early 1980s, control of vehicle emissions to comply with increasingly stringent federal and California environmental regulations required an array of components on passenger cars, as exemplified by one company's 198 1 system. (General Motors)

REPEAL AT O w N R1sK? Thc installatio n of a co nservative Senate and House at t he start of 1995 raises in somc the hope, ancl in o th ers th e fea r, that mu ch enviro nmental legis latio n and im plcmenti ng regulation will be ro ll ed back. The gcneral publi c, however, is by and largc fairl y eo mfortable w ith w hat has bee n ae hieved in the nam e o f enviro nmentalis m, with s ignifi can t achi eve ments in clcanup ancl protec tio n able to bc ci1ed. Whi le a little tinkering with cnviro nmcntal prot ectio n measures may be to lcrated , undo ing it 10 any s ignifican t d egree likely co uld bc the und oing o r those legislato rs respo nsible comc th e nex t clec tio n. (A 1989 pol! showed 80 perce nt o f voters regard th emselves as environme ntalists.)

An awfu l lot of environ menta l rh cto ric has been sill y hype. Thc th ca tcr of th c mo rc radical groups has often bccn embarrassing 10 watch. But th e basic objectivcs or th c mod erate, mains trcam groups - fccl cral acti o n 10 p rcscrvc th e cnvironmcnt , and cx pancling th e voicc ofthc indi vidual citizcns in d etermining how natural rcso urccs are to bc uscd and how thcir perso nal hcalth is to bc protec tecl - \\'Crc long ove rdue. have bcen achieved and. likc it o r not, are gradua lly beco ming integratccl into thc political and social fabri c. The citizen in volvc ment aspcct has ge nerat cd a backl as h from t he rig ht . so l"ar mos tly ovc r land use iss ucs. A lot morc pcoplc on both s idcs wh o prcviously o nl y sal on th e siclcl ines now engagc in hcalt hy debatc over issucs a!Tccting their Ji ves, ancl influencc po licy in th e bargai n.

Des pi te incrcasing qu csti ons about th c goals . mcthods and so mctim c cven th c mo ti vcs of cnviro n-

men tal acti vists, th ci r organi za ti o ns eould cvapora tc in th c ncxt insta n1, and stil l thcrc wou lcl bc no going back to the wa y thi ngs wc rc. In thc wakc of thc cnvironmcnta l mo veme n t have co me thc tec hnologica l advan ccs which havc clone th c actua l job of making lik bctt er. No o nc is ta king thosc away.

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In The Blink Of An Eye The Future ls lt was just a few years ago, 1938 to be exact, that Kolene founder, John H. Shoemaker, first commercialized the malten salt bath cleaning process. In 57 short years, we have watched our technology evolve from the laboratory process Mr. Shoemaker demonstrates above, to sophisticated processes for cleaning, condition ing and modifying metal surfaces.

Like ESD, The Engineering Society, which celebrates its 1OOth anniversary this year, Kolene serves the engineering and manufacturing communities by continuously challenging the limits of its technology.

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The application of Kolene salt bath technology has changed, too. Today, Kolene processes • remove burned-in sand and surface graphite from cast iron • descale stainless steels, superalloys and refractory metals • remove shells and cores from investment castings • strip paint buildup from hooks, racks, fixtures and parts • improve the wear, fatigue and corrosion resistance of ferrous components.

In the blink of an eye, the future of Kolene salt bath technology is here. To learn more about our capabilities, contact Kolene Corporation, 12890 Westwood Ave., Detroit, MI 48223. Call us at (313) 273-9220. Toll free: 1-800-521-4182.

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Urbanization of Land in Southeast Michigan 1890 to 2010

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n the firs t weekencl o r J une in 1995 the resiclen ts o r h istoric Indi an Village near Det ro it's ri ve1{ront cclebratecl the lOOth ann ivc rsa ry o r their ne ighbo rhood. lt was he re in these s pacious quancrs that early automobi le pio nce rs s uch as Horace Doclge and Eclsel Fo rd too k u p residcnce, a lo ng with wealth y barons o r s team engine , rail car a ncl pharmaceuti cal manufacturing.

Ovc r the years some hornes beca rn c churches, board ing ho uscs and co mmun ity bu ild ings. Active histori c prcscrvat io nis ts wo rk tO keep a eh unk o r thc City re la tivc ly unscathed by the relentlCSS Wi ndso r cha nge.

Few o rigi nal neigh borhoocls have s urvived. Auto manufac turing a nd s uppliers have transformecl the city rrom the h ub o r auto ma nufacturing lO the mecca or resea rch a nd technology. lts res iclents - empowerecl by the whcels they d es ign a nd seil hcre - have pus hed bcyond the bo rders o r Livingsto n , Genesee and St. C lair co unti es, grow ing s u bdivisio ns w here corn and soybca n fields o nce n o uris hcd. Beuer roads an d quie tcr veh icles, eq uippecl with cellu la r phones a nd CD players, have a llowcd pcople to co mmute up to two hours dail y to work.

From humbl e d well ings clus terccl in a 12-squaremile semic ircle bouncl ecl by Grand Boulevard a nd the Detroit Ri vcr in 1890, the populati o n in th e 1990s fans

Boom & Bust Census, cycles of industry lie in complex - and sometimes precarious - relationship by f\ laurcc n f\ kDonal d

TOP: This map shows the patterns and periods of

population growth in Southeastern Michigan over the last century. (Southeast Michigan Council of Governments)

89

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out to seven counties. Manufacturing followed, and sometimes led the charge.Job growth in suburban Oakland and Macomb counties increased 400 to 500 percent between 1953 and 1991, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).

Livingston experienced a sixfold job increase between the same period and Washtenaw tripled its employment. The city of Detroit languished as auto manufacturers and suppliers built newer plants in the suburbs and in other parts of the country.

Today sport enthusiasts play Splatball, a joyful form of capture the flag, in cavernous rooms of the abandoned Packard Motor Car Company. Rusting assembly parts are stored at the historic Ford factory in Highland Park. Yet new life can be found for old buildings. General Motors invested millions to transform its 4-million-square-foot Pontiac Central Truck Plant, a 1927 building, into the GM Truck Product Center, a place where 4 ,200 engineers would work. The push towards new, modern dwellings and work sites has been almost as rapid as automotive model changeovers.

Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Metro Detroit continues to reap the benefits.

David Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan, says southeast Michigan is rebounding as the epicenter of the automobile brain trust approaching the millennium.

"Now that the Big Three automakers have reformatted themselves and become highly agile and dynamic, their home town has become the dominant center for automotive knowledge and technology.

Transplant automakers have put their research facilities here. International suppliers are flocking here to be close to the Big Three's technology headquarters. No other city in the world has this much magnetism and intellectual strength," says Cole.

Detroit was destined to become the town that put the nation on wheels, owing to its relation geographically to Canada and the Eastern United States and its versatile manufacturing economy, which was already booming at the turn into the 20th century, according to Robert Conant, author of American Odyssey. He noted that Detroit obtained an electric lighting franchise before New York City, thereby improving its manufacturing prowess.

Then came Henry Ford's Model T production. and the world-famous $5-a-day wage.

Historian Melvin G. Holli says that on the eve of the manufacturing "takeoff" in 1904, the foreign-born constituted about one-third of Detroit's population, among whom were 13,000 Poles, 1,300 Russians and 904 Italians. The 1910 foreign-born population of 156,365 doubled to 289,297 in 1920. By 1925 the foreign born constituted about one half of Detroit's 1,242,044 people, the Poles leading the list with ll5,069. ltalians then numbered 42,457, Russians 49,427 and from almost a zero baseline Hungarians had come to number 21,656, according to Holli in his book Detroit, the Documentary History of an American City.

GOING MOBILE

Sociologists cite factors such as a highly mobile population and a better-than-average middle-class wage provided by automakers and big suppliers in analyzing Detroit's unique demographics. Research shows that more metro Detroiters own single family homes than residents of other U.S. cities. Henry Ford himself invested in workers with marriages and mortgages, believing they tended to be more loyal to an employer and adherent to the work ethic than single apartment dwellers.

The city of Detroit reached a peak population of 1,910,000 in 1950, but that plummeted to 1 million by 1990. Between 1985 and 1990 more than three times as many whites moved out as moved in, according to SEMCOG. Meanwhile the regional population swelled to 4,660,897 in 1993.

What endures as metro Detroit's most recognizable trait throughout the decades that it is a city of capable workers - visionaries, modelers, workers, suppliers, marketers and repair technicians. Autos fuel the nation's economy, with at least 190 million motor vehicles registered in the United States. In 1994, the 22,850 U.S. dealers sold over 15.5 million new cars and trucks according to the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA).

Over 1 million Americans work in motor vehicle and equipment manufacturing, which along with related industries contributed a whopping $2.1 trillion to the annual economy in 1990, according to the U.S.

EARLY URBAN FUGHT The population explosion was unparalleled anywhere in America. Holli notes that Detroit jumped from 13th to 4th place in population among major American cities between 1900 and 1920. The impact of migration disrupted Detroit's social patterns, stretched its boundaries, crowded its housing, created new sanitary, health and education crises, but also brought fabulous wealth to automotive and real estate investors and the city itself. Wealthy executives began moving to Grosse Pointe in the early l 920s while immigrants made rooming houses out of many downtown mansions.

91

The City o r Detroit was rcferred to as "Utopia Oll Wheels·· until the 1930. O f the 2,579 '·subs tantial fam il ies" registered in Dau's ß lue ßook in 19l0, 52 perce nt li vecl w ithin three mi les o r the dow ntown business secti o n. By 1930, fewe r than 8 percent lived near downtow n a ncl 50 percent li vecl beyo nd th e city li mits.

T he push to ßloo mfie ld Hi lls began in earnest in th e J950s.

"Th e boo m and bust cycle tended tobe exagge rated in a o ne industry to \\'n ," explains Holl i. The number of Detroi t wage ea rners in manufac turing fe il almost 40 percent by 1933. Au tomobile workers led the d ownward spira l with nea rly o ne- half or th em idlc during the Depression.

In 1932 th e "Ford Hunge r Ma rc h" garnered wo rldw ide a tte nti o n . "Ame rica had eome asking fo r hcl p in frayed trousers, cracked shoes and belts tightened over holl owed bei lies," observcd novelist J o hn Dos Passos, "and a ll they could think o f at Fo rd 's was mach inc gu ns. „ o r 3,000 hungry - a nd Commun ist-i ns pircd ma rche rs who clemonstrated o utside the Ro uge Plant , fo ur wcre ki llcd by th e Dcarborn Police in a large mclce. But th e rcsolve to form labor uni ons was s trcng the ned . By 1936 Dctro it's plants wcrc besct w it h walko u ts, wi lclcats and sitdow ns, most no tably at GM's Flint Assembl y Pla nt. Thc Unitcd Automobile Worke rs became th e rccogn izcd bargain ing agent fo r GM in L937 and th e industry at large ove r the nex t fo ur years.

A catalyst for worker-company cooperati o n was the loo ming wa r effort. As indus trial Detroit beca me the to uted '·arse nal of de mocracy" fo r Wo rld War 11 , co mpani es acqu iesced to some union d emands a nd reachecl ou t tO a broacler eirc le o f hirees, inclucling 75,000 black workers, primaril y from so uthern stat cs.

Negroes, as they were known in th ose clays, had gai necl a foo th olcl in Forcl's fo u ndries in th e 1920s, to whie h they had been recru ited by sevcral local cle rgy. Now they we rc trul y necdcd.

8 ATILE OF B ELLE ISLE W h ite opposi tion was fierce, according to labor historia n Ste ve Babson in Working De tro it. Hate strikes, sitdowns and walkouts - mainl y at supplie r plants - culmina ted in a blood y rio t on June 20, 1943.

Up to 5,000 peo pl e were embroi led in a battle beginni ng o n Belle !sie. At its end , 25 blacks and ninc whit cs we re dead and 700 peoplc of bo th races were inj ured .

O n the pos itive siele, blacks had become a fo rmidable part o r the labor force, ereating the wea lthiest black micldle d ass in thc nation. ßy 1995 Detroit a lso hacl the largest nu mber o f clectecl black lead ers in the natio n.

The racial te nsions eased but t he pacc of wh ite o ut-migratio n incrcasccl measurabl y after Wo rld War II , fuelecl in pa rt by Veteran's Adm inist ration mo rtgages and the lu re o f ncw satclli te sho pping malls, thc first locatecl in Ha rper Woods (Eastland) and Southfielcl (Northl and ) .

Ro bert Sinclair, a Wayne State Un iversity urban geographe r, obscrvcs tha t Detroit's ethni c gro ups - as in othe r c iti es - movecl along set m igratory pathways radia ll y into the s uburbs. Hungarians moved out from Delray into clownri ver communiti es s uc h as Southgate ancl Wyandotte along the j cfferson co rrido r. The Polish popula tio n movcd beyo nd Ham tramck a lo ng Va n Dyke in a n easte rn co rrid or, and the lrish from Co rktown to the Univcrsity of De tro it neighborhood a nd thence scattered.

Thc J ewish popula tion moved no rth alo ng the No rthweste rn co rrido r settling first in th e Dex ter-Daviso n a rea of no n hwest Detroit , th en in Oak Park a nd Southficld and cventually Fran klin , West ßloo mfi eld anel Fa rmingto n Hills. T he Ge rma n populat io n starteel in Harmonie Pa rk anel moveel west alo ng M ic higa n Avenue to Dearbo rn Heights a nd Li vonia and eastwa rd out Gratiot. The black populatio n starteel in Paraclise Va lley, a confined area o n the nea r east s iele d cs troyed

92

OPPOSITE: After World War II, Detroiters moved out to the suburbs, lured by new homes and by shopping centers like Northland, whose opening in 1954 heralded a new concept in retailing. (State Archives of Michigan) by 1-375, and sprawled to the far comers of Detroit, Oak Park, Southfield, Inkster and River Rouge.

The mid-'50s were also a high-water mark in terms of automotive employment, according to Holli. Big sales years such as 1955 and 1965 escalated wages and incomes, filled normally vacant housing, and attracted to the city new workers who were often unemployable under more normal conditions. Down-years such as 1958, 1974 and 1979 represented near-depression in Detroit during what was only recession elsewhere in the nation. The major decline in Detroit employment reflected reduced defense spending, an increase in efficiency and substitution of imported car and truck sales.

The combined impact of shrinking employment and social unrest led to brutal racial tensions. On July 23, 1967, the city was once again on fire. Over the next four days it took more than 10,000 state and federal troops to quell the fighting. By the time the smoke cleared, 43 people were dead, another 347 were seriously injured and over 7 ,000 were under arrest. Some 1,300 buildings lay in ruins. Compounding the sense of fear among white residents, a federal judge ordered Detroit Public Schools desegregated in 1972, which led to citywide busing.

The sense of <langer and frustration was ominous.

In 1973 the number of homicide victims in Detroit was triple the death toll on all sides in the civil disturbances that took place in Northem Ireland the same year.

Thousands of guns were sold to Detroiters of every race and dass who sought protection from social chaos, according to Dan Georgakas, author of Detroit Do Mind Dying.

Meanwhile, the racial tensions inside the automotive plants were beginning to boil. On July 15, 1970, a black auto worker named James Johnson entered the Eldon Avenue Gear and Axle plant of Chrysler Corporation with an M-1 carbine hidden in the pant leg of his overalls. He wound up shooting one black foreman, one white foreman and one white job setter, one of the first cases in an incipient trend toward violence in the workplace. Within the next 25 years at least eight inner city manufacturing plants would close and Chrysler would move its headquarters to Aubum Hills. By 1995 Chrysler and GM each had only one assembly plant in the city, subsidized by city and federal grants, and Ford had none.

luster as weil as production for Detroit. Some 115,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 1970, according to SEMCOG. Suchjobs constituted 40 percent of the region's employment in 1965, dropped to 24 percent in 1990 and were projected to drop another 17 percent by 2010. Still, the l990s saw the beginning of a resurgence in research, technology and training jobs related to the automobile industry.

Regardless of turmoil, boom and bust periods, or lure of warmer climates, Detroiters still wax optimistic about their chief industry, which has endured a full century. The freeways are named after car makers and union leaders. The Detroit Historical Museum and Dearbom's Henry Ford Museum pride themselves on their automotive exhibits. The rejuvenated North American International Auto Show in Detroit ranks among the best attended in the world.

The sense of hard work and craftsmanship remains endemic to metro-Detroit personalities. Call it "gasoline in the blood." Illustrating this are three views of the nitty gritty city and its chief employer: The zest for craft was spoken most eloquently by a fictionalized car designer in Arthur Hailey's book Wheels: "You have to love cars to work here. You have to care about them so much that they're the most important thing there is. You breathe, eat, sleep cars, sometimes remember them when you're making love. You wake up in the night, it's cars you think about - those you're designing, others you'd like to. lts like a religion.

If you don't feel that way, you don't belong here."

But the anguish over speedup work detail and the relentless pace of the line was most clearly spoken by a worker at GM's Lordstown plant to an interviewer in the New York Times, Sept. 9, 1973: "They teil you, 'Put in 10 screws,' and you do it. Then a couple of weeks later they say, 'Put in 15 screws,' and next they say, 'Weil, we don't need you no more; give it to the next man."'

One of Detroit's most famous novelists, Elmore Leonard, sums it up this way, in his introduction to the photography book Detroit: The Renaissance City.

"There are cities that get by on their good looks, offer climate and scenery, views of mountains or oceans, rockbound or with palm trees. And there are cities like Detroit that have to work for a living."

RUST BELT RESURGENCE The recession of the l 980s did more than devastate the Motor City, it caused government and employment leaders to re-think its future. Increasing competition from Germany, Japan and other nations spelled a loss of

93

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In the w orld o f automotive suppliers, o ne company stands ou t from the rest-MAGNA. ßecause bumper to bumper, cloor to cloor ancl roof to floor , our products have applications througho ut a vehicle . We're th e manufacturers of Atoma H ardware & D oor Systems, Atoma I nterior Systems, Cosma B ody & Chassis Systems, Decoma Exterio r Systems and Tesma Powertra in Systems.

To find out how we can put our uniq ue blend of IMAGI NAT!O t , l GE UITY, l t TQVATI ON and mu lticliscip linecl systems expertise to work for your vehicle platform o r program, contact us at Magna I nternational I nc., Southfielcl, Michigan (810) 353-5540, or Markham, Ontario (905) 477-7766 .

•

i\\ MAGNA Ge11eral Motors ' 1994 "Corporatio11 oft/Je Year "

Hy Design or Destiny

by Jim Ga llaghcr

of the 1893 Chicago Colu mbian Exposition into th e des ign o f a ll fo rms of buildi ngs, commercial and residential, a t every scale o f size.

The second was the introductio n of structural, mechanical and elect rical e ngineering ad vances as integral elements of new buildings. The third was perhaps mos L impon a nt he re in De troit: the binh and

t thc end of Lhc 19 th century, three majo r forces wcrc co nve rgi ng o n American architcctu rc a nd construclion , and nowhc rc we rc those fo rces more inOuential than in Detroit. The firs t was the Classical design infĂź1ence

95

Technology-Driven, Customer-Focused

Just as Lear Seating Corporation is the world 's largest independent supplier of just-in-time automotive seat systems, its Engineering Technical Center is an industry leader in design and manufacturing technologies. High-quality, low-cost seating is the common customer-focused goal, driven by these components:

Test and Development Laboratory • HYGE crash simulator • Multi-axis shaker table (MAST) • On-road data acquisition • Envi ronmental chamber • Fabric testing • Lab and in-vehicle modal analysis • Hydraulic strength testing • Pneumatic fatigue testing • Lab view computer systems • Acoustic data acquisition •Zwick indention load deflection • Jounce and squirm • Sliding entry.

Seating Concepts Benchmarking Laboratory translates industry-best measures and practices into seat design guidelines.

Biomechanics! Ergonomics Laboratory uses the sciences of Body Pressure Distribution , Market Research and Anthropometry to study the correlation

between subjective and objective comfort evaluations, based on a current database of 3,000 seatsubject combinations.

Product Development Advanced Engineering utilizes new technologies and applications to generate innovative, customerfocused products and services. Product Design transfers those new technologies throughout Lear' s global network.

Foam and Trim Development Foam Laboratory produces prototype seat foam using production-simulation processes, and validates new model tooling . Ongoing development of chemical formulations and materials is integral to prototyping. Trim Laboratory uses advanced technology - such as pattern digitizing and nesting, Pixsys 3D-CAD scanning - to develop and prototype patterns to meet design intent.

Sureßond™ Laboratory evaluates fabric feasibility and establishes process parameters for this patented fabric-to-foam bonding system .

Technology-driven, Customer-focused at 79 locations in 17 countries.

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SEafing Corporation World Hcadquartc rs 2 1557 Te legraph Road Southficld. MI 48034 8 101746- 1500 McmbcrNYSE

growth of the automobile industry with its demands for enormous clear-span builclings, capable of enormous loacling, ancl requiring unlimited potential for changes in LtSe. Detroit was particularl y weil equipped to meet thcse ncw challengcs. The lcacling local clesigners werc eithcr Europea n- or Eastern-trainecl , or hacl long harcl tra ining uncler olcler men who were so tra inecl. Yet, they lookecl West for inspiration for the new, not back to the East for thc past. They hacl extensive arehiteetural libraries to call upon.

Thc larger firms were architectu ral/engi neeri ng in structure, following the Chicago pattcrn, rather than the architecture-only organization of New York ancl Boston. Three of the fou r fo unders of Smith , Hinchman & Grylls we re recent graduales of thc Universi ty of Michigan's engineering college. Another giant-to-be, Alben Kahn, was s hapecl by his s tructural engineer brother Julius, who brough t his pioneering knowleclge of reinforcecl-co ncrete buildings, perfect for the new factories.

Within a few years after the lanclmark Packard Motor Car Co. reinforced-concrete buildi ngs in Detroit ( 1905), ancl thc s teelframecl Olds Motor Wo rks in Lansing (1903), hugc new factories fo r the procluction of autos ancl their pans we re ap pearing th ro ughout sou theast Michigan and the entire Miclwcst, designccl by fi rms who had all of the design ancl engineering in-house.

TRIPLE LEG-ACY Ă&#x;ut design is but one of the three legs of any builcling, cons truction and labor bcing thc others. Two of Detroit's largest 19 th century industries hacl been shi pbui lcli ng and railway car manufacturing.

Alt hough both thesc inclustries we re on the down-siele of their boom years, the men who built the s hipya rds

and the railroad-equipment factories were neither afraid of the !arge scale of the auto faci lities necded nor were they lacking in the skills to build them. Skillecl workcrs from every country in Europe had been pouring into the Unitecl States by the mi llions, eager for thc opponunities that the burgcon ing nation promisecl them. Anyth ing you could clesign and blueprin t they coulcl builcl.

PAGE 95: Design of GM 's Technical Center in Warren, shown here at its May 16, 1956, dedication, was a major accomplishment of the decade fo r Smith, Hinchman & Grylls (SH&G) and architect Eero Saarinen. (General Motors) BELOW: This view of the Detroit of the 1990s illustrates the /asting influence of SH&G 's designs on the core area. In the foreground are, 1. to r., SH&G 's Penobscot Building (1928), Buhl Building (1925), Guardian Building (1929) and the lace-like Michigan Consolidated Gas Building (Minoru Yamasaki, 196 1). (SH&G/Balthazar Korah)

DCT is a g lobal leader in automotive manufacturing innovation. Our global knowledge and reach allow us to provide systems and services wherever our customers manufacture their product.

DCT provides state-of-the-art technology to automakers who benefit from our ability to simplify turnkey manufacturing systems with advanced technology and design methods. Advanced systems made simple and practical with hands-on ex perience and superior technology. That's innovation.

Innovation, before you ask! ®

Ct' DCT DIVISIONS INCLUDE:

DCT Weiding & Assembly automated welding systems engineering DCT Material Handling material handling solutions DCT Component Systems die design and production stampings DCT Fasteners innovative fastoning technologies DCT Advanced Engineering research and deve/opment Utilase laser systems tailored blank welding Stature Prototyping Services 3·0 parts from CAD data Control Power·Reliance tesling systems

By 1916, the major contractors in Detroit were strong enough to forma trade organization, Associated General Contractors of Detroit, which within two years had joined a national group of similar contractor associations with the same goals. This Detroit group has continued for more than 75 years, and lists as members firms that have carried out major projects, locally, nationally and throughout the world.

During World War 1, for the Allies and later the U.S., the still new automobile plants were greatly enlarged and began tuming out the huge quantities of armaments needed. Schedules were greatly accelerated, the labor force grew to meet the need (and the city exploded with migrants from all over). The enormous Highland Park plant of Henry Ford became obsolescent almost ovemight and began to be replaced by the even more gargantuan Rouge Plant in 1917.

This behemoth was soon able to provide every component that went into an automobile, including the steel and the glass. The saying was: "Iron ore and sand in one end and cars out the other."

With the end of the war and the mushrooming of demand for autos and other consumer goods, huge complexes like Ford, Dodge, Main and Packard were joined by the only slightly smaller Hudson, Chrysler, Continental, Briggs, Kelvinator and a host of others.

Another industry, drug manufacturing, led by ParkeDavis and Frederick Stearns, built multi-storied facilities near the Detroit River.

The "golden '20s" were just that for architecture and construction in Detroit, but the gold turned to dross in 1929 with the onset of the Great Depression.

Projects under way were halted and new plans were abandoned. Major contractors and experienced architects were soon without commissions of any size or kind. The big mansions, the factories, the office buildings, and the elaborate churches were no more, and builders and architects tried to stay alive with a tiny rag-tag of remodelings and maintenance work. The largest firm in the city, in 1932, hooked only two projects, a doctor's clinic and a log-cabin vacation home.

The Depression almost wiped out the architectural and building industries in Detroit. Firms with generations of success and experience shrank to minuscule size or vanished completely. Albert Kahn sent a team of his best architects, engineers and superintendents to Russia for several years, assisting in the construction of more than 500 factories in the U.S.S.R., which tumed out to be vital in the war that loomed ahead. Smith Hinchman &: Grylls benefited from the repeal of Prohibition and the expansion of Hiram Walker's distilleries in the U.S.

ARMS AND THE MEN The onset of World War II brought an industrial (read "arms") reconstruction that, beginning about 1938, led to the biggest change in Detroit since the rise of the automobile. This time the growth was on the westem and northem edges of the city, since there was no longer the vacant acreage within the city that these armament facilities required.

One after another, these giant new factories tumed Detroit into the "Arsenal of Democracy." Tanks, guns, planes, trucks, and shells poured out of both old and new buildings. What had been thought of as the city of Detroit became the tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties for construction purposes. The almost universal ownership of automobiles made it possible for employes to reach these outlying facilities.

They were no longer tied to streetcar lines, and highways replaced rails as the link The end of the war saw many of these plants reconverted to the production of autos and other consumer goods. The continued move of the citys population center to the outskirts now included the retail shops (which gleefully moved to the new shopping centers), endless subdivisions of single family homes, and finally, office buildings. Partly this reflected the suburbanization of family life (fueled by the retuming servicemen and their new families), and partly the result of

BUILDING BOOM The 1920s, for Detroit as for the entire country, were boom times, and the downtown streets were soon shadowed by towering skyscrapers. Housing spread to the outer city limits and streetcar lines crisscrossed the city, providing the link between residence and employment for all. At the peak of the boom, Detroit was third only to New York and Chicago in construction volume.

The Buhl Building, the Penobscot, and the Union Trust (now the Guardian Building) all went up in a space of four years, all by Smith, Hinchman &: Grylls, and all on Griswold Street. Albert Kahn weighed in with several towering buildings, capped by the Fisher Building in the New Center area, two miles to the north, which joined his massive General Motors Building in the city's "second downtown." Smaller firms, headed by talented designers, were responsible for such handsome office towers as the Book Building and the David Scott Tower. These same firms also designed handsome Revival-style residences, houses of worship and country clubs for Detroit's elite.

99

The Great Depression of the 1930s was especially hard on architects and big-building builders. One of the few bright spots was this Wyoming Road plant for the D eSoto Division of Chrysler Corporation (1936) by Albert Kahn. (A lbert Kahn Associates)

ncw highways that made acccss to dis tant points commonplacc.

The chief victirn of this change was th c central city, which, wit hin two decades, lost all three of its departmcnt stores, many of its office and cleri cal jobs, and sq ua re miles of its older neighbo rhoods. Th is was partly offset by new gove rnmental build ings: a convcntion cen ter and arena, a vetcrans' building, a ncw auditorium, and a mammoth city-county building, all on prime watcr fro ntage. Ă&#x;ut behincl this facade - almost nothing.

The streetcar and bus lines that oncc conncctecl ncig hborhoods with downtown s hrank, then disappeared. Constru ctio n continucd at a rapid pacc, but instead of being conccntra ted around lower Woodward and the New Center arca , it gavc birth to cven !arger "downtowns" in the suburbs of Troy, Sout hfi eld , Dearborn and Ă&#x;loomfield J-lills. Thc argument can bc made either that jobs followcd the populatio n or popu latio n fo llowecl the jobs, but eithcr way, the relocatio n was fo ll owed by roads and infrastru cturc, shops, schools and churches.

Mino ru Yamasaki was brought to Detroit as hcad of clesign for Sm ith , Hinchman & Grylls, but soon fo und a !arge firm too restrictive. With two coworkers, George Hellmuth and Joseph Leinweber, he movecl to St. Louis ancl designed the barrel-vaulted St. Louis Airport Terminal, an insta nt success aesthetically and func ti onall y. He moved back to Detroit, establishecl his own firm , and commissions po ured into the offi ce fro m aro und the country an d the wo rld.

Although the !arger fir ms in Detro it had designed majo r projec ts in many cities fo r thcir ind ustrial clie nts, it took these two "form-givers" to reall y call Detroit to thc attention of the archi tectura l wo rld.

These large fir ms sti ll call Detroit home, and are in cons tant clemancl for somc o r the nati on's largest projects, partly because they offer "one-stop sho pping" to their cl icnts with all of the engineering ancl planning cl isci pi ines in-house.

One exceptio n to the suburba n migration of impo n ant buildings was thc gigan tic Renaissance Center, four (la ter six) olTice towers, surrounding a 70sto ry ho tcl, built on prime downtown riverfront. Ramrodded by Henry Ford II, with the in tent ion of revivi ng the cen tral city (even though his own company's headquarters hacl been in Dearborn fo r years) , RenCen enlistccl the capital investment of almost eve ry major corporation that did busi ness in, o r with , Detroi t.

Unfo rtunately, its com pletion spurred a furt her emptying of existing downtown office towers, as man y prestigio us tenants ned their 1920s quarters fo r the visibility (ancl higher rents) of RenCen .

The 1980s brought the same office bui lcling excesses to Detro it as to other !arge cities, primar ily to the no rth and northwest. Several new towers we nt up downtown, fu elecl by outside investors, but again , they fillecl their space at the expensc of older bui lclings, whi ch fo und tha t their lower square-foot costs coulcl no t match the attract iveness of the new bui ld ings.

AHEAD OF THE ( URVE About this time, two noted architects from thc arca, Eero Saarinen ancl Mino ru Yamasaki, extcnded th cir reputations and their practiccs nati onall y, ancl then internati onally. Saarin en, with his fath er, Eliel , won acclai m for their instillttional buildings at Cranbrook, and then the $100 millio n Genera l Motors Technical Center, on 900 acres of farmlancl no rth east of Detro it. This proj ect brought Saarincn acclai m ll1roughout the wo rld and comm issio ns from some of the largest U.S. corporations. His carcer culm inatecl in th c TWA terminal in New York and the Dul les Airport near Washington, as weil as the breathtaking J efferson Memori al arch at St. Louis, a 590- feet high stainless stecl cautio nary curve.

1() 1

T he re didn't seem to be a su pply o f seco nd- tie r tenan ts to replace the depaning occu pants.

W hile there was a wea lth of work for arch itects a nd builders designing and e recti ng new offi ce build ings on every major suburban a n ery, it was a clisas ter fo r owners and investors faced with empty bui ld ings and crush ing mortgage pay ments. Some highways see mecl linecl with "For sale o r lease" signs. By the m idd le o f the 1990s, the overw helmi ng vaca ncies were slowly

being worked o ff, but only at the cost of non-ex iste nt new constructio n . A few !a rge fac tories in excellen t loca tio ns were remod eled fo r new office a nd a pa n ment use, bu t most feil to the wrec ki ng ba ll.

STATE OF THE ART

On e of the la rgest architecture, engineering and eo nstruc tio n p rojects of the m id-1990s is the Chrysler Techno logy Cen ter a nd execu tive offices co m plex in Auburn Hills, wi th a consequen t wind-dow n of the com pa ny's facilities in Highland Park , so me of which daced bac k to th e ea rliest days of t he auto inclustry.

Two huge s tate-of-th e-a n a u tomobile facto ries wen t u p with in the city prope r, the first in many yea rs: the Gene ra l Mo tors Po lctow n plant tha t strad clled the De troit-Ha mtra mck bord er, a ncl the Chrysler j efferson o rth 1921 asse mb ly pla nt. ßoth we re macle possible by governme n tal asse mblage o f hund reds of acres of residenti al, comsimple commitrnent to our customers: me rc ia l and li ght indu s tri a l la nd "We build, service, operate and maintain th ro ugh the ci ty's power of em ine nt every building as if it were our own." doma in, fecleral g ra nts, and s ignifica nt This has become the foundation tax abatements o n t he new facili ties. of Mechanical Heat & Cold's success.

Bo th com pa ni es d emo lish ed old e r After designing and installing your customized existi ng pla n ts, leaving !a rge gaps in mechanical system, we're also there to operate, several old er neighbo rhoods . maintain and service your system for you.

Approaching the seco nd ha lf of the '90s a nd the end of the ce ntury, the Sldlled professionals are trained to make sure const ru cti o n pic t ure was m ixed . your systems comply with ever-changing standards, codes and regulations. " Exu rban" subdivisio ns of ex pensive ho mes we re being bu ilt on fo rmer Our concern is for your building's environment fa rmla nd , bu t little ho using cou ld be and how it affects the lives and productivity of built fo r the fa mily o f modes t mea ns o n your employees and customers. ex pens ive la nd , with high cost la bor Allowing us to guarantee your comfort and and ma teria ls, a nd inc reasing inte rest environmental safety is a small investment with ra tes. Offi ce and co mmerc ia l building :i very substantial return. had to await the working-o ff of the g lu t of the l 980s, and indus tri al co nstruct ion was ma in ly add itions to existi ng plants and a few sma ll new factories.

Population o f the city was shrin ki ng, Delivering Comprehen sive Servic es a nd t he growth o f the state was not to Southeast Michigan Customers Since 1921 keeping up with th at o f the na tio n . A Construction • Service • Operation & Maintenance $ 100 mill io n federa l gram for a mid24535 Hallwood Court • Farmington Hills • (810) 471-0600 c ity '" Empowerment Zo ne" p ro mised to aid thc resurgence of thc co re, but its full effec t wou ld not be fei t u ntil the turn of th e century.

Customer Relationships Since

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~M!ofi

Fred Pelham (Reginald Larrie collection)

s ea rly engi neering graduates fro m Lh e University of Mi chigan, a nd laLer in th eir pro fessio na l pro minen ce, Fred B. Pe lham and Cornelius H . He nderso n were outs tanding ro le models for co ntemporary mino rities in the enginee ring , co ns tructi o n a ncl design fi elds.

Frecl B. Pelham was Lhe yo ungest of seven c hilclren born to Ro bert a nd Frances Pelham in Detroit soo n after they arrived from the ir ho me s tate of Virginia .

O nce he was olcl eno ug h , Frcd Pe lham s tarted work ing with his facher who was recogni zed th roughout Wayne Co unty for his sk ill as a maso nry co ntractor. Pelham cleveloped a ta le nt fo r builcling ancl, after co mp leting hig h sc hool, was sen t to th e University of Michigan to major in engineering. W ith hi s high aptitude in mathematics and good s tudy habits, Pelham graduated at the heacl o f his class in 1887.

Greatly impressed w ith Pe lham's knowledge and skill, a Professor Greene reco mmended him fo r a job with the Mich iga n Ccn tral Railroad. Immediate ly, hc was h ired as an assis tant civil engineer. Du ring his years w ith the "road ," Pelham d esignecl and buil t so me Lwenty briclges in various locatio ns across the s tate.

One bridge (a "skew arch" type ) s till Stands in the s mal l town of Dexter a ncl is the o n ly one of its kincl in th e co unt ry. Pelha m he ld his pos itio n with the Mich igan Cen tral until he passee! avvay in 1895 after a s hort illness. He was a mc mber of thc Mi chigan Eng in eering Society and a Lcac hcr in thc Bcthe l A.M. E. C hurch in Detro it.

Minorities Make Their Mark They created a fegacy, not just buildings & inventions

by Reginald Larric

103

Ano ther grad uale rrom the Universit y or Michigan years' wo rk ing crcclit towarcls my state architeclllral in those early clays was Corn eli us Henclerso n, who was license." born in December 1887 o n Detroit's east s iele. His With his degrec from Univc rsity o rMichigan and a fat her was th e Rev. James M. Henclerso n, pastor or state license, he stan ed his bus iness by opening a Ebenczcr Arrican Methodist Episco pal Church at thal clesign office on Main Streel in An n Arbor in 1963.

Today, Howarcl Sims is presidcn t or Sims/Varner ancl time. Co rnclius, or "Cornie" as he was affcctionate ly callecl by his man y rriencls ancl associates, g racluatecl Associates lnc. , with offi ccs in the Penobscot Builcling rrom Michigan in 191 1. He was viewecl by some in clowntown Detroit. (A rchitecl Haro ld R. Yarne r, oneinstructors as the mosl oulslancling swdenl in th cir time directo r o r thc Detroi t Hous ing Commission classes. Onc proresso r LOlcl his senior engineering class under former Mayo r Roman S. G ibbs, jo inecl the rirm tha l he considered I-lenderso n his "best swdenl." in 1973 and has been the execut ivc vice-presiden t Arter graduatio n Henclerso n was not as fonunate since 1976. ) Sims ancl Yarner contracts havc includecl low-cost as Fred and coulcl not rincl a job fo r several months bccausc - th en as now - mosl companics wan tccl housing, rehab ilitation o r apartmcnts, cxpansions of someonc with experi ence. However, o ne clay hc schools (Boynton Middlc School) and construction or enco un tered a fri encl rrom U or M ancl lea rn ed about a a moderate-incomc housing complcx, Shericlan Place. positio n al th e Canad ian Bridge Wo rks in Walkervillc, After rin ishing Sheridan Place, the rirm was comOntario. Cornelius app liecl fo r the pos iti o n ancl was missioned to ex pand Cobo Hall's Conrerence/Exhibitio n Center. This renohirecl in stantl y. Thus va tion was comp letecl began a relatio ns hip that in 1989 al a COSl or lastecl some thiny years. $225 millio n. The conAL thc Bri dge Works, stru cti on nearl y douHend erso n became bled the hall's s ize 10 invo lvecl in the desig n and over 2 mill ion square building o r tWO greal feel ancl gave Detroit struc w res - the Ambaso nc or the largesl consad o r Bridge and the ventio n centers in the Detroi t- Windso r Tunnel, nation. which ha ve operatecl sincc 1929. He was a To date, Sims has fou nding member o r the d irectecl the planning and clesign or over $2 National Tec hnical Socibilli on worth of conety. s tru ction in Mic hi gan His great-grandson, and is still building Corn eli us Henclerson IV, graduatcd rro m th e U-M The Dexter, Mich. bridge designed by Fred Pelham. mo re. Eve n with this kincl of wo rking recorcl, Co llege o r Enginee ri ng (Reginald Larrie collection) Sims has no l fo rgo u en with a B.S. in mechani cal his community. He has servcd the Engineering Society engineering ancl applied mechanics in 1995. of Detroit fo r a number of years as a fellow and twice Continuing a trad ition establis hed a ccntu ry ago

by Pel ham an d Henderson , today anot hcr r\rri ca n as a trustee.

He is also active in many comm un ity organizati ons American graduale from the Uni ve rsity or Michigan is and is a life member of several civic g roups. mak ing head li nes in the engineering ficld.

Vlith his firm's latcst projccl, the construclion of HAD A D REAM the new Museum of African Ameri can His lory weil His namc is I-loward F Sims and from thc time he under way, Howard E Sims still is a long way fro m closwas a yo ung man, he wan ted Lo be an archi tecl. Born in ing down his draw ing board.

Detroit o n july 25, 1933, Sims allended publi c sc hools Willie Hobbs Moo re was thc rirst Afri can-A meriand aftcrwards bcgan his career in Lhe milita ry with a can woman LO graduale from th e U-M College of Engiconstrucli on unil of Lhe U.S. Navy. Sims recallcd , "The neering (BSE EE '58, MSE EE '6 l)as weil as Lo earn a Seabccs paid me all of $90 a mo nth bul mosl impo rtanl doctorale in phys ics therc ( 1972) . was thc cx pcri cncc 1 received . IL paid off with two

10-1-

In 1977, Ford Motor Com pany recruitcd Moore away fro m he r resea rch/lectu rer positio n in the U-M Department of Physics. As a senior qua li ty associate at Fo rd's World Headquarters, she helped imple ment the manufac wring quality control concepts o f Pro fesso r Ge ni chi Tag uchi a t Fo rd.

Moore's earl y professional experie nce inclucled positions at Bendi x, KMS lndustries, Barncs Engi neering, Datamax Corporat ion, and Sensor Dy namics. In 1991 , she was listed among the "100 mos t prom ising black wo men in Corporate America" by Ebony magazine.

A native of Atlantic City, .Jâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; she died March 14, 1994 at the age o f 59.

F IRST

MINORITY

FELLOW Charles S. Davis, the 55-year-old presid e n t a nd fo un der of Cha rles S. Davis and Associates engi neering consulting fi rm when he passee! away earl y in 1995, was no t a native Detroiter. Davis ca me to Detroit whe n he was hired by Ford Mo to r Company after earning his doctorate in civil e ngin eering from t he Univers ity of MissouriRolla in 1972.

But Davis was recognized for local distinctio n w hen he was c hosen as the fi rs t Dr. Willie Hobbs Moore min orit y member of the College of Fe llows of th e Engineering Society of Detroi t in 1980.

This distingu ished e ngineer was a native of Dallas, Texas, and received his bachelo rs clegree in civil engineering from Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

Subsequently he obtainecl a master's, also in the civil engi nee ring cliscipline, from the Uni versity of Washing to n in Seattle.

After wo rking as a structural engineer a t Ford, Davis formecl his own consulting firm in 1978. In addit io n to ESD, he was a membe r of the Society of

Engineers a nd Applied Scientists, the Socie ty of Experimental Stress Ana lysis, the Co ns u lti ng Engineers Cou ncil a nd several enginccring hono rary o rganizations.

Jo h n G. Petty is known as an engineer endowed with the q ual ities of positive ou tl ook, pa ti cnee and persistence. He was bo rn Aug. 2, 1938 to Joh n and Fra nces Petty of Ferndale, M ic higan, a nd late r attend ed Fe rndale High Sc hool. He co ntinued his educa tio n w ith a degree in mec hanical enginee ri ng from Lawrence Technological Uni versity. Still not content, he la ter obtained a master's in busincss management from Indiana No rthern Un ive rsit)'¡ In recogn iti o n o f his techn ical and management abil ities, not to mention many years of st rugg le and ha rd wo r k, J o hn G. Petty was promotecl to program ma nager of the "Fox Vehi cle Program" for General Dynamics, a majo r clefe nce co ntractor in Warren. In this position , he has managecl th e enginee ring a nd manufacturing team dcveloping the "Fox," a mu lti-faceted armored vehicle for the U.S. Armeei Fo rces.

The Fox is a h igh ly mobile, amphib io us s ix-wheel, 19-to n, 600hp, 500-mile-range u n it w ith c rew of th ree for detection of nuclear (U-M College of Engineering) a nd chemical co ntaminants.

Earlier, Petty was in vo lvecl in the development and testing of th e gas turbine engine w hich powers the M 1 Abrams tank. Pell)' has not only demonstrated success in industry but has been cliligent in th e public sector as we il. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Lawrence Tech., active in ESD as vice-presiclent ancl wi ll soon be the first African American to scrve as the organization's presiclent. A true mode rn leacler a nd ro le moclel, Petty has many other commu ni ty, ccl uca tional ancl professional all iances.

105

Black & Veatch is the leader in

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eng1neenng, procure111ent and construction in the US and worldwide.

We are dedicated to developing creative and innovative solutions that are responsive to client and public needs.

~ BLACK &VEATCH W

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2200 Commonwealth Blvd.

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (3 13) 930-2929

Alias Smith, H&G l!enerable f inn pays tribute to Hinch1nan & Grylls as weil as to founder - and descendants hc yca r was 1853, ancl a 35-yea r-olcl archiLccL was clesigning a fivc-sLory hoLcl in Sanclusky, Ohio. Thc hole! was Lhe largcsl builcling in Lown so iL's reasonablc to assume he had bcen practicing fo r some time, but no onc can find a single documem about Sheldon Smith's wo rk bdore that &

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ycar. IL's almosl as though Smilh, Hinchman & Grylls' founder had been born a practi cing architcct!

In 1855 , Sheldo n Smilh movecl his practi ce fro m Sandusky Lo DeLroit. We don'l know why hc lcfL Sandusky bul DelroiL's appcal was plain. Thc ci Ly's ex plosive growlh in manufacturing and commcrcial enterpriscs had sparkccl many ncw building projccls ancl Smith was cagcr Lo clesign thcm all.

TOP : Draftsmen in the Mortimer Smith & Son architectural offices, predecessor of 1995's SH&G, worked by gas light in this photo, ca. 1883. (SH&G)

SH&G was the architect/engineer for the award-wi11ni11g Focus:HO PE Center fo r Ad vanced Technologies, an adaptive re-use of an abandoned inner -city facility for training residents in a state-of the art manufacturing en vironment. (SH&G)

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His son, Mortimer, born in L840, vi nuall y g rew up amicl Smith's architeeturat practice. At age 21 he joinecl his fat her as principat or the firm. Twemy-two years tater, Smith's g ra nclso n F red was ad 111 iuecl to pan ners hip. The Smiths' wo rk became so wet t known that they we re setected to clesign th e Michiga n Pavit ion at the 1893 Chicago Wo rlcl's Fa ir, o nt y the second wo rld wide exhibitio n hetd in the U.S. There Frecl Smith met a young elec tr ica l engineer, Theodore Hinchman. Ten years later, in 1903, Fred joinecl his practice with Ted Hinchman ancl Tecl's pann er Henry Fielet, becom ing Fiele! , Hinchman & Smith . The new firm thrivecl but four years later Field resignecl to try his fortunes in the growi ng au to mo t ive inclustry. He was replacecl

by H. j. Maxwell Grylls, a Ă&#x;rit is h- tra inecl arc hi tect with a fin e repu tati on in resiclentiat wo rk. The yea r was 1907. Ancl the company name changecl to Smith . Hinchman & Grylts (SH&G).

The firm was blessed wi th co m inuity; al l three mcn contin uecl in the samc positions unti l they cliecl more than threc clccadcs later. Thc firm was blcssccl with opportun ity; SH&G was right 0 11 the grouncl noor o r thc new automobile ind ustry and the support inclus tries that grew up

Building, a new engineering school at the University of Michigan and a new R&D center for chemical giant BASF Corporation.

In the '90s, SH&G has aided Detroit's new mayor, Dennis Archer, guiding his 35-member land Use Task Force to recommend guidelines for citywide land use and development weil into the 2lst century. The firm upholds its role in making Detroit a better place to live and work, and looks forward to implementing the recommendations outlined in A Framework for Action: A Report for Community Discussion.

around it. A new factory designed for Henry Ford on Piquette Avenue in Detroit in 1904 led to plants for the "Dodge Boys" as weil as residences for the new automobile elite. Castle-like Meadowbrook Hall, now on the Oakland University campus at Rochester, designed for Mathilda Dodge and Alfred Wilson in 1920, represents a high point in Tudor Revival residential design probably never to be seen again.

The Golden '20s heralded an intense building boom in Detroit. And SH&G was hip-deep in it all. The Buhl Building, the Guardian and the Penobscot, all SH&G designs, towered over factories and churches and defined the city's financial district. The firm helped shape Detroit and served companies like Ford, GM, Chrysler, Michigan Bell Telephone, j.L. Hudson, and Hiram Walker. {Its first major job after the depression was a distillery in Peoria.) lt also has a long association with institutions of higher learning. The Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, built in 1938 on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, symbolized the university's increasingly important graduale work. For SH&G, it marked the end of an era.

NATIONALLY KNOWN On the building front, new SH&G designs grace the East and the West: a biomedical research center for BASF Bioresearch in Worcester, Mass.; an award-winning health care facility for the historic U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Horne in Washington, D.C.; Phoenix (Ariz.) Civic Plaza, site of the 1995 NBA All-Star jam session; a family medicine center for Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale; a million-square-foot design-build project for Hughes Missile System Co. in Tucson; a materials science laboratory for Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico and an award-winning recreational complex for Western Michigan University.

Before the decade ends, we will see completion of a $229-million hospital for the Veterans Administration in Detroit, a new corporate headquarters for Chrysler Corporation in Auburn Hills, a $206-million medical center for the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; new diesel engine test cell facilities for Caterpillar Tractor in Shanghai and Moscow, and a new office complex for the FBI's Criminaljustice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, W. Va. These kinds of projects make a difference in the lives of architects and engineers. They have allowed SH&G to grow and prosper for over 140 years.

Throughout its history, SH&G reached for many talented professionals to solve diverse design and engineering problems. Architects like Wirt Rowland, Minoru Yamasaki, Sigmund Blum and Ralph Youngren made their mark on the firm and the design profession.

Like bis predecessors, William Jay Hartman AIA, SH&G's current director of design, continues to add to SH&G's rich design legacy with the nationally acclaimed Focus: HOPE Center for Advanced Technologies in Detroit and the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Engineering Building at the University of Michigan. Hartman is now guiding a group of talented young designers into the 2lst century. Their designs will add yet another chapter to SH&G's history - and allow it to thrive for many years to come.

Ă&#x153;ECADES OF DESIGN EXCELLENCE Post-war expansion put SH&G into a whole new arena of building opportunities. A one-of-a-kind technical center for General Motors in Warren, Michigan brought together the best minds in design and engineering in the late forties. The National Institutes of Health and a Lunar Receiving Laboratory for NASA took the firm into uncharted technical areas in the '50s and '60s. A petrochemical works for Pasa Petroquimica in Argentina and a medical school and hospital, part of a master plan for Yonsei University in South Korea, allowed SH&G to re-enter a global market.

In the '70s, the firm designed a new corporate headquarters for retail giant S.S. Kresge, now Kmart Corp.; a $100 million-plus complex for Detroit's Harper-Grace Hospitals; a huge new central terminal complex for William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport; a new R&D center for General Electric, and an assembly facility for Deere & Company.

The '80s brought a new series of design and engineering challenges: The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, named 1990 Lab of the Year by R&D Magazine; a major replacement addition for Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis; new high-security headquarters for the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency; a $100 million assembly plant for Diamond Star Motors in Bloomington, Illinois, and at home, the renovation of the landmark Wayne County

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Rendering of the Jntegrated Technology lnstructional Center, under construction in 1995 on the University of Michigan's North Campus. (Albert Kahn Associates)

lberl Kahn was born in 1869 near Frankfurt in Rhaunen , Germany, the oldesl of six children. His childhood was spent in the Grand Duchy of luxembourg, w here he altended school.

His father, J oseph, a rabbi and teacher by profession, believed he might find heu er opportunilies to support his growing fa mily in the New World.

The presence of relatives in Detroit prompted him to take his family there in 1880.

Although early in life young Alben had evidenced musical talent, poverty had prevented him from making much headway in this direction. He then dreamed of becoming an artist. In Detroit he found a j ob in the office of the architectjohn Scott, but in time he became discouraged at his Jack of progress. Hearing of his plight, the sculpto r julius Melchers permitted him to attend his Sunday morning drawing classes free of charge. The discovery that the young pupil was partially colorbli nd precluded his becoming an artist, so Melchers fo und a place for him in the architectural office of Mason and Rice.

In 1891, at the age of 22, he won a Traveling Scho larship, an award of $500 from the magazine "American Architect and Building News. " The money financed a nine-month study tour through England and the continent. The las t three months of his trip were in the company of Henry Bacon , later to become the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Bacon was so helpful that Kahn referred to that period as his

A Kahn-do Kind of Guy Top projects, honors reinforced architect's role in industrial design

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commissions increased , growing steadily in volume ancl size.

Early in 1903 , Kah n was ealled upon to design his first significant collcgiatc structure, thc West Engineering ßuilding for T he University of Michiga n. A few months later the pivotal point of Kahn's entire career occurred whcn Hen ry ß. Joy, clircctor ancl presiclent of thc Packard Motor Car Company, commissionecl Kahn to dcsign a hugc 40-acre plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

Thc Packard facto ry was thc first largc The elegant Fisher Building (1928) with its ''golden tower" on West Grand Boulevard auto plant in Detro it. in the New Center area. Albert Kahn's influence dominated this area even m ore than Throug h it, Ka hn SH&G 's in the downto wn area, with the General Motors Building (1922) and the cstablishccl the cardiAlbert Kahn Building (1931), formerly known as the New Center Building. (A KA) nal principle whi ch was to pcrvade h is cntirc organization: to satisfy the req ui rcmcnts of the clienl whilc crcati ng quality architccturc as weil.

Combining utility and bcauty, thc ncw plant was laicl out in thc shape of a hollow squarc, with windows o n all siclcs to aclmit light.

Bctwccn 1903 ancl 1905, Ka hn dcsigncd ninc buildings of conve nt ional wood -mill constructio n for Pac kard.

Whilc this type of consiruction was typical of thc day, Kahn clicl not favor it fo r hcavy industry. lt procl uccd a wo rking noor obs t ru ctcd by columns, and the 1 1 wood noors soakcd ,_11, 1 , wi th oil were a heavy 1 firc risk dcspite sprin1 lt 1 ldcr systcms. "formal education in architecture." Aft er his travels, he reLUrned LO Mason and Ri ce until 1895 when he established his own firm wi th George \V. euleton and Alexander B. Trowbridge, 1wo clraftsmen from Mason·s office.

Within a fcw months, Trowbridgc acceptcd a professorship at Corncll Univc rsity; s honl y thcreafter Nc ttlcton died. Kahn rcmained with his own office, am idst a financial deprcssion. He endured and gradually his

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Kahn designed most of buildings in Ford Motor Company's Rouge complex, shown here in a ca. 1955 photo.

(Mike Davis collection)

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novel Englis h-clcsignecl procluct, ancl concre tc reinfo rcecl with an innovative meta! ba r cleve lopecl by his brother Julius, Kah n clesignecl his th en unprecede nted a ncl now hi s torical ly signifi cant te nth builcling o n th e Packard s ite. These innova tions proviclecl consiclerabl y more natural lig ht ancl unhearcl o r vo lumes o r s pace unobs tructecl by interfering col umns wh ile simuha neo usly reclucing th e time ancl mo ney then required for s teel construction , the only alte rnative met hocl known at that time.

Henry Ă&#x;. J oy was not the o nly man involvecl in th e burgeoning auto mobile industry in Detro it, however.

Henry Ford was loo ming o n the ho rizo n ancl like Joy, Fo rd always was looking ror ways to improve the e fficiency o f production. Reali zi ng th at his two Detroit plants were inaclequa te, he purc hasecl a 60-acre trac t in s uburban Hig hla ncl Park w ith the hope of enlarging ancl co nsolid ating his operatio ns.

He concc ived th e idea of having an en tire plant uncler one roof with no open COUrtS a ncl no clividing wa lls. To make his iclea a reality, he sought Kahn's assistance, simultaneo usly establish ing a long and prospcrous re ]a ti onshi p whic h wed the creati ve geniUS o f tWO pragmatiC mcn who c ha nged th e Course of industria l ma n ufaeturing a nd clesign. Ultimate ly, Kah n wou ld desig n mo re fac tories for Ford than for any o th er man ufacturer, and Ford work would be the co rnersto ne o r Kahn's practice in th e prospero us '20s.

By 19 13, th ere were mo re than 860,000 automobi les on the road. The auto indus try bccame an instituti o n w hic h not o nly revolutio nized bus iness bu t tra ns-

formed modern life, and Kah n's ro le in bringing about this revolu ti on ancl transformati on was crucial. His coorclinatio n or unp receden ted ru nc ti o na l effi ciency and improved wo rking conditi o ns resulted in a n overwhelmin g s trea m or comm issions from a ll th e auto manufac turers. Over the decacles, he did major work for Chrysler, designecl more than 150 major buildings for General lotors and over 1,000 im pona nt s tructures for Ford alone.

Other indus tries watched Kah n's achievements eagerly. Soon commissions followecl for food plan ts, textile m ills, cement plants, c loth ing factories. Wi th the outbreak of World Wa r 1, many of Kah n's buildings were turned into plants that supplied the military with vi tal equi pmen t. Ka hn also cles igned many s truclllres fo r the gove rnme nt. Examples inclucle Langley Field, Virginia , which in trodu cecl the firs t hanga r build ing eve r erec ted , ancl many or the Army a ir He lds, nava l bases, canto nmen ts and n umerous other types or s tructures. He also was responsiblc for most of the Fo rd River Rouge complex as we il as many buildings w hich ho used thc the n growing aircraft inclustry.

Ă&#x153;RGANIZATIONAL MODEL Albert Kah n's officc was th c prototype for al most all of to day's !arge- scalc a rchitec tural organ izations.

His was among the firs t to u tilizc a multi-clisciplinary approac h that could gua ra ntce a nd deliver the kind or quality package - by the agreccl upon deacl li ne - that was traditionaJ ly tho ught tO be possib]e o nly from a s mall offi ce. In 1920, this wcll-sta ffecl o rga ni zat io n

11 3

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plane plants ancl founclri es. Not all of Kahn's ac hievements were inclustrial , however. His versatility encompassecl nearly all builcli ng catego ries. Numerous honors were acco rdecl him by fellow a rchitec ts, competitors, eclucators and others for his imaginative clesigns for hospitals, resiclences , sc hools, banks, clubs, hotels, th eaters, o ffice buildings, newspapers, laboratories ancl educational facilities.

In addition to coun Lless awards the firm received, Kahn received many distinguished ind ividua l honors.

In 1933 he was awarded an honorary doctor o f laws degree by The University of Michigan ; in 1937 he was macle a member o f the French Legion of Honor; a ncl in 1942, just prior to his cleath at the age of 72, he receivecl yet anothe r honorary cloctorate, this time in Fine Ans, from Syracuse University. Posthumously, he was awarded the coveted Frank P. Brown medal, in 1943, from the Franklin Institute of Pe nnsylva nia "in recogni tion of his outstandi ng achievements in the development of inclustrial a rchitecture."

numbered 400 and was responsible for more than a mi llio n dolla rs worth of construction work weekly.

Wh ile the Kah n offi ce was still growi ng both in size and complexity, Ka hn realized that all too many successful finns built by one individual deteriorate whe n tha t indi vidua l re tires. In 1922, in order to ensure that his organizatio n would endure, Kahn took the key men of the firm - Albert Kahn , Inc. - into the organizati on as pri ncipals. This policy co ntinued, without interrupti on, until 1940 when it culminated with incorporation of the firm as Albert Kah n Associated Arc hitects and Engineers ancl the aclmission of twentyfi ve key men to ownership in the firm.

Hav ing bee n responsible for muc h defense wo rk during World War 1, Kahn's o ffice was fo re most a mong those serving Ame ri can indus try when it s hiftecl into high gear in respo nse to th e demands of Worlcl War 11. No table among buildings o f thi s era were the famecl Willow Run Bomber Pla nt, th e Dodge-Chi cago Airpla ne Engine P lan t fo r Ch rys ler, structures fo r Uni ted Aircraft and its Albert Kahn (A KA) divisions, Wright Aerona utica l and CurtissWright, the G le nn L. Martin Compa ny, Ge neral Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and many others.

In 1938, whe n his staff numbered nea rl y 600, Kahn was respo nsible fo r 19 percent of a ll a rchitcc t-cl esigned inclustria l builclings in this coun try ancl 22 percent of The Unive rsity of Mic higan' s collegiate bu ildi ngs then in use. That sa me year, "ArchiteclU ral Forum" d evoted an entire issu e to Kahn's efforts, no ting that few fir ms, if any, could open an a tlas and spot builclings of their design on all five co ntinents.

Certainly, the re were none whi ch co uld show structures clispersed throughout th e e ntire northern hemisphere as cou lcl the firm of Alben Kah n .

Kahn's inclustrial achievements were as va riecl as the industries he servecl. T here were s ilos, steel plants, clistilleries, rubber facto ries, texti le mi lls , filtrat io n plants, smelters, clocks, wa reh ouses, crca meries, a ir-

(ONTINUING EXCELLENCE Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. has grown a ncl prosperecl throughout the years, and is presently ranked as the 21st largest archi tectural/engineeri ng firm in the U.S. The firm's 265 em ployees provicle expenise in planning, architecture, ancl all principal areas of engineering.

The solid founclation of the firm's 100-year histo ry and its innovative contributi ons to the a rchitectural and e nginee ring clesign technology have been recognizecl by a long !ist o f clients who have entrustecl the firm with more than 13,000 proj ects worlclwide, aclding u p LO more tha n $15 billion in unescalatecl co nstruction costs. An nually, Ka hn clesigns approx imate ly 50 major projects represen ting $500 million in const ructi on costs.

AKAS projects have brought the firm numero us honors from governm ental, c ivic a nd professional associations. These incl ude the American Institute of Architects' prestigiou s "Firm of the Year" awarcl for "consistently proclucing clis tinguished architeclUre through the collaboration of rela ted architectu ra l clisciplines."

Recent AKA "g ree nfi elcl" a uto motive projects inclucle: Mercecles-Benz's new 1.2-million square-foot Spo rt Utility Vehicl e Production Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; the new 1.3-million square-foot BMW Automotive Assemb ly Plant in Greenville, 5.C.; the 1.5-million square-foot Chrysle r J efferso n North Assemb ly Pla n t in Detroit; the Nissan Truck Assembly/Stamping facility in Smyrna, Tenn. ; and Mack Truck's Asse mbl y facility in Winnsboro, S.C.

11 5

The Chrysler Technology Center in Auburn Hills, largest new office and engineering complex built in the industry in nearly 40 years. Construction under the management of Walbridge Aldinger was still under way in 1995, with many other local local design, engineering and construction firm s involved in the project. (Walbridge Aldinger/Balthazer Korah) rcating a city's s kyli ne, its neig hborhoods, its inclus trial corridors , coo k vis ion fo r thc 20th century p ionee rs who bui lt Detroi t. lt was the kind o f vision that co uld turn the pale lines on .,......_ _. a blu c print ancl mounds of b r ic k, cem ent and s tecl into pa laccs of inclus try or countless comfonable homes.

The m en w ho wcrc drawn to Det ro it as it was emergin g as th e " Motor C ity" had that kind o f visio n.

Young a rc hitects an d bui lde rs s uc h as George B. Walbridge a nd Raym o nd Giffcls, Alvin E. Harley a nd Ca rl 0. Barton had id eas for rai s ing s trong s tructures out of the na t fie lds that d o ttcd th e ci ty's ea rl y landscape.

T hey wou ld m akc th cir mar k in an indus trious race that, in a fcw ycars , wo uld add indelible landmarks a nd a stro ng, ncw rcgim c o f building designe rs and engineers marching towa rd intern atio nal fame .

In 1924, whcn Barton , his s is ter Marga ret Rose and a n assoc iate, Kins Co llins, kickcd o ff the C.O. Barton Com pan y, Genera l Con tracto rs in d owntown Detroit, they had an establis hed build ing trad es workfo rce to draw upon. vVh il c o pcrating engineers cou ld co mmand 90 ce nts an hou r, a ncl an clcct ri c ia n go t a clolla r, co mmo n labo re rs co uld bc h ircd a t ha lf the price, j us t 50 cents.

Barton, a Uni vcrs ity o f Mi chigan civil engineeri ng graduale, owned all but two o f thc in itial 1,000 s hares

Builders' 'Guild' Detroit's boo1n spins off nzany construction firms rated as tops by \ larrh a l li ndcs

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As the century progressed, so did the contributions of the area's architectural and construction firms that themselves were growing beyond local boundaries.

In the late l 920s, when Carl Barton was deep in <lebt, Arnold Malow had joined as a partner bringing with him business-saving financial backers. The firm survived to become today's Barton Malow Company.

Although its projects have been concentrated in North America, by 1983 it had eamed a spot as 25th largest construction firm worldwide.

Its sports facilities such as the Silverdome in Pontiac, Hubert Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis and Detroit's joe Louis Arena have provided homes for American sports teams. Among other Barton Malow projects were Detroit's Children's Hospital, the Detroit Historical Museum and work on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

As with other area firms, auto industry projects (including Chrysler Corporation's three-year-old j efferson North Assembly Plant) continue to be a mainstay of its business.

of stock in the company begun with $500 in borrowed funds. With the renovation of a Michigan Bell Telephone facility as its first assignment, the fledgling company netted a whopping $1,247 its first year, with more than a half-million dollars of work.

Some eight years earlier, the same kind of independent adventure had been begun by two men: Walbridge, who had come to Detroit from Pennsylvania, and his partner Albert Aldinger, a German-bom Canadian. Walbridge's experience as a colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would serve him well as the new construction firm of Walbridge-Aldinger first opened its doors.

STRIKING Ă&#x153;UT

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Those and other far-thinking builders were taking a giant step away from the security of employment with older, established companies to start out on their own.

Despite years of despair when the Great Depression ground the industry to a virtual halt following the stock market collapse in 1929, many would survive to contribute some of Detroit's most notable structures and win the city's top praise.

As the area grew from a smattering of modest buildings to its expansive, high-rise present, those homegrown companies were making an impact.

In Walbridge-Aldinger's portfolio from the early l 900s are its work on the Ambassador Bridge, whose graceful span connects Detroit to Windsor; Olympia Stadium; and the Penobscot Building, for years the city's tallest.

Some 225 design and detail assignments by the 60year-old Giffels Associates firm - known as Giffels and Vallet when it was established in 1925 - helped give rise to the Ford Motor Company's massive Rouge complex in Dearborn. The progressive march of the auto industry would power up that firm and others as the country emerged from the First World War and later the Depression years.

In the 1920s as auto manufacturing was becoming an industrial force, the workers hired to make it run needed housing. John E. Roth, a young engineer, and his brother, William E Roth, started a construction firm after World War I that ultimately would build 500 houses in Pontiac and Flint for General Motors Corp.'s Modem Housing Corp. division. A 1927 model, the "Winchester," sold for around $7,000. Roth, Inc. and its sister architectural firm, Roth & Associates, now do only industrial and commercial construction, including a specialization in food warehouses.

MANY HONORS The builders of Detroit have won wide recognition in the process of raising a city. By 1978, WalbridgeAldinger found itself recipient of an outstanding achievement award from ESD - The Engineering Society for its work on the IBM Regional Office Building in Southfield. lt would become one of many honors the firm has gamered from ESD and other industry organizations. The firm won the bid as construction manager for Chrysler's four-story technical center and, currently, its 15-story administration building.

Two other construction firms have made an impact on the area. Turner Construction, headquartered in New York, established an office in Detroit in 1974 when it won the new Detroit Receiving Hospital contract. lt ranked as the area's llth largest construction firm last year, based on 1994 revenues, and currently is building the city's new African American Museum in the cultural center.

Many area firms have succeeded in outbidding world-class competitors. One of them is the employeeowned BEI Associates, Inc. of Detroit, ranked among the top 10 architectural engineering firms in Michigan by the trade publication Crain's Detroit Business. The company, which started as Hoad Engineers, Inc. in 1953, did all the engineering work on the huge Cobo Conference Center expansion in 1989, then moved some of its efforts to Kuwait for reconstruction following the Gulf War.

119

Two other Detroit area firms won architectural engineering bids on the huge Chrysler Technical Center complex on 504 acres in Aubum Hills. Those companies - Giffels Associates and Harley Ellington Design, Inc., both of Southfield - have storied histories from Detroit's early days.

After only two years on his own back in 1912, Harley Ellington founder Alvin Harley had wrested a commission away from Albert Kahn, his former employer. The prize, an English Cottage-style mansion, the first of many elegant homes he designed, won him a spot among the city's top architectural firms.

Ellington joined him during the low-tide years or the Depression. In 1970, Ralph Pierce and Warren W Yee also became partners.

Back in the l 930s, after surviving the Depression years, the Giffels architecturaVengineering firm had established a specialty in foundry design, then added industrial nuclear facility design after World War II. lts projects include Detroit's original Cobo Hall and the Kennedy Space Center's lunar launch complex. The firm, renamed Giffels Associates, lnc. in 1970, now includes two subsidiaries: Giffels Technologies, lnc„ of Southfield, specializing in advanced technology projects; and Giffels Hoyem Basso, lnc„ of Troy, architects and engineers.

have been weil represented in Crain's Detroit Business tally of the top 20 architectural cngineering firms doing business statewide based on 1994 revenues.

And builders place highly among the publication's 1994 tally of the top 20 general contractors as well. In that ranking, Barton Malow placed first. WalbridgeAldinger, which in 1984 had acquired the construction firm of Darin & Armstrong, came in second.

Detroit area builders have a new foundation for their continued success, the adoption of the current "design and build" philosophy of construction that has led to corporate pairings or joint ventures.

That idea of "tumkey" construction - building from idea to completion - spurred Robert DeMattia 18 years ago to found the R.A. DeMattia Co. of Plymouth. DeMattia's foresight put his company about six years ahead of the now widespread trend. The firm, with a specialty in high technology building, sometimes uses joint ventures with outside architectural specialists to meet design requirements beyond the scope of the group's architectural entity, DeMattia & Associates, Inc. Garages were the first projects of another relative newcomer, the family-owned DiMaria Building Company, Inc„ of Novi. Following construction of the precast Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tower at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in 1991 - at 230 feet, the tallest in the FAA's Great Lakes Region - the firm has expanded to include three divisions covering health care and housing including low-income projects, the industriaVuniversity sector and special projects involving governmental and municipal work. For two years, 1993 and 1994, it has ranked eighth in the Crain's ranking.

While building construction can be a massive enterprise, complete with earth moving blasts and bulldozers, steel haulers and cranes, sometimes the work calls for a delicate touch.

That happened about five years ago for DeMaria, known for its ability to handle projects with special requirements, according to Judy Ferris, dient coordinator for the firm.

"We did a renovation of the open heart surgery area of Port Huron Hospital," she recalls. "We put up a partition wall and were doing construction on one side while they were doing open heart surgeries on the other side at the same time."

HIGH-TECH METHODS

The emergence of computer technology has changed the thin blue line on architectural and engineering drawings to the bright gridlines on a video screen. And computer aided design and virtual reality, which allow three-dimensional prototypes to be explored and manipulated from many angles, are fast becoming the state of the art - even old hat - for design firms.

As a latecomer to the local scene just 13 years ago, Dearborn's Ghafari Associates, lnc„ under the guidance of founder and owner Yousif Ghafari, has pushed the limits of technology along with acquisitions in its quest to expand worldwide.

The firm, which quickly incorporated computer aided design and engineering techniques, now has representatives in 12 foreign cities. Its international focus has brought it architectural and engineering projects in such places as Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and Poland.

And the purchase of three longstanding rivals (Benjamin, Woodhouse & Guenther; McKenzie, Knuth & Klein; and Eberle M. Smith) during the past six years has expanded the company's base.

Detroit firms, faced with outside competition, have held their own. Southeast Michigan design firms

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he found ati on of th e wo rld 's clcctric and clectron ic systems is based on the work of such earl y pioneers as Vo lta, Ampere ancl O hm , but it was Thomas Alva Edison who made electricit)' a commercial rea lit y when, o n Sepl. -+, 1882 , hc opcncd the firs t ccntral gc ncrating plant o n Pearl Street in New York City. This plan t is memorializccl at Michiga n's Gree nfi eld Village, w here its o nl y s urviv ing dynamo is prese rved.

The Pearl Strce t plant housed six direct-current dynamos, each dri ven at 350 revolutions per minu te by a 200-horsepower reciprocating steam engine taking stea m from hand-fired, coal burni ng boilers. Eac h d yna mo hacl the capacity to power 1,200 incandescent electri c lamps. The cl irect-current, two-wire unclerground d istribution system se rved custo mers wit hin a one-quarter m ile rad ius.

The Ediso n lllu minat ing Company, a forerun ner of The Detroit Ed ison Company, \\'aS fou nded in 1886, and servecl clowntown Detroit custo rners within a o nemilc radius of ils power plant at thc intersection of Washing ton Boulevard ancl Stale Streel. lt was at this plant thal Henry J=ord in the 1890s scrved as chief engi necr whilc in his off hours he tin kc red wi th his expe rim ental gas-cngincd motorcar. Much of this ori ginal po\\'er plant. kn own as "Stati on A," also was preserved by him at Greenficlcl Village.

Although t ew York's Pcarl Street Sta tion operatcd fo r eight years with o nly one three-hour in terru pt ion,

Electrical Engineering Detroit Edison lights the way

by Dan Jarvis

TOP: To meet the public's ever-increasing demand

for e/ectricity, new power plants were started by Detroit Edison at Conners Creek 011 Detroit's east side in 1913 and at Marysville, near Port Huron, in 1921. This photo of the southeast elevation of Conners Creek, showing its landmark "seven sisters" stacks, was taken Sept. 20, 1920. (Detroit Edison)

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the success of electricity was by no means a certainty.

These early electric plants were small because most of the load was used for lighting and because Thomas Edison's direct-current (DC) distribution system severely limited transmission distances. Soon, however, electric motors were powering elevators and industrial equipment - necessitating the need for increased electric production.

George Westinghouse's successful demonstration or alternating current (AC) with the Niagara Falls-Buffalo transmission line in 1896, and Nikola Tesla's invention of the alternating currem poly-phase motor and transformer, laid the foundations for interconnected transmission systems and the industrial electrification of the 20th century.

furnace much like fuel oil. This made Trenton Channel a true engineering landmark because it was one of only two utility-size installations with pulverized coal firing.

CLEAN AIR APPARENT

Installation of the nation's first utility-size electrostatic precipitators on the Trenton Channel boilers was another engineering landmark. Long before concerns for clean air were voiced, the company installed equipment to remove most of the airbome ash produced by the burning of coal. Detroit Edison has never installed a pulverized coal-fired boiler without the use of electrostatic precipitation technology.

In two decades, the Detroit Edison electrical system had expanded from one which served a number of communities more or less independently to an integrated system about 100 miles long. To tie the power plants and their loads together, the company completed its first 120,000 volt (120-kV) overhead transmission line in 1924, from Marysville through Pontiac and Ann Arbor to the Trenton Channel plant.

The rapidly increasing demand for electricity and resulting demand for new plants stimulated numerous improvements in generating equipment. During the l 920s and 30s, the sizes and ratings of turbine generators increased, as did the pressures and temperatures of steam, and Detroit Edison was in the vanguard of these advances. During the l 930s, the company carried out experimental work on a small turbine generator using steam at 1,000 degrees from an oil-fircd super heater.

As steam pressures, temperatures and unit sizes continued to increase, so did overall thermal efficiency.

Improvements came so quickly that plants became obsolete in liule more than a decade.

The increasing demand for electricity - especially reliable electricity - also resulted in many advances in transmission and distribution. Although early substations were operated manually, by 1926 a number of fully automatcd, unmanned substations of a standard 23-kV design were in service.

AC-DC

The first AC plant in Detroit was in service by 1900, and by 1902, AC lines linked some of the downtown power plants. Rotary converters in each plant provided alternate sources of power for the DC distribution system, which improved reliability and reduced the need for duplicate generation.

The Detroit Edison Company was founded in 1903 by the consolidation of several early electric companies in Detroit. The new company responded to the rapidly growing demand for electricity by starting construction or a new plant in February 1903, the first of three built on the Delray site. As originally designed, it housed two or General Electric's new vertical turbine generators rated at 3 megawatts (MW) each and generated power at 4,600 volts.

Fires were lit under the first Delray boiler in August 1904, and additional turbine generators were ordered in 1905 and 1906. Foundations were laid in 1907 for Delray Power House Number 2, for which Detroit Edison ordered 14-MW turbine generators.

During the first decade, the Delray plants increased to a rated capacity of 80 MW To meet the company's ever increasing demand, new plants were started at Conners Creek in 1913, Marysville in 1921, and Trenton Channel in 1924.

The original Trenton Channel Power Plant housed six turbine generators, with a generating capacity or 50 MW each - 17 Limes the size or the original Delray generators. Two decades after Delray 1 and four decades after Pearl Street, the six units at Trenton Channel produced a total output of 300 MW, a huge power plant at that time.

Trenton Channel, however, was noteworthy for more than its size: rather than being burned on a grate, its coal fuel was pulverized and blown into the boiler

Ă&#x153;IRECT (URRENT'S DEMISE

Load on the DC distribution system in downtown Detroit, which reached a peak of 32 MW in 1930, was exceeding the system's technological capacity. Conversion to an AC network system began in 1930, and the last of the DC system was finally retired in 1961.

As technology improved, it became possible to serve customers far from urban areas, and electric service was extended to rural customers. By the midl 930s, more than 60 percent of the farms in the company's service area had electric service. In 1935, Detroit

123

Service truck of the Edison JJ/uminating Company prior to the organization of Detroit Edison in 1903. (D etroit Edison) Ed iso n acqui rcd the Mic higan Electric Co mpan y, which scrvccl th c statc's cas tern Thumb a rca, cxpa ncling thc sc rvi cc area to its presen t 7,600 squarc miles. To provide additio na l line capacity for remain ing rura l c usto me rs, the com pany inc reased its subtransmission vo ltages in thc T humb from 24 to 40 kV G radua ll r, thc cntirc ovcrhead s ubtransmissio n system was convencd 10 40 kV. Altho ug h bo th overhead and undergrou nd distribution systems werc cmployed, bulk powe r transmissio n in urba n areas was limited because cables for vohages g reater than H kV wcre no t availablc. In 194 l th e first l 20-kV undcrground cable was installed from Dclray to Warrcn Stati on , a distance of seven milcs. This cable consistcd of three single co nduc to r cablcs installcd in a scvcn-i nc h-cl iamcte r steel pipe and insulatcd with ni troge n gas a1 a prcss ure of 200 psi.

The compan y installcd its first postwar units also its first 100-MW un its - at Trenton Channel and inco rpora ted many tech n ical adva nces s uch as hydrogen-cooled gen erators, a ccntralized co ntrol room and complete AC elcctri cal aux il iary sys tem s, w hi c h became feasiblc beca use of the strongl y interconnec ted transm ission system.

The nex t la ndmarks in thc steady climb in unit sizes were St. Clair, the largest power plant in the world when Unit 7 was co mplcted , and River Rouge l and 2 wh ich, a t 260 MW each , were the largest units in the world when they were commissio ned. River Rouge 3, at 300 MW, was another world record-setter in its day.

However, these soon wc rc ovcnaken by the Monroe plant w ith four 750-MW units boasting a total capacity of 3 ,000 MW. Less than five decades afte r the company co mpleted its original Trento n Cha nn el p lant, Detroit Edison's newest pla nt was l.O times the size of its predecessor.

With !arger unit s izcs a ncl a stable economy with modest inflatio n aftcr Wo rld Wa r II , the cost of th ese plants was maintai necl in thc $ 150-pcr-kW to 5200-pcrkW ra nge, wh ile cfficicncy a nd o perating conditio ns co ntinued to be improvcd. In all, Detroit Edison has com missioned 24 new generating units since the end of Wo rld War 11 and now has a total gcnerating capaci ty of 10,000 MW. Comparc this with the fact that th e co mpany's peak load d id no t excecd 1,000 MW until late in Wo rld War 11 o r that th c capacity of Fermi 2 alo ne is 1,140 MW. Ă&#x;y 1939, the scien tific aclvances o f the cen tury's first four decadcs had clemo nstrated that a contro llecl nuclear reaction was probably achievable, and develop-

RISING TO (HALLENGE Wo rlcl War II a nd the demands of industrial plants bui ldin g military cquipment scverely s trainecl thc capac it y of thc nation's elect ric utilities. Thanks to co nsc rvativc dcsign and the co urageo us dcc ision to rcbu ild 1he Co nn crs C ree k Power Plant during thc Great Depressio n , Detroit Ed ison was able to mec t thc heavy dcmand of thc area¡s "arsenal of democracy." After the war, cco no mic cx pansion resulted in alm ost cont in uous building of new power plants as thc co mpan y's load do ublcd eac h dccadc until the 1960s. Plant e ffi cicncy improved as steam tempe ratures of 1,000 degrccs became s 1andard and plants changcd from ba nks o f boil ers and 1urbincs to single boiler/ turbin e uni1 syste m us ing superhcated steam.

12-l

ment soon was under way in several nations, including Germany, the USSR and Japan.

the distribution system to levels that industrial, commercial and residential customers can accept.

To improve the appearance of transmission lines, the company installed steel poles instead of lattice towers to support a 120-kV line between the Warren and Evergreen stations in 1965. At about the same time, line hardware made feasible a more aesthetically pleasing wood pole line for 120-kV transmission. Such lines now are used for subtransmission feeding substations which transform 120 kV to 13 kV. More recent developments in transmission included installation of the first 345-kV underground cable between Stephens and Caniff stations in 1973 and the installation at several locations of 120-kV switch gear insulated with sulfur hexafluoride gas. Enclosing and insulating this equipment with gas considerably reduces its physical size, making it suitable for installations in limited spaces where appearance is a concern.

NUCLEAR FAMILY

Fortunately the Allied effort succeeded, and the first controlled nuclear chain reaction was achieved by Enrico Fermi, an ltalian physicist, at the University of Chicago on Dec. 2, 1942. The atom was first harnessed to generate commercial electricity in the United Kingdom in the early 1950s, followed by the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States at Shippingport, Pa., in 1957. Today, more than 400 nuclear plants operate in 30 nations, supplying about 17 percent of the world's electricity. In the United States, 109 nuclear plants supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. In addition, literally hundreds of reactors are in service in four of the world's naval fleets, mostly powering submarines.

Detroit Edison was in the forefront of nuclear power development when it formed a consortium of utilities and other companies to build the Enrico Fermi 1 breeder reactor, which began operation in 1963. The plant life was short because, as an experimental reactor, it could not compete economically in that age of relatively inexpensive fossil fuels.

Low

\

PROFILE,

Low

FREED TO REFOCUS

Prior to 1950, Detroit Edison engineered and built its own plants, a practice followed by only a few electric utilities. For nearly the next decade, the company performed all engineering until the rapid growth in demand in the late 1960s forced a restructuring whereby many larger projects were contracted to architects and engineers. Thereafter, Detroit Edison's engineering departments concentrated on solving problems, scoping projects, establishing Standards and criteria, monitoring design work performed by the architects and engineers, and supporting operating facilities.

This method is very effective because when a problem arises in a plant, Detroit Edison engineers familiar with the plant and its equipment have an advantage over outside contractors. Company engineering specialists know whether similar problems have been experienced in the industry and, more importantly, know whether other Detroit Edison plants have experienced such problems and how those problems were solved. By incorporating the lessons learned over many years of power plant operation into the design and construction of new plants, company experts have significantly improved the reliability and availability of these new plants.

Detroit Edison engineers have always been active on national code committees, and their many contributions can be measured by the widespread acceptance of many company standards including those governing rules for safe boiler operation, power plant control room design and data-base management systems.

In the mid 1960s, Detroit Edison engineers provided expertise during the design and construction of the

CuRRENT

In the electric utility business, developments in transmission and distribution go hand-in-hand with developments in generation. In 1960, the company took a new approach in construction. In substations, Detroit Edison replaced its tall steel lattice girders supporting bus conductors with aluminum stands only 15 feet high. This low-profile design greatly improved the appearance of such installations and made possible the construction of step-down stations in urban areas.

Increases in both load and load density led to the adoption of 13 kV as a distribution voltage in 1960 to augment the 4 ,800 V systems standard since early in the company's history. In 1968 the same load pressures resulted in the introduction of a new transmission voltage - 345 kV - with completion of the line between the St. Clair Power Plant and the Pontiac Station. Today the 345-kV "outer loop" forms the backbone of the company's transmission system and its interconnections with neighboring utilities.

Voltages are stepped up at power plants before distribution over lines. Since stepping up voltages reduces the amount of current, the practice allows the transfer of large amounts of power over comparable equipment.

Voltages are stepped back down at several points along

125

commercial operation in 1988, put heavy demands on Detroit Edison's engineering and construction departments, its architect-engineers, and its construction contractors. At the peak of the program, an estimated 1,500 engineers and designers and more than 5,000 skilled tradesmen were at work on Belle River, Fermi 2 and various environmental projects. With these projects completed, the company experienced a sharp decline in engineering and construction activity. However, it still oversees work performed by contractors and can perform smaller construction jobs and emergency or special work.

Now one of the largest electric utilities in the nation, Detroit Edison has 8,400 employees serving nearly 2 million customers in its 7,600-square-mile service area, covering 13 counties in southeastern Michigan.

As part of the drive to provide customers with exceptional value, company engineers have solved many complex problems - such as efficient energy usage and conservation of resources - for industrial electrical users. Working closely with companies such as General Motors, Ford, Great Lakes Steel, Scott Paper and Amoco, Detroit Edison engineers have shown ingenuity and commitment in providing superior service and significant savings by going beyond the call of duty to establish positive relationships.

As a result of the company's three-year, $236-million reliability improvement program to strengthen its 27,000-mile transmission and distribution system and customer communications, Detroit Edison now has the second-best service reliability record in the nation.

Improvements in overhead-line maintenance and the installation of 100,000 lightning-protection devices will benefit not only larger industrial customers, but residential and commercial customers as well.

As the company's facilities age, continuous improvements will be necessary to improve service reliability and keep existing equipment functioning properly. lt is not surprising that Detroit Edison, like many utilities, has no firm plans for building additional generating units. Whatever the future holds, we can be sure that strong, competent engineering organizations will continue to be as important in the future as they have been throughout the company's illustrious past.

Michigan Electric Power Coordination Center in Ann Arbor, which monitors power plant generation, customer demand and the changing economics of buying and selling electricity among utilities. In the mid l 970s, company engineers guided the design and construction of Detroit Edison's System Operations Center (SOC), which monitors, coordinates and directs the day-to day operation of the Detroit Edison electrical system.

During the design review process of the SOC and several other construction projects, company engineers developed unique methods of evaluating systems for reliability, availability and operability. During the design phase of the Belle River Power Plant in the late l 970s and early l 980s, the engineers used new methods and tools - such as operations research, risk analysis, human factors engineering and computer models - to study heat rates, human performance, voltages and unit sizes. As a result, significant improvements have been made to the company's overall power plant system.

REGULATORY RETROFITS

These techniques are not reserved for new plants.

Problems in existing plants often pose greater engineering challenges than those encountered in new designs. Detroit Edison has devised solutions to these problems through the blending of experience and the application of new methods and technologies. A good example is the impact on power plants of escalating environmental regulations over the last two decades.

Not only have these regulations required the backfitting of large, expensive additional equipment such as dust collectors which had to be fitted within the confines of operating plants, but in many cases these mandated changes resulted in reductions in plant output and efficiency.

Such losses were expected - and experienced when the company began burning low sulfur coal from Montana in the St. Clair boilers designed for highersulfur Eastern coals. Detroit Edison engineers, using the company's own computer models, studied the effects of additional modifications to the boilers. The result was a relatively simple and inexpensive modification which proved the validity of the models and resulted in improved boiler output and availability using low-sulfur coal while reducing the need for supplementary oil. Detroit Edison remains a world leader in the blending of coal to increase efficiency and reduce pollutants.

The company's latest major construction program, which ended when the Fermi 2 nuclear plant reached

126

In this scene on Larned Street in Detroit in the 1880s, gas street lamps were still very much in evidence, as was a Civil War battle attraction ("Battle of Atlanta'?.

(MichCon) โ ข - --

La te in thc summer ol' 1849 , Le muc l 11. Dav is, a gas cngineer fro m Phi ladelphia backcd by eastcrn fi nancie rs, came to Detroi t to organizc and establ1sh thc Detroit Gas Light Company. Davi built a gas plant o n Vloodbricloe betwccn Fifth and ixth Strects. The hcart รถ of thc plant was a long, low brick building which houscd the reto rts. Retorts, ca l iron cont ainers about cight fcct long and two fcct widc, wcrc placcd in ban ks of ix cach ovcr a furnacc. Thc first stcp in mak ing gas was to start thc furnaccs and stokc thcm un til thc rctorts glowccl a bright red. Then the workers shovcled soft coal into cach reto rt and bangccl th c lid shu;, Inside thc ai rti ght reto rts the coal, dcprivccl of oxygc n, could no t burn ; in thc fcarfu l hcat il smoldcred away, yielding its ligh t-prod uci ng gases. /\ l't cr abo ut six hou rs, noth-

vc ry fall in Detroi t as temperatures cl ro p in to th c firties for the fi rst time, therc's a dick an d a whoosh and sudclcnly the ho usc is warm. \Vhat seems so simple 10 us is aetuall y a process thats bcen fincl y .__ _ ho ned over nearl y 150 years.

Bcfore it was ever used for heating o r cooking. gas was used to light o ur city's streets. The first attempt to bring gas light to Detroit began in September 1848, when 12 of the citys most respectecl merchants and lawye rs organi zed the City of Detro it Ga Compan y.

1ore than civic-111 inded ncss. however, was necclcd to pul gas light on thc streets. Thc manufacture and distribution of gas vvas an expensive ancl co mplcx eni crprisc.

127

between Wright and Franklin. The new holder had a capacity of 520,000 cubic feet, which tripled the company's storage capacity. Thanks to this increase in its storage capacity, the Detroit Gas Light Company was able to increase its total output in 1870 to almost 85 million cubic feet, three times the production of only 10 years earlier. Today, MichCon can store 130 billion cubic feet (BcO of gas and its customers annually use in excess of 200 Bcf. In 1885, natural gas was discovered in western Ohio. The fields were near cities accustomed to paying high rates for manufactured gas, and several companies were formed to utilize the new fuel source. Natural gas pipelines were extended to Toledo, and several businessmen began to consider constructing pipelines all the way to Detroit. In 1888, work began on a 94-mile natural gas pipeline, and on the night of Dec. 31, 1889, employees of the new Michigan Gas Company first lit gas jets erected in Grand Circus and Cass parks. Natural gas lighting had come to Detroit.

While the Ohio supply was close to depletion by 1894, another field was found in Ontario, Canada. So began the second pipeline in Detroit, this one running underneath the Detroit River. A long, sloping trench was dug in the river bank at the foot of Orleans Street, and another across the river on the Canadian side. The wrought iron pipe was assembled on the American side in 200-foot sections. At a signal given by flags, a locomotive stationed on the Canadian side would pull the pipe into the river, stopping just before the pipe sank beneath the surface. Then another section would be added until the pipe was long enough to span the river bottom. Towards the end, the pipe grew so heavy that it took seven locomotives hitched together to produce the power necessary to haul the pipeline up onto the Canadian shore.

Because the supply of natural gas was limited to whatever was found in these Ohio and Ontario fields, manufactured gas supplemented the natural gas. In fact, manufactured gas was one of the most important resources of the Detroit City Gas Company until 1936.

That year, natural gas was brought to the city by a pipeline from the gas fields of the Texas Panhandle to gas consumers in Detroit - a distance of 1,200 miles.

The pipeline came above the ground at the property of the Detroit City Gas Company in Melvindale, near River Rouge. A station was built there for the many operations necessary to treat the gas before it could be routed into the city's distributing system.

(This facility still exists today.) First, since natural gas is odorless, an odor was added to the gas. The gas also was mixed with a small amount of water and "fogged"

ing was left in the retorts but coke. The process was known as "destructive distillation" of coal.

The next step was to treat the raw gas removed from the retorts. The hot gas rising from the coal was piped out of the retort house into another building, where a series of condenser pipes cooled it. The cooling process removed water, light oils, tar and some of the ammonia suspended in the gas. "Sulpheretted hydrogen" (hydrogen sulfide) had yet tobe removed.

This is the gas which emits the characteristic odor of rotten eggs. Containers of "copperas" (iron sulfate) and slaked lime were used to draw out the hydrogen sulfide and most of the other offensive impurities.

The by-products of this process were varied and valuable. If the coal used in the retorts was of a good enough quality, the coke remaining could be sold to iron and steel works or used to heat the furnaces under the retorts. Tar usually sold well, but when its price dropped, it too could be burned in the furnaces.

Ammonia salts were later recovered for use in chemical plants or as fertilizer.

What remained were gases that would burn cleanly - carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. This mixture was piped into the "gasometer" (gas holder), which not only stored the gas but also contained a counterweighted iron piston that kept it under proper pressure for distribution.

By june 1851, 53 street lamps had been erected on Woodward, Woodbridge andjefferson Streets. On Sept.

24, 1851, Detroit was illuminated for the first time by gas manufactured from coal. On that day, a gas light was lit in front of City Hall and the Detroit Gas Light Company was in the business of lighting streets and homes. Later, a Detroit newspaper proclaimed: "GAS! GAS! GAS! The town was illuminated for the first time on Wednesday ... it was a novel and pleasing sight ... the promptitude and energy of the officers of the company is worthy of all praise."

As the desire and need for gas grew and applications expanded beyond lighting to cooking, more gas was needed, as were improvements in manufacturing and distribution. A new plant was built to help accommodate these needs.

The new plant featured the latest improvements in gas production techniques, including fire-brick retorts, which required more time to carbonize the coal than did the old-fashioned variety made of cast iron. But the fire-brick retorts brought the coal up to a higher temperature and thus yielded a better quality of gas.

In 1868, orders went out for one of the new "telescopic" water-seal gas holders, to be built at the company's newly-purchased eastside lot on Chene Street, 128

Ready availability of natural gas for home, comm ercial and industrial purposes in the Detroit area was made possible by comple tion in 1936 of a 1,200-mile gas pipeline such as this from production fields in the Texas panhandle. (MichCon)

with oil to keep the joints and connections in the mains from drying out. Finally, the pressure under which the gas traveled , about 100 pounds per square inch (psi), had to be reduced to between 10 and 50 pounds, depending on the load conditions and the seaso n or the year. (Today, gas typicall y travels near l ,000 psi.)

In Detroi t, one or the most important inclus trial uses for gas was to speed the drying of paints ancl enamcls used on au tomobile parts. In this operation the chassis ancl bocly parts were sent on conveyors between banks of gas jets which bakecl them dry. Other important uses for industrial gas were in forging, japanning, core baking, and for melting some metals. Because of all or the manufacturing, Detroit was using more than its "share" of natural gas. What coulcl be clone to ensure the availability of natural gas year-round for manufacturing needs without using up what homeowners neecled?

The answer lay undern eath the grouncl . There we re some paniall y clepletecl gas fi elcls in wes t central Miehigan wh ich might be usecl as reservoirs to store relatively low-pricecl gas that coulcl be bought in the summertime for use later on. This is how gas is still storecl toclay, eliminating the neecl for manufacturecl gas.

As the inclus try was cleveloping, so was Michiga n Consoliclatecl Gas Company. The Detroit Gas Light Co. (City of Detroit Gas Co.) enjoyecl exclusivity until the fall or 187 1 when a seconcl company, the Mutual Gas Light Company, began operating in Detroit. A thircl firm , the Michigan Gas Cornpany. enterecl the gas business in Detroit in 1889 and four years later bought out the other two firrns, creating the Detroit Gas Company.

In Januar)' of 1898, the compan y was reorga ni zecl ancl namecl the Detroit City Gas Company. In the years that followecl , many gas ancl intrastate pipeline Operations were acquirecl by the company, ancl it grew ancl prosperecl as a result. Through the years, the company has operatecl uncler several names. 1ts present name was acloptecl in 1938; the famil iar form , MichCon, was coinecl in 1982.

Toclay, MichCon operates a maj or intras tate pipeline systern in Michigan. This system is connectecl to sources of supply ancl furnishes gas transportation services to other companies. In adclition, MichCon owns ancl operates storage ficlcls used to s uppl ement its own gas supply during the winter and to store gas fo r other companies. MichCon also operates a pipeli ne maintenance ancl re pair service for both emergency ancl scheclulecl wo rk situations. Ă&#x;asically, MichCo n is a re tailer of natural gas. That means it buys gas from co mpanies that speciali ze in fincling and transporting natural gas, and resells it to

our customers. Much of the gas distri buted is tapped in the southern part of the U.S. and tra nsportecl north by pipcline. Primary gas-gathering fac ili ties serving MichCon are in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and nearly 200 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. MichCon also receives gas fro m suppliers in nonhern Michiga n and Canada.

Although most 1ichCon customcrs are concentrated in the metropolitan Detroit area, the com pany also serves many outstate commun it ies - fro m Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids, and north from Mt. Pleasant and throughout the Upper Pen insula.

What 12 men stanecl ncarly 150 years ago to help makc the strcets of Detroit safe has become Mic higan's largest nawral gas distributor, providing safety and co mfon to 3.5 million Mic higan reside nts.

129

Consumers Power Company sign in Royal Oak warning of underground gas line. (Mike Davis)

onsumers Power Co mpany, the principal subsid iary o r CMS Energy Co rporation, o riginated in 1886 when W. A. Foote for mecl the jackson Electric Light \.\lorks in jackso n, Mich. The company grew in thc late 19th century ancl ea rl y 20th century from separate electric ancl natural gas utilities, locatecl in severa l cities in Michigan's Lower Peninsula , acq uired by Foote ancl his successo rs .

Consumers Power is the roun h largest co mbination gas-ancl-elcctric utility in thc Un itecl Statcs, se rving electricity ancl natural gas to almost six million peoplc in Mich igan. The company was organizccl in Mainc in 1910, and incorporated in Mic higan in 1968.

Consumers Powe r fo rm ed NOMECO Oil & Gas Co., a who ll y ow nccl oi l ancl gas explo ration ancl procluction company, in 1967. lt fo rmcd CMS Cogeneratio n. now callecl CMS Generat io n, in 1986.

A corporate reo rganization in 1987 createcl CMS Energy Corporati on, a $3.6 bil lion (sales) di vc rs ifi ccl encrgy company wit h businesscs engaged in elect ric ancl natural gas utility o perati ons; indepenclent power procluction; in terstate Storage, transmissio n ancl marketing or natural gas; oi l and gas explora ti on ancl produeti on and uti li ty serviecs.

CMS Generation, the inclepcndent power un it or CMS Energy, is one or Americas top nve indepcndent powe r producers wit h in terests in -+,087 megawaus rrom 13 opcrating power plants in the Uni tcd States, South America ancl Philippines. CMS Energy was the lead develo per of" the Midland Cogeneration Vcnture

Power to

The People CMS advances reliability of storage, distribution for rural energy consu1ners

1.10

(MCV), a 1.370-megawa tt cogeneratio n faciliLy in Miclland, Michiga n, the largest such projcct in Operation in No nh America. 'l iGHTS IS W ORKIN' ' When Consumers Power Co. was in its for mative years near the turn of the 20th century, Lhc now-ro uli ne process of Lransmi uing electriciLy fro m it s so urce Lo customers was no l taken fo r gran ted. So in 1899 , when Lhe company builL a 24-mile trans mission lin k belwccn Kala mazoo and a hyclroelecLric clam on the Kala mazoo Rive r, Consumers founcler Foote clicl nol kn ow whaL to ex pect from Lhe new system until a ricler on ho rseback return ccl from Kalamazoo Lo the clam yelli ng, â&#x20AC;˘Âˇ1ts wo rkin'. Thc lights is workin'."

Now supplying electricity ancl natural gas Lo 67 of Michiga n's 68 lower peninsula counties, jackson-bascd Consumcrs has always had tobe concerned wit h transmitLing power over great clistances Lo reach iLs far- flung cuslomers. In aclclitio n LO Michigan's rural regions, the operation serves so me of Lhe wo rld's largcsl inclusLrial gianls, includ ing Gene ral Mo to rs, Dow Chemieal, Upjo hn and Ke ll ogg.

Consumers' commi tment to serving the farmc r was an iculated by Wcndcll Vv'illkie, thc 1940 presidcntial candiclate and presiclenL of the holcling compan y Lhat

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owned Consu mers Powe r. He urgecl Lhe firm to "ge t oul fron l of the parade" by providing electrieity 10 the fa rming communi ty. The utiliLy turned on power lo ils first farm family in 1927, ancl by OcLOber 1949 became Lhe natio n's firsLuLiliLy Lo connecl 100,000 farms. Thal record has never becn cqualecl .

An increased appelile for clecLriciLy and appliances led Consumers Lo develop iLs Traveling Showroom in 1935. The Showroo m transponed sample elecLrical appliances Lo inlrigued ru ral consumers.

The natura l gas end of Cons ume rs' busi ness received a boosL in 194 1, when Lhe company made ilS fi rst conneclion with Panhanclle Easlern Pipe Line Company's interstale gas transmission pipeli ne.

Pus hed by Michiga n's suburban boom, Consumers' elecLrical sales s urged after Worlcl War ll Lo the point where the firm bui ll 1.9 baseload generating un its between 1948 and 197 1. The constructio n boom includ ed the company's first nuclea r planl near Charlevoix.

A proposed nuclcar planl in Mid land, however, almost proved tobe Lhe company's financial undoing in the early 1980s. Plagued by massive cost overruns in Midland , Cons umers Power Co. haltecl wo rk o n the facility in 1984.

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Lines of Communication The telephone ties together people, enterprises everywhere O n july 26, 1877, Ă&#x;ell's "clect ric spea king telephone" bowecl into Mich igan h istory. The sce ne was Detroit. T he Evcning cws for july 27, 1877, ca rried this bricf account: "C. C. Rced, tcl egraph supe rintenclent o f the lichigan Cen tral railroad , receivecl yesterday a house

ichigan tclephone his tory began just 16 molllhs a fter Alexande r Graham Ă&#x;ells invelllion transmittecl the firs t se nte nce that co ulcl be plainl y hearcl a ncl uncle rs tood.

1

TOP: Employment as switchboard operators, as shown in this c 1950 Michigan Bell photo, was a major source

of work for women before the days of equal opportunity and technological advances which obsoleted the equipmenl. (A meritech)

132

telephone from the inventor A. Graham Bell, of Cambridge, Mass. He proposes to satisfactorily demonstrate its merits by a series of experiments in a few days. lt consists of two small boxes in each of which are magnets placed in contact with a diaphragm of sheet iron.

There are mouth pieces on the end of each and the sound of the voice, coming in contact with the iron plate and magnet, causes an electric current and carries the sound over the wires. Each box is, of course, placed at the required distance for communication. Besides these boxes there are also wooden attachments, containing only the iron plate or diaphragm, which may be attached at intermediate points on the communication wires. lt is claimed that the electricity furnished by the magnets will serve for several of these attachments, and allow other persons to exchange conversation, besides the two persons at the magnet boxes."

The first commercial telephone line in the state was installed in Detroit in Sept. 1877. A single iron wire, strung from the roofs of houses, connected the Frederick Stearns drug store, at Woodward and Jefferson avenues, to the firm's laboratory at Woodbridge and Fifth streets.

A telegraph "throw-switch" and a bell were placed at each end of the line. A battery was installed at one end of the circuit. To make a call, one of the switches was thrown to cut the telephones out of the circuit and bring in the battery and bells. The caller then pushed a button to ring the bells. He then threw the switch back, bringing the telephones into the circuit, and began his conversation.

"The telephone in the police Stations continues to afford visitors and attendants much entertainment." Free Press, Oct. 6, 1877.

Michigan's first telephone company, the Telephone and Telegraph Construction Company, was incorporated Oct. 31, 1877. In those days, since the switchboard had not yet been invented, communication was possible only between telephones attached to the same line.

Telegraph lines often were used to carry telephone messages. In some cases, temporary phone lines were built on top of houses and office buildings. lt wasn't long, though, until the telephone company began the first real pole-and-wire telephone lines.

Pioneer linemen drove leisurely in horse-drawn wagons to construction sites, then hoisted the poles and stretched the wire with raw muscle power. The poles were pretty much like the ones used today, except they were longer and not so well protected against decay. Lines, however, were made of soft iron similar to baling wire. For a crude protection against rust, the wire was boiled in oil.

GROUNDED CIRCUITS

A circuit used a single wire. The return connection was made by grounding the line in the earth. Telephone men were pleased when their line paralleled a railroad because they could ground the circuit on a rail and get superior full-metallic transmission.

The telephone was now a permanent part of the Michigan scene. Telephone transmission had proved successful and the first operating Bell telephone company had been formed. But the switchboard had not yet appeared in Michigan. A half-dozen telephone companies in other parts of the country, however, had devised workable switchboards.

On Aug. 5, 1878, Michigan got its first switchboard. lt was a crude piece of equipment set up in a small room at the rear of the American District Telegraph Company's office, which occupied the lower floor of a building at the comer of Detroits Griswold and Congress streets. The 40-story Guardian Building now occupies that site.

The switchboard was manned by several messenger boys of the American District Telegraph Company.

The first directory of telephone customers was published on Sept. 15 of that same year. lt bad 124 listings. The police department, although listed just once, had ten telephones, bringing the total number of telephones for that time to 133.

Grand Rapids got Michigan's second switchboard on June 1, 1879. Soon, telephone exchanges were established in Bay City and Saginaw. Port Huron citi-

THROWN FOR A LOOP

Stearns invited the public to use the telephone. A sign in his drug store window read, "Come in and talk over the amazing long distance telephone. Throw your voice almost two miles." (A slight exaggeration in distance.) Accounts of the day report that people flocked in to try the new device, but most were skeptical. They were sure it was a fake and that the voice they heard was someone shouting through a speaking tube from an upper floor.

The second commercial installation in Detroit was for the police department. Here are two of the several newspaper accounts of the event: "The Bell telephone is now being tried by the police department with a view to its adoption in place of the rickety old telegraph apparatus, which is always out of order. Connections were made with the different police Stations, and although the operators were inexperienced the apparatus worked surprisingly well." Post, Oct. 4, 1877.

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zens. who saw their first telcphone in 1878, celebrated communi ties. The firs t international telephone li ne the opcning or their cxchange Oll Christmas Day, 1879. bcgan scrvice Jan . 20, 1880, between Detro it and vVinclsor, Ontario.

O ther citics with ca rl y exchanges wc rc Cadillac, Charlo11e, Fenton, Flint, Kalamazoo, La nsing, Manistce, LONG-DISTANCE LEADERS Mus kcgon, New Haven, Pinckncy, Po ntiac, Roya l Oak, Although th c wcstern part o r th c s tate hacl started Rockland, St. Clair, Ypsilanti , and Wyando tte. cons t ruct ing a long d islt was cl urin g this lin c fro m ta ncc pcri ocl o r expand ing telcMus kego n via Grand phonc scrvi cc that "thc Havcn to G rancl Rapicls, voicc with a smil c" was the honor of completing born . Gi rls began rcplacM ichigan' s fir~ t long clising boys as telephonc tance circuit went to the operators.

Ea rl y lclers of a li nc from bui accoun ts say the boys Port Huron to Detroit. scurriccl about in a crazy li nc was lookecl This fash ion ancl that the rowof teleupon as a marvcl clicr ones even sworc at phone constru ctio n. lt subseribers who insisted in 1881 , one of was then, o n qui ck connections. the longest toll lines in Grand Rapids is creclited the world. with being the firs t in As th c need arose to Michigan to employ lin k the exchanges in the women regularly as s tate, new companies opcrato rs. Thal city Look O ne was werc formecl. the s tep when its boy Michigan Bell Teleth c o pera to rs werc cliscovCompany, crcated pho ne crecl shootin g marblcs on Jan. 10, 1881. Within ins teacl or tencling the a few years it was comswitchboard. Detroit saw with the Telephone binecl the wisclom of the movc Telegraph Cons trucancl ancl cmployecl its first tion Company to form wo men Operato rs late in the Michigan Telephone 1879.

Compan y. From 1882 The li censc gran ted through 1885, other by 1h c nati onal Bell Teleco nnectecl to cities phone Compan y to th e Detroit by telep ho ne Telephone and Telegraph incluclecl Ypsilanti , Ann Constru ction Company Arbo r, Toledo , Jackson , of Detroit proviclecl only Co lclwater, Hillsclale, fo r th c building and Flint , ancl Lansing. Sagiopcration of exchangcs. naw, connected in 1884, l1 die! not givc thc right boasted the firs t circuit lO construct o r operatc This upright telephone with a dial for automatically or coppcr wire, the conintcr-city or toll lincs. reaching numbers without going through an operator was ductor that provided the An cxc hangc was ddi ned a major technical advance about 1925. (Ameritech) best tra nsmissio n over as all terri tory within a long distances.

15-mi lc rad ius o r lhe When Alexander ccntral offi cc.

Bell' s pho ne patent expired in January 189-t, Graham Uncler thesc terms. thc lo ngest tclephonc lines thc door was nung opcn to un limited competition in connected Grossc Poin te and Wyandotte th rough thc lt was a period that the growi ng pho ne industry.

Detroit switchboard . An cl the grea1est clis1ance 1wo brough t abou t the advcrsc co ndit ions that lecl to the peoplc coulcl talk was the 24 miles bctwccn thosc two

concept of the telephone industry as a natural monopoly.

One of the first non-Bell affiliated companies to spring up in Michigan was an Escanaba firm established in 1894. Another much larger one was Citizen's Telephone Company which opened for business in Grand Rapids in 1896 and operated there andin Kalamazoo, Lansing, jackson, and other central Michigan communities in 1923.

Duplicate telephone service was common in those early years. Competing companies organized in the same areas meant costly duplicate facilities, and that customers had to subscribe to both companies' services to be able to call all telephones in town. The last example of duplicate telephone service in Michigan ended in 1950, when the jonesville Cooperative Telephone Company system became a part of the Michigan Bell system.

Though the Bell system ended duplication of telephone facilities, even in 1970 there were more than 70 telephone companies operating in Michigan, most of them small. Several, however, were large companies with thousands of phones and hundreds of employees.

The thinking then was that, in place of competition believed to result in poor service and unnecessary customer expense - just one telephone company would serve a given area, tied in to all other areas where telephone service was available. All phone companies in the state are utilities regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission. In 1995, the monopoly concept for local telephone service is once again being challenged.

While the 20th century was still in its infancy, the telephone industry grew into a vigorous youngster. By 1906, the Michigan State Telephone Company (later to become Michigan Bell Telephone Company and today's Ameritech) had 200 exchanges and nearly 100,000 subscribers.

That same year, the company's first automobile garage was built in Detroit. Its five types of vehicles were symbolic of the times and place: an "electric cable truck," a "light gasoline wagon" manufactured by the Oldsmobile Company of Lansing, a "heavy gasoline truck" manufactured by the Reliance Motor Car Company of Detroit (predecessor of GMC Truck), a "gasoline delivery wagon" manufactured by Cadillac and a "gasoline runabout," also built by Cadillac.

Work was begun on the New York to San Francisco telephone line in 1913. lt was completed onjan. 25, 1915. And, within a month the first commercial telephone call from Detroit to San Francisco was made.

The three-minute call between two executives of a Detroit automobile firm took 30 minutes to set up and cost $16.70. Today a three-minute call to anywhere in the continental United States can be made for $1 or less - and the call goes through instantly.

Immediately after World War 1, telephones grew rapidly in use and popularity. By April of 1919, the new Detroit Headquarters Building of the Michigan State Telephone Company (Michigan Bell) was ready for its first occupants. By August, all administrative offices of the company were in the new seven-story structure at Cass Avenue and State Street. Twelve stories were added in 1928.

When radio broadcasting in Michigan began in 1922, the telephone system was ready to play its part.

Telephone wires were used to transmit programs from the studio of WWI (now WWJ) to its transmitters, just as they are today. The first radio station hookup via telephone wires - in 1924 - connected Detroit and 11 other cities for the broadcast of the Republican National Convention from Cleveland. Today the nationwide telephone system provides the coast-tocoast radio and television networks that transmit programs to stations throughout the nation.

Another important milestone in the telephone's development occurred in Detroit in 1923: automatic dial telephone service was introduced by the Michigan State Telephone Company (Michigan Bell). lt took until after World War II before dial service became nearly universal.

BELLWETHER EVENT On Jan. 1, 1924, the Michigan State Telephone Company - formed in 1904 when the old Michigan Telephone Company was reorganized - officially became the Michigan Bell Telephone Company. Renaming of the firm was a symbolic event publicly indicating the company's close association with the other Bell System companies in the nation, a relationship that was to last 60 years.

The first transatlantic call from Michigan to London, England, was made on Feb. 12, 192 7.

The first public demonstration of television was April 7, 192 7. Bell engineers successfully transmitted the image of Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, from Washington, D.C., to New York City. Three months later, the bulky TV apparatus was brought to Detroit for a demonstration. Two-way air-to-ground

INSTALLER CIRCUITS The first motorcycle unit of telephone installers was outfitted in Detroit in 1912. Many early installers made their rounds on bicycles.

135

The 1950s and earl y '60s bro ug ht even mo re teles peec h with airpla nes, using regular Bell Syste m fac il ipho ne ad vance men ts - and a t a fas ter clip . On Jul y ti es, began in May, L929.

15, 1952, Mich iga n Bell's two- mil lion th telep ho ne was Te letyp ewrite r exc hange service was bo rn on Nov. ins tall ed - j ust 10 years afte r the millio n mark was 21 , 193 1. reached .

Develo pment of the coax ial cable syste m, w hich A year la tcr, custo mer clia ling of la ng dis tance calls has played a majo r part in la ng d is tan ce te lep ho ne development and nelw o rk te lev ision, was a nno un ced - Dircc t Dis tance Dia ling - was inaug urated. Birming ham c us tome rs got the service on Nov. 20, 1953 . lt in the fall of 1936 .

When the "fatcful 40s" dawned , Mi chi ga n Bell 's was the scco nd DDD insta llatio n in the na tio n . (Englewoocl, New J ersey, was the first.) DD D gradually sp reacl number of telepho nes had hit the 820,000 mark, 306 to other s tate com m un ities, centra l offices wc re in incl ud ing Detroit in 1960. o peration , and cus to mers Se rvice re fine me nts a nd were making ove r four milnew instru m en ta li ties lio n calls eac h day. emcrgecl a l a rate prev iousNew tele pho ne se rly un heard o f. Mic h igan vices and new equipme nL Bell ins talled its th ree-milcame o nto the scc nc with as to nis hing rap id ity. Teleli onth te lepho ne in 1961. pho ne communi ca ti o n During the la te '50s between mov ing ve hi cles a ncl early '60s, the Princess beca me co mm o n place. pho ne, the Bell C h ime ri nger, ho me inte r phone Ship -to-s ho re se rvice fo r the Great Lakes s hips was systc ms, and volu me co nina ugura ted in l 942 . tro l pho nes we re int roMo bile se rvice, fo r te ledu cecl to Mich iga n Bell pho ni ng from ca rs a nd c us to me rs a ncl we rc trucks, was introduccd in accep tecl with e nth us iasm.

19 46.

To uc h-To ne ca ll ing , pushIn 1948, t hc na tion's button "d ialing ," made its te le pho ne sys te m was debut in 1964. ready to carry televis io n Elect ronic Switch ing programs over its coaxial Sys1ems (ESS) was in troca bles a ncl tclcp ho n c The personal communication revolution of the 1990s d uced in 1966, ancl han nc lwo rks . has been the wireless cellular telephone, shown here cl led te lep ho n e cal ls a racli o -relay T hese lo ng-dis tance co mbeing used outside Ford's Wixom Assembly Plant. thousan cl 1imes fas ter 1han co nvc nt iona l equ ip me nt. municati o ns we re a ug(Ameritech) me nted in th e '60s by Th is syste m, w hich a ppliecl m icrowave tra ns mi ss io ns co m pu ter progra mm ing and in the '70s by sate llites. tec hniqu es a nd elec tro nic tec hno logy to the switchi ng process, was ha i lecl by e ng i nccrs as the g reatest LiTTLE D EVICE, BIG N EWS aclva nce in swi tc hing si nce cl ial calli ng was in trocluced Th e big news a nno un cement o f 1948, perhaps o f mo re 1han 40 yea rs ea rlier. th e clecacle, to ld o f th e inve nti o n of the transis tor by a Also in the '60s, specia l school-to- ho me telepho ne Bell Telephone La bo rato r ies science 1eam . lt revo luins la lla ti o ns became available for ho me-bo u nd s tutio nized the tel epho ne and electronics in dust ries. lts den 1s. The anific ia l larynx, a speaking device for pert in y size, la ng life, and st ingy use of elec trical energy sons lcft voiceless th ro ug h acc iclen t o r clisease, was o penecl d ozens of ncw aven ues fo r elec tro n ic a ncl comdevclo pecl by the Bell Te le phone La boratories a nd rnun icatio ns clevclop me nt. The di scove re rs o f the trano ffc rcd to the pu blic a t cost 1hro ugh the Bell o pe rat ing sis to r, ph ysic is ts William Shockl ey, Jo hn Ă&#x;a rd cc n, a ncl co rn pa ni es.

Walter Brauain , were later awa rded the Nobel Prize in Bus inessmen were able to s tep u p effi ciency and Ph ysics. produc tio n wit h the introduct io n o f DataP ho ne cla ta cornrn unications service, speakerpho nes, t he Bell boy

136

N umher, Please

•••

Back when phone numbers were still recited alpha-numerically, certain exchanges had an A-1 kind of ring to them Before the advent of rotary dial telephones - which preceded Touch Tone phones and today's dawning voice-actuated devices - it was necessary to make telephone connections by actually talking to a real, live operator every time.

You picked up the receiver - originally the microphone and the earphone were separate - and heard a voice, almost always female, ask "Number please?" In the beginning, the number was short, one, two or three digits.

As the number of telephone lines grew, exchange names were added. These exchange names took on a magic all their own. Frequently they referred to neighborhoods. For instance, downtown Detroit was - and still is- the Woodward exchange; "96" is the same as "WO." Telephone exchange names also carried social panache: Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills were the Midwest exchange and it stood for something.

Glenn Miller, fabled '40s bandleader, made a New York City exchange and number forever famous in the great number "Pennsylvania Six Five Thousand," with its lyrics meaningless to anyone who never had to give a number to an operator.

When the telephone company replaced exchange names with straight numbers in the '60s, again because of huge growth in lines and the need to have additional numbers which didn't depend on words, geographic identity of exchange areas became blurred, then lost.

The disappearance of exchange names coincided with direct-dial of long-distance calls, in which distant exchange names lost their meaning. Area codes, along with the new postal zip codes of the '60s, added another dimension to international geography.

Editor's Note: Tlte preceding "History of tlte Telepl1011e in Micltigan" was adapted from a broclrnre issued

by M icl1 igan Bell about 1969, tlte most recent company ltistory present-day Ameriteclt was able to provide. Since tltat time, tlte telepltone industry botlt locally and internationally ltas been revolutionized - organizationally and teclmically. Following are a Jew notes 011 tltose cltanges: • In 1970 facsimile transmission ("fax") was still in its infancy, used by companies sparingly over expensive, emde machines. Today, every home and office computer has the capacity with inexpensive add-ons lo send and receive such communications, and stand-alone fax

pocket signaling set, and a myriad of other services to satisfy just about any communications need. In 1967, toll-free 800 lines were introduced, which over the years became an incredible boon to marketing and servicing thousands of products and services for millions of customers.

One pair of telephones in 1877 grew to 4.4 million Michigan Bell units by 1969. From those phones then virtually all owned by the company and merely leased to customers - Michigan callers could reach some 118 million phones throughout North America and 238 million all over the world.

137

machines are even being used in moving vehicles via cellular telephone hookups.

• Nationally, intercity picturephone service began in 1970 and came to Michigan a year later.

Used mostly for conferences, it never seems to have reached the promise initially envisioned.

• 1970 also saw introduction by Michigan Bell of many popular custom calling services, such as call waiting, speed calling and three-way calling.

• In 1972, computerized operator technology began to replace plug-in cord switchboards.

• During the '70s, high-speed data links connecting business customers' computer centers were introduced, and all major Michigan cities became equipped with electronic switching systems replacing electromechanical systems.

• In 1983, digital switching equipment began replacing electronic and electromechanical switching centers, which enabled many new services.

• In 1982, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly, to take effectjan. 1, 1984.

As a consequence, American Telephone &: Telegraph Company (AT &:T, the familiar "Ma Bell") was separated from both its manufacturing and local service affiliates. Michigan Bell became part of Ameritech, a regional telephone service company covering Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

AT &:T retained its long-distance business, but now had to compete with other carriers such as MCI and Sprint.

• The historic breakup in telephone companies was paralleled by a revolution in telephone equipment available at neighborhood retail and discount stores. First came portable phones, then memory phones and "designer" phones of every description. The telephone

company no longer was the sole supplier of telephone equipment or systems.

• Fiber optic transmission began in 1984 with a Detroit-to-Pontiac cable, in which 216 pairs of hair-thin ultra-pure glass strands could carry 16,000 individual telephone conversations. Michigan now has some 400,000 miles of fiber optic cabling.

• The demand for ever more telephone lines was accelerated by pagers, personal data links (including fax/modem) and ultimately cellular phones - initially awkward units to plug into vehicle cigarette lighters and quickly to become lightweight battery-powered units carried in purse or pocket. Cellular phone service in Detroit began in 1986.

• Other new customer calling services introduced in the '80s included answering service provided by the local telephone company, call forwarding, automatic callback, caller identification and emergency 911 systems.

• By 1995, Ameritech Michigan could no longer measure its size by number of telephones, as it had a quarter century earlier. For one thing, it no longer owned the phones. More important, the focus had shifted to telephone lines for the many types of communication besides telephones which had come onstream. At the time Michigan Bell/Ameritech separated from AT&T in 1984, it had about 3.75 million number lines; by the end of 1984, that had grown 25 percent to 4. 7 million, not counting some 325,000 additional cellular numbers.

• Ameritech has an investment of $7.5 billion in Michigan today, serving 76 counties with more than 16,000 employes. The company is proposing an expansion into interactive cable television on the one hand, and defending itself against incursions for competitive local service on the other.

138

Does advertising cost or pay?

In the publishing business we are constantly embroiled in an effort to convince potential advertisers that marketing their services to the exclusive membership of ESD-The Engineering Society is a benefit in the long-term for their business.

engineering community and to industry. These advertisers have chosen to show their support as an effort to give something back to the organization which now celebrates 100 years of giving to the engineering community.

This is an extremely competitive industry in which costs per thousand, circulation audits, readership surveys and other factors affect the decisions to advertise. Truly, in the scope of the publishing world, ESD's magazines and publications are dwarfed by their multimillion-dollar competitors.

And it is because other supporters like these have sponsored ESD publications in the past that we have been able to provide our membership with the best in editorial on research and development and applications-based information for new products. Perhaps that information has helped some of these companies to compete or gain an edge in the industry.

So, perhaps too, when we consider what this advertising accomplishes, it pays in many ways far and above mere response-driven marketing.

lt is for all of these reasons that we are proud to boast this prestigious list of supporting advertisers who have made this book possible. They have recognized ESD's value to the

Advertisers in THE TECHNOLOGY CENTURY Display Advertisers 3M Automotive American lron & Steel Institute Arco Chemical ATEQ Corporation BASF Corporation Bayer USA, lnc.

Black &Veatch Bridgestone/Firestone, lnc.

The Budd Company Chrysler Corporation Construction Association of Michigan DANA Corporation DCT Delphi lnterior &Lighting Systems Detroit Edison Dixie Cut Stone Dupom Company Femdale Electric Franco Public Relations Group Ford Automotive Components Division Ford Motor Company French & Rogers lnc.

Gallagher-Kaiser Corporation GE Automotive General Motors Gibbs Die Casting Corporation Guardian lndustries Corporation Haden. inc.

Harley Ellington Design lnvetech ITI Automotive Jervis 8. Webb Company John E. Green Company Kelsey-Hayes Group of Companies Kolene Corporation Lear Seating Corporation Limbach Magna International

Masco Corporation MBM Fabricators Michigan Benefit Plans PPG lndustries, Inc. Progressive Tool & lndustries Company Rockwell International Seabury &Smith Textron Automotive Company Turner Automotive Group United Technologies Automotive University of Michigan Walbridge Aldinger Wayne State University Lawrence Technological University Mechanical Heat &Cold Michigan Automotive Research Corp.

Motor City Electric NTH Consultants, Limited Roofing lndustry Promotion Fund Testing Engineers &Consultants, lnc. j.a. Versical & Associates

Sponsor Advertisers (pages 247-262) AP Technoglass American Society for Quality Control ACT Laboratories, lnc.

Albert Kahn Associates, lnc.

Amcast lndustrial Corporation American Quality Systems, lnc.

Amerisure Companies AMP lncorporated ANR Pipeline Company Arthur Andersen LLP ASC lncorporated ATEQCorp.

B.D.0. Seidman Badger/Manley Division of Dynagear lnc.

Balogh T.A.G.

Barton Malow Company BEI Associates, lnc.

Cambridge Industries City Management Corpora1ion Crown Plaza Pontchartrain Hotel CyberMetrics Corporation Dale Prentice Company DanaCorp.

DataMyte Division of Allen-Bradley Co„ Inc. Davis lndustries. lnc.

Dei Technologies. lnc.

DeMaria Building Company, Inc. DCT Donnelly Corporation Dynagear Inc. DynaLogic Engineering, lnc.

Earth Tech Echlin Inc. Ellis/Naeyaen/Genheimer Associates, Inc. ENVIRO MATRIX, INC. EQ ·The Environmental Quality Company Federal-Mogul Corporation Fendt Builders Supply, lnc.

Findley Industries, Inc. Follmer,Rudzewicz &Co„ P.C. French & Rogers Fueudenberg-NOK H.B. Fuller Automotive Technology Center Handy & Harmon Automotive Group, Inc. Hoechst Celanese Corporation Hubbeil, Roth &Clark, Inc. Hull & Asscoiates, lnc.

INA Bearing Company, lnc.

INTEL Jarvis 8. Webb Company John E. Green Company Kantus Corporation LTV Steel Company

Lacks Enterprises, lnc.

Leckie & Associates, Inc. Lectron Products lnc.

Libby-Owens-Ford Link Engineering Company Lucas Assembly &Test Systems Lucas Industries Inc. Markel Corporation Max Brook lnc.

McDowell & Associates Means lndustries, lnc.

Michelin Automotive lndustry Division Modem Engineering, lnc.

NBDBank NAMCO Controls Corp.

Navistar International Transportation Corp.

NSK Corporation PSG Corrosion Engineering, lnc.

Palmer Equipment Co. Perceptron, Inc. Perrin, Fordree &Company, P.C. Philips Technologies R.H. Jackson Company Raybestos ProduclS Company RMT,lnc.

Schroth Enterprises, lnc.

Siemens Automotive Smith Instrument, lnc.

Stahls USA, Perathane Coatings Sullivan Ward Sone Tyler and Asher, P.C. Tenneco Automotive The Boomer Company The Woodbridge Group Tiodize Co. lnc.

Trico Products Corp.

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- - • rom Detroit's earliest days, when it was little mo re than a fro nt ier sett lemen t, Detro iters have had to deal with what later in the 19th century became known as the city's public utilities. Supplying fresh water, disposing of wastewate r, and ligh ting the cit y's streets have been necessities fo r Detroit , if not since its founding as a fur tracling o utpost

by Antoine de la Ma the Cadillac nearl y 300 years ago , at least from the start of its growth after the Wa r of 1812.

The first of these publie ut ilities, the Water and ewerage Department , had its beginnings in 1824 when, by Legislati ve Act, Peter ßerthelct erected a wharf o n the Detroit River to pump water to the vil lage.

Detroit's first water-mai n system was made of hollowed logs.

Since the city's fo uncl ing in 1701, the Detroit Rive r had provided an unlimi ted suppl y of pure wa ter indeed, earl y Detroite rs simply dipped thei r buckets into thc river for thei r dail y upply of wa ter. ßut as the population increascd, a morc cfficient method of distribution was sought. The ßerthelet pump proved to be a short-term solutio n, howcvc r. In 1827, the Common Counci l passecl an ordinance g ranting the exclusive rights to prov idc water to Detroit's 1,500 eiti zens. The Wclls' Hyclraulic Compan y was fo rmed ancl cha rged families S 10 per year for watcr. ßut the clemands of Detroit"s eYer-increa ing populatio n soon provecl too great for the \Vells· com pany and , in 1836, the Cit y of

The Flow and The Glow Ffooding the city in light and usable water, utilities feave Detroit flush with success hy Nara lyn nc Srringc.:r-\\ 'illiams

TOP: Construction under way in 1954 at Detroit

Waier and Sewerage Department's Northeast water pumping station near the Detroit River. (DWSD)

1-Hl

Detroit was forccd to purchase it to provicle aclcquatc management of watcr necds.

De troit's sewe ragc sys tem bcga n th at sa mc yca r.

Vast a mo unts of untrca ted sewagc ( th roug h ra inwatcr runo ff from strec ts, whcrc peoplc commonly cm pti cd th eir cham bcr po ts) disc hargcd in to thc Detroi t Rivc r had bccome a prob le m. The first c ffon , known as "thc Grand Sewer" and madc o f s to nc an<l brick, cncl osccl Savoyard Creek that Oowed from Cadil lac Squa re to its o utl et nea r the foot o f T h ird Strcc t (a po rtio n of wh ich re mains in service today).

1,760 opcn gas-je t street lam ps in Detroi t, whi ch then covc rccl less than 16 squa re miles. The illuminatio n offe red by th e gas-jet lamps "served o nly to make darkness visible," as a local news papcr later stated - and th c gas lights o pcra ted o nly on nights w hen the moo n was not s hining. This practice was known as "moo nlig h t schedulc" lighti ng .

W hen Hazen S. Pingree took office as Detroit's mayo r in 1890, s trcct lighting was one o f his highest prio riti cs. Pingrcc was instrum ental in an amendmen t to thc 1893 Public Ligh ting Act authorizing Detroit to own and opera te its own ligh ting pla n t. A Public Lig htFIRST HAS lAsTED ing Co mmissio n ( PLC) was established shortly thereIn 1853, the City Charte r was amcndcd to includc afte r. Thc cit)'°s first power house was built the fo llowa fivc- me mber Board of ing yea r. T he pla nt Wa te r Co mmissioncrs that hacl seven ha nd-fired was givcn special powc rs coal bo ilers deli vering and autho ri ty to expand stea m to 18 \.\festem operations for th e c ity's Electric Company 50incrcasing dcmands. T he kilowatt arc d ynamos fo ll owi ng yea r, th c fi rst fo r DC seri es li ghti ng c ity-owned reservo ir was and three 55-kil owatl excavatcd, to begin OperaWesti ng house "a lte rtio n three years later. ew nators" for AC buildintake, pum ping faeil it ies early ing lighting. and rcse rvo irs wcrc addcd 212,000 du c t-feet o f as thc city (and , cvc ntualco nd ui t se rved 2,500 ly, s uburbs) g rew. Watcr incandescent bu ilding me te rs wcre fi rs t used la mps w ithin a ha lfsho nl y after watc r fo un mile circle from C ity tains were introduccd in Hall o n Campus Mar1862. Thc site of thc ci1 y's ti LIS. Detroit 's Wafer Works Park on East Jefferson in 1879. At first watcr pla m , Wa ter So by 1895, Works Park on Eastjc ffc r- left is the original pumping station. Next to it is a surge Detroit had in place tower which housed a 124-foot standpipe used until 1894 munic ipa l sewe r a ncl son nea r Belle lslc , was to equalize pressure in mains leading from the pumping water distributi o n syspurchased in 1873. lt is plant. The tower was long used as an east side observation tems, and the city's first still in o pcratio n today.

Gas lig hti ng (di still ed point entered by means of a spiral staircase. By the 1940s, mun icipal li g hting from coal) first appcarccl the tower was unsa fe and believed unrepairable, but was plant bega n o peratio n . in Det roi t in 185 1 a nd , not demolished until 1962. (DWSD and Burton Historical O n April 1, 1895, a t becausc of its cos t a nd Collection, Detroit Public Library) 6:35 p. m â&#x20AC;&#x17E; swi tches unpl casa nt odo r, was wc re thrown in th e most ly uscd as strcct lig ht city's Atwatcr Pla nt ing until the advent of th c Wels bach mant le in 1885, (w hc rc thc Renai ssance Center currently sta nds) lightw hic h made gas lig hts mo re acceptablc in home a nd ing 189 carbon -a rc lamps. By Oct. l of tha t yea r, 1,493 o ffi ccs. arc lamps had bcc n ta ke n over from p rivate companies.

The c ity's firs t clcc tri c lig ht was cx hibited b)' The savings to ci ty governm ent a mo u nted to $38.80 Charl es J. Va nDepoclc in 1870. VanDcpoclc, a desig npe r lamp per yea r ( in 1895 do lla rs). Lighting at the e r ancl carver of wooclcn a ltars and e hurc h woodwo r k, time co nsisted prima ril y of 724 c rane- a nd 500 towerheld the demons tratio n in h is wooclcarv ing shop. The mo unted lig hts ranging from LOO to 165 fee t in heig ht demo nstration precedcd th c debut o f th c clcctric lig ht and carrying 3 to 6 lamps eac h. By 1900, Detroit's PLC on Detroi t's streets by 13 yca rs. 1n 1879, thc rc were had 2,067 a rc lamp a nd 8 1 em ployees. The firs t powe r

1-l I

substation was established in the basement of Western High School in 1901.

Springwells Water Plant in 1924, it did not go into full operation until 1935.

The Detroit River lnterceptor, Oakwood-Northwest Interceptor, and the Wastewater Treatment Plant were completed in 1940. Detroit and its suburban communities were served by the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which provided primary sewage treatment removal and incineration of settleable solids and disinfection by chlorination of plant effluent. Designed to serve more than two million, the plant, with additions, would ultimately serve four million.

Onjuly 1, 1940, the Public Lighting Commission assumed responsibility for the operation and maintenance of Detroit's traffic signal system. Expansion and distribution of public lighting slowed, then stopped, following the outbreak of World War II and Detroit's role as the "Arsenal of Democracy."

TYPHOID 5CARE The early l 900s brought a population explosion as Detroit became the automobile center of the world. In 1910, a treaty was signed creating an International Joint Commission to eliminate pollution of waters between the United States and Canada. By that time, some 439 miles of the lateral sewer system and 194 miles of trunk sewer were completed. However, raw sewage was still being discharged into the river at various points and the typhoid epidemic of 1912 proved that the water was unsafe for consumption. In 1913, the Fairview Sewer was constructed from the city limits to the Fairview pumping station to divert sewage flow. Disinfection by adding chlorine began in 1916.

By 1920, people seeking employment in Detroit's automobile industry increased the population of the city to nearly one million. The demand for public service utilities increased accordingly and between 1925 and 1928, the portion of the Detroit River Interceptor from the Fairview station to the Central City was built and construction was begun on the Northwest Interceptor in the Rouge River Valley District. Also in the late l 920s, the expanding Water Department moved into the 23-story skyscraper in downtown Detroit where it is housed currently.

In April 1920, the people of Detroit voted for a municipally-owned street railway system. The additional power needs required that a new power Station be built. The Morrell Street Plant went online in 1927.

During the 1920s, 14,732 new street lights were added making a total of 27,171 in service by the end of the decade.

On Oct. 7, 1930, Mayor Frank Murphy formally dedicated the Morrell Street Station, re-naming it in honor of the recently deceased General Superintendent Frank Mistersky. The Mistersky Power Plant changed the focus of public lighting to substation improvements and expanded power for the street railway system. However, the Depression stymied other expansions to the street railway system until a 1937 Public Works Administration grant provided funding and renewed vigor for the project.

The Depression also postponed or curtailed the activities of the city's other utilities. Although parts of the East and Westjefferson Avenue Relief Sewers were constructed in 1930, further improvements were delayed until 1935. Despite the Board of Water Commissioners' authorization for construction of the

TURBO-LENT TIMES

The 1950s opened with Detroit's rapid expansion and the development of suburban communities. The United States enjoyed an era of unparalleled prosperity and Detroit's industrial community benefited enormously. The city's lighting system increased its capacity to meet Detroit's needs. In 1950, and again in 1958, the Mistersky Power Plant added a turbo generator (both have since been converted from coal-fired to fuel oil and are still in service).

Although two sedimentation tanks were added to Detroit's sewage treatment system in 1954, it soon became evident that additional treatment was necessary. In 1957, a $33 million program was launched to provide improved treatment methods and expand the sewage treatment service area.

Newer, smaller communities discovered it was more economical to tie into Detroit's system rather than build their own water treatment facilities. With the completion of its Northeast Plant on East Eight Mile Road in 1956, Detroit's water treatment system expanded to serve more than two million customers in 45 communities. Three years later, in 1959, the addition of the Springwells Plant in Dearborn brought a host of technological improvements that, again, increased the system's capacity to meet the needs of more than three million citizens.

The Police and Fire Departments' communications were placed under the Public Lighting Commission's supervision in 1957 and, by 1959, the Commission built four new substations and major modifications were made to seven existing substations to maintain 58,830 street and alley lights.

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Trolley-bus service and the Depanment o f Street Railways were terminated in the 1960s. The decacle also brought the last maj or technological change in th e city's water system when the coal-powered , steamfired , high-lift pumps at Water Works Park were electrified. As the J ohn C. Lodge and Wa lter P Chrysler Freeways n ea red co mpletion , the Public Lighting Commission also en tered the freeway-light ing business. The additio nal freeway load and majo r re lighting programs caused the Commissio n to switch from incanclescent to me rcury a nd soclium-vapor lights in 1964 - improving Detroit's stree t lighting a nd reducing costs. That year the Detroit Depa nment o f Wa ter Supply took over opera tion o f the So uthwest Water Trea tment Stati on from the Wayne Coun ty Road Co mmission , increasing Detroit's water system capacity to more than 1,000 million ga llons per day ( mgd) .

As a preventive measure, in 1966, the Boa rd of Water Commissioners so ught a n alte rnate water source re mote from the Detroi t River in take's loca tio n . La ke Huron became that source a nd the Lake Huron Water Plant b egan pumping water in 1974, brin ging th e system's capacity to 1,500 mgd.

The Lake Huro n Water Treatment Station water is pumped nearl y fi ve miles from the lake to the plant in Fon Gra ti ot near Po rt Hu ro n. lmprovements were also made in the 1970s to the city's sewage trea unent facilities to increase so lids removal, reduce phosphorus d ischarge, a nd e liminate practically all bacterial polluti on , improving wate r quality levels in th e De troit River and Lake Erie. The Detroit Wa ter an d Sewer Department ( DWSD) co ntinues work in 1995 on a mammoth constru ctio n program o f adva nced treatment facilities a t the treatm e nt pla nt, including fin al cla rifi ers, sludge-handling facili ties , additional primary tanks, site improvements, ex tensive electrical renovations as weil as general p lant improvements.

In 1974, the Public Ligh ting Co rnrnission became th e Public Lighting Department (PLD) under th e city's new Ci ty C harter. Plans wcre begun on Uni t #7, designed to inc rease the de pa nrnent's capacity by 60,000 kilowa u s. ln rcsponse to the oil cri sis of the mid-1 970s when encrgy costs cloublecl , a rn ore efficient gas turbin e genera to r (GT # l ) was put onli ne. O rigina ll y in tenclecl fo r pea k loacl cle mancls, th e GT soo n approachecl fu ll-tirne operation. Freeway lig hts in the PLO system were rccluced in 1983 when the MDOT ass umecl the cost o r mainte nance of Detroit's freeways.

As of 1995, Publ ic Lig hting, one o f the nation's old est muni cipall y ow ncd electric u tilities, operates 86, 750 stree t ancl allcy lights; 1276 t raffic s igna ls, 30 s ubs tations, rnore tha n 5,75 1 mil es of cable, a nd services more than l 00 customers a t 1,400 locat io ns.

DVlSD's 2,800 employees now serve close to four million water custo mers in 120 cornm uni ti es in eight cou nties o f So utheast Mich igan with a range of 630 Lo 700 mil lio n gallons of wate r per day. Scwerage treatment se rvices arc provicled to 75 com munities co nsti1u1ing 35 percent o f t he sta tc's populatio n.

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Construction in 1974 of "malfunction junction," (as it was known by mobile CB radio operators at the time), the intersection o f M-39/Southfield Freeway and 1-96/ Jeffries Freeway. (The Detroit News) O PPOSITE: Woodwarcl Avenue in 1909, looking north between Six and Seven Mile, showing what roads were like be fore paving.

Interurban tracks between De troit, Royal Oak and points north ran along the wes/ side. The nation 's First mile of concrete high way was completed here soon after this photo was Laken. (The Detroit News) arl e and Rogers, two names that sound more like a comedy team than pioneers in highway construction, blendecl their polit ical and engineering talcnts 100 years ago to hclp move Michigan trans~-• po nation into th c 20th ccntury.

Horati o S. "Goocl Roads" Ea rlc and Frank f "Urt Michiga n Out or the Mud" Rogers, alo ng wit h oth cr road buildi ng pionecrs such as Eclwarcl N. Hines, Roy 0. Chapin, Murray 0. Va n Wagoner ancljo hn C. Mackic, were instrumental in tra nsforming Mich igan roads rrom thc dirt ancl wood plank ho rse trails or 1895 tO thc modern illlcrstatC rrccways ancl Surfacc highways WC takc ro r granted in 1995.

In 1895, horse-pullcd wagons and carriages were the only "vehiclcs" on Michigan's cstimatcd 60,000 milcs or public roads. Or Lhat total , o nly 245 milcs wcre imp rovcd with either gravcl or macaclam - a mixturc or crushecl stonc and tar compactecl over sancl. Thc rcst wc rc merely din trails or pathways that orten werc impassable because or noocling ancl mucl.

Thc halr-clozen woocl-plan k, privatel y-ow ned toll roads wcren't much bcncr, and the public was clamoring for an end to paying LOlls.

In 1895 , the fedcral govc rnmcnt recorclecl o nly fo ur automobile registrations nationwicle as Washi ngto n createcl an Office or Road lnqui ry. r\nd it was bicyclcs not au tos thal promptccl thc clcvclopment o r a modern road systcm.

Earle was a bicyclc enthusiast who, like most bicyclists, discovered that most public roacls were unfit to

All Roads Lead to • • • l )rosp erity, if paved with nzore than just good intentions

by Lo uis l\ llct:z ko

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ride on at any speed. In 1899, Ea rle was clectecl chicf consul for l he Michigan chapter of the League of American Whecl men, a grass roots organization representing bicycle owners.

'G ooo ROAD' G UYS

In 1900, the Wheelmen helcl the first International Road Congress in Port Huron, ancl it was th ere that other "good roacl" aclvocates like Hines of Wayne County and Rogers of St. Clair County discussecl vari ous roacl improvement strategies.

The Wheclmen cleciclecl political changes were necessary, ancl later that year, Earle , run ning as a Republican from Detroit , was elcctecl to the s tate Senate as a good roacls aclvocate. ßy L903, Ea rle ancl his backers were successful in geuing the Legislature to create a state highway department and commissioner. Farmers, who dominated state politics, we re agains t the plans, calling the owners of autos those "buzz wagon idiots" that terrori zed horses ancl livestock with their noisy, s melly machines .

The good roacls alliance prevailecl, ancl in 1905, Gov. Fred Wa rner appointed Earle as Michigan's first highway co mmissioner. Earle then pickecl Rogers - an 1883 civil engineering gradua le from Michiga n State College - as the department's first chid engineer. faule ancl Rogers, armed with a first-year buclget of 520,000, embarked on plans to build a statewide system of roads, and they advocated using trai ned civil engineers to clevclop minimum specifications for roacls.

Thal same year, 2,958 autos we re registered in Michiga n. The license fce was 50 cents.

The fl edgling highway clepartment's firs t road proj ect was a one-mi lc imp roved gravcl roacl near Cass Cit y. Two yea rs lat er, Ea rle a nd Rogers proposed tunncling under the Straits of Maeki nac , and when tolcl of poor soil concl itions there, they saicl a straits briclge was feasible ancl neecled 10 eonnec t Michigan·s two peninsulas.

A UTO IMPETUS

Mean while, the development of the auto

industry in Michiga n provided still more incentives fo r heuer roads.

In 190 1, Roy D. Chapin , a 21-year-old Universi ty of Michigan dropout, was hi recl to drive a one-cylinder Oldsmobile from Detroit to New Yo rk so that Ra nsom Olcls could show off his vehicle at a Man hattan auto show. No one had ever driven a car betwccn l he lwo cities purposefull y before. lt took Chapin more than seven clays to make the 800-mile trip through southern Ontario, upstate New York and the Huclson River valley. He averagecl only 14 milcs per hour on mostly dirt horse trails. From ßuffalo 10 Albany, Chapin usecl the Erie Canal towpaths si nce there were no usable roacls along that route.

"The only roacls 1 fou ncl were a few milcs of macaclam near Rhin ecliff on the Hud on," Chapin said upon arn v111g in ew Yo rk City. ·'The res t was cverythi ng - sand , dust, gravel, ruts."

Chapin , who later was longtime president of the Huclson Motor Car Co., became an infl uent ial good roacls aclvocate. Ot her motorists formed gro ups, uch as the 1902 founding of the Auto mobile Club of Detroit, 10 lobby for better highways. Auto manufacturers joined wi th th is auto club to form the Mich iga n State Goocl Roacls Association in 1906.

In 1909 , Earle and Rogers tea med up wi th Edward l li nes, who was picked as Way ne Count)'s firs t road commissioner, to ae hieve an engineering milestone in highway construction: the nation's first mile of concrete highway.

M ODERN MARVEL With the help of a Sl,000 state gra nt, l li nes direct-

a „superhighway network" fo r the tricount y arca, reatu ring 2 1 major roads with 20-+-foo t rig ht-of-ways. Among the roacls cventuall y bui lt rrom that plan wcrc: Eight Mile, So uthfield , Fort, Michigan, Grand Ri vc r, Nort hwes tcrn , Schoolcraft , Woodward , Mound, Gra ti ot and Telegraph.

Michigan addcd a 2-ccnt per gallon rucl tax in 1925 lO help pay for road improvements, and by 1930, thc state's 1.-+ million registered ve hicles could travel 011 2,000 milcs or paved roads, including the füst pavcd highway betwee n Detro it and Chicago.

Thc Grea t Depression d uring thc l930 saw Michigan's road programs d windl e in size and cope. In l933, Murray D. Va n Wagoncr, a yo ung civil cngincer from Oakland County, was clcctcd hig hway commissioncr and began sLUdies fo r a Slatewiclc system or highways ancl Dctroit's ru ture frccway systcm. Va n Wagoner made a clctai lecl study ror a bridge at Lhe tra its of Mackinac.

Thc cstimated cost was $30 millio n, and a -+,000 footcauscway was built from St. lgnacc as a prcludc to builcling a bridgc.

1n L940, Van Wago ncr bcca mc thc only highway commissio ner to bc clcctcd govcrn or of Michiga n, and with thc outbreak o r \Vorld War II , he lau nched plans fo r the na ti on·s füs t cleprcssed urban freeway, th c Davison in Highland Park. Thc fü t rural frccway that linkcd Detroit's wcstern s uburbs wi th the Ford bornber plant at Willow Ru n was also buil t.

The Davison rrceway rcplacccl a urfacc road that ra nged in wiclth from 60 to 120 fect and was ja mmcd with 2-t,000 ve hiclcs dail y - man}' clestined for Fords hugc l lighland Park plant. Starteei inj uly 1941, th c s ixlanc, 1.3-mile frecway was bui lt for jus t $3 .6 million ancl opened Lo traffic in November 19-+2. Thc 10-inch concrctc pavemen t was built wit hout reinforcing stecl bccausc or war sho rtagcs, but bccausc or Superior material~ and constructio n techniques, the o riginal Davison pavcment remains in usc 53 ycar latcr. Today, state highway offi cials plan to rebuild the outdated Davison: rcplace mcnt cost, $70 mi llion.

Thc \Vi llow Run frccway was startecl in Jul y 19-+2 wi th a $5 millio n rccleral grant ancJ Orders to complctc it as quickl y as possible so th at -+2 ,000 wo rkcrs could co mmutc morc easily to thc Fo rd plant that was churning out B-24 bombers. ··· ow' was thc passworcl fro m vVas hington ," recall cd l<eith ßaglcy, a state projcc: t cngineer. "That

ed Waync County to build the rcvolutio nary concrctc road o n Woodward bctwccn Met ichols and Scvc n Mile in Det roit. lt rcaLUrcd a concrete slab fi vc inchcs thick an d [ 8 rcet wiclc Lhat rcstecl 0 11 a gravcl-and-clay basc.

Roacl bui lclcrs rrom as far away as Francc, South Afri ca and New Zcaland visitcd Detroit to marvc l at thc ncw roadwa>'· which cost Waync Count}' $ 13,35-+.

From there, road improvements and highway tcchnology grew quickl y to kecp up with thc ex plosive growth o r thc auto industry. In 19l 2, thc Uni vcrs ity or Michigan crcated th c na tio n's füst highway tcsting lab and hircd its füst instructo r in highway cnginecring.

In 19 13, the Michigan Legislaturc crcated th c tatc trunklinc road systcm with Rogers bccoming highway commissioner. The ncw law called fo r thc construct ion or 3,000 milcs or Statc highways wi th th c Slate reimbursing local commu nitics fo r road costs. Rogers lobbied for a gas ancl wcight tax on all vchicles as weil as au thorizing the highway department to plant trec along stat e roads.

In 191 l , the Wayne County Road Commission inve ntecl the pai nted center li ne to se para te traffic.

Detro it crected the nrst stop sign, and the green-ycllow-recl traffic light scquence was conccived by Detroit police officer William Pous.

Co ngrcss in 1916 passee! the firs t rederal roacl aid legislation, and by 1919, good roacls ad vocates convinced Michigan voters to approve a $50 millio n bondnnancing plan for state roads. Rogers cmbarked o n buildi ng 3,600 miles or State trunklines and in 1923 laun chcd Slate rerry Service across the Straits or Mackinac.

G RAND PLAN In 1925, Waync County's Hincs unvc ilcd plans for 146

OPPOSITE: The Davison Freeway at Woodward in Highland Park, shown under construction in 1942, was one of the nation 's First urban expressway sections. Today, little changed, it links M-10/Lodge Freeway with 1-75/Chrysler Freeway. (The Detroit News)

meant pouring concrete in freezing weather without reinforcing steel."

FIRST FREEWAY On Jan. 31, 1943, the first 11.5 miles of the world's first limited-access freeway opened to traffic, and by March 1945, the four-lane highway was extended to Wyoming road in Detroit. lt is now part of 1-94.

After World War II, plans for building Detroit's freeway network were revived with Washington pledging $56 million to begin construction of the Edsel Ford and John C. Lodge freeways. Thirteen years and $184 million later, the last 4.9 miles of the Ford was opened to traffic from Conner to Vernier on the city's east side.

The l 950s saw efforts to build new toll roads in Michigan, but the 1956 passage of the Interstate Highway Act saw Michigan take the national lead in freeway construction. The lobby for toll roads vanished.

In 1957, newly-elected Highway Commissioner John C. Mackie, a civil engineer from Flint, launched $700 million worth of bond-financed freeway work.

That year also saw completion of the Mackinac Bridge - a $100 million, four-year project that fulfilled the dream first envisioned by Earle and Rogers and later by

Van Wagoner. At the time, the 3,700-foot suspension portion of the bridge, designed by David B. Steinman, was the longest suspension span, anchorage to anchorage, in the world.

Between 1960 and 1970, nearly 1,000 miles of interstate freeway were built in Michigan - an average of a mile every few days. Michigan eventually built 1,241 miles of freeway - 90 percent financed by federal funds from gas taxes, at a total cost of $4 billion.

The last section of interstate, a four-mile stretch of 1-69 near Lansing, opened in October 1992.

The l 990s saw Michigan's trunkline system at 9,550 miles while all roads in the state totaled 118,000 miles. Some 7.5 million vehicles now travel an estimated 81.5 billion miles annually. State transportation taxes now generate $1.3 billion each year for all highway programs - a far cry from Horatio Earle's first budget of $20,000.

As bicycle enthusiasts, Earle, Rogers and Hines would be pleased to know that there is now also a paved, 26-mile bike-path paralleling 1-275 in western Wayne County.

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Steam ruled all transportation in 1895. Long distance land travel for passengers and cargo was dominated by railroads like this 1890s passenger train. (CN North America/Grand Trunk) OPPOSITE : This photo dramatically illustrates changes to rail transport by 1995. CN diese/ locomotives pul/ high-cube cargo cars out of the recently enlarged Port Huron-Sarnia international tunnel. (CN North America/Grand Trunk)

o look at where Dctro it's rai lroacl's s toocl in 1895, let's firs t go back to their beginnings. Thc first two Detroi t rail roacls to lay track d id so in J 837, the same year Michigan was adm illed to the un ion.

This was just scven years after the ßaltimore &: O hio opcrated thc firs t Ameri can train.

O f the two Det roi t roads, the pri vatcly fund ecl Detroi t &: Pontiac, complctecl in l8-+3, was signifi cant only locally, altho ugh it became the basis for the 20th ccntury commutcr li nc.

More important was the state-ownecl Central of Michigan, o riginal! )' projcetcd to ru n from Detro it wes t to St. J oseph o n Lake Michigan. lt rcsul tecl fro m one of the first ac ts of the new Lcgislature, which au thorizecl an amb itious S5 rn ill ion "intcrna l improvements" public works plan ca lli ng for th ree rail roacls and two canals. Only two of the rai lroads ancl no ne of thc canals woul d be complcted.

I<now n as thc Michiga n Ccntral Railroacl aftcr 1846, w hen it was sold by the state to eastern financial interests, by 1852 the MCRR line through An n Arbo r, Jackso n, ßau lc Creek, J<alamazoo and Nil es lin ked Detro it with Lake Michiga n and Chicago. Detro it lacked a rail connection to thc east un til 1854 when th c broad-gauge Grea t Wes tern Railway of Canacla arri ved in Windso r. In 1876 Co mm odore Corn eli us Vanderbilt acquircd the Michigan Central for his New York Central cmp ire ;do ng wi th the Canacla South crn

Making Tracks Raifroads, though they 've declined, were essential fijefines to industry 's devefop1nent

by Bub Co s~ro 1·c

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Railway crossing O ntari o betwccn Buffalo ancl Windsor.

A majo r impeclimenl to Detro it's development of east-west rail traffi c was 1he lo ng- unbriclgeab le De1ro it River. Thc crossing rcquirecl rail roacl car ferries ancl transit became di fficuh-10-impossible duri ng the icebound winler mo nths. And lhe mosl cl irecl roule easl to Buffalo ra n th ro ugh Canacla with consequent bo rdercrossing problcms. For 1his reason Detroi t bccame mo re an important terminal than a major ra il hub like Chicago , St. Louis or Toledo.

Thcre hacl bcen modest di ese! locomo tive development of ligh1 switch ing un its in 1he 1920s by American Locomotive in consorti um wi th General Electric and lnge rsoll -Rand. GM got in10 railroacl mo ti ve power in L930 by purchasing the Electro-Motive Corporation and its motive powe r supplier, 1he Wi n1on Engine Company, both of Clcvcland. EMC was a producer of gasoline ancl diese! self- propelled ra il cars and 'vVi nton was a continuat io n of au10 pioneer Alexander Wi m on's business. lt was the Winto n 20 1A diese! cngine, fun her moclified for heavy rail use by GM's Charles W. I<euering, which enablecl GM 10 open the di ese! road locomo ti ve marke1 in 1939 which i1 captured wi thin 10 years.

The Styli ng of General Mo 1ors Electro-Moti ve Division di ese! locomotives in the l 930s can bc creclited to GM S1yling Vice Pres ident Harlcy Earls automobile clesign Studio in Detro it's ew Ce nter, ahho ugh EM D locomo1ives we re engineered an d erec1ed in LaGrange, lll inois and Londo n, Ontario.

Besides 1his major motive power clevelopment, during the first clecacles of the 20th cenlU I")' the new automobile ind ustry bro ught the neecl fo r more trac k, mars halling yards ancl beller o pera ting effi ciency. In its 1912 annual report, General Mo1o rs complained abo ut having to slO re a million dollars worth of sold cars on City s trce1s during 1he win ter of 19 11 - 19 12 d ue lO the inabili1 y of the rai lroads 10 ship 1hem.

To alleviate such chaos, a number of belt lines circling 1he di ffe rent parts of 1he city we re built o r ex panded lo feed the main 1runk ra ilroads. These incl ucled lines join tly owned by majo r railroads such the De1roit Terminal of J 905. New tcam track yards servicing less- lh an-carl oacl s hipm enls were spo u ecl th roug hout the city. La rge classificat io n ya rds for sorting and ro uting cars were buill or rebuilt. Ra il routes th roug ho ut the cit y wcrc equippccl with new signals and intcrl ocking plants 10 rapidly tra nsfer trains fro m one ro ute 10 another. The large r auto mobil e man ufacturers located 1hei r plan ts on ex is ting ra il lines.

WITH DuE D1sPATCH In 1895, when the Engineering Society of De1ro it was fou ndecl , trains were clispa1ched by wriuen 1rain orclers communicatecl to Station age nts by telegraph.

Orders were hancled lo tra in crews o r passed up "on the ny." Telephone clispatching wo ul d n't become commo n unt il the 1950s. With in 25 years the manual semaphore block sig nals of 1895 would be replaced wit h the automalic scarchlight and color light signals operated by rclays using clectric track-cletectio n circuits. In the L960s thc use of rad io communica1i on with 1rain crews became prevalent. Whilc not replacing auto mati c block signals, telepho nic dispa1ching, o r cven trai n orders, radi o has greatl y enhancccl operation.

Go ne by 1895 was the scenc 1ypical of L895 suburban Detroit depots, when the s1ati on age nt doublccl as a Wes1ern Union telcgraph opcra1or, ticket seller and handlcr of lig ht perishabl e freigh1 s uch as eggs, mi lk cans ancl fresh procluce bo und fo r the ci1y. Heavier freight was hand lccl at fre igh1 stati o ns, either part of the passenge r Statio n, or a se para te builcling with its own freight age nt.

Also obvious were th e steam loco11101i ve changes after 1895. Ovc r 1he yea rs unti l 1hcir demise arou nd 1960, these living mac hines bccamc grea1cr in sizc, number of whecls, weig ht and tractive effort. Hiclclcn was their grea1er cfficiency ancl perfo rmance ac hievcd th ro ugh highcr boiler pressures, superheatecl steam, auto matic stokers, feecl-wa1cr pum ps replacing injeeto rs, poppet va lve thro1tles. ni ckel-s 1ec l boil ers, mechanical lu bricato rs, and air-operated reversing gear.

One hu nclrecl yea rs ago 1101 all rail roacls cven usecl locomotives. The 1872 Detroit Transi1 ra il way was horsc powered imo the l 890s.

LOSING STEAM The most obvious change on American ra il roacls was the complc1c co nve rsion fro m stea m to di cscl power in a s hon 20-year period betwee n 1940 and 1960. Ge neral \llo tors led this revo lutio n.

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Elimination of grade crossings such as this one, ca. 1935, have continued as a major expenditure for railroads, and a boon for bridge and road building contractors. (Portland Cement Association) OPPOSITE: The now-abandoned Michigan Central Station and office tower on Detroit's west side, compfeted in 1914, was at the height of its glory on Aug. 3, 1937, when this crowd gathered to welcome Archbishop Mooney. (The Detroit News)

Thc state-of-th e-a rt enginee ring for this locomotive was la id out in general concept by Fo rd engineers ancl dc tailed by the Westing ho use co mpany, w hi ch suppli cd the e lcctrical compo ne nts . The engine was asse mblecl in Ford's H ighlancl Pa rk power ho use befo re being tes ted at the Rouge.

T he new Ro uge Plant powe r ho use s upplied th e DT& I w ith single phase, 22 ,000-volt a lterna ting current (AC) a t 25 cycles. Th is current is easier to t ransmit ove r lo ng distanccs tha n d irect c urrent (DC) , whi ch requires s ubstat io ns abo ut every 10 miles. In effect , Ford pul the s ubstatio ns o n his locomotive.

T he loco motive was comprised of two 58-foo t un its w hich co uld be operated separately. Each uni t had a 2,000-KVA step-clown transformer connected to th e 1,6 75-KW motor-gene rato r set to prod uce DC for its c ight axles cach powerecl by a 670-volt, 225-h p tracti o n mo tor. lt wou ld be 30 years before such a n AC lin e- tra ns mi ssio n/DC trac ti o n- m oto r co n ce pt was emplo yed by o ther U.S. railroacls.

T his genc ra l upg rad ing o r the phys ical pla nt incl ud cd many highway grade sc parat io ns (briclgcs) co mplctcd bct wee n 1905 a nd 19 1-+ fro m Fo rt St rcc t near Delray to Mil wa u kce junctio n j ust bcyoncl th e prescn t clay 1-75 and 1-9-+ rrecwa y interc ha nge a m ilc nonh or down town .

B RANCHING Ă&#x153;UT In 19 20 Detroit$ bottleneck o r rail roacl yards ancl few eas t-vvest lin cs led Henry Ford to becomc a ra il roacl owner. T he Ro uge Shon Cu t Canal was being cl rcdgccl to let !a rge Grcat Lakcs s hips in to Forcrs River Ro uge complcx. Th is wa terway requi rcd new ra il and highway bridges.

Thc financ iall y strapped Detroit, To ledo & lro nton Rail road could ill afford its bridgc and as kcd Fo rd to back its bridgc bonds . lnstead , Fo rd boug ht the fo rl o rn rail road o utrig ht fo r $5 mi llio n . Thc linc , known informall y as th e "Mi lkwccd Cen tral ,'" mean clc rcd its way from lro nton o n the O hio Ri vcr to Detroi t. lmmediately hc applied th e lesso ns lea rn cd in his automobile pla nts . T he cqui va len t of th e $5 day was insti tutcd , wor k hou rs wcrc red ucccl a nd a ll cm ployces were expectcd to bc c lea n s havcn and sober o n and off t he job. Loco mo ti vcs were rcbu ilt a nd improvcd upon at th e Ro uge , ncw ro ll ing stock o rd cred , line improvemen ts made a nd Stations along th e route wcre fi xcd up, paintcd and bca utifull y la ndscapcd.

Fo rd used th e rail traffic of h is automobile plan ts to t ra nsform thc DT&l's tra ffic pa ttern from no nh bou nd mine products to south -bo und manufacturcd goods. In Oh io the DT& I con ncc tecl w ith major castwes t main lincs lacking a Det ro it access, inclucling the Baltim o re & O hi o, Nickel Plate Road , and the Eric.

In 1925 , in an a lmos t "To m Swift" type acl vcnt ure, Ford dcvcloped what was t hen thc wo rlcl's la rgcst elcctri c loco motive. He in tcnded to elec trify thc DT& I from his Rouge plan t a ll th e way to lronto n , so me 300 mi les. To this day yo u can sec Fo rd's cnormous concrete a rches rro m 1-94 at Oa kwood Bo u levard a nd rrom Allen Road. We igh ing 30 tons each , th e archcs we re made at the Rouge co ncrete plant for the w ires of the overhcad catc nary.

W ORKHORSE Performance was asto nishing. Designed to o perate up to 35 mph , t he max imu m tractive effo rt (TE) was 250,000 lbs. T he largest Mallet com po und steam locomot ives of that clay procluced o nly 150,000 lbs TE. With o nly one loco motive and the DT& l's relatively low traffi c clens ity, th e elec tri c o perati o n cost a lmos t twi cc as much as steam. lt encled in 1930 w hen the twi n-u ni t locomo tive was damaged in a clerailme nt.

Ford gavc up rail roacl ing bdo re electriricatio n was co mplctecl bcyond Fiat Rock. In 1929 he sold the DT&I to Pennsylvan ia Rail road inte rests. Fo rd was used to operating his automo bile business w itho ut gove rnment interference and became disgusted w hen th e lnterstate Co mmerce Co m mission fined him for not charging demurrage (ho lding c harges) o n his own freigh t cars .

Detroi t's rail road engineering landmark of the firs t ha lf of the 20th ce n tury is th e Mic higan Cen tral's Detroit River Tunn el con nect ing w ith W indsor. Begun in 1906, it officially o penecl Oct. 16, 19 10. (This was no t t hc first sub-aqueous rail tunne l in the wo rlcl, an cnginec ring fcat that belo ngs to the Gra nd Tru n k's 1891 lllnnel between Pon Hu ron , Mic higan , ancl Sarn ia, O ntario, rep lacecl in 1994 by a new tube.)

Co ncrete sec tio ns o f the MCRR's twin-tube tunnel we rc bu ilt in St. Cla ir, Mic h . s hipya rcls, Ooatecl to Detroit , ancl prccisely s u nk in a trench dredgecl across

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the river bouom. The sections were pumped out and track laid. The tunn e l used e lec tri c locomotives su pplied with co mm erciall y p urchased power by third rail until 1956, when th ey were replaced by diesels.

The Detroit ra il tunncl is st ill in daily opera ti o n. In April 1994 t he present owners, Canadian Nati onal and CP Rail , compl eted enl arging 1he lllnncl to perm it passage of ta ll trains o f stac ked con ta ine rs . T h is was clo ne by lowering the noo r of th e no rth tube. The improvemen t te rminated the Detroit River railroad ea r-ferry service, w hi ch had begun in 1867 .

A later phase o f th e o rig ina l Detroit River Tunn el project was the Mi ehi ga n Ce ntra l Depot. Sitting 2,600 fee t fro m th e tunnel's wes t po rtal , its 15-sto ry office tower rem ains a landmark o n Detro it's industria l west siel e. Begu n in 19 12, it o pened in 19 13 . T he depo t was in Amtra k use until 1987. In for lo rnl y va ndal ized co nditio n today, ho ping for so me ad apti ve use, the !arge Beaux An s s tyle stati o n was a m ajo r p roject in a d ecade w hic h saw m any huge bu il d ings go u p around Detroit.

The areh itects were a co nso nium of th e fi r ms o f Reed & Stern o f St. Pa ul , Minn. a nd Warren & Wetmo re o f New York C ity. Th ese firms also cles igned New York C ity's Grand Ce ntra l Terminal , w hi ch also ope ned in 19 13. T he MC Depot han dled m o re 1han 100 passenge r trains da ily in its halcyon days up lO a ncl during World War 11 .

Fro m 1895 unti l 1971, when Amtrak was for med , Detroit had three maj o r passcnger Stati o ns. ßesides Michiga n Cen tral Depot, th ere was 1he 1866 Brus h Street Statio n on the s ite of today's Renaissa nce Center and the Fort St reet Union Depot o n Fon at 2nd, now the si te o f Wayne Count y Co mmunity Co llege. After us ing temporary builclings ncar the MC Depo t for seven years, in 1994 Amtrak bui lt a new Station o n Ba ltim o re a l 'N ooclward Avenue jus t so u1 heast of th e Genera l Mo tors ßuild ing.

trucks, w hic h bette r t han ra il can serve p resen t day "jus t in tim e" inven tory contro l m ethods. The fcderal gove rnment's progra m o f in terstate h ighways begun in the late '50s was a nothe r s igni fi can t factor. U .S. railroad s by th e 1970s enjoyed o n ly 35 percen t of inte r-city fre ight traffic, w h ich had been a t 50 percen t in the l 950s a nd almos t 100 percent in 1895.

But that down wa rd trend is c hanging. The ] 980 Staggers Ac t deregu la ted rai lroads a nd truck lines. The ra ilroads have made a s ig n ifican t comeback w ith intermod al transportation, wh ic h combines the aclvantagcs o f tru cks and rai l. ln termodal incl udes T O FC ( trailer o n fla t ca r) o r "piggyback" and COFC (truc k-trailers izecl con ta iners shi pped on s pecial nat ca rs, us ua ll y s tackecl two high). The con tainers are loaded and unload ed fro m ra il ca rs by cra ne o n to flat-bed tra ilers o r trail er-truc k w hee ls. lnterm odal is a conce pt w hich goes bac k to the 1920s and earlie r, b u t has on ly blosso med in th e last 25 yea rs .

Detroit is the northern termi n us o f a un iqu e Norfo lk Sou thern tra in callecl t he "Road Railer." Rathe r than rai lroad cars, this train co ns is ts of speciall y engineered NS 'Triple Crown" Standa rd highway trai le rs, w hi ch inc lude a set of railroad w hee ls tha t lower whe n th e tra il er rides the rails.

In 1995 CSX Transportatio n plans to begin using w hat they call "The lron Highway" between Ch icago a nd Detro it. This is a train of low platform nat cars, upo n w h ich highway trailers w ill be backed . W hat is un ique is that the nat cars w ill be perma nent ly coupled and self-p ropelled. Each e nd of the train in its fin al fo rm w ill have a con trol car rather than a locomotive.

With ca bs o n ei ther end, the trai n is bi-directional and need not be tu rned .

In the last 100 yea rs on ly o ne th ing abou t Detroi t's rai lroads has remainecl uncha nged. T he gauge between the ra ils is s till 4 feet-8 l./2 inches.

ROAD-BASED RIVAL Beginning in the l 970s many o f the rail improvemen ts resulting from 1he ea rl y days o f th e au to m obi le indus try have bec n d ow nsca lecJ or even abandoned .

T he primat")' ca use has bee n thc ncx ibilit y o f motor

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DetroiL bccame Lhc fi rst !arge U.S. ciLy 10 own its transponation sysiem. Thc DUR turned its s trecicars and trackage over to the ciLy's Depanment of SLreel Rail ways for ncarly $20 million. The DSR ended up wi1h 1,457 cars, 363 track miles, 4,000 cmployees, 10 car houscs and 1wo shop capable of complete rebuilding and cven ncw car constructi on.

In 1925 Lhe DSR inaugurated iLs fi rs l permanent molo r bus line. By t 928 1he DSR had 38 bus lines. ßuses provcd a fas ter and less cosily way of exLending service Lhan s1ree1cars, altho ugh with pcrhaps highc r o pcrati ng cosis . 1n 197-1 1he DSR bccame Lhe Detroit Departmenl of Transportalion known as "D-DOT." lnler-cit y light elcctri c railways had Lhcir Michiga n beginnings in 1894. Beucr known as "in terurbans," inLer-cily elcciri e ra il roads were an cxtension of 1hc ovcrhcac.1-wirc elcctri c s trecicar Lrac1ion concepl.

ElccLric railways had speciacular grow1h Lhrougho uL the mid wcs t in Lhe clccade 1895- 19 10. Using hcavicr equ ipmenl 1han si rectcars, buL s maller and lighLer than 1hose of stea m rai lroacls, 1hc inlcrurbans were a hybrid beLwcen strcelcars and rai lroad coaches of the day. 1n the sho n six-ycar period beiween 1894 and

eLro it's commuLer transpo rtaLion sysLem bega n in 1863 wiLh s mall enclosed sLreeicars drawn by o ne o r 1wo horses aL a time when mosl sLreels were unpaved. ElecLric-powered sLreeicars began replacing the horse cars in 1886 and by 1895 Lhc lasLof thc cquine four-wheel vehicles was reLircd .

By 1892 almosL all of the ci1 /s man)' sLreetcar li nes were under control or the priva icly owned DetroiL Citi zens Strcet Railway. In 1895 thc ciLy under Mayo r Haze n Pingree buil t some s tree Lrai l li nes to be operaLecl by 1hc privatcly owned Detroit ElcCLri c Ra ilway o n 1he cond itio n 3-cenl fares be offerec~ in compeLilion wiLh the Citizcns company's 6-cent larcs.

CiLi ze ns acq uirecl Lhc Dc1roi1 Elcctri c Ra ilway in 1900, Lhe combinaLion being renamcd DcLroiL Uni1cd Railways (DU R) , ancl unLil 192 1 DeLro iL's strcct railway o peraLio ns wc re em ircly pri vaLcl y owncd. That yea r, culminaling a 32-year campaign for public ownership and backed by a rcfercndum vote, Mayo r James Couzens - despite his Ford MoLOr Company backgro und - began Lo build new sLrecLcar li ncs for Lhe city to operate.

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OPPOSITE: As this map from a 1916 timetable demonstrates, Southeast Michigan enjoyed an extensive network of electric interurban lines from 1900 to the 1930s.

(Jack Schramm collection)

1900 all of Detroit's 19 interurban lines had been organized.

By 1907 the DUR controlled Detroit and Windsor street railways and all of southeastern Michigan's interurban lines. Detroiters could travel on the DUR to Toledo where, through Ohio electric roads, connections were made to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and beyond as weil as to major cities in Indiana.

able return on investment, prevented capital improvements, caused system abandonments and ultimately forced governments into the public transportation business. The question was whether transit company managements could serve the public interest well at the same time they were beholden to their stock- and bond-holders to maximize investment return. While other utilities survived to continue under private ownership, most public transportation companies, be they bus or rail, did not.

'ACCEPTABLE (OMFORT'

In Michigan the DUR's lines connected Detroit with other interurban lines to Ann Arbor, jackson, lansing, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, Flint, Bay City, Saginaw, Mount Clemens, Port Huron and the many small towns in between. Fares were considerably less expensive than steam railroads.

The usually one- and sometimes two-car trains were cinderless and provided acceptable comfort levels at speeds up to 60 mph on frequent schedules. In addition to passengers they carried light freight such as milk cans and packages.

By 1903 Detroit had become the largest interurban railway center in the world, an honor the emerging Motor City relinquished to Indianapolis in 1910. However, Detroit remained an important interurban hub weil into the 1920s. For example, in 1919 over 360 cars per day routinely used the DUR's downtown interurban Station on jefferson at Bates, now the site of the CityCounty Building.

Throughout 1920s interurban railways around the country began to fail in the face of automobile, bus and truck competition. The DUR was forced into bankruptcy in 1925 by its bus supplier, the Yellow Coach company, now General Motors Truck and Coach. lt emerged from bankruptcy in 1928 as the Eastern Michigan Railways. By then most of the DUR's original interurban lines had been abandoned or converted to bus and truck service.

The DUR's demise rcsultcd from morc than just automotive competition and the cost of maintaining its own right of way. Within Detroit it suffered from lowcrcost competitive strcetcar fares from its own former systcm, now municipally operated, and expiring franchises under which trackage revcrted to city ownership. Auacks on private ownership, including controlling fares, had gone on continuously since of the Pingree days of the 1890s. With thc constant threat of being taken over, the DUR postponed invcsting in track maintcnance and upgrading as weil as ncw equipment and rebuilding.

The long-term harassing of rail transit companics across the U.S. was short-sighted. lt denied a reason-

DRIVEN Ă&#x153;UT OF BUSINESS However, the interurbans' short 40-year lifetime in Detroit, as elsewhere, was most adversely affected by the popularity, convenience and flexibility of the automobile. In the two decades 1905-1925 the growth in cars, trucks and buses led to the demand for better roads.

Most interurban rail lines had been laid before the automobile age, down city streets and alongside the emde unpaved highways of that day. Interurban companies spent minimal funds on basic railroad civil engineering. Unlike steam railroads, most interurbans lacked stone-ballasted roadbed and followed thc undulating lay of the land to keep costs low.

Few Detroit reminders of the interurban era survive. You can still seen the bridge abutments of the DUR's Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Shore Une Railway over the Huron River at Fiat Rock from southbound lnterstate 75. South of Fiat Rock, 1-75 was built in the l 960s over the old interurban right of way. Other interurban rights of way have been used locally for high-voltage transmission routes such as Electric Avenue in Ecorse and River Rouge. A onetime DUR powerplant stands on Grand River at Orchard Lake Road in Farmington.

Not that the interurban died without a fight. For instance, in a 1927 auempt to join the cutting edge of transportation technology, the Eastern Michigan System ran advertisements showing Ford tri-motor airplanes to promote their interurban and bus service which coordinated with airline schedules for persons traveling from Ann Arbor, Port Huron and Detroit to the Ford Airport in Dearborn.

Beginning in the l 920s DUR interurban lines were replaced by molor buses. Some of these bus lines later became Great Lakes Greyhound, Lake Shore Coach, Dearborn Coach, etc. By the early l 970s these companies or their successors had been merged into the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA). Formed in 1967, SEMTA was intended to provide public transportation in Livingston, Macomb,

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The flexibility and low operating costs of buses quickly doomed electric streetcars and interurbans in the 1920s.

Shown here is a 1925 GMC Truck & Coach Model Y "highway coach." (General Motors) Monroe , Oakland , St. Clair, Was h tenaw a nd Wayne co unties. In 1989 SEMTA beca111e th e Suburban Mobilit y Au th o rity for Regional Trans po rtat io n (SMART) .

W hil e ta lks co ntinu e of 111e rging SMA RT and Detroit's D- DOT, th ese coun ti es still Jack a cent ral 111ass tran sportatio n plan and th e 111ec han is 111 to pro perl y fund it.

T h e d evelop me nt o f the mo to r bus - led by General Mo tors in th e period a fter Wo rlcl War 1 - had s ignifi ca n t im pact on city and s uburban elec tric rail ways ,

espec ially GM's e fficient d iese l-powered buses m arketed from the late l 930s.

Altho ugh DSR's to tal trackage hacl increased to 533 milcs by 1930, it was down to 426 at th e begin ning of World War 11. Detroit s tree tca rs had thei r g rea test ridcrship cver during th c gas-rati o ni ng war days of l9421945. By 1952 , thc DSR's trackagc was reduced to 65 miles wi th j us t fo ur li nes: Woodwa rd , Gratiot, East J cffe rso n a ncl Michigan . Service cnclecl April 8 , 1956 , and

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183 of the 185 streamlined PCC (Railway Presidents' Conference Committee) design streetcars were refurbished by the DSR shops and sold that year to Mexico City.

single-track line loops the city's downtown. Superficially a conventional system, it uses a standard gauge (4 foot 8.5 inch) track the same as most U.S. railroads and streetcar lines.

5TREETCAR MAKEOVER

ADVANCED PROPULSION

While not built here, the PCC design was a result of research by the Detroit Edison Company's Chief of Research Dr. C. Floyd Hirshfeld. Privately funded by the Railway Presidents' Commission, this non-government project to redesign the surface streetcar was one of the earliest utilizations of what today is called the systems approach. The result of Dr. Hirshfeld's work was a vibration-free, silent-running, well-ventilated car modern in appearance. The first PCC's were produced in 1936, but Detroit didn't buy its first two until 1945.

From 1930 to 1937 and 1949 to 1962 Detroit used trackless electric trolleys, also known as trolley buses or trolley coaches. But the DSR never had much of a neet compared to its conventional buses. In 1956, when streetcar service ended, there were 140 trolley buses versus 1, 753 conventional buses. Trackless trolleys are rubber-tired bus-like vehicles powered by electric motors from a dual overhead wire system. Two wires were required since, unlike streetcars, trackless trolleys don't have the steel rail to provide a ground return-circuit.

The demise of all of these non-automotive systems - streetcars, trolley buses and interurbans - was due in large part to their innexibility as weil as perceived higher costs. Interurbans and - until the l 940s streetcars had two-man crews, a motorman and a conductor to collect tickets.

Detroit was a city populated by those oriented to the automobile, who considered streetcars old-fashioned. Reflecting that public, Detroit's city fathers discarded the older public rail transportation concept, which today is being looked at again, nationally at least, as energy-efficient.

In 1995 Detroit again has light rail. lt has been reborn twice since the last of the old streetcars ran in 1956. After a hiatus of 20 years, streetcars returned to downtown in 1976 with the opening of the City of Detroit's antique "Downtown Trolley" line running from Grand Circus Park down Washington Boulevard to Cobo Hall and later extended east along Jefferson to the Renaissance Center. This meter-gauge overhead electric trolley line primarily uses small, four-wheel vintage U.S.-built equipment made for Lisbon, Portugal, in the first decades of this century.

Detroit's latest rail adventure opened in 1987. lt is the Detroit Transportation Corporation's "Detroit People Mover." This city-owned circular 2. 9 mile elevated

lt is in its mode of power - a linear induction system, considered space-age technology - that it's unusual. Most conventional rapid-transit street and subway cars still used in some North American cities have up to four DC traction motors. These are mounted on the truck frames and geared to the axles. In most cases 550- to 600-volt DC power is supplied from an overhead trolley wire or outside third rail.

In the People Movers linear induction system there is no overhead wire or third rail. The cars lack conventional traction motors with their rotating armatures and stationary magnetic fields produced by coils, known as the stator. Rather, the People Mover has a broad 12inch-wide flat conductor centered between the rails.

This corresponds to the armature or rotor on an electric motor. The car's magnetic coils, which surround the center rail, constitute the stator.

When the center rail and car are energized, the car pulls itself along the centcr rail. Unlike thc electric motor's moving armature the car itself moves. There are no moving parts other than the non-powered wheels.

(The only other two systems like it anywherc in the world are in small transit feeder lines in Toronto and a 15-mile rapid-transit line in Vancouver.)

Until the l 930s, the regular steam railroads' frequent inter-city trains provided service to those wishing to commute between Detroit and its suburbs. Best remembered today was the Grand Trunk Western commuter service from Pontiac, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Royal Oak and Ferndale to Brush Street Station (now the site of Renaissance Center), discontinued in 1983. Until the l980s Amtrak provided commuter service from Ann Arbor on its regular trains. The New York Central ran commuter service until the l 920s from Grosse Ile to the Brush Street Station. Stops along the route included Woodward Avenue near today's New Center area. In the 1890s the New York Central also ran commuter service to East Jefferson Avenue near the Belle lsle Bridge on the industrial "Inner Bell" line.

Detroit's public rail history has been glorious.

Today, with the exceplion of the People Mover and the Washington Boulevard trolley line, it is just a memory.

Public bus transportation in Detroit and the suburbs hangs on, while public officials and citizens debate how to manage and finance it for the relative handful of customers who can't drive and must be served.

155

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-

,

........_,_

-

Stinson "Detroiter" monoplanes lined up at the Ford Air Port in Dearborn prior to delivery to Mexico for airline service, Sept. 8, 1928. (The Detroit News) OPPOSITE : The original Wayne County airport terminal building was still serving airline passengers (and pre-jet age airliners) when this photo was taken June 27, 1962. The 1930vintage building still stands at Detroit Metropolitan Airport's northeast corner in 1995, and may become a museum. (Detroit Free Press)

s t he 20t h cen tury approac hed , inven to rs like W ilbur and O rvi lle W righ t werc s till s truggl ing to solve the puzzle of m ec h an ica l nigh t. They succeeded by 1903, but it wasn't unt il the Firs t Wo rld War tha t p ilo ts we re tra ined in numbc rs, a nd the firs t Detroit area a irfield was marked o ff by aviation cnt h us ias t and rea l csta tc bro ke r He n ry ß. J oy in 19 17. J oy's 600 ac rcs o f ma rs h la nd n ort heas t o f ML. C lcmcns we rc leased to th e U.S. governme n t that year and activa tcd as a m il ita ry ins tall atio n Ju ly l, 1917 .

Th e fi e le! was na mcd in h o nor of l St LL. T h o mas E. Selfriclgc, thc firs t A mc ri can to lose his li fc in a n airc ra ft accide nt. Th e pil o t g un nery sc hoo l ope ned in April 1918, and thc ficl cl's firs t fatal it y occu rred o n Junc 26, 19 18 , w h c n 2ncl Lt. John P ßoyle crash ed into a pasture. Selfriclgc beca me the home o f th e l st Pursui t Gro up, w hose accs in cludccl Ca p t. Edclie Rickenbacker, who lat e r found ed Easte rn Airl ines. The govern m ent bought the ficlcl fro mJoy in 1921 fo r $ 190,000.

Th e Roa ring Twc n tics brought a n a irpo rt-buildi ng boom to De tro it and a via tio n to the civilia n travele r.

He nry Fo rd bui lt Fo rd Air Port in 1925 o n 260 acres on the Dca rbo rn s ite now occ up ied by Fo rd 's Dearbo rn Test Trac k o n O akwood . Th e sam e year, Ford bo ug ht Sto ut Me tal Airp la ne Co. ancl bega n air fre ight service from De troit to C h icago via the Fo rd Air Transport Se rvice . ln 1926, a separa te co mpan y, Stout Air Servi ce, bcga n Oy ing passc ngc rs bctween Fo rd Air Po rt and

The Sky's The Limit Aiifields open new vistas in transport, co1n1nerce h y Janct Braunstein

IS6

Gra nd Rapi ds. The sa me year, the Grosse Ile-based Airc raft Development Corp. built an airs hip mast at Fo rd for its ZMC-2, the wo rld's firs t - and o n ly - metalskin ned zeppcli n.

The mast was uscd o nly twice, o nce by thc Army and o nce by thc Navy, before it was to rn down in 1946.

By 1928, Ford Air Po rt had the wo rld's fi rst concrete ru nways. Thc pavcd runway is co nside rcd Henry Ford's g reates t con t ributio n to aviatio n.

N OISE ( OMPLAINTS Aircra ft Development Co rp. sct up its headquarters in 1926, after rcceiving a $300,000 Navy con tract to build the ZMC-2 , o n the so uth ern end of G rosse lle on property where Ranso m E. O lds built a summer ho me in the ca rly 1900s. In 1927 , 1he s1a te of M ichiga n leased a fi ve -ac re strip o f t he propc rty fo r usc by th e Nava l Rese rve Avia ti o n unit form cd a t 1he De1roit Nava l Armo ry in L925. The move ca me af1er riverfront residcnts complained a bout th e no ise th e pi lo ts made nying a pair of seaplanes fro m the De troit Ri vc r to Selfridge a nd back.

The new seaplane base, w h ich opened in 1929, had the world's first runway lights 1hat werc turned o n auto matically by weath crvane cont rol to o utlin e the runway most directl y into the w ind .

Another air fie le! was o pera1ed in the J 920s at 101/ 2 Mile and Gratiot by Packard Mo tor Car Co., w hi ch was building d iese( a ircraft e ngi nes a nd hired a team of Lest p ilo ts to cx perime nt with airpla ne dcsig ns.

Ea rl ie r, Fishcr ßody ncw "jenni es" fro m a grass fiele! nea r the WWl production plan t w hc rc it built them o n Detroi1's west siele. Whcn Stinson Aircraft startcdbuilding cabin pla nes in Northvill c in 1926, it a lso utilizcd a nea rby grass fiele! .

The first la nding at Detroit City Airpo rt was madc in 1927 by a Ford "Tin Goose" o n thc s till unfinished airstrip . The airstrip was finished that ycar, a nd fenccd and lig hted during 1928 and L929. By L93 1, four a irlines n ew passc ngcrs fro m Detroi t C ity to St. Lo uis , Toledo, Mi lwaukee a nd Chicago. But a natural gas towcr 1ha t pi lo ts uscd as a guidc post for findin g th e airpo rt was d ec mcd such a haza rd tha t it , and th e heavy

industria l and residentia l d evelopment around the airpo rt doo med Detroi t City to a sho rt lifc as Dctroit's majo r passenger terminal.

lAsT STOP Oakla nd-Po ntiac Airpo rt was opencd in 1928 as Po nti ac Municipa l Airpo rt an d d edica ted in 1929 as the final stop o n th c ina ug ural Michiga n Air Tour. During the to ur, sa nc tioncd by a pe rmit signed by Orville Wright, pilots in somc 50 a irplanes sto pped a t 30 air fields around the statc.

T hcre we rc th rcc im po rtant fi elds in wcstern Waync Co unty. T he first was a squa re mile dcvcloped by th e bac kers of Stinso n Airc ra ft Co. for a new Stinson plant at Van Born Road and th e Pere Marquette ra il trac ks, so ut hwest of downtown Wayne. The co ncept for thc aircraf1 ,..,... plant, whic h o pcra1ed fro m 1928 to 19 48, was to d eli ver planes right from thc facto ry door fo r CUSLOme rs tO n y away. Since 1950 the s i1e has been occupied

by GM pa n s pla n ts.

Grou nd for Wayne Ficld, now known as Detroit-Me tro po litan Wayne County Airport , was b ro ken in April L929, but the firs t la nding 1here wasn·1 until Feb. 11 , 1930. T he plane: a Stout Air Lines Ford Tri-Mo to r carrying local clig nita ries fro m Ford Air Po rt in Dearborn . (In 1930, Sto ut Air Lines charged $ 18 10 ny from Dearbo rn to Chicago, $ 10 to Clevela nd and $5 to Toledo). ßy August. air ma il service was s hifted from Dearbo rn to Wayn e Fiele! . T he two routes - ßay City-Detroit-Clcveland a nd Detroit-Ch icago - we rc sc rved by Tho mpson Acronautical Corp „ a predecessor of American Airlines, using s inglc-cngin c Stinson De troiters.

W illow Run , Detro it's most famous ai rfield , was a latcco mcr. Henry Ford bo ught th e prope n y in thc l930s to build Ca mp Will ow Run , a placc fo r so ns o f Wo rtei War l vctcra ns to live and work, g row ing a nd sclling crops during thc s ummcr. In April 194 1, aftc r r o rd Motor Co. wo n a fcdcral contract to build B-24 bombcr pla nes, Ford broke ground for thc bombcr plant and s urrounding a ir fi ele!. By the end of ] 94 l , thc fi ele! had six pavcd runways, cach wi th me ta! rod s e mbeddcd in 14 inches o f co ncrcte to handl e the heav-

1

157

iest four-engine aircraft in any weather. The bomber plant hit peak employment - 42,000 workers - in june 1943. By the end of the war, it had buih 8,685 bombers and parts for a thousand more in less than four years.

World War II also led to the rapid development of the airport on Grosse Ile. In 1939, when the war broke out in Europe, the Navy was training just 23 pilots a month on Grosse Ile. Gearing up to train its own pilots and, urgently, many of Great Britain's, the Navy bought the reserve base property-including the landing field and huge balloon hangar of the failed Aircraft Development Corp., leased by the Navy since 1932 - from the state. In 1942, it nearly doubled the size of the base to 604 acres, paved a circular landing pad and three runways, added high intensity lights and installed equipment for instrument approaches. The base was designated U.S. Naval Air Station Grosse lle on Dec. 9, 1942.

which stood for at least two more decades, City Airport was bounded by two cemeteries and other dense development, all of which limited the direction from which planes could make instrument landings and limited ultimate extension of the runways.

Passenger traffic moved to Willow Run from Detroit City in 1946. Kaiser-Frazer bought the bomber plant to build cars (General Motors Look over the plant from K-F in 1953). The University of Michigan bought the Willow Run Airport and Army Base from the government for $1 in 1947. The airport was state-of-theart for the time, with hangars equipped with in-ground fucl-servicing pits and fast-acting bay doors; a complete lights system with emergency backup, a meteorology center and a control tower.

In 1947, a $1.5 million remodeling project converted a former B-24 hangar to a then-luxurious passenger terminal, and all seven airlines serving metro Detroit operated there.

BUSH STINT

Ă&#x153;VERSHADOWED

By the end of the war, more than 1,800 British cadets had received primary flight training on Grosse Ile. Among those who served at Grosse Ile was former President George Bush, stationed at the base in early spring 1945. After the war, Grosse Ile served as a reserve base until 1969, when the Navy closed it and moved the reservists to Selfridge. In late l 970s, the government turned over mosl of the property lo the Township of Grosse Ile, which converted it lo a 440acre general-aviation airport and a 120 acre industrial park.

In the end, Wayne field became Detroit Metro, southeast Michigan's main passenger and freight airport, and Pontiac Municipal Airport became OaklandPontiac Airport, the region's busiest corporate and general aviation site.

Ford Air Port in Dearborn was shifted to use as an automotive lest center during the l 930s. lt was revived as an airport for military uses during WWII, but converted permanently to a vehicle proving ground in 1947. Dearborn Inn, arguably the world's first airport hotel, still stands, beautifully preserved and open for business, across the street from thc proving ground.

The last known use of the place as an airport occurred in 1975 when special permission was obtained for Northwest Airlines to land a DC-3 which it was donating to the Henry Ford Museum across Village Road from the Test Track.

Detroit City Airport was found inadequate for steady passenger service by large airplanes during the l 940s. In addition to the pesky natural gas tower,

But Willow Run was eventually eclipsed as well, by the jet age, which required even larger, more modern airfield and terminal facilities. In 1947, Wayne Field was renamed Waync Major Airport. In 1954, Pan American World Airways gave Detroit its firsl transatlantic service, joined at Wayne by BOAC in 1954. In 1957, the airport was given its current name. In 1958, American and Allegheny airlines moved their scheduled passenger operations to a newly completed home at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. They were followed by Northwest Orient and Delta in 1959, and by 1960 all seven of Metro's original airlines were offering jet servicc.

Ironically, for some 18 years after WWII, a debate over where to build a replacement for Willow Run simmered without solution. The aim was to find a location closer to the population, then clustered in and around Detroit proper. The choices included Windsor, Ontario, passengers could cross the river in five lo 10 minutes, a great improvcmenl over the 45 minutes il lOok to drive from downtown Detroit to Willow Run. During the debate, development continued at_ Metro Airport, once envisioned solely as a freight site, and the population, industry and business expanded north and west of Detroit. By the l 960s, Metro was equally convenient to most of the southeast Michigan population.

158

Typecast in Their Role

s 1895 dawncd , the Detroit Pm: Press was bcing printccl on machincs jusL a gc ncral iOll 0 1" l\VO advan ccd rrom mcclicva l G utenberg presses. t cws rro m othcr StalCS and natiOllS took days, weeks or cven months to rcach rcadcrs in Detro it.

A ccntury latcr, ncws pa pcrs sti ll cxist, but thc y can as casily be gc ncratcd by a program on a readers home Computer that automatica ll y surrs a hunclrccl on-li ne ncws offcrings as by a printing press. News from around the planet is beamecl by satellite in split scconds to telcvisio n sereens by a hunclrccl or morc cable chan nels. And comput er sohwarc progra ms like those or magnate Bill Gates' Microsoft have made eo mputers SO GlS)' tO LISC t hat rew Offices - at ho mc Or al work arc wit hout onc. lt was only in 1892 that thc Prce Press hacl bccome thc first newspa pcr in Michiga n to install linotype mac hi nes, which usccl a keyboarcl at thc machinc to cast lincs of type automa tically rrom moltcn lcad. In 1898, thc papcr replacecl singlc-col umn hcadlinc wi th multi -column hcad lincs ancl usccl its fi rs t d rawings in ncws co lum ns. In January 1900, it used ils first photo on th c front pagc - a s hot of Britain's Windsor boys, forctclli ng th c continuing Amcri can fascinat io n wit h Englands roya l fa mil y ncarly a ccnwry latcr. \Vith no rad io, tclcvisio n, eablc or compu tcrs, ncwspapcrs wc rc thc onl y mcans of distribut ing info rmation in the hustling indus trial city of Detroit. "Thcrc

N ews 1nedio were not on/y the pronzoters of their day, but 1nojor p/ayers os we//

by Jancr l\ ra 11 n;n.:i11 and i\la11n.:1.: n i\k l )onald

TOP : Detroit Free Press newsroom, ca. 1900. Note

the primitive electrical extension cords stretched from overhead to desk lamps, and the paucity of typewriters; m ost copy was still created in longhand. (Detroit Free Press)

l .'i9

Detroit market by mcrging their busincss o pcrations in a join t opcra1ing agreemcn t that lct th c two papers - and their co rporatc ow ners, Knight-Riclder an d Ganncll share ancl procluction dcli very expenses and split profits.

Thc boom in the aut o industry also brought the business press to Detroit, Starling with the newslcuer Ward s Automoti ve Reporls. Starting in 1924, Alfred 0. Ward paid peoplc to count cars moving down the asscmbl y lincs at thc factorics of the city's dozcns of auto manufacturers; thc point of 1he excrcise was to allow in vestors to teil whethcr the auto companies were solvent o r not. Ward s, as it is known, rcmains the statis tical bible or the auto inclustry; subscri bcrs pay $ 1,000 year for the wccld y tallics on auto sales, production, factory up- and down- time, and ncw moclels, technologies and facto ry sitcs. Sistcr publicati ons includc Ward s A11toWorld, Wards Automot ive l111enwtio11al, Ward s E11gi11e & Velric/e Tecl11rology Updale, Ward'.~ A11lo111otive Year/moll and a ncw mont hly launchcd in latc 1994, Wards Automotive /11t eniatio11al Forns 011 Cl1i11a.

The weekl y (once dail y) Automolive News, rcad by somc 80,000 car dealers, automakcr exccuti vcs, industry analysts ancl busincss repon crs nationwiclc, was foundcd in 1925. Crain's Communicatio ns, a Chicagobascd company, won th c bidding when thc widow of its founclcr put it up for salc. The publicatio n was los ing a half-mi llio n dollars a ycar whcn I<cith Cra in , son of Crain's founder j.D. Crain, movcd his famil y to Detro it and took over. Crain found ways to cut costs, boos t revcnucs and brcak evcn with in six months. In 1977, Crai n's bought A1110Wecl1, a magazinc fo r car and racing cnthusiasts, fro m a Reno, Nev., group and movcd it to Detro it two years later. 1n Ja nuary l 986, l\ utoWeell was convcn cd from a grai ny tabloid to a slick magazi ne.

Mcanwhilc, Crain's Comrnunications movcd its corporatc finan cial opcratio n to Detroi t in 1983 ancl its circulati on depariment in 1985. Thc samc ycar, the company added anothcr publica tion , fo unding Crai11s Detroit ß11si11ess, sister to Crai11 s Chicago Business, then scven ycars old. In 1983. Crai n's also bought Morrtlr/y Dct roit , a city magazi nc, from its Clcveland owncrs and changcd ils namc to Detroit M011tl1/y in 1986. In 1995,

was no other form of ncws," says Universit)' of Michigan communicati ons professor Jim ßucklcy. "Papers were divided by politics as weil as class."

Thc Detroit Times, founded in 1900 by James Schemcrhorn; the Detroit Evening News, fo und cd in 1873 by James E. Scripps; and the Dei roit )011mal, found cd in 1883, s harcd the busy market wit h thc Free Press, found cd as the Democralic Frec Press a11d Micl1iga11 /11t clligc11ccr by J oh n Pius Sheldo n in 183.L. Papers s uch as the Det ro il Abrnd Post , a Gcrm an-language paper, served Detroit's man y ethnic communities. During the 1870s, farm towns outside Detroit each had their ow n daily o r wcekly newspaper. Likc the ßir111 i11glw111 Ecce11tric, founded in the l 870s, many turncd into subu rba n papcrs ahcr the interurban strect cars conncctcd prcvio usly isolated farm communities to th c !arge r mctropolitan arca in the 1920s with thc sprcad of auto fact ori es to thc Detroit outs kins.

WINNOWING D OWN Throughout the l 800s and until purchascd by Jack S. Knig ht in 1940, thc Free Press was gencrall y owncd - ci1hcr in part o r in wholc - by a succcssion of cditors, gc ncrall y i1s owncr. Newsroom regimcs changcd hancls cach time the papcr clicl ; th c era of corpora1 cthink in Detroit dai ly ncwspapcr journalis m was yc1 10 arrivc. Thc Dctroil Eve11i11g News rcmai ncd inclcpcndc111 until 1985 than ks in pan to a length y legal balllc James Scripps fought against his youngcr brothcr, E.W. Scripps, 1ha1 cndcd whcn James tracled his s harcs in thc Scripps famil y papc rs owned in towns like Clcvclancl, l. Louis and Cincinnati for E.W.'s s hares in 1hc Ne ws. J\s Detroit grcw, the numbcr of playcrs in thc daily mctropolitan ncwspaper market s hrank. By thc l920s, 1hc , cws had absorbed th c Detroil j ounw/; in 1960, it bought thc Dei roil Times , which had bccn owncd by th c l lcarst Corporation, one of thc na1ion's largcs1 chains. Thirty ycars latcr, the Del roit Frcc Press and 1he Detroit News cnded their long baulc over thc 160

OPPOSITE: When this 1948 Hudson pioneering television commercial was broadcast live on the Dumont Network, the

nation's strongest TV market in New York City consisted of only 200,000 receivers. (Chrysler Historical Collection) In 1995, Detroit TV anchors Rich Fisher and /erry Hodak present the news live several times daily over Channel 2. (WJBK-TV) a new publ icati o n was launc hcd , Crni11s No11profit

pagcs of the News o r a ny other Detro it papc r. T hcn, o n Aug. 3 1, the News ra n a n item announc in g that it wo ulcl broadcas t resu lts or s tate, co ng rcssio na l and county primary elections in sou th eas t Mic higan as thcy ca me in that night.

From then on, the Station continued broadcasting ncws, ancl moved its s tudio to biggcr faci lit ics on thc fo urth n oor of the News builcling o n Lafaycllc a ncl Scco nd . T he newspapcr ran ins truc ti o ns telling rcaclcrs how Lo cons LrucL Lhe ir own crystal recc iving scts incxpcnsive ly. O n Sep t. 6 , 1920, Lhe s tat io n broadcasL ncws nashes Oll a boxing ma lch in Benlon 1-la rbo r bctwccn hcavyweight champio n Jack Dempscy a nd cha llcngcr Billy Misky. T hal , mo re than anything eise, cloomccl thc animated bu ll etin boa rds o uts ide ncwspapcr o ffi ccs.

T he governmenl call lelle rs evc muall y issucd Lhe News' rad io Stati on werc firs L WBL, thcn WWJ. Thc firs t ca ll le u ers issuecl to a commcrc ial radi o s LaLi o n wcrc KOKA for the WesLinghouse Elcctri c a ncl Ma nufacturing Compa ny's s LaLio n in East Pius burgh, Pa., so it o rt en turns up in histo ry books as Lhc nali o n's fi rst rad io s Latio n. But invenlo r DeFo rcst himsclf hclpcd vcrify that the News' s tatio n was thc füs t; it broadcast fo r a full l L weeks before KOKA camc o n th c air.

News.

BEFORE Boos TusEs Bul back a l Lhe lllrn o r thc cenLury, ncwspapers were king - at least fo r a while. For thc most up-tothe-minu te ncws , Detroi tcrs wou ld nock o utside clowntown ncwspapcr Offices to glcan bitS o f informaLion clo lecl o ut by animatcd bu ll etin boa rds in fro nt or the builclings. Th c closes t thing to broadcastcrs werc newspaper hawkers, who wou ld s ho ut two-wo rd hcacllines to th e throngs o r pcclcs trians on the s trccts.

But on Aug. 20, 1920, a ncw era clawn cd. Thal cvcning, Lhe nation's firs t radi o s taLi o n made its füsL broadcas t fro m a Stud io in the co rn er of th e News ' city roo m . Over cquipmc nL o rderecl from invcnto r Dr. Lee DeForcs L, w ho clcarcd the way fo r co mmcrcial broadcasting by aclcling thc radio tubc osci ll:tto r to his ca rlicr invcnti ons o f Lh c radi o tubc triod c and th c radi o ampli fic r, thc News broaclcast a phonograph rcco rcling o f " Roscs of Pica rd y." Afte r receivin g num erou s rcspo nscs fro m ham radio operato rs assuring that the song had co mc through just fin c, thc s tat io n playcd a rcco rding o f "Taps." Nightl y music broaclcasts conti nuecl for Lhe rcst of th e mo nth wiLh no mc ntio n in thc

16 1

Stud ios at th e top o f thc 47-s to ry Penobsco t ßu ildi ng, then Dctroi t's h ighest s kysc rapcr.

VIDEO AGE Ü AWNS Thc next lcap in teeh no logy ca mc jus t fi vc years latcr. O n Oct. 23 , 1946, th e News introduced Detroi ters to tcl cv isio n using closcd-circuit mon ito rs at th c city's co nvcntion hall . Thc a udie nce could wa tch th c acti o n o n thc s tage o r watc h it appear s imul taneously o n scrccn. On Marc h 4, 19-+7, WWJ began da il y experimental TV broadcas ts or Lest pa u erns and Studi o prescnt atio ns. Thc date marks thc founding of WWj's T V s tati o n , which la ter bccame kn own by its c urrc nt ca ll lc u c rs, W DI V (C ha nncl 4). There wcre l"ewer tha n 100 TV rcccive rs in De troit. Yct WWJ-TV was joincd o n thc a ir o n Oct.9, 1948 by WXYZ-TV (C han nel 7), a nd a fcw wccks latcr, on Oct. 24, by WJBK (Cha nnel 2).

Like WWJ, WXYZ was a rad io s ta tio n that addcd T V; during the 1930s and '-+Os, WXYZ rad io brought th c na ti o n radio dramas incl ud ing "T he Lo ne Ranger," "T he Gree n 1-l ornet " a nd "The Chall enge of th e Yuko n ." (WXYZ radio la ter became W XYT.) W XYZ-T V made So u py Sales a nat iona ll y fa mous co mcdian. By carl y 1949, Detro it was linked to thc Eas t Coast by coaxia l cablc; network tclev isio n had co me to Michiga n.

For more than a d ecade, tclevisio n was no t hreat to ncwspapcrs o r eve n rad io because it lacked th e depth of the firs t a ncl the ins tancy o f the sccond. "Televis ion was s t ric Ll y a rad io wi th pict ures on it and they clidn't do it vcry weil ," said lo ngtimc Detroit C hanncl 2 newsman J oe Wcavcr, w ho wo rkcd in rad io fro m 1948 to 1960.

O nce ntm was s hot fo r TV, it had to bc devclopcd - a p rocess tha t co uld take up to a n hou r - a nd then laboriously ed ited by cut.ting ancl s plicing. ßut in thc carl y l 960s a new invcntion - videotapc - ga ve tclcvision th e immed iacy th at carn ecl it a cl is t inct place a lo ngsidc print and rad io . Video tape offcrcd muc h g rca ter clarit y th an gra in y nt m and cou ld bc poppcd o ut o f the camera and s hown o n the ai r w itho ut devcloping. 1ns tead o f CU lt ing a nd s plicing, cd ito rs tra nsfer rcd images fro m onc tapc to a noth er, rcarra nging th cm as needed quickly and easily. "Videotape really took tclevisio n o u t of lcft ficld ," Weavc r said. ßy th e L970s, a new tec hn o logy bega n offcring mctro Detroitc rs, at leas t th ose in the s uburbs, a cho icc bctwcc n rece iving th eir TV signa ls ove r a nten nas - a few t ro ng VHF cha nn els and a few very wca k UH F cha n nc ls - or via cable, wh ich offered clea r reception o n ncarl y every s po t o n thc d ial. Grossc Po inte was o ne o r the na tio n's firs t comm un iti es w ired for cable;

The nation 's First radio news broadcast in August 1920 originales from a corner of the second floor newsroom at The Detroit News building on West Lafayette. (WWJ) By 1922, WWj's tra ns missio n ra nge rcac hcd to 1,500 miles o n a clear nigh t; a U.S. Navy s tatio n at Bord ea ux, Francc s igna led that it had rcccivcd WWJ lo ud a nd clear. The samc ycar. Herbe rt 1-loovcr madc his firs t radio s pecch over WWJ from St. Pauls Episeopal Cathcdral, where thc s tation had sct up cqu ipment to broadcast thc Easte r Sunday sc rvicc. l loovcr, then U.S. Secre tary of Commc rce, dec rying th e th cn-stunning pro fits reapcd by AT&T's earl y s ponsorcd programs in 1923, said "lt is in co nceivablc tha t wc s ho uld a llow so grcat a possibility fo r servicc to bc drowncd in ad vcrtis ing c hattcr."

Detroi t was a marvelous market for t hc ncw med ium. lts popu lation bu rgcon cd from 993,739 in 1920 to mo rc than 1.5 millio n by 1926. Thc city boasted 200 movic houscs (whcrc thc publi c could vicw motion picture news) a nd employed wo rkcrs in so me 2,000 d ifferent indus tri cs. And at a tim e whc n baseball trul y was th e na tion's pas time , it was thc home of thc Detroit T ige rs. In 1924, WWJ broug ht in a ncw broadcastcr, Edwi n L. (Ty) Tyson , to read news o n thc air. ßut Tyso n was soon hclping inven t a ncw on-air job: s portscaste r.

Tyso n covcrcd powc rboat races th at, throug h th c magic of th e a irwavcs, madc Dctro it's Gar Wood a nationa l mo to rboa t hero. In th c fa ll of 1924 , Tyso n made th c Mid wes t's fi rs t rad io broadcast of a foo tball game, from thc Univcrsit y of Michigan.

A nd o n April 19, 1927, Tyson madc t hc worl d's firs t broadcast or a major-lcague baseball gamc, fro m Tiger Stadi um. Tyson's d is tinc ti ve s tyle became so popular w ith lis tcners tha t whcn the Tige rs mad e it to t he World Seri es, so mc 600,000 De tro it fans hcl pcd convin cc baseball officials tha t he s ho uld be allowecl to broadcast th c cont cs t instcad of so me spcciall y selcc ted broadcastcr not assoc iated wi th cithcr team.

In L936, WWJ movecl o u t or th c 1 C\VS builcling into a new o ffice across the s tree t w ith fi ve sound proofcd Studios O ll threc noors. ln 19-f 1, WWJ adcled a sis tcr ope ration: thc first FM s tatio n in Mi chiga n, w ith

162

Detroit proper, o ne of the last. Barden Cablevisio n , a lreacly serving l nkster, Ro mulus ancl Van Bure n , turnecl in its bid fo r the c ity of De troit franc hise on Dec. JO , 1983. The j ob o f laying some 2,100 mil es of cable in Detroit began J anuary 1986 ancl was co mplctecl in 1992. With cablc, viewers vvho o nce hacl a choice of at most 12 cha n nels beca me inunclated w ith offerings, no t al l of the m good, as attested to in ßruce Springsteen's song "57 Channcls ancl Noth ing O n. " ßut in 1994, De troit was the nation's e ig h th-larges t cable market ancl , with 63 pe rcent o f ho use ho lcls receiving ca blc, hacl a h ighcr percentage of cable penetration than Los Angeles or Chicago, bo th !arger markets.

During th e 1980s, another new medium was born: computer o n-line info rmation se rvices s uch as CompuSe r ve, Procligy a ncl Ame rica Online. T his tim e, th e first Detro it newspape r to take acl vantage of th e new tec hnology was n't the News .

The Free Press bega n o ffer ing a fu llserv ice co mpute r b ull e t in boa rcl over Co mpuSe rve in Ja nuary 1993.

CompuServe mem bcrs nat io nw iclc can log onto th e Detroit Free Press forum ancl exc ha nge messages , reacl current newspaper stories, clig in to the ncws paper's pas t issues in an online li brary ancl co mmu n icate with repo rtc rs ancl eclito rs. Pe riod icall y, like other forums, it ho lds li ve online confere nces. Thc Free Press forum is part of Free Press Plus, an o ngoing e ffo rt by the newspaper to use new tec hn ology such as facsi milc tran smissio n (m o re fami liarl y, "fax ") and co mputers to w in itself a contin uing p lace in rcaders' li ves.

Certain ly, th at aim is descrving of plen1y of stucl y. Med ia visio naries predi cl that within a few years, cable, tcl epho nc, data and broaclcast se rvices may a ll be co mbi ned so that a user can punc h up a ny or a ll o n o ne co mput er mo nito r. Alread y, there is softwa re tha1 e nab les users to create th eir own persona l newspapers b)' lctting them make a series of c hoices a bout w hat kind of news

they wan t and how they wan t it to loo k. The program goes o n- line automati cally to loca te the news eac h user wan ts - from one so urce or from th e hunclreds of magaz ines, newspapers, w ire services ancl other news se rvices o n- li ne a nd the n prints o ut so mething that looks j ust like the package that hi ts our cloorstep every morning.

LOCATIONS IN; Detroit 220 Victor Ave. Highland Park, MI 48203 313/868-2400 313/868-0011 Fax

Saginaw 2430 Midland Rd. Saginaw, MI 48603 517/799-1230 517/799-6052 Fax Ann Arbor 2453 S. lndustrial Hwy. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 313/747-8820 313/747-6788 Fax Lansing 7619 Northport Dr. Lansing, MI 48917 517/322-4030 517/322-9030 Fax Tennesee 3070 Sidco Drive Nashville, TN 37204 615/259-7800 615/259-7804 (Fax)

~;;;• JolVI E.Green Company MecilcJrkal COl*<>cio<

"An Equal Opportunity Employ er"

hile "hosp ital" ancl "dcathbecl" were hardl y sy non ymo us a hundred years ago , th eir rclatio ns hi p was very close. Th ose who coulcln't be ca recl for a t home ancl we re hos pitali zecl probably wcrc vcry poor o r g ravely ill. Ho rse -d rawn ambulances that b ro ught in the sic k also too k bodies away.

Detroits ea rliest hospitals, bcgu n a round th e Civil War periocl , were housed in the ir own s pecia ll y-built s tructures by th e end of the 19 th cen wry. An ea rl y St. Mary's Hos pita l down town was o pe rated by its foun cling Da ughters of C harity Catho lic s is ters w ho late r establis hed Providence Hospital, now in Sou thfield.

The Pro testan t-fo unclecl Grace an cl !arge Ha rpe r hospitals handled many of the city's less fo nuna te, w hile Wo man's Hos pital and Foundli ngs' Ho me , la te r callcd Hutze l, was a haven for u nwcd mot hers a ncl aba nd o nccl chi ldrcn. Those hos pitals bcca me a corc o f thc Detro it Mcdi cal Center about a clccad e ago.

In thc ea rly J900s, whe n city offic ials wcrc uns uccessful in crec ting a new hos pital to trea t th e bu rgeo ning Detro it po pulalio n , auto pio nee r Henry Ford too k over th e job. Fo rd , w ho had broug ht droves of wo rkcrs to his auto plan ts, go t the Henry Ford Hospita l bu ilt jus t in t ime fo r Wo rld War 1 and the cleadl y 1918 in Oue nza e pidemic .

In s parsel y se ttled Li vonia 35 years later fo llowing a nca rby Gene ral Motors plan t fire, Cath o li c Feli cia n

Health Care 'Reform' Rise of modern facilities and practices gave sick, injured new hope bY i\ lartha H in des

TOP: Rendering of the Veterans Administration

Medical Center, nearing completion in 1995 in Detroit's University Cultural Center adjacent to the Wayne State University Medical School and just south of the Rackham Building, home of ESD. (SH&G)

16-t

Detroit's Children 's Hospital about 1925. The structure was erected in 1896 as one of Albert Kahn 's earliest commercial designs. (A KA )

s is te rs ans wered urge nt plcas by building ano ther St. Mary's Hos pital.

While Detroit had about 10 hospitals at the lllrn d the century, th eir number s p urrecl by m eclica l advancements and enterpris ing ph ysicia ns - increascd to m o re than 100 arou nd thc l 9 30 s and l 940s.

With segregaton s till a dai ly reality, a group of black cloctors in May o f 19 18 found ed Dun bar Hos pital on Fred erick Strcct near the presenl day m edical ccnter so the ir patients could get the same ca re whi tes hacl been geuing for years.

T he fac ility, nam ed fo r natio nally known blac k poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, later b ranchecl o ut as Parks iele hospita l on the ci ty's no nhwest s iele, the n pe rmanentl y closed in 1962. The origi na l s tructure now is a Detroit his toric s ite.

As the century progressed , the hos pi tal count began to declin e th roug h a trend towa rd m ergers and acquis itio ns. Acco rding lO the Southeast Mi chigan Hospital Council (SMHC), thc seven-county me tropo litan Detroit area had 73 separate hospital co mplexes in l 983, a nd has 57 today.

T he trans iti o n in health care cluring thc pas t century has bee n a journey from eas ing s uffe ring to m aintai ni ng hea lth. And hos pitals - in the forcfront o f thc cvo lutio n - havc been restructurcd in the process.

Staying healthy in the 1890s was a d aun ting task, according to Prof. Nicho las Stencck , dirccto r o f the Histo rical Ce nter for Hcalth Scic nccs al thc Univcrs ity o f Mic hi gan.

C hildbinh was hazardo us, ancl c h ildhoocl ill ncsses and co mmunicable d iscascs took th eir to ll. A cen tury ago, thc avcrage li fespan for men was 4 7 years w hilc the ave rage wo ma n lived lO be on ly 46.

Ame ri cans in 1895 wcrc vulnerable to a lo ng !is t o r clcad ly ill ncsses, with hean cliseasc ancl inOuen za topping th c lis l. ßut pneu m o nia, lllbc rcul osis, d iph th cria , ty phoid , ma lari a , m caslcs a ncl w hoo p ing co ugh march cd in cleacll y step bchind th ose two kill ers. And polio ancl scarl ct fcver wcre common in Michigan at thc time a lo no with the ca ncers a ncl ca rdi ovascu la r illness' I:> es s till p revalent to clay.

Many vacci ncs had no t yet bec n clcvelo pcd and thc first a ntib io lics wo uld not bc cliscovcrcd ror ano thc r 30 lO 40 ycars.

Surgery during thc la tc 1800s was s ti ll a peril o us aclve n ture , cond uctecl in hos pi tal am phi thcate rs o n pat ients drugged with gascs such as ethcr. Thosc w ho s urvivcd wcre trea ted by nurscs working 24-ho ur s hi fts. ßut changes were o n th e way.

"A hundred ycars ago, wc we re right at the begi n-

ning o r the emcrgence o r the modern era or medi cine," said Stencck.

Doc to rs of 1895, a rm ccl w ith th e germ theory o f ill ness discovered a d ccad e bdore, wcre learni ng to operate uncler s te rile conditio ns. The tcrrib lc 9 0 percent d eath rate for s urgery pa tien ts was fin all y reversi ng itself.

Diagnoses would gro w mo re aceurate as turn-ofthe centu ry hos pi tals began to acquire th e fo rc runn ers o r mod ern equipme nt jus t being clevelo ped, s uc h as eleme ntary x- ray mac hines.

Toclay, southeas t Mi chiga n hospitals have beco me high ly tec hnica l, speciali zed ccnte rs with sate llites fo r o utpati enl s urgery, walk-in eme rge ncies, ancl mental and ph ysical healt h ma intena ncc. The Det roi t Medica l Center se ncls trauma cases to its Rece iving facili ty, ancl c hildren to C hilcl ren's Hospital. St. J o h n 1lospita l and Meclical Ce n ter, o n Detroit's east s iele , cloes m o re ope n hean s urgcries tha n any o ther hospital in Mich iga n.

Builcling cxpans io ns, s uc h as a seve n-yea r p rojcct nearl y comple te at Roya l Oa k's 40-year-o lcl ßca umo nt Hos pita l, have add ccl the latest s pecializecl techno logy w hilc improving s urrouncl ings for patients ancl families.

Ami s mallcr indepenclcnts ( thc olcl Det ro it Ostcopathi c Hospita l. now a Ho ri zon Hea lth System m em bcr, is onc) have joi necl as panne rs in w iclesprcacl hea lth care groups poo ling reso urces, paticnt populatio ns a ncl area m edical schoo l a ffil iatio ns. So m c, such as He nry Ford Hcalt h System , havc heal th mainten ancc o rga nizations, o r HMOs, to prov idc cradle-to-gravc care th ro ugh ph ysic ian and satcllite nctworks.

Cha nge has bee n s purrccl b y prev ious ly u n imaginablc aclvances in mecl iea l care that have helpecl in crease the likel y lo ngevity for a baby born to d ay. As o f 1993, the Mic hi gan Dcpanmen t o f Pu blic Hea lth estimatcs a newborn w hite fcm alc w ill live 79. 1 ycars, a w hi tc m ale 73. -+ years. Blacks havcn·1 gained as much , wi th currcnt li fe cx pec ta nc ics o f 72.9 years ro r fcm alcs and 63.8 years fo r males bo rn toclay.

O th cr factors s ha ping the s ta tc's heal th care fac il i-

16.=i

lies arc s1ringcn1 cosl con1ainmcn1 and a statc ban o n morc inpati cm bcds. l lospitals havc adaptcd by building carc ccntcrs in o utlying arca whcrc pcoplc wc rc moving. ßut many surgc rics that o ncc mcanl wccks of hospital bcd rccovcry can bc clone at o utpaticnl clinics with paticnls sc nl homc Lo rcst.

Exceptional Prote tion with Exceptional Ser ice

„ 1 ow thcy can literally makc thc bli nd sec, th c dcaf hcar and 1hc lamc wal k," says Donald P. Poller, prcsidcnt of th c SM l IC. "Hospitals arc no lo ngcr 1hc alms ho u es whcrc pco plc go 10 die.··

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efo re Henry Fo rd's firs t car ever rolled down a De troi t strce t, the re was the salt of the eart h .. . ancl a different man named Ford .

Salt of The Earth

He was Captain Jo hn B. Ford - a remarkable persona lity w ho made a nd lost sevcral fortunes during his life, earned a nam e as th e fat he r of America's plate glass industry a nd founded Dctroit's first c hem ical company at the age o f 79.

Even t he earliest sett lc rs in Detro it were aware that the a rea was u nclerlai n by a wide layc r o f rock salt d iscovered, no do ubt, wh en they a u e mp ted to sink wells for cl rin king wate r. A fcw c ntcrprising folks began using a nd selling salt brinc, o btai nccl by pumping sal twate r we lls o r by nushing holes clug into th e sa lt layer.

T he brine was useful fo r tan ni ng a nd othe r purposes.

But it was not unti l 1890, wh en Ca pta in Fo rd founcled the Mich iga n Al kali Co., tha t De troi t's g reat sal t d epos its began to be exploitecl on a co mmercial scale.

Ford, a sel f-eclucatcd, c nc rgctic a ncl indepenclent man , hacl triecl an arm-long list of ca reers by the time he came to th e Detroit a rca. He hacl been, s uccessively, a harness- ancl saddlc-makcr, a d ry-goods-sto re owner, Oo ur-mill Operato r, kitc hc n-cabinct ma nufac turer, iron rol ling- mill ancl founcl ry ownc r, s hipbuilclcr ancl glassmaker, a ll in the statc of Indiana. lt was his business of

Vast underground deposits made Detroit chemical industry center

by C harlottc W. Cra ig

TOP: International Sa/t's mine beneath Detroit was

so huge a miniature city was created underground.

Here at 1, 135 Feet beneath the surface in 1962, Jeep trucks brought down in parts were reassembled in this "machine shed" to be used for transportation.

(Detroit Free Press)

169

building river boats during the Civil War that attached the title Captain to his name for the rest of his life.

At almost 70 years of age, John B. Ford moved to Pennsylvania and began the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. lt was the appetite of this fast growing business that eventually led Ford to the banks of the Detroit River and the little town of Wyandotte, where he shrewdly saw a vast source of salt-based soda ash, a primary ingredient for glass making.

ical in Midland, but No. 1 in the world in production of specialized cleaning compounds.

Wyandotte Chemicals remained a privately-owned corporation until 1956, when 100,000 shares of stock were offered for public sale. At that time, the company operated three plants in the downriver Detroit area, the world's largest limestone quarries in Alpena and four other plants scattered across the country. The company's dry ice works was the largest in the world. Principal products included soda ash, bicarbonate of soda, caustic soda, calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, chlorine, dry ice, synthetic detergents, "wetting agents," glycols, ethylene and propylene dichloride.

At the time Wyandotte Chemicals "went public," the U.S. Commerce Department reported 239 chemical companies in the Detroit area, employing nearly 18,000 people. Among them were plants operated by Allied Chemical, DuPont, Monsanto, Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. and Sharples Chemicals.

RELINOUISHED REINS Ford was 79 when he founded Michigan Alkali.

Following an eye operation, he officially retired from business in 1897, turning most of the operations of his various firms over to his sons and close associates. But in 1898, he gave his blessing to creation of the J .B. Ford Co. to package and market some of the alkali-based consumer byproducts coming out of Michigan Alkali.

In "Landmarks of Detroit," published in 1898, authors Robert Ross and George Catlin reported proudly that "Some $7 ,000,000 of capital have become engaged in the manufacture of sah and sah products, none of it being invested actually within the city, but all in its immediate vicinity. These works now employ in the neighborhood of 2,000 hands ... " Captain Ford died May l, 1903, at the age of 91.

But the story of his family and his many businesses was far from over.

The Captain's offspring and descendants, known locally as "the chemical Fords" to differentiale them from "the automotive Fords," went on to become power[ul and active in a long list of civic and commercial enterprises, including Libbey-Owens-Ford, Huron Portland Cement, Parke Davis & Co., Manufacturers National Bank, National Bank of Detroit, Wyandotte Transportation Co., and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

On Jan. 1, 1943, Michigan Alkali - with executive offices in the Ford Building in downtown Detroit - and the J.B. Ford companies officially combined to become Wyandotte Chemicals Corp. The consumcr products marketed by the j.B. Ford Co. had been primarily cleaning agents bearing the Wyandotte brand name. A turn-of-the-century advertisement published in Cleveland advised, "Any man who gets his wife a sack of Wyandotte Cleaner and Clcanser is saving her strength and her time."

After the merger and formation of Wyandotte Chemicals, the cleaning business continued to grow. A 1956 Detroit Free Press article described Wyandotte as No. 2 in overall chemical production after Dow Ch cm-

STOCK SUDE

In 1969, just 13 years after Wyandotte Chemicals issued its first stock, the West German chemical conglomerate BASF (Badische Anilin & Sodafabrik) bought a 14-percent interest in the company. Faced with growing environmental concerns and costs, Wyandotte's earnings had begun to slip; 1968 earnings were 65 ccnts a share, versus $1.43 just a year earlier.

By November of 1969, BASF had bought 98.5 percent of Wyandotte Chemicals for a total of about $95 million.

Wyandotte Chemicals officially became BASF Wyandotte in 1971. The move was symbolic of the international nature of Detroit's chemical industry, which from the beginning has formed a strong link with world markets.

In 1978. the company announced it would discontinuc production of synthetic soda ash in Wyandotte, laying off about 450 hourly workers and relocating about 250 salaricd employees. About 1,900 employees rcmained at thc plant after the layoffs.

Today, thcrc are many changes in the company Captainjohn Ford envisioned and built. For one thing, thc namc Wyandotte dropped away in 1985, leaving BASF Corp. as the name for all the Detroit-area facilities. Yet, reduction and consolidation have not been the only name of the game. The number of Detroit-area employees is higher; products are more diversified.

True, some of the original Wyandotte Chemicals buildings are gonc now. But BASF has invested more than $130 million in new buildings in the Wyandotte complex. At the south end of town, the company paid

170

bincd 10 fo rm Allicd Chemical, altho ugh the Solvay tracle mark continucd . The company suffercd a scries or strikes du ring thc latc 1940s and carl y 1950s; the pcriod also was fina ncially difficult d ue to the fact that bus iness was based pri maril y o n o ne product.

IL was at this poi nt that plas ti c began 10 emergc as a product line fo r Solvay. lt was a no n-pctro leum plastic, using chlo rin e, whi ch already was made by Solvay, and ace tylcne, obtainecl rrom calcium carbide via the coal byprocluct industry. A process usi ng petroleum eth ylene was late r incorpora ted in to o pcral io ns.

Solvay owned some stock ancl a board seat within Al lied Chc mica l (now AlliedSignal lnc.) until 1974 . T hal yca r, Solvay bought the polye thylcne production faci lit ies of Celanese Co rp. in Texas, ncar Houston . Bccausc that purc hase pul olvay in direct co mpct1 t1 o n with PHJLANTHROPIST All iecl, Solvay sold its s hare Ernes t olvay, the in Alliecl and pursued its fo uncl er or th c co mpany, separate coursc. was known as the ßclgian In thc l 980s, Solvays Ca rn cgic and laun ehed U.S. exccutives recogn ized almos t as many soeial as sci- Solvay Automotive supplies blow-moulded, high- the auto ind ust ry as a major emiric ex periments. Ernest density polyethylene (HDPE) fuel tanks for vehic/es ruture marke t. Solvay Au toSolvay first patented hi s such as this 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora. (Eisbrenner mo tive lne. was formed in process for making socla ash Public Relations/Solvay Automotive) 1990 thro ugh thc merger of in 186 l. The Solvay process l ledwin Auto mo tive Diviin volved dissolving sah in sio n, which al ready was pan ammonia watcr, th roug h which carbon ic ac icl gas was or Solvay, and Kuh Iman Plastics Division, purchased by passed. The precipitated alkali was furnaeecl as bicarSolvay in 1990. bo nate or Soda, yiclcling Carbo nate o r socla Or Soda ash.

FUEL LINES The first Solvay facility in the Unitecl Sta tes was Corporatc offices fo r Solvay Au tomo tive are on cstab lished near Syracuse, N.Y„ in 188 1 and became West Maplc Road in Troy; the olcl Detroit plant is lo ng operatio nal in 1884. A Detroit plant was established not too lo ng artcr - probably in the mid- l890s - and go nc. Thc company LOday is the larges t producer in the u.. or polymeric ruel tanks; il also makes fucl systems, was kn own as the Solvay Proccss Co. Solvay and his company appea r to have been rat her inclucl ing pumps, level sensors, nller pipes, fucl li nes, progressive fo r their time. A book aboul the man and valving and safcty devices, as wcll as othcr auto moti ve the company, "Solvay, A Giant," by Maxi me Rapa ille blow-molded procl uets such as seat backs, nu id boul cs (published 1989) says the company had cstablished a a nd a ir ducts. No n-automotivc products include ge neral policy th roug hout its facilitics aclopting an marine fuc l tanks, large watcr fih ers, staclium seats ancl eight-hour work clay by l 907. Sickncss bendi ts, too, go lf can bumpers. were ad opted by the co mpany in t hc latc l 800s.

A se para te compan)', D&S Plast ics, a joint vc nture Solvay Process, locatecl in the Dclrar ncighborhood in which Solvay t\ merica is a part owncr, ha a technical center in Troy and a plant in Texas. or Detroit on Wcst j cfferso n, also hacl sah min ing propenics o n Zug Island in 1he Detroit Rivc r. In th c 1920s, Solvay Process was onc or sevcral compan ics that commo re millions to tear down 84 ac res o r old chemical builclings and have the land lested and clea'led ro r use as a park.

There's an auto motive refini sh coatings offi ce and research Center in Sout hfielcl , an au to moti ve original equipment coatings offi ce in Troy, two auto fini sh producti on faciliti es in Detroit and a rd inis h coatings fac ility in Dearborn . In Li vo nia, th ere's a ßASF offi ce and plant for maki ng urethane specialty prod ucts used in appl ications as dive rse as bowling balls and s hoc soles.

There are about 2,300 ßASF em ployecs in thc Detroit area.

Hard on the hccls of Captain Ford's Mi chigan Alkali Co. came a Detro it plant built by the gialll internati onal So lvay company based in Be lgium drawn tO th c banks o r the Detroit Ri ve r by the vas t salt deposits.

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In 1994, Solvay Automotive had sales of $150 million and about 70 employees in the Detroit area. U.S. production operations are in South Bend, Ind. Meanwhile, AlliedSignal Inc. has established its own presence in the Detroit area, with AlliedSignal Automotive World Headquarters located in Southfield and other AlliedSignal offices and plants situated in Detroit, Livonia, St. Clair Shores, Sterling Heights, Troy and Warren.

Counting plants in Boyne City and St. Joseph, AlliedSignal has about 3,000 employees in Michigan and a payroll of more than $111 million annually. The company operates two automotive engineering and research/development facilities and its four manufacturing plants make products as diverse as creosote, roofing pitch, gyroscopes, disc brakes and hydraulic booster power units.

While Captain John B. Ford and the Solvay company had pioneered the use of brine wells in the ~~n­ ufacture of alkali and related products, actual mmmg of rock salt from the beds beneath Detroit was begun in 1904 near River Rouge by the Detroit Rock Salt Co. The company's first deep shaft was started in 1906 and took four years and the lives of eight men to complete, according to Detroit Free Press clippings.

In 1912, the company was acquired by International Salt Co., although it retained the Detroit Rock Salt name for many years. About 1,000 acres eventually were mined by International Salt Co. under Detroit, Melvindale, Dearborn and Allen Park. Headquarters for the operations were on Sanders near Fort Street in Detroit. The mine employed 120 to 150 miners and support personnel through the l 960s and into the early l 980s.

A quarter of a mile beneath the surface, the mine was like a small, strange and sparsely populated city, with almost 100 miles of roadway formed by a complex of dark tunnels with white walls and ceilings. The tunnels were about 22 feet high and wound around huge pillars of salt left standing for extra supporl. Temperature in the mine was a more-or-less constant 57 degrees.

The Detroit-area salt mines have been many things to many people through the years - a source of work and income, a novel and spine tingling tour site, a potential air conditioning system, a bomb shelter and a space-age test laboratory.

At one point in 1950, Detroit Mayor Albert Cobo instructed Civil Defense coordinators to investigate the possibility of using the mine's underground corridors as a bomb shelter for most of the area's citizens, in the event of nuclear attack.

SALT SENSE The notion was abandoned after it was pointed out that people would have to be taken down 10 at a time in mine elevators, and survival would depend on surface equipment.

A 1953 article in the Free Press said International Salt Co. had signed a contract with Wayne County permitting the firm to mine salt under Detroit-Wayne Major Airport (which became Detroit Metropolitan Airport in 1958) for the next century. Total value of the contract was estimated at the time to be almost $2 million - much of it based on a future per-ton royalty.

Part of the plan called for bringing air up from the mine shafts to air condition the airport for free. There is no evidence, however, that the plan ever came to fruition.

In 1967, an old unused portion of the mine was leased by engineers of the Missiles &: Space Division of LTV Aerospace Corp. as a test lab for inertial guidance systems. They needed a place free from vibration and noise; they found it in the dark beneath Detroit.

In 1970, International Salt was taking about a million tons of salt a year out of the Detroit mine, most of it sold for ice control on streets and highways; the remainder went toward making chlorine and water softeners and leather tanning products.

That same year, International Salt merged with American Enka Corp., which at the same time changed its name to American Akzo Corpâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; reflecting the majority interest held by the Dutch company Akzo N.V. more world ties for Detroit's chemical industry.

International Salt closed its Detroit mine in January of 1983, the victim of a warm winter and heavy competition from cheaper Canadian rock salt. Millions of dollars worth of heavy mining equipment was disassembled and hauled out the way it went in - through the 5-by-6-foot elevator shafts. Many worn-out pieces simply were left behind.

The abandoned mine was bought in 1985 by Crystal Mines Inc., which ran tours through the site and laid plans for using it as a toxic and hazardous waste dump. However, public outcry against the plan was considerable, and formal permission to use the site as a <lump never was sought from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Tours through the mine were discontinued in 1986 and it now stands unused. However, International Salt - since 1992 renamed Akzo Nobel Salt, based in Pennsylvania - still maintains Michigan operations in Manistee and St. Clair.

172

This plan view of an automobile illustrates the many parts M asco supplies to the auto industry. (Masco) RIGHT: Richard M anoogian (/eft) and his father Alex, founder of the company, in a stock exchange photo in the 1960s. (M asco)

he Masco story bcgan in 1920 when 19yea r-old Alex Manoogian , the son of an Armenian grain wholesaler, emigraLed to this counlry from his birthplace in Smyrna, Turkey, LO cscape the brutality Lhat existed in that counLry fo llowing World War 1. He arri ved in New York with two suitcases, SSO in cash and a name tag arou nd his neck ..

He worked in a va riety of jobs on the East Coast and moved Lo Delroil in 1924 whcrc he learned to operate a screw machine. Manoogian wa nted Lo capilalize on the higher wages being paid by Lhc auLomoLive indusLry, and he believed il would bc casier to bri ng Lhe rest of his fami ly lO America Lhrough Canada than Lhrough Ellis Island.

In 1929, an economically disaslrous yea r, Manoogian and Lwo panncrs bcga n Masco Screw ProducLS Company. The namc was formcd fro m Lhe firsl Lhree lelters of thc last inilials of thc partn ers with Lhe addition of '"eo" for company. Ă&#x;cforc the year had ended, Manoogian had bought ou t his panners.

The young company faccd its firsl crisis soon afler it opened when oil from a fa ully scrcw mac hine hose leaked Lhrough the Ooor, ruining thousands of dollars wonh of ncw upholsLered furniLUre on Lhe Ooor below.

The furniLUre manu facturcr could have sued, bul declined, probably becausc hc kn cw Lhal Ma noogian had no moncy to pay fo r the damagc. lnstead, he agreed Lo exLend ed pay menls. Manoogian sLood by his promise and thc damages wcrc pai<l in full.

â&#x20AC;˘

Value lll Diversity Alex Manoogian's corporate descendant is worth study, root & branch

173

This old-fashioned screw machine was the basis for today's Masco Jndustries, founded in 1929 as Masco Screw Products Co. (Masco)

Masco's firsl maj or contracl, a machining j ob for $7,000, came from the Hudson Molor Car Company, and Masco wenl on to become a supplier to many other au to makers. The Big Three and th eir competilors were impo n ant cusLO mers, as were auLOmolive suppliers such as Budd and Spicer. The co mpany reported gross sales of $66 ,000 for the firs t full year of operalio n, and wilhin lwo yea rs was operat ing at full capacily.

In Lhe meantime, Manoogian hacl saved eno ugh to bring his fami ly lo America in 193 1 and marri ed Ma ri e Talian Lhe same year.

Masco's sales excecded $ 100,000 for the first time in 1935. A public offering of s LOck - Lhe firs l of many to follow - was undertaken in early 1937 w hen sharcs wcre listecl o n Lhe Detro it Stock Exc hange. So me 120,000 s hares were offcrecl at $1 each.

N EARLY A PIPE D REAM Manoogian's clreams almost we nt up in s moke in Deccmber 1937 when the plant caught fire. W hen notificcl , Manoogian raced Lo the scene ancl wept as he watc hed 11ames licking at the windows. But fonune smilecl on the f1eclgling company when fire clamage was minimi zecl by Lhe s now that had accumulaLed on the roof; it melted ancl helped douse th e fire. Ma noogian workecl clay ancl night to rewire his machi nery and \!lasco was back in business withi n th ree monlhs.

However, it became the only money-losing yea r in the company's histo ry.

In 1941 , upo n America's entry into Wo rlcl War II , the Detroit automo ti ve inclustry ancl its component suppliers qu ickly conven ed to the manufac LUre of vehicles, aircraft and other vital proclucts for the country's clefense. The company's performance cluring the wa r led to substan tial increases in sales ancl cas h now.

Masco annual sales in 1942 crossed the one million do llar mark.

During the Ko rean Conf1i ct, Masco returned to war procluctio n again , us ing Lhe company's metalwo rking ex penise in a va riety of applica ti ons, including the development of a new anillery s hell timing mec hanism . This experi encc in precisio n-mac hined pan s provided a plaLfo rm from which lo expand into newer, mo re complex melalwo rking applications.

Because of Masco's success with these mo re sop histicated parts, Chrysler Corpo ralion asked Masco to produce a trans mission shaft using a new process callecl cold ex trusio n. From this came other opportuniti cs fo r expansio n in the metalwork ing indusLry.

A major turni ng point in the company's history occurred in 1954 when Masco bcgan manufacturi ng a few machi ned parts for a product that would revo luLio nize the plu mbing market - thc single- hanclecl faucet. lniliall y the public s napped up thc new procluct, bul salcs feil s ubsequent ly when a rcputation for poor quality go t arouncl. Alex Manoogian app lied his metalworking expertise to reclesigning the product.

Soon he acquirecl all manufacturing rights and the resulting "Delta faucet" launchecl thc company into the building proclucts inclustry.

DELTA DIVIDEND By 1958 Delta faucet sales hacl passee! the $1 million mark, bri nging total Masco sales lO almost $4 million. A year late r, to organ ize the compan y's diverse businesses more effectively ancl mee t the growing demancl for the faucet, Masco began const ructio n of a new plant in Ind iana clevo tecl exclusivc ly to Delta produc lion.

The samc ycar, Manoogian's son Richard joined the company upon graduati on from Yale, in itially to help with thc s tart up of the new fau cct Operatio n. Subsequentl y Richard utilizecl the cash 11ow bcing ge nerated by fau cet sales to embark o n a fricnclly acq uisitio n program. This paicl off hanclso mcly fo r Masco inveswrs. An invcstment of $ 10,000 in Masco swck in 1958, whcn th c cxpansio n prog ram was launchecl, wo ulcl be worth so mc $30 million 35 ycars later.

174

Masco's acquisition program was based on corporate objectives that included: •proprietary leadership positions; •diversification of the product base to avoid dependence on any single market; • leveraging the company's existing product development, manufacturing and marketing skills; and •manufacturing only products that offered an above-average rate of return.

In 1960, Masco licensed Emco Limited, a Canadian company, to market Delta faucets in that country.

Emco distributes certain Masco products in Canada and a number of Emco products are marketed in the United States in conjunction with Masco companies.

In 1961, Peerless Industries, Inc., became the first outside company to join the Masco family. The Peerless acquisition enabled the company to offer customers a broader line of plumbing products. Thal year also marked a name change from Masco Screw Products to Masco Corporation. The move reflected the company's diversification into the building products industry while preserving a name known in the automotive industry as a leading component supplier.

Diversification continued throughout the next several years as Masco acquired a number of complementary manufacturers of industrial and building products.

In a dramatic Strategie initiative after 30 years of consecutive growth in sales and earnings, Masco Corporation in 1984 spun off Masco Industries as a new public company composed of its successful industrial component businesses, with approximately $400 million of net sales. The parent Masco Corporation became focused on consumer brand-name products for the home and family. Management believed each could grow faster as a separate entity by building upon its unique strengths in its specific market niches.

Masco Industries invested more than $1.2 billion in acquisitions and capital expenditures to enhance its positions in the industrial market it serves. The addition of new metalworking skills and technologies enabled the company to build upon its ability to engineer, manufacture and market high quality industrial products at competitive prices.

NYSE

ration, grew dramatically over the next decade through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions. In 1985, Masco expanded its presence in the building products industry by merging with the leading cabinet maker, Merillat Industries. In subsequent years other cabinet manufacturers including Kraftmaid, StarMark and Fieldstone joined the Masco family, making the company the nation's largest kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturer.

Masco entered the furniture business in dramatic fashion in 1986 with the acquisition of two leadership companies, Henredon Furniture and Drexel Heritage.

This established Masco as the largest manufacturer of high-end wood and upholstered furniture in the U.S. A year later, Masco further expanded in the furniture business by acquiring Lexington Furniture Industries, the largest domestic manufacturer of mid-priced solid wood dining and bedroom furniture.

In 1988, a third member of the Masco family, TriMas Corporation, was established as a separate public entity when it acquired nine industrial businesses from Masco Industries. TriMas' market positions include proprietary products for commercial, industrial and consumer markets. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991.

In the meantime, Masco Corporation completed its largest single acquisition in 1989 and rounded out its "good, better, best" furniture offerings when Universal Furniture Limited, a popular-priced firm, became part of the Masco family of companies. The move established a Far East manufacturing base and participation in international markets, as weil as offering additional product opportunities such as wood flooring and motion upholstery.

The Masco family of companies today employs more than 64 ,000 people and has 2 70 manufacturing facilities with over 43 million square feet of manufacturing space in 22 states and 17 countries. Masco Corporation had 1994 sales in excess of $4 billion in the building and furnishings markets.

MascoTech, Inc., with 1994 sales of nearly $2 billion, is a leading supplier to the transportation industry with components, assemblies and subassemblies used in every vehicle manufactured in North America.

TriMas Corporation reported 1994 sales of $535 million as a manufacturer of fasteners, towing systems, specialty containers, precision tools and other products for commercial and industrial applications.

The Manoogian family and Masco have indeed come a long way from Ellis Island and the struggling little screw machine company of the l 920s.

LrSTED

In 1993, Masco Industries changed its name to MascoTech, Inc., and listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The new identity reflected increased emphasis on tcchnology and continued commitment to Masco traditions of supplying the automotive industry.

Masco Corporation, with salcs of approximately $600 million in 1984 after the Masco Industries sepa-

175

A float glass line at a Guardian lndustries plant. (Guardian lndustries)

Clear Winners Glass 1nakers 'fortunes rose with building, auto industries th e wo rld's largest sc hool bus window s upplie r by the mid- 1960s.

G uard ia n lndustries Corp. was incorporated in 1968, becoming the s uccessor Lo Guard ia n Glass Co mpan y. From 1968 Lo 1984, G ua rdian was a publi clyheld , New York Stoc k Exc hangc-listed co mpany. Ea rly in 1985, Davidso n Look Gua rdian private in a tra nsacti o n in vo lving the purchasc of all s hares of the company no t previously owncd by him. .

1n 1968, Guardian saw the need and oppo rtunny tO beco me a raw floal glass manufacturer in addit ion lO a glass fabricator. By this time, th e compa ny was a maj o r user of raw glass, but was obliged to obtai n this glass from its competito rs. Yc t, building a modern float glass p lant at th c time rcquired an enormous amount of capital in rclation LO Gua rdian's sales a nd equ ity then.

T he mo ney was raised a ndin 1970 , Guard ia n built its firs t floa t glass plant in Ca rl eto n , Michigan, becomi ng the first new co mpan y to en ter the No rt h American glass ma nu facwr ing busi ncss in fifty yca rs .

long wit h Ford Moto r Co mpa ny's Glass Divisio n - cstablis hcd by He nry Ford a t the Hig h land Park plant in 192 1 as part of h is effort to contro l productio n of a ll automo tivc compone nts - G uardia n lndustrics Corp. is o nc of two Dc troit-area compan ies that went in to glass produ cti on to sc rve au to mo tivc nccd s a nd la tc r expa nd cd to architcctura l glass. Guardian a lso cxc mplifics a succcssful Detroit-based tcchn ology co mpany wh ich has expa ndcd into o the r businesscs o n a wo rld widc basis.

T hc histo ry of Gua rdia n da tcs 10 1932 whcn Guard ian Glass Co mpan y was formcd in Detroi t to fabricatc glass for th e automoti ve industry. W illia m Davidso n , prcside nt and ch icf excc utivc office r, assumcd co ntro l o f Guard ian Glass Company in 1957.

Throug h his lcadership , the compa ny ex pandcd its business significa ntl y a nd was produc ing winds hi clds for ncw car a nd tru ck manufac turc rs as we il as bcing

176

weve Shared Your VISion Through Thick And Fin. Ever since cars first hit the road there's been a drive to improve and innovate. Ancl from the statt PPG has worked with designers and engineers to help bring their ideas to life. PPG proclucts like laminatecl window glass, curved windshields, windshields with integrated radio antennas, solar control and privacy glass have helped revolutionize the aesthetics, comfort and safety of today's automobiles.

At PPG, we're proud of the part we've played in the growth of this indust1y ancl we're looking Forward to creating tomorrow's visions.

w â&#x20AC;˘

PPG lndustries. lnc. Automouve Technical Center 5875 New King Court PO Box 3510 Troy, M1ch1gan 48007-3510

Since opening thc Carleton planl, Guardian has added nve new do meslic floal lines, including anolhcr in Michiga n. As pan of the company's global vision, Guardian ex panded its operations into international markets. 1n 1981, Guardian entered the Western European float glass market through the construction of a new plant in Luxe mbourg. Guardian has subsequcntl y add ed two new plants in Spain and a second plant in Luxembourg. In 199 1, Guardian led invcs tors into Eastern Europe by cons tructing a new plant in Oroshaza, Hungary, making it one of the largest Western inves tments in that country.

Guardian has also continued to expand in other pan s of the wo rld. 1n 1990, a joint-venture fl oat glass plan t was com pleted in Venezuela, one of onl y fo ur fl oat glass plants in South America. Concurrently, Guardian embarkcd on a strategy to IJC netrate the Asian glass markc t, through the construction of float glass plants in Thailand and lndia. These plants began operations in 1992 and 1993, rcspectively. To funh er its intern atio nal competit iveness, Guardian has reccnll y bcgun construcl ion at two new fl oat glass plant in thc U.S. and Sa udi Arabia.

( OMPANY VISIONARY

Davidson has bcen the principal arc hitect of the company's grow th since 1957. Guardian has grown from a local busincss, consis ti ng of a singlc glass fabricator to an international operation with manu facturing and fabricating facili ties on four continents serving thousands of cus tomers in doze ns of co unt ries.

Guardian now has over $1.4 billion in annual revenue, and employs ovcr 10,000 peo ple worldwide. lls product line now includes raw float glass; patterned glass; heat strengthened and full y tempered safcty glass; laminated windshields and tempered glass for vehicles; insulating and refl ecti ve glass for residc ntial and commercial construction; and glass mirrors.

Guardian subsidiaries include Guardian Fibcrglass, lncâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; a manufacturcr of fibcrglass insulation, and Windsor Plastics, lnc. a manufac turer of injection moldcd plastic products. A Guardian affiliale, Optical lmagi ng Systems, Inc., manufac!llres activc-matrix fl at panel displays for computers.

Guard ia n has becn based in Michiga n fo r over sixLy yca rs. In ea rly 1995, its wo rld headquancrs moved fro m Novi to a ncw buildi ng in Auburn 1Iills.

PERFORMANCE

THE SIMPLE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS THAT HAS DRIVEN MICHIGAN'S LEADING ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION FIRM SINCE

1952.

Motor City Electrlc Co. Renaissance Center Tower 600, Suite 1600 Detroit , MI 48243-1801 (313) 567-5300 FAX (313) 567-531 0 An Equal Opportun/ty Employer

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' This advertisement from the mass circu/ation magazine Saturday Evening Post of fune 17, 1919 illustrates the impact of Square D products on homes and businesses as the nation e/ectrified in the first decades of the 20th century. (Tom Yates col/ection/Square D)

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Square D Safety S'1Vitch Prevents Urrnl!u.<sary Dooth / rom Elecrric Shocl

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L's Monday morning and you and you r s po use a rc ge uing ready LO d o baul e w ilh Lhe co m ing week . l n Lhe k i Le he n Lhe coffe e m a ke r, mi crowave, wa rne iron and cloc k radio are bus il y worki ng away. A ha ir d ryer is plugged in Lh e ovcrworked c ircuit and Lhe world g rinds to a ha ll; a circ uit brca ker has trippcd. Today tha t means a vis it to the b rea ker panel where you sca n the ranks o f breake rs fo r Lhc o nc ou t of li ne. Finding the mis crean t , yo u rcset iL - and m ovc the hair d rye r back to the baLh room.

N in cty ycars ago , if yo ur ho m e were o nc o f the newly elcctriHed bui ldi ngs, yo u probab ly wo uld have had a m ad e-o f-iron e lcctric iro n , o ne o r Lwo o utl ets and Lhe k itchen lig hts o n th e s a me circu it. Wh en a fuse blew then it mea nl a trip to the fuse box with ins ulated g loves, pliers a nd/or a screwdriver a nd a fuse lin k. Yo u'd have Lo pull th e main fuse to kill the power Lo thc fusc, rernove the cnd s o f th e o ld fuse, ins tall th e

That's The Break(er)s Square D (jor Detroit) switched name over customer recognztzon

by Tom Yaccs

18 1

After the name change, the company began to expand, with sales by 1919 exceeding $1 million for the first time. Square D became an important player in the electrical equipment business as manufacturing for appliances and autos boomed. In the l 920s , even Thomas Edison specified Square D safety switches for his Florida research lab. The l 920s also saw the company expand into international sales.

Since then Square D has been a consistent innovator in the electrical equipment field. lts 1925 Saflex power panel made control of industrial equipment simpler. lts plug-in circuit breakers, introduced in 1951, made installation and replacement of breakers easier.

The company also introduced the industry's first twopole ground fault interrupter in 1973.

Stepping into the computer age Square D introduced the world's first microprocessor-based welder control system and the SS/Max-20 programmable controller in 1978. Today the company is a worldwide supplier of equipment to control electricity and electrical equipment. From push buttons to infrared thermometers to busways to factory automation systems, Square D equipment is known and used around the world.

Between 1920 and 1980 the company bought or acquired 24 other electric equipment companies, sold several and merged with other electrical equipment companies three times. Beginning in 1955, Square D began decentralizing its facilities, then still concentrated in Detroit. By the summer of 1959 it ceased manufacturing operations in Detroit entirely and a year later moved its headquarters to Park Ridge, III. In 1991 Square D was acquired by European investors, Groupe Schneider, and company headquarters is now in Palatine, Ill , a Chicago suburb.

Today other manufacturers make circuit breaker panels and safety switches. Still, in many trades, the term "Square D panel" or "Square D box" is generic for any circuit breaker panel or safety switch, the terms being passed down from journeyman to apprentice.

Although the Square D Company no longer is based in the city which gave it its unusual name, its heritage hints that - but for chance - Detroit might be known today as "Circuit Breaker City."

new fuse link and put the main fuse back in- considerably more complex than just flicking a circuit breaker switch.

The Square D company, which began life in Detroit in 1902 as the McĂ&#x;ride Manufacturing Co., made life easier for homeowners in 1936 when it introduced the first residential circuit breaker panel. Until that time breaker panels were reserved for commercial or industrial use. Hornes used either cardboard-and-brass cartridge fuses or glass screw-ins. In either case the homeowner had to remove the bad fuse and replace it with a new one - and that's assuming someone remembered to buy new fuses after they used the last one. If not it meant borrowing a fuse from a less vital circuit. If the electrical problem hadn't been corrected the home owner was rewarded with a pop and puff of smoke as the fuse blew again. The Square D circuit breaker solved the no-fuse problem. And virtually every new home built today uses circuit breaker panels instead of fuse boxes.

For engineers, Square D equipment is even more familiar. Every piece of small industrial or commercial equipment and small electric motors use a knife .switch to control power flow. In the early part of the century, equipment knife switches were mounted on the wall near the equipment. The blade and contacts were exposed and people often come in contact with them, with results that ranged from irritating to fatal.

SOUARE 0-NOTATION DERIVATION

Square D's answer to that problem not only saved lives, it gave the company its name. By 1905 the McĂ&#x;ride Manufacturing Company had become the Detroit Fuse and Manufacturing Company. lt was Detroit Fuse that introduced the "Iron Clad" safety switch, enclosing the blades and contacts of the knife switch in an iron box.

In 1915 the company introduced a new stampedsteel version of the safety switch. On the cover of the new switch was the letter "D" inside a decorative square, the new trademark for Detroit Fuse and Manufacturing Company. In a short time contractors were asking for the "Square D" safety switch. The name became so popular - and synonymous with the company - that in December 1917, when the fuse business was split off from the manufacturing side and sold, the company name was changed to Square D.

183

•-•-llllllll

to imagine a factor)' wit ho ut mac hincs powcrcd by thcir own clcctri c mo to rs - thc manul"acturin g sccnc bcfo rc T ho mas Edison's ge neratin g plan ts powcrcd up industry aftcr the mid- 1890s. Likc trying Lo imagin c Detroit witho ut th c aut omobile, it's nca rl y impossible.

Take a walk in to an y contcmporary automot ive procluctio n faci lit)', bc it a ca r assc mbl)' plant, ,,·hcrc robo ts wiclding spark-cmitting spot-wclding guns transfo rm s hect meta! skclcto ns into d urab le, rcliable bod)' structures, or evcn an engine plant, whcrc blocks of casl iron or aluminum arc whi ttlcd awa)' imo the bodi cs of high- pcrformance engines by cutti ng tools that rnay even bc coatecl with cliamoncl. These facilities arc clean , wcll-ligh tecl places. Eve n if you go to the stamping arcas, wherc hunclreds ol" Ions of fo rce arc applied to s hape materi als, you ma)' bc surpriscd l hat it isn't as noisy as yo u'd think it would have to bc, considcring th c mctal-against-mctal impac ts.

Alt ho ugh somc mig ht imagi nc that hig h-Lech facilities are morc incl icati,·e of compute rs or acrospace inclustri cs. an )' modern car plant ha cnough clcctronics, co nt ro ls, computcrs, ancl communications cqui pmcnt to hold its own with ot hcr morc sccmingl}' "spacc-agc·· opcratio ns.

If wc wcrc LO bc takc n bac k in time 100 )'Cars ago, wc wo uld find qu ite differen t circumstanccs. Wc wo uld find workshops th at might bring LO mind somcthing out o r Charles Di ckcns. Thcrc wc rc no clcctri c motors powcring indi vid ua l machincs. Thcrc wc rc, instcacl,

Fitting Out The F actories New 1na1ntfacturing equ ipnzent tun1s sound ofplant f/oor to a hu1n fro 1n a roar

by Gary S. \ "asilash

To p : This scene in a Fisher Body plant in 1918 is typical of the lab or -intensi ve production methods in the First decades of the industry. Wo rkers fastened sheet m eta/ skins over wooden fram es, largel y by hand. (G eneral M otors)

t")'

J 184

BOTTOM: This is "now" in automotive machine tools - a high-speed milling machine for "agile" production built by the lngersoll Milling Machine Company for a 1990s program with Ford. (lngersol/)

!arge power-generating clevices coal-firecl stea m engi nes usuall y - that were usecl to rota te a shaft that would stretch across the worki ng area. From this shaft wo uld d escend leather belts to d ri ve machin e spind les.

Arc hitecturally, many of these workshops had sawtooth-shaped roofs wi th windows (at bes t) or othcr mea ns to Jet natura l light in. O therwise, th e feeble attem pts at interior illumination were barely adequa te.

BANG-BANG! You'RE D EAF W he n you take one piece of meta! and bring it in to con tact with a nother at high fo rce and high p ressure, with one o f the pieces in rnotion a nd the oth er s tati onary (thin k of a turning machine, or lathe, whe re the part rotates and the cuuing tool is s tati onary; thin k o f a Stamping press, where the ram descencls 011 th e nat piece o f meta! that is located above a s ta tionary die) , the results include noise that ca n startle even th e hard of hearing. Add ing that tremendou s d in to the picture, the factor y environ ment of yore wasn't th e kind o f place tha t any of us wou ld like to spend much time in.

Q f Course, ff we go right to th e roots of au tomotive production, up at least until 1899 and in a pla nt built in Detro it by Ranso m E. O lds (whe re a s tati c assembly line was pioneered), we wou ld cliscover that many of the ve hicl es being produced were clo ne so by pcople w ho were making products that tend ed to be more craft- than mass-production - things li ke bicycles (Duryea) a nd carriages (Durant), so the s ize of these faci lities wasn't wha t is ordinarily found today.

There is a tendency, when considering th e tec hnical accom plishments of the past, to think not how fa r we've come but how - pitifully - little our ancesLOrs knew by co mpariso n.

When co ns icleri ng the developme nt and implementa tio n of ma c hine ry, equipme nt and systems in auto11101ive facLOries during the past 100 yea rs , o ne mus1 be more surprised a t how co mparati vely adva nced were th e pionee rs w ho bui lt the infrastruc ture of this ind us try , if not in de ta il, then certai nly in imagination , aggressiveness a nd a pproach .

This is , perhaps, mos t evide nt in th e

developments engendered by Wal ter E. Fla nders. He promoted efficient manufact uring opera tions tha1 were departed fro m as the ce ntury progressed and are now being pu t back in order.

For exa mpl e, it is now wei l known that efficient pa rts produ cti on, whet her in machi n ing or assernbly, is performed by havi ng the equi pment arranged in a seque nce. This is ofte n ca lled "one-piece now," and there are some knowleclgeable peo ple who might expla in that this d evelopment is o ne that has been adapted from the practices e mpl oyed in Japanese manufacturing companies. Yes, tha t may be the case. Many U.S. manufacturing facil ities were - and co a fair ex ten t still are - a rrangecl in d epartments so that there are milli ng rnachin es in one arca, turning rnachines in another, grinders still so mew hcre eise, an d so on.

Yet Wa lter Flanclers , in th e first d ecade o f this century, helpecl Ford Motor Company establish the man ufacturing sys tem fo r the Model N engi ne at the Bellevue plant, w herein machi nes were placed in sequence, not segregated by type.

What's more, coday therc is a push co have suppliers work rnore closely with the au to manufacture rs.

One fo rm that this closer relations hip takes is in the issue of hanclling ancl delive ring pan s. Altho ugh the rules have certain ly cha nged since 1906, when Flanclers clraftecl a policy s ta tement for Ford , he was certain ly o n the righ t track when he indica ted that it was importan t (a) to have long-term agreements with suppliers and (b) have th ose suppli ers be responsible for carrying the inven tory for the auto maker. (A signi ficant clifference is tha t whereas t he id ea toclay is to have the

suppliers build the parts and components based on a real-time need, Flanders thought that the carmaker ought to have a 10-day supply of parts on hand - of course, transportation wasn't what it is today, either.)

The importance of suppliers in the auto industry seems to be increasing today, as automakers are working toward having the suppliers do more for them. But this, too, is almost a case of "everything that's old is new again." Back in 1913, when the Model T was being cranked out, parts and materials from outside suppliers accounted for 84 percent of the vehicle's cost.

in the Ford Motor Company. One of the issues that had a profound effect on what equipment was implemented in facilities was the skill pool of those who were available to run the factories that were developed in the early years of the 20th century. The auto industry was not the first mass-production industry. In 1913, Oscar C. Bornholdt, a machine tool expert at Ford, compared the arrangement of sequential machinery in an auto plant to that in food canning operations; noted historian of technology Siegfried Giedion, in his Mechanization Takes Command, argues that the assembly line's direct forerunner was the hog slaughterhouses of Cincinnati established in the 1860s.

There were other types of goods - from rifles to bicycles - being produced in a mass model by the time the auto industry was still in its early developmental stages. Stephen Meyer argues that even though there was mass manufacturing occurring in these other industries, there was still a significant amount of band work being performed by skilled mechanics in order to make the parts fit; it was not just a case of part interchangeability (Eli Whitney notwithstanding).

FIRST 'FLOW' FEAT

Although a general notion exists that the moving assembly line is a development of Henry Ford (and if not by him, then certainly by one of his key associates, such as Charles Sorensen or Oscar C. Bornholdt, both of whom were instrumental in the development of Ford's manufacturing capabilities in the developing stages), it seems that there was a firm called the EMF Company that pioneered flow production in 1908.

This company was managed by two men who had worked for Ford, Max Wollering and - here he comes again - Walter E. Flanders. Between 1908 and 1911, this company produced some 23,000 vehicles. The company was purchased by Studebaker in 1911, the year that a mechanized chassis line was installed: it employed two motor-driven elevator drums and cables; hooks pulled the front axle through the 30 or so Stations. lt helped increase output to 100 chassis per day.

The Ford Highland Park plant's chassis line was installed in 1913. That year was something of a breakthrough year for the implementation of mechanical lines in automotive factories: in addition to the chassis operation, the lines were also implemented in engine assembly and the foundry. One of the more notable assembly lines started up in May 1913 at a Ford plant for flywheel magneto assembly. Prior to the line, one worker could produce on the order of 35 to 40 magnetos in a nine-hour day; once it was up and running, a worker ( there were 14 of them on the line) manufactured an average of 55 during an eight-hour day.

What is also interesting about Walter E. Flanders is what he was doing for a living when he came to Ford Motor Company: he was a machine tool salesman representing three firms, Potter &: Johnson, Landis Tool Company, and Manning, Maxwell &: Moore.

"Undoubtedly, automotive production technology established the pattern for technical change in the modern mass production industries through the twentieth century," writes Stephen Meyer, III in The Five Dollar Day: Labor and Management and Social Control

TAYLOR-MADE

Skilled craftspeople were not available in the numbers needed by the burgeoning auto industry. One consequence was, the "principles" of what was called "scientific management" as devised by Frederick W Taylor were instituted in auto factories (i.e., managers figured out what needed to be done in terms of tasks; workers were then required to do these simple, specific, discrete tasks - something that auto manufacturers of today are doing their best to move away from).

The other was that machinery and equipment were specifically created (a) to permit less-skilled people to do tasks (for example: jigs and fixtures that permitted workers to load and unload parts and the machines to do the manipulative work (echoes of this early work can be heard today when people talk about poka yoke, or mistake-proofing, for part loading) and (b) specifically to do jobs at relatively high cycle rates.

The relationships between the auto manufacturers and machine tool makers can be traced back as early as the development of the Ford Highland Park plant, which opened in 1910. Ford's Charles Sorensen figured that it would be efficient if people within Ford who were most familiar with the work designed the necessary machine tools to accomplish it, then built prototypes. The actual manufacture of the machines would be performed by the companies who specialized in machine building. This relationship exists to this day.

One of the earliest suppliers of machine tools to the

186

auto industry, for example, is the Ingersoll Milling Machine Company of Rockford, Illinois.

Ingersoll sold its first machine - a horizontalspindle mill - to Ford in 1908. This machine had application in other industries besides automotive, of course. But by 1914, as the needs of the auto industry became greater, Ingersoll developed a machine that could continuously machine engine block castings.

The operator would load and unload fixtures. The machine would do the rest. As the years went by, Ingersoll developed what are known as "special" machines for Ford (and other automakers). The machine tool maker even helped Ford tool up for aircraft production during the l 940s. In 1985 Ford and Ingersoll began collaborating on a new concept for automotive parts machining, a piece of machinery now known as the High Velocity Machining Center. This machine tool has the capability of moving its spindle at 3,000 inches per second and promises to replace multiple machines perhaps even transfer lines - because of the speed at which it can perform its work.

In a very real sense, the early Ingersoll machine and the high-velocity machine can be considered matching bookends in that they are essentially standalone machines (although they did/do offer the possibility of being integrated with other equipment to form "systems"). In between the two are an array of "transfer lines." What the assembly line was to putting parts together, the transfer line was to machining parts.

Essentially, a transfer line is a device where parts, such as an engine block or head, are fixtured in place, and then are transferred, in lock-step, through a series of "stations," at which machining operations (drilling, boring, milling, facing, etc.) are performed. The speed at which the transfer line is moved is fundamentally based on the longest machining cycle in the entire sequence. But the transfer line - built by a variety of companies, including Ingersoll, and The Cross Company, F. Joseph Lamb, and many others - ushered in the wherewithal to perform mass production, as the work is being performed automatically, without human intervention. Even today, transfer lines are in operation and being built for the production of parts where little change is anticipated and the volumes are high.

Generally, as the century is reviewed, it is easy to conclude that there were but a handful of profound innovations in the development of machine tools and equipment. lt was mainly an issue of refinements.

Admittedly, it may be that some developments - such as the contour bandsaw by DoALL in 1935 or the Bridgeport milling machine in 1938 - are just parts of the industrial landscape that are now taken for granted,

despite their great impact on auto production.

THE Ă&#x153;LD GRIND Consider grinding. It's been with mankind, in one form or another, ever since a harder stone was rubbed against a softer one. The past 100 years are replete with developments, enhancements, to the technology.

The Norton Grinding Company provided the auto industry with a crankshaft grinder back in 1903, the same year that A.B. Landis introduced a device that permitted connecting rod pins tobe automatically loaded for grinding. In 1933 abrasive belt grinding was introduced, a process that was enhanced by the discovery of the electrocoating process, which made the abrasive grains stand on end during the manufacture of the belts. Ex-Cell-0 developed a precision thread grinder after five years of work that, after it was introduced in 1935, made possible the mass production of precision threads. In 1947 Micromatic Hone Corp. brought out the Micromatic Hydrosize, a honing system for cylinder bore sizing and finishing. In 1956 National Broach &: Machine brought out a process called "gear honing" to improve the teeth on spur and helical gears. In 1957 General Electric Co. changed many of the parameters in grinding with the commercial introduction of its synthetic diamonds; GE's Research Laboratory announced that same year that it had developed a synthetic material called Borazon, cubic boron nitride, which was to find application in grinding wheels and cutting tools. In 1972 there was a flurry of developments from companies including Babcock &: Wilcox and Brown &: Sharpe: these companies came out with trichoid grinding machines in anticipation of the GM Wankel program, a road not taken.

And on it went, through the years. A new machine.

A new material. Today the greatest advances in grinding machines tend to relate to microprocessors for controlling all of the parameters involved in producing parts. But, fundamentally, it is rubbing a harder material against a softer one.

There are a handful of 20th century developments that have had massive effects on the way automobiles (and other products) are manufactured. Although the following list is short, and leaves out important breakthroughs in materials and metrology, pressworking and painting, these have certainly been agents of change: â&#x20AC;˘ Numerical control. John T. Parsons, in Traverse City, Michigan, was building munitions for the military during the l 940s. He was also producing helicopter blades. This requires complex contour machining. He started thinking about how to apply math-based data to machine contours more effectively. By 1948, he was

187

This is "then" in automotive machine tools - an early milling machine from the lngersoll Milling Machine Company. Ford Motor purchased its First lngersoll mill in 1908. (lngersol/)

tools. The prima ry application has been in bodyshops, wherc elcctrically driven machines (the o riginal Unimates were hydraulic) arc capable of swinging t he heavy spot welding guns with seem ingly no effon . O ne interesting aspect of robots during the past 30-plus ycars is the way they have evolved . An o riginal content io n was that a robo t is a "multifunctio nal device," something that was capablc o r doing all sorts o r tasks. ßy investing in a robot, it was argued, a co mpany was actua lly investing in a piece o f mach inery that co ulcl weid, pa int, machine load, assemble. lts evolution has bee n one characterized by specialization, so there are now robots that paint a ncl robo ts that weid , and a lthough it is possible tha t one could be equipped to do the oth er's task, thc likelihood is about nil.

• The programmabl e controller. This digital b rainchilcl o f Richard E. Morl ey was first appliecl in the GM Hydra-matic plant in Ypsilanti in J 969 . At issue was a better way to eo n trol, in relative real time (as clistinct from th e way computers buffer infor mation before processing), the massive pieces o f machinery o n the factory noo r so the re would be better, more precise syneh ronizatio n tha n co uld be attai ned (at least no t wi thout excessive diffieu lty ancl ex penditu re) with relays.

The Mod ico n deviee has launched an en tire array o f inclustria l con trols that have not on ly changed the model of th e ways cars are built, but have even macl e the ir way in to a pplica tio ns suc h as con trolling the traffic lights tha t pace the cars on the roacl.

• The laser. This is onc of those techno logies that has been lo ng in coming, with its full promise in auto procl uc tion li kel y tobe ahcad of us. In 1960, a scien tis t at Hughes Aircraft announced a source o f coherent light. By 1962, co mpanics inclucli ng Westingh ouse, Raytheon ancl Ge neral Electric were wo rking harcl to develop the laser for industrial applieatio ns, such as drilling ancl wclcling. Early lasers usecl crystals su c h as ruby. T hen they wcre buil t wit h a gas medium , such as C02. Meanwhilc, better crystals were devcloped , particularl y those basecl o n neodym ium-doped yttrium aluminum garne t (N cl :YAG). Today the re is coexistence between the two types. C02 lasers, w hic h are tremendo usly powerful, can be fo und in great number at tra nsmission plants, whe re they are used for both ha rdeni ng ancl welcling. ·d:YAG lasers have the aclvantage of operating at a wavelength that can pass through optical fibers. T his means that working in combination with a robot , the cl:YAG laser can be set up to perfo rm welcli ng or cutting o perations without the difficu lti es involvecl in aligning an cl ma in tai ning mirrors , as is necessary for C02 lasers. Look for more Ncl:YAG installations in bocly shops in the yea rs aheacl.

putting the information o n pu nc h cards. He callcd it "carda matic milling." In 1949, Parsons rcccivcd a $200,000 contrac t from the U.S. Air Force Materie!

Co mma nd to bu ild a machine that cou ld be direc ted by pu neh cards 10 mach ine integrally stiffe ned sections for aircrafl. Parsons, in sea rc h of assistance, went to the Servomec hanis ms La boratory of the Massachuse tts Institute of Teeh nology. In Septembe r 1952, a fo rmal demonstration of numerical co ntro l, as it became known (according to the man who ran th e projec t a t MIT, they simply picked a na me that stuck), was prese nted. Since that time, th e control of mac h ine tools for a ll a pplicati ons - has neve r been th e same. lt's gone from punc hed cards, to punched ta pe, to magnctic tape, to direct input, to Oo ppy disks in a sho n n umbe r of years. Rega rd less of the input syste m, the handwheels o nce carefully turned by mach inis ts have given way to electro nic co ntrol.

• T h e mac hin ing ce nter. Altho ugh man y peop le think o r a utomotive machining in terms of transfer lines and th e great companies that bui lt them - C ross, lngersoll , Lamb, and Snyde r amo ng them - a development of 1958, the mac hining cente r, is li kely 10 change thc model of machi ning in a ut o manufactu ring. lt was introduced by l<ea rn ey & Trecker, ancl was des igned to mill , drill , tap, and bo re. This multifunctional mach inc was fitted with a tool-changing device ope rated under numerical control , so ma nual inte rve ntion wasn't req ui red during a cyclc to move from one operation to anothe r. The consequence of this is "Oexibility" - perhaps eve n "agil ity" - in prod uctio n operations. So w hile the traclitio nal transfer line consists of a sequcnce of fi xecl Sta tio ns that do o ne th ing ( mill or drill or tap o r bore), th e machining center can do a ll o f them in a single setup. As sho rter runs and modifi cations to existing products become the norm , the machin ing Ce nter wi ll beco me mo re prcvale n l.

• The industria l robot. The industria l robot's birth - to use the son of an th ropo mo rph ic tcrm cha racterizing th e equipme nt th ro ugh ou t its existe nce - goes back to 1961. The genera ll y acce pted fat he r is J oseph Engel be rger, whose "Uni mate" robot promised to releasc huma ns from du ll , dangerous and dirty work.

The first insta ll ation of a robot was in a GM die casti ng operatio n . Since the carly days, the a u to incl ustry has bcen by far th e leading c ustome r for th esc inclustria l

188

A continuous caster at Na tional Stee/'s Great Lakes Division in Ecorse pours molten steel in 1988. (Detroit Free

Press)

etroit's roo ts in materia ls processing lie deep in the l 9 th ce ntury. In 1856 in Ha mtram c k Towns hip , o n the De tro it Rive r near the presen t site of the Belle lsle Bridge, Dr. George B. Russe! buil t the firs t America n iron blast furn aee west o f Pius burgh . lt rema ined in operatio n unli l 1905.

T he first Am eri ca n s tee l produced by the Bessemer proeess was made at Capt. Eber Brock Ward's Eureka lron Co mpany in Wya ndo u e in 186-L Unfo nuna tcl y Ward was unab le to capita li ze o n his devclopmen t, and Pennsylvania beca me the cen ter of Besse mer s teel producti o n . Three maj o r s tecl co mpani es co ntinue th e legacy begun by Russe! a nd Wa rd: Great Lakes, Mc louth , and Ro uge.

Great La kes Di vis io n o f Natio na l Stecl traces its o rig ins Lo th e Det ro it lro n & Steel Co mpa ny, whi ch erec ted blast furnaces o n Zug Island in 1902. Desp ite its name , Detroit lro n & Stecl produeed o nly iro n . Ă&#x;y J. 929 th e works wc rc ow ned by M. A. Hanna Co mpany, whi c h also ow ned o re min es, coal mi ncs, a nd lakc fre ig hte rs. In 1929 the Hanna prope nics were combined with Wi erto n Stecl Co mpa ny of Wie n o n, W. Va. , and Great La kes Stee l, w hi ch was roll ing s hcets fro m s tee l purchased from other sources. T he new eom pa ny, ca lled Natio nal tee l, se t abou t construc ting an in tegratcd s teel mill on 275 acres in Eco rse. Six open hea rth furnaees, plus blooming , ho t s trip , and bar mi lls, tu rned pi g iro n fro m Zug Island into se mi-fin-

Ready Ore Not R aw material processing: setting the stage for heavy indust1y

by Bo b C:ascy

189

ished steel. Over the years the complex has been enlarged and modernized, with the addition of Bessemer converters in 1946, an 80-inch hot strip mill in 1961, basic oxygen furnaces in 1962 and 1970, and a continuous slab caster in 1977.

The 1970s and 1980s were hard times for steel mills, and Great Lakes did not emerge unscathed. By 1981 its capacity was down to 4 million tons per year, from a peak of 6 million tons. Recent years have brought outside investment from the Japanese steel maker NKK Corporation, which now owns 75 percent of National Steel.

tion. Together they operate Double Eagle Steel Coating Company, the world's largest electrogalvanizing facility.

Finally, in 1989 Ford sold Rouge Steel to Marico Acquisition Corporation. Today, surrounded by the Ford Motor plant, Rouge Steel is an independent company.

Processing of copper and brass was another longtime Detroit industry. By the mid 1850s Detroit and Lake Superior Copper Company was the largest copper smelter in the U.S. By the end of the 19th century, however, actual smelting had moved to the Lake Superior mines themselves, and Detroit establishments confined themselves to secondary processing.

SCRAP TO SCRIP

TOP 8RASS Detroit Copper and Brass Rolling Mills was founded in 1879 to roll copper ingots into sheets, bars, and rods. The company expanded into the production of brass ingots, first in crucible furnaces, and by the 1920s, in electric fumaces. In 1927 American Brass Company, a subsidiary of Anaconda Copper Mining Corporation, bought the Detroit works, and operated them until they closed in 1957.

The Michigan Copper &: Brass Company began as a small roller of copper and brass in 1907. By 1928 the factory next to Fort Wayne on the Detroit River had expanded into brass and aluminum extrusions and bronze and aluminum castings. That year it was one of six companies that merged to form Republic Brass Corporation. In 1929 the new firm became Revere Copper &: Brass, Inc.; the Detroit operation closed in 1981.

Michigan Smelting &: Refining Company was established in 1895 as a scrap metal dealer. lt expanded into the production of copper and brass, and built a new factory in Hamtramck in 1912. Here the company, in co-operation with the Bureau of Mines, pioneered the development of electric furnaces for non-ferrous melting. Products included brass and bronze ingots, brass billets and slabs, solder, babbitt, lead and tin pipe, brazing spelter, and die castings. The company closed after World War II. Today the tradition of non-ferrous processing is carried on by smaller firms. Arco Alloys, established in 1938 by Harry Arnow and Leonard Cohen, produces zinc alloys. Originally relying on scrap zinc from automobiles, the company now uses virgin zinc, aluminum, and other metals to produce alloys for die castings.

Equitable Metals Corporation began in 1953 as Sollish Scrap Metals, a dealer in non-ferrous scrap. Owner Henry Sollish began refining precious metal scrap in 1964, and in 1967 the business was incorporated as Equitable Metals. lt refines gold, silver, palladium, and platinum.

McLouth Steel Products (formerly McLouth Steel Corporation), was the brainchild of scrap dealer Donald B. Mclouth. Mclouth started small in 1934, rolling steel strip from slabs supplied by other companies. The purchase of government surplus electric fumaces after World War II allowed McLouth to produce its own steel from scrap. Rising demand and shrinking scrap supplies pushed the company toward integrated steel production in the early 1950s. Taking a chance on new technology, Mclouth became the first American company, and the fourth in the world, to adopt the basicoxygen fumace developed in Austria. In 1964 the company again chose a relatively untried technology when it became the first American integrated producer to base all of its production on continuous casting.

Adoption of new technology was not enough to insulate Mclouth from the changing climate for steel makers. By 1981 the company had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act. A group headed by Cyrus Tang bought Mclouth in 1982, and in 1988 employees purchased 85 percent of the company under an employee stock ownership plan.

Henry Ford's Rouge plant was designed to take in raw materials and send out finished cars. Key to this concept was the production of iron and steel. In 1921 Ford built the first of three blast furnaces, along with coke ovens and other auxiliary equipment. Steel was first made at the Rouge in 1923 in electric fumaces.

The first open hearth fumaces went on line in 1926, followed by a hot strip mill in 1935. The decades after World War II saw many new additions: basic oxygen fumaces in 1964; a new hot strip mill in 1974, new electric furnace in 1976; a continuous caster in 1986.

The changing economics of steel production in the 1980s brought changes that would have amazed Henry Ford. In 1982 Rouge Steel became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. Four years later Rouge entered into a joint venture with USX Corpora-

190

G. B. SELDEN. ROAD ENGINE.

No. 549, 160 .

Patented Nov. 5, 1895.

.B I

~~¡.

i.

O. B. BELDEJI. ID&D EXDIU.

Ko. 549,180.

Palt11Ud Kn. 5, 1895.

Attorney George B. Selden's 1895 patent for a horseless carriage, and its engine (inset). (American Automobile Manufacturers Association)

George B. Selden of Rochester, New York. To realize how great Selden's vision was, you have to understand he filed his first "Road Engine" patent application on May 8, 1879. According to Dan Kirschner, of the American Automobile Manufacturer's Association, Selden held off the patent process as long as possible so it would protect his concept longer. He foresaw that the "Road Engine" would become an important part of American society.

Despite the fact that the automobile industry was little more than a gleam in the eyes of some futuristic zealots in 1895, people in Detroit and Michigan were inventing things that would soon make it a reality.

A quick scan through the Patent Office Gazette volumes for 1895 shows that trolley car and rail-related inventions were popular for Detroit area inventors.

Trucks (the sets of wheels under trolleys and rail cars) were being invented and improved. Bumpers to stop the cars from rolling were popular too. Since great minds seem to think in the same relative paths it seems only logical that another Detroiter should be working on the other half of the streetcar business, a street car switch adjuster.

At the end of the 19th century industry was building up and power was needed to keep factories running. Steam was a popular source of power and steam boilers, engines, pumps and other equipment were being developed then. Again people in the Detroit and Michigan area were busy in their shops and laboratories. A number of boilers were invented by Detroit area dreamers.

Patents Pending Industry's needs were the mother to many inventions

by Tom Yates

n 1895 Detroiters, like people today, had to wonder what was left to invent. They already had the electric light, electric motors and the telegraph; even the telephone was 20 years old.

Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph in 1895. Still, the Patent Office kept issuing patents - 22,057 that year - so the end of progress wasn't in sight.

One patent that year had a great effect on Detroit, even though it was issued to an inventor in Rochester, New York. According to the U.S. Patent Office, Letters Patent No. 549,160 for a "Road Engine" was issued to

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This crude diagram was the beginning of a revolution in the auto industry. lt is Charles F. Kettering's original drawing for the patent for the electric automobile self-st~rter and ignition system later introduced on the 1912 Cadillac.

Before that, cars had to be hand-cranked to start. (General Motors)

his thoughts of braking improvements. Paul Keim and Robert Treseder assigned their patent for an "Anti-skid Hydraulic Brake System" to GM. Braking and skid control weren't just concerns in the lauer part of the 20th century. Back in 1911 Robert Moore, a Chicago inventor, received a patent for an "Anti-Skidding Device for Automobiles." While short on both the electronics and hydraulics of today's ABS units Moore's at least made an effort to control skids.

Where ABS was intended to prevent crashes, inventors in the '60s and '70s began to address the inevitable results of accidents One of the first air bag patents, for a design by Michigan inventors Sidney Oldberg from Birmingham and William Carey of Farmington was assigned to Eaton Yale & Towne in 1968.

INSPIRED BY INDUSTRY Southeastern Michigan inventors seemed preoccupied with industry. Along with car trucks, street car track switch adjusters and boilers they were inventing machines and the equipment to make them more efficient or maintain them. Patents were issued to Michigan inventors for a quill cutter (the metal tubing type, not the feather), a purifier, separator and grader, a tap and bushing and the mundane, but necessary, subject of waste disposal with a waste valve.

As the automobile became more popular and important to the southeastern Michigan area, automotive-related inventions became prevalent. The year 1929 saw an automatic transmission patented by Detroiter Charles Short with rights assigned to GM. The unit only shifted up automatically, down shifts were manual. But that transmission was the precursor to GM's Hydra-Matic transmission introduced by Oldsmobile in 1939.

While GM receives credit for introducing the first all-steel production automobile body with its 1935 "Turret Top" models, others were working on the concept too. Shortly after GM began working on the automatic transmission, the Budd Company received patent rights to all-steel automobile bodies in 1932 and '33. While the Budd Company was based in Philadelphia, the bodies were used by many Detroit manufacturers. In 1933 Arnos Northrup, of Pleasant Ridge, was assigned rights to an all steel body design. Northrup assigned rights to the Murray body company. One year later Harley Earl received a design patent for what became the basis for several late-30s GM products.

Du ring the WWII years and shortly after, fewer automotive patents were issued. But in 1956 Harry Keeler of Detroit received a patent for an "Automatically Controlled Braking Apparatus" (ABS system).

Keeler's braking system reduced the tires' tendency to skid on snow or slick pavement. Keeler wasn't alone in

ANTIPOLLUTION REFINEMENTS The passing of antipollution statutes in the midl 960s brought about changes in the ways engines were

controlled. In 1978 a "Spark Timing Control System for an Internat Combustion Engine" (or electronic ignition system) was patented by Robert Masta from Ann Arbor.

Masta's patent rights were assigned to GM. Shortly after, in 1979, Motorola received the patent rights to Todd Gartner and Robert Valek's invention of an "Electronic Ignition Timing System Using Digital Rate Multiplication."

Detroit and Michigan are still active in the inventing field. Between 1969 and 1994 more than 65 ,000 patents were issued to area residents. In 1994 113,268 U.S. Patents were issued, with Michigan inventors accounting for 3,295 of them. In 1895 the Patent Office was issuing patent numbers in the mid 500,000 range.

Today they're well into the five million zone.

In the lauer half of the 19th century fiscal conservatives called for the closing of the U.S. Patent Office. lt was outdated "because everything had been invented."

One hundred years later, when tempted to assume the same, we are often reminded that we're still just spooling up for the future.

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"Liberty" planes under construction on government contract at the Fisher aircraft facility on West End Avenue, Detroit, 1918. (General Motors)

EARBO RN - Thc summer air hangs heavy and still , punctua tcd by th c distant bac kfirc of a Fordson tractor ancl thc bellow of a cow. lf you listen carcfull y, tho ugh , yo u' ll hear fa int buzz ing, like a swarm of grassho ppcrs taki ng Oight. As it d raws ncarer, the gentle clronc evolves into a deafcning roar, fo r off in the distance, a bright silver Tri-Motorbanksand turns, skimming thc farm ficlds as it glidcs in fo r a landing at Ford Air Port.

Thc olcl airs trip is gonc now, transformccl into a hig h-speed test track, but thc Dcarborn Inn , th c wo rld's first airport hotcl , scrves as a rcminder of thc era when Detroit took to the sky. Fo r many of thc pionecrs vv ho helpecl put Amcri ca on wheels, thcir fascinatio n with mac hines ancl mo ti on kncw no earthl y bounds. Ancl so, in th c carly yca rs or this llllllUhuous, inventi ve century, the Motor Cit y becamc thc centcr of the emcrging aviatio n incl ustry.

Detroit's interest in aviatio n took wing soon aft cr the Wright brothers' first Oight at Ki u y Hawk. After all , thc city hacl th c brainpowcr and mcchanical talcnt and thc mo ney to invest. Thc list of namcs li nkecl with the nascent aeronautic industry soon read likc an automo ti vc Who's Who: Pac kard, Hudson, Stinson, Marmon. Ancl Ford. In 1909, 15-ycar-olcl Edsel wo n his father¡s permissio n to build an airplane at an old barn o n Woodwarcl Ave. just no rth of downtown Detro it.

Powercd by a modified Model T cngine, the high-wing

From Wheels to Wings M ove to aircraft develop1nent, manufacture is natural evolution b y Pau l A. Eisenstein

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back then. A self-styled "imagineer," Stout wasn't much of a businessman. Running short of cash, he mailed a teuer off to more than 100 of the nation's leading industrialists. "I should like $1,000," he wrote, "and only promise you one thing: You will never see it again, but you will get $1,000 worth of education."

Among those anteing up were Henry and Edsel.

Though Henry Ford wouldn't take his own first flight until 1927 - with Charles Lindbergh behind the stick - the automotive pioneer was ready tobet millions on aviation. He invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Co., and provided land for an experimental airport. Using the Liberty engine, the "Maiden Detroit" made its first flight from Dearborn to Chicago with six people on board. The 133-minute trip launched commercial passenger service. Stout eventually sold the company to Ford, and went on the payroll, as both engineer and manager of Stout Air Services, the Ford airline.

Commercial air service owes a major <lebt to Ford.

One of his most significant and long-lasting contributions was the development of the first effective radio navigation system. By following the directional beacon, a pilot could teil where he was headed. Aimed anywhere within 30 degrees of the tower, he'd hear a steady tone. Drifting off course, he would hear either an "A" or an "N" transmiued in Morse Code. The first beacon went operational at Wright Field in Dayton on Feb. 16, 1927, permitting Ford test pilot Harry Brooks to navigate his way down from Dearborn in a heavy snow. Ford never took a royalty payment for the beacon patent, and a few years later, the federal government took over responsibility for setting up a network of the towers across the country.

monoplane made its maiden flight a year later at one of Henry's farms in Dearborn. lt took a war to make people take the airplane seriously. In 1917, the U .S. could field not a single military aircraft, so the mobilization of air power had to start literally from the ground up. Fisher Body, then an independent manufacturer of automotive bodies, tooled up for production. The Fisher brothers began building aircraft in 1917 out of a plant on West End Ave., a factory that eventually became Plant 18 of the Fisher Fleetwood (eventually the Cadillac) complex.

But Detroit's biggest contribution to the war effort was, if you will, under the "hood."

"During the war, Detroit became the great center of aircraft engine manufacturing," explains Bob Casey, historian and curator of the automotive collection at the Henry Ford Museum. The workhorse of the Army Air Corps was a modified version of Packard's robust Twin-Six. By the time the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918, the Buick and Cadillac divisions alone had produced about 2,500 Liberty engines. Thousands more had rolled out of plants operated by Packard, Ford, Lincoln and Marmon.

In peacetime, U.S. aircraft production nosedived - from 14,000 in 1918 to just 300 two years later.

Still, the city's business leaders were convinced aviation would rise like the phoenix, and in the coming decade, they formed a succession of ventures, including the Detroit Aircraft Corp. and Aircraft Development Co. Many of these, and their suppliers, were scauered around old Detroit City Airport.

SEMINAL START-UP

Perhaps the most influential of the start-ups was founded by William Bushnell Stout. His failing eyesight kept Stout from graduating college, but it didn't blind his imagination. Stout was building model airplanes even before the Wright brothers' first flight. An avid tinkerer and inventor, Stout had limitless talents for things mechanical, designing anything from toys to motorcycles. In 1916, he hired on as chief engineer for Packard's aircraft division, helping improve the Liberty engine.

In 1919, he established his own company, Stout Engineering Labs. The wood-and-canvas biplanes of the day were slow and cumbersome, and the nearsighted inventor believed a single, metal wing would be far more efficient. Stout demonstrated a metal monoplane torpedo bomber to the military, but a crash landing cost him the contract. His prototype Batwing could have served as the preliminary model for today's Stealth fighter, but the military wasn't ready to bite

FLYING FORD

The need for more power, space and passengers led to the development of the legendary Ford TriMotor. With its three Prau & Whitney radial engines and a wingspan of 70 feet, the "Tin Goose" was able to carry a crew and eight passengers, as weil as a load of freight and air mail - ensuring profĂźs for the new airlines - such as Pan American, Northwest and Transcontinental Air Transport, later TWA, popping up across the country. lronically, Ford made the same mistake that cost him leadership in automotive manufacturing. As with the Model T, he refused to replace the Tri-Motor with a bigger, faster and more powerful model, and the competition soon passed him by. One of the most successful was the Douglas DC-3, developed by onetime Ford

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engineer James McDonnell, who left to form his own company in 1932.

There were other failures. In 1917, Ford, Charles E Kettering, Wilbur Wright and several others proposed a secret weapon they believed would help the Allies win the war. Nicknamed "The Bug," the pilotless drone was designed to carry a 200 pound bomb across enemy lines using a sophisticated autopilot. Then, in 1920, Ford proposed to the government a plan toset up a million-dollar factory to produce zeppelins in Detroit. He even erected a 225-foot dirigible mooring tower on a corner of Ford Air Port. Both ideas were shot down.

Aircraft Development Corp., established in 1920

by Detroit promoter Carl Fritschie, also attempted to secure a federal contract to build metal-clad zeppelins.

The company went so far as to build a hangar and airstrip, which still operates, on Grosse Isle. Its prototype ZMC-2 took flight on Aug. 19, 1929, and was used for the next dozen years as a trainer at the military airfield in Lakehurst, N.J., but the explosive crash of Germany's hydrogen-filled Hindenburg scuttled interest in the commercial lighter-than-air craft.

In 1929, the U.S. Navy contracted with Great Lakes Aircraft for 18 primitive TG-1 torpedo bombers. Successor Detroit Aircraft Corporation then developed the TG-2, and by 1938 had built 277 under contract as Navy T4Ms.

to become one of the great American growth industries." GM made a series of key acquisitions, starting with the Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., and later adding a 24 percent stake in Bendix Aviation, and 40 percent of the U.S. subsidiary of the legendary Dutch Fokker Aircraft company. (Ironically, Ford had backed away from Fokker a few years earlier, fearing negative reaction to the name associated with one of Germany's most efficiently deadly weapons.)

Meanwhile, Detroit's most successful venture in building aircraft developed independently of the auto industry. This was Stinson Aircrart, a brainchild of the Detroit Board of Commerce which helped incorporate the company in 1926. From the late '20s to 1948, Stinson was America's largest producer of cabin planes.

Over the next few years, the GM aircraft ventures went through a series of changes. Fokker himself was forced out and the unit was merged into General Aviation, which eventually became a part of North American Aviation. In turn, North American eventually sold off several units, including two airlines. Eastern Air Transport eventually became the well-known Eastern Airlines, while Transcontinental changed its name to Trans World Airlines. (Ford Air Services also survives to this day. After it was spun off, it merged into what is today known as United Airlines.) Resettling in lnglewood, CA, North American developed some of the most significant aircraft of the second World War, including the P-51 Mustang fighter and the B-25 bomber, which General Jimmy Doolittle used to raid Tokyo less than six months aftcr Pearl Harbor.

AIMING HIGH

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Fords most grandiose scheme did get off the ground - just barely. The Flying Flivver was the pet project of Henry and his chief test pilot, Brooks. lt was meant tobe an airplane for the masses and Brooks actually used one to commute to Dearborn from his home north of Detroit. The first single-seat, 550-pound Flivver had a 23-foot wingspan, a 16-foot fuselage, with a 3-cylinder, 35-horsepower engine cruising at 85 mph.

Put into operation injuly 1926, it's now on display at the Henry Ford Museum. The second Flivver featured a more powerful, 2-cylinder engine designed by Ford, more stable wings and a gas tank large enough to provide a theoretical range of 1, 700 miles. But on a distance record run in late February 1928, Brooks was killed when the Flivver crashed into the ocean off Melbourne, Fla. Distraught at the loss of his friend and chief test pilot, Ford grounded the program until a halfhearted effort was made a decade later.

Ford wasn't the only one intrigued by the Flivver concept. lt also caught the eye of Alfred P. Sloan, the legendary boss of General Motors. In his celebrated autobiography, "My Years With General Motors," Sloan noted that "it became steadily clearer that aviation was

DETROIT Ă&#x153;ELIVERS The sneak attack caught America nearly as unprepared as it had been before World War 1. And once again, America turned to Detroit, the Arsenal of Democracy. Along with passenger car production, the Flivver was put on hold.

GM's wartime annual reports were thick with the list of weapons it designed or built for other companies, everything from machine guns to incendiary bomb nose cones. There were turret bearings and B-24 landing gear sets. The V-1710, developed by Allison Engineering Co. was the first military engine to top 1,000 horsepower. Later versions generated as much as 2250 hp. Before the end of 1941, Allison's plant in the shadow of the Indianapolis Speedway was already rolling out 1,100 V-l 710s a month for use in such planes as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. By the time production was canceled six years later, more than 70,000 were produced.

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loss of $1.5 millio n , Hudson neu ed an average of nearly $2 m illi o n a yea r mak ing a nLiai rc rafl guns, 700-cubic inch in vasio n barge engines and aircraft parts." By the t ime wa r procluction ended fo r Hudson o n Feb. 13, 1946, the compa ny had buil t mo re than ha lf Lhe 98-fooLfuselage sections, wings and ailerons need ed fo r the vital ß-29 Superfonress bo mber, as weil as w ings for the CunissDuring World War II, GM 's Eastern Aircraft Division built more of fliese GrumWright Helldiver and the Pman Avenger Navy torpedo bombers than Grumman Corp. (General Motors) 38 Ligh tn ing, cabins for the Bell P-63, fuselage seclions A maj o r GM effo rt was productio n o f G rumman for Lh e B-26 Marauder and other a ircraft co mpo nents.

W ildcat F4F fi ghLe rs and Ave nger TßF to rp edo Its warti me effons tw ice earned Hudso n Lhe Pen tagon's bombers, such as the o ne Oow n in co mbat by Presiclem coveted "E" award fo r excellence.

George Bush. G M's Eastern Aircraft Di visio n turn ed As wartime procluclion was phased o u l, Lhe Motor o u t 7,546 Avenge rs ( kno w n as TBMs w hcn bu ilt by C ity sh ifLecl back lO bu ilcl ing ca rs. WiLh the a ircraft GM), fa r mo re than the parenl Grumman's o utput o f ind ustry moving oul to the West Coasl, Detroil began 2,29 L Avenge rs. In Wor ld Wa r 1, GM 's mi li tary co nLo lose inte resl. GM sold off its stake in Nonh Ameritrac ts to ta lecl $35 m ill ion . In Wo rld War 11 , tha t sho t Lo can by L948, tho ugh Allison contin uecl to produce air$ 12 billi o n, w ith aviation aeco unti ng fo r -J.2 percent of craft e ngines, notably during the Korean War. ßut Lhe thc to tal in 1944. era o f comm ercia l aviatio n was at an end - w ith one The other major player in the aeria l weapo ns ro llno ta blc exception. o ut was Ford. lt land ed a $200 mi ll ion contract to proIn L985, C hrysler Co rp. purchased Lhe co rporate cluce th e Co nsoliclated ß-24 Libe rato r a t the W illow jet ma nufacturer, Gul fs Lream Ae rospace, for $637 milRun plant near Ypsila nti. T he 32-to n precisio n bomber lio n. At the time, Chrysler Chai rman Lee lacocca was was capablc of Oying at 32,000 feet to avo id an tiaircra ft trying to d iversify his compan y, c rea ti ng w hat he fi re. Charles So re nson , who hacl devclo pecl the Model described as a "four box" strategy. T he acquisiLion, h e T moving asse mbly line, was bro ug ht back inLo actio n . promised , would have the added advantage of providAdap ti ng the same mass-procluc tion concep ts, Fo rd ing Chrysler's aulomotive desig ners access to the latest cou lcl roll o ut o ne B-24 an ho ur, ancl in th e process, aerospace techno logy. Bul the syne rgies never surfaced costs fei l fro m $379,000 to just $2 16 ,000 a pla ne. a ncl except for giving lacocca access lO the new G-4 Whcn ß-24 procl uc tio n ceased in 1945, Ford hacl bu ilt co rpo rate jel, Lhe d eal was a cl ucl. In Ma rc h 1990, 8,685 of thc four-c ngined giants.

C hrys le r sold G ulfstrea m to a consortium includi ng ils T he sa me tech niq ues hclpccl wi th th e Prall & fou nde r, Allen E. Paulso n, for $825 mil lio n .

W hi tney 18-cylinder a ircraft engine, o f wh ic h Ford It was th e e nd of a n e ra. Tho ug h Bill Sto ut was still bui lt 57 ,851 a t the massive Rouge co mplex. At the Start trying to design a n o rnithopter w he n he died in 195 1, of production it took 2,330 ma n hours pe r engine. the d rea m of a Flying Flivver had already bee n forgo lEven tually, Lhat fe il lO j ust 905. Fo rd a lso procluced ten. Detroit decided its fulllre lay in mass prod uclio n . many of the gliclers used in the D-Da)' invasion at the Despite the suggesLive name of its Hug hes Aircraft subco mpany's station wago n body pla nt in lron Mountai n , sid iary, GM has o n ly the most minimal ro le in aeroMi ch . T he CG--J.A ca rried up lO 15 soldiers, wh ilc th e s pace today, as do the o Lher Detroit manufacLUrers. la rger CG- l 3A could land a troop of -J.O. \Vh ile thei r profils a re climbing bac k imo t he stratosphere, the ßig Three a re conte nt LO keep the ir wheels A SHOT IN T HE A RM planted firml y o n Lhe ground.

De troit's smallcr manu facture rs also played a rolc in the war bui ld -up. In 19-J.8, Time magazine no ted 'The war gave I-ludson a scconcl chance. Afte r a 1940

1%

The Stinson "105, " introduced in 1939, represented the company's entry in the low-cost private aircraft market. lt became the basis for the World War II L-5 observation aircraft. (The Detroit News)

ve rshaclowed by the auto companies a nd fo rgotten in the later yea rs of the 20th ce ntu ry ancl the re la tive clecli ne o f pri vate aviation, the ta le o f Stinson Aircra ft Co mpan y is o ne mo re Detroit story clemancling to be tolcl .

Th ro ug h much of th e peri od between the rise o f aircraft manufacture ig nited by Detroit-born Cha rles A. Linclberg h's New York-to- Paris !1ig ht in May 1927 and World War ll , Stinson was famecl as th e na tio n's leacling proclucer of cabin airplanes.

Stinson was founclecl by Edward A. (Ecldie) Stinso n , an Ala bama nat ive w ho lea rned to f1 y in 19 11 , participatecl in a trave ling air c ircus w ith h is brother ancl two sisters - all pio neer pilo ts - ancl se rvecl as a U.S. Army Air Corps first lieutenant and !1igh t instructor in World War 1.

During the '20s, n ewspapers were fillecl w ith stories o f his n umerous recorcl-breaking !1igh ts and cleathclefying escapes fro m crashes. In 1925, e ncouraged by th c Det roit Boa rd o f Com merce, w hich p rovidecl him with space in a !oft build ing o n West Congress Street , Ecld ie Stinso n began desig n of a cabin airplane of more modes t proportio ns than Sto u t's soo n-to-beco me Fo rd Trimotor.

Blueprints for the plane vve re execu ted a t the University of Detroit by Peter Altma n and Arthur Saxon, who later became chief e ngineer of the enterprise. The first ex perimenta l plane was completed early in 1926.

Cabin Cruiser Stinson rose to new heights as Detroit-based airp fane maker bY ll likc 1);1vis

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T he Slinson Model T was pul inlo service on lt was an equa l-span , four-place cabin bipla ne powered Nonh wesl Airli ne's inilial Oighls belween Min nea polis by a single 200-hp Wright Wh irlwind radial engine. and Chicago, and by CenLUry Airlines fo r rollles Following s uccessful lest nighls of lhe prolotype, belwee n Chicago, Delroil and C leveland. The Slinson a nd under the guiclance o f Will iam A. Mara, lhen aeroT (fo r lri-moLOr) was a len-passenger crafl originally naulical secretary of lhe Board of Cornrnerce, lhe Sli ndesigned by lhe Corma n Airplane cornpa ny, another of son Aircrafl Company was inco rporaled on May 4, lhe firrns merged inlo Cord, bul produced by Slinson.

1926. T he new co mpany promplly leasecl a p la n t al Nonhville for procluction and a nearby flyi ng field for In 1932, despile lhe death of founder Eddie Stinson in a crash on J an. 26 of lhal year, lhe Slinson o rgatesting ancl delivery. n izalion replacecl the Model The follo win g year, T wilh an improved Model under the direclion o f chief ....---...

U fo r a irli ne service, w hile a engineer William C. Naysma ller Mod e l S was lor, lhe company bro ught replaced by lhe Model R out its firsl cabi n monowhich offerecl a c ho ice o f plane fo r fou r, six o r eighl fixed or re lractable la nd ing passengers. lt was ca lled gear. Two years la le r, Stinlhe Slinso n "De lroiter" and son brought o ut a new lowbeca me an al rnos l winged Model A lri- molOr ove rnighl success. T he ai rli ner wi th a cru isi ng compa ny's b usiness grew so speed of 155 mph. In 1936, rapid ly lha l in 1928 plans Stinson a lso in lrod uced a we re annou nced to purlwin-engined model , the c hase a planl s ile near Wayne, lo which prod ucsix- passe nger low-w inged li on was lransferred in Model Ă&#x; (for bi-molo r).

1929.

BESTED BY WEST T he Wayne pla nl was Ă&#x;olh lhe Fo rcl/Stoul ancl located on a new squareSlinso n tri-molor airli ne rs The high-performance Stinson Reliant five-place, mile Delroit- lnduslrial a irwere supplanLecl in the la te chargu/1-winged cabin plane was popular among field al Van Born Road an d '30s by l he Wesl Coasl and police departments in the /ate ter services the Pere Marqueue rai lroad based , more adva ncecl twinNews) 1930s.

(The Detroit line. engine designs o f Douglas, Auto moti ve e ntrepreBoeing and Lockheed, a ll of neur E. L. Cord lhe n came whic h hacl had Delroil co n nections. Slinson co ntinued into the picLUre, acqu iring Slinso n in 1930 to male as a leadcr in privale aircrafl, however. with the Lycomin g Manufac LUri ng Co mpa ny of Pe rhaps lhe mosl me morable of SLinson cabin Wi lliamsport, Pennsylvania, a lo ng- prorninenl engine was lhe racliall y-engined Reli anl, a five-passenplanes maker. Subsequentl y, Stinson ow nersh ip shifled lo ger, fixedlanding gear (tho ugh handsomely enclosed Convair, and early in 1939 lO a company callecl Aviawi th s lreamli ned nacelles) mo noplane brough t ou t in lion Ma nufacwring Corporalio n. thc mid '30s. lls high wings we re dislinc tively gullIn the mea ntime, Stinso n had deve loped a series of shaped .

T hc Rclianl could be equipped w ith a 400hp popular cabin planes for bot h ea rly a irline cfforts ancl Prau & W hi lney Wasp jr. giving a speed of 167 mph privale, or general av ialion , fl ying. wilh a range of 600 rni les or a 450-hp Wright W hirlln 1928, Stinso n Model A cabin p la nes were u liwind ca pable of 176 rnph. lized by Thompson Aero nau tical Corpora tio n o f CleveT he relalively high-pe rfonnance and commodio us la nd lo inaugura le co mme rcial flighls be tween De troi l, Rel ianls were popula r wi th police depanmen ts . Even Pon liac and Muskegon , u sing the new fiele! al Pontiac the New York C ily police had bo th land-based and as a base. Passenger and mai l nights lO Bay City, Chi caponLoon-equipped Relianls. go a nd Cleveland were added by the following year. In

By L9-+0, Slinson was producing a three- place, 1931 , T hompso n c hangecl its name lo Trans-American Lycom ing-powered Mode l 105 high-wing mono plane Airlines, whic h in 1933 was me rged into today's Amerwhich sold for under $3,000 (aboul the price lhen of ica n Airlin es.

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Franklin-powered 90-h orsepower Voyager, w hieh was a n uppe r-se ries Cadillac conve rti ble) in aclclition to the similar to the 105 but sligh tly faster w ith a top speed of fi ve-place Reliant g ull-wing. Average e mployment at the Wayne plant was about 400 with 600 at peaks.

115 mph. All th ree - 105, L-5 a nd Voyager - used o pposecl-cylinclc r e ngi nes, rather tha n raclials as in the W hen a s ma ll firc hit the plant in March o f that yea r, Re liant, and were equ ipped w ith w ing moclifications 15 plan es were in final assemb ly w ith 75 fuselages wa iti ng. Sales exceedecl a mill io n clollars an nua lly ancl s uch as slo ts a ncl flaps fo r short lancl ings. the firm boasted o f being the largest ca bin pla ne man FLYING STATION W AGON ufacturer in the cou ntry throughout the '30s.

Afte r the wa r an cl anticipating a great demand After see uring a Si 1.8 milli on War Departme nt li aifrom returning-vete ran pilots, Stinson quickly convertson plane con tract for the U.S. Arm y, Stinson was ecl to civilia n procluctio n. The new planes, basecl on the boug ht by Vu ltee Aircraft, lnc. in Se ptember 1940.

L-5, we re th c fo ur-p lace Voyager an cl the Flying Statio n Newspape r repo rts s pec ula ted that the co ntract call ecl Wago n mo dc ls, bo th with Lycom ing engines. Despite fo r de livery o f abou t 100 airp la nes, th o ug h cle tai ls werc fac t Sti nso n hacl to compete w ith ple m iful , lowthe kept sec re t by the gove rnment a nd Stin so n . cost war-s urp lus planes, more tha n 5,000 Voyage rs The Stinson L-5 o bse rva ti o n plane dcveloped fo r we re built.

Acco rcling Loa Detroit News art icle, cluring the Arm y apparcntl y was based o n th e Model 105. lt 1946 ancl l 94 7 hal f of a ll fo ur- place planes in the cou nweighed 2, 100 p o und s and was powered by a try we re asse mblecl by Stinson a t the Way ne plant.

Lyco ming 190- hp e ngi ne. After taking over, Vultee split But t he boom le t co lla psecl in m icl-1947, when proStin so n in to two co mponents, co nt inuing c ivilian procluctio n was s uspenclecl.

Using pa rts o n hancl , workers cluc ti on at Wayne and bu il di ng a new plant o u tside mpletecl 773 pla nes in 1947 wi th a val ue of$3.7 milco Nashville , Tenn., fo r the L-5. li on , inclica ting a who lesa le price o f abou t $4,900 each.

In addition to the U.S. co ntract, the Bri tish govThe final chapter ernment co ntractecl for came on Dec. 6, 1948, de li ve ry o f Reli a n ts , Although Ford Tri-Motors are be tter known, Century Air w hen Stinson was red esigna ted as th e ATLines flew Stinson three-engined planes, such as this one acqu irecl fro m what was 19, fo r nav igatio n trainphotographed April 13, 193 1 on regular passenger service by th en Co nsolidateding. As a consequ cnce, between Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. (The De troit Vu l tee by rival Piper employ ment a t Wayne News) Aircra ft of Lockh aven , rose to 900 late in 1940.

Pe nnsylvania , ancl a irAltoge th e r, du ring plane product io n ceased Worlcl Wa r II , Stinso n at Wayn e and in produced mo re th an Mich igan after a ru n 5,000 L-5 Se ntin els and o f more than 20 yea rs.

500 AT-19 Relia n ts .

Two years la ter, General Sho rt ly bcfo re the Mo to rs' Detroit Diese l U.S. entered World War Division took over the 11 , Stinso n int rod uced plan t to p roduce parts ano th er three-p lace fo r Ko rean Wa r tanks. civi lia n modcl, th e

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" Th c Horn e of J ewel Sto\·es, Ra ng-es an d Furnaces

rhe L arg-est Sto\·e Plant in the \\"orld "

" :\ lore than 4,000,000 Sto\·es ha\'e been macle in rhese Grear Foun drics"

DETROIT STOVE

WORKS

Long before it became "Motor City," Detroit could boast of the "/argest stove plant in the world," located at the Belle /sie Bridge and fast Jefferson. (Donald M. D. Thurber collection)

hen the Dwye r brothers, Jeremia h and J ames, sta rted their small gray- iron fou nd ry at the foot of Mt. Elliott Avenue on the Detroit River in 1864, they disp layed so und bus iness judgrnent and eco no mi c sense. They could not know, of course, that theirs was a firs t step towa rd the establishing of Detroit as the world's leading ce nter for the forming and shaping of metals, first in to stoves, later in to automobiles.

T he Dwyers enj oyed the economic adva ntages of their timing and loca ti on. lron ore h ad been d iscovered in Michigan's Upper Peninsul a in 1844. Jmmeclia te ly, smelting o perations began in many loca tio ns where the re were boat harbo rs a nd nearby hardwoocl forests to feed the charcoa l kilns that produced a necessa ry ingreclient in the conve rsion o f raw o re into the pig iron neecled by the Dwyers a nd othe rs.

Limesto ne went in to the smelters too , an cl tha t was plentifu l a ncl ava ilable in many areas of Michiga n.

Finally, p ig iron enj oyed a c heap trip by sail o r steam right to the Dwyers' clock. To move its fi nishecl products to market, the founclry had both water and rail co nn ections.

Even w hen the era of c harcoa l iro n was replaced by the use of co ke in muc h la rger furnaces locatecl arou ncl the southern fringes of the G rea t Lakes , Detroit's metalworking industries were strategically locatecl , micl-way between the iron ore of the Nonh

Stoveworks: A Warmup 1ndustry laid solid base for auto 1nanufacturing successor

by Do nald

1. D . Thurbc r

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workers, riveters, metal-finishers, platers, enamelers, polishers, painters, assemblers, machinists, mechanics, millwrights, tool-and-diemakers, supervisors, foremen, and a host of other specialists flourished.

The fledgling automobile industry thus found in 1900 a ready-made pool of expertise and skills it probably could not have found in any other place having Detroil's other advantages. In addition, the new industry found the executive, management, financial, purchasing, inventory management, and the far-flung sales functions were readily transferable from stoves to cars.

In a very real sense the stove industry prepared the way for the automobile industry.

and the coal and coke of the East and South. The Dwyers' choice of location would be vindicated many times over during the century and more that followed their modest beginning.

The Dwyer foundry turned out its first stove in 1864. lt was an attempt to enter the consumer market with a finished product, as opposed to the usual joblots of castings for other manufacturers and fabricators.

The foundry produced one stove a day, which one of the Dwyers would take to local hardware stores until il was sold.

William H. Tefft, a wholesale hardware merchant, was impressed by the ability of the Dwyer brothers and offered the capital to expand their partnership into a corporation, the Detroit Stove Works, and to build the first unit of what eventually became a ten-acre plant on East jefferson Avenue at Grand Boulevard. lt was then in Hamtramck but eventually became part of Detroit.

EARLY LJNIONIZATION In another respect, too, the older industry foreshadowed - though by many years - what the motor industry would face. Key elements of the stove industry labor force were unionized almost from the beginning. The industry was one of the first strongholds of organized labor in Detroit, and strikes were not unknown. In fact, Lafayette Crowley, the grandfather of the author of this article, was brought on in 1880 as general manager of the Detroit Stove Works - a position he held, along with a seat on the board of directors, for nearly 30 years - from a large St. Louis foundry, in part because he had successfully negotiated the end of a nine-week molders' strike there.

The two principal companies competed vigorously and prospered handsomely. As a result, a significant part of the start-up capital of the automobile industry came from the profits realized by the investors in the stove industry. The list of officers and directors of the stove companies contains the names of many of Detroit's leading capitalists in the l9th and early 20th centuries, men who were also backers of the new motor cars, including such familiar names as Dwyer, Tefft, Barbour, Henry, McMillan, Ledyard, Palms, lrvine, Mills, DuCharme, Moran, and Campau.

Mention should be made of two smaller companies that played lesser roles in the development of the stove industry in this area: The Peninsular Stove Company, founded in 1881, with its works at the corner of Fort and Eighth Streets, and The Art Stove Company, purchased by jeremiah Dwyer for his son William, a successful operation for many years until its sale to the Detroit Stove Works. The Peninsular ceased operations in 1931 and the plant was subsequently demolished.

By 1908, Michigan Stove was widely advertising that it operated the "world's largest stove factory." The company was also well-known from its house-sized stove model built for and exhibited at the 1893 Chica-

PRODUCTION HEATS LJp

By 1870, six years after the first one-a-day stove, the company produced 16,500 units annually; in 1880, 30,000; and in 1887, 60,000. By then it was the largest stove plant in the world and from 1880 on Detroit was the acknowledged stove capital.

Jeremiah Dwyer was forced by illness to withdraw from the Detroit Stove Works about 1870 but was by no means through as an industrial innovator and pioneer.

Recovering his health, hc and some other capitalists formed the Michigan Stove Company, which began its rapid growth in 1872. Its plant was at East Jefferson and Adair Streets, a few blocks east of the other stove company. Both factories were served by water and rail.

The Detroit Stove Works made 700 varieties of stoves, under the trade name of jewel. In 1876 it introduced the use of nickel-plated stoves. The Michigan Stove Company made almost 200 varieties under the Garland label. In the 1880s Detroit Stove employed about 1,300 men and Michigan about 1,000.

Both companies quickly developed extensive markets for their products and Detroit shipped hundreds of carloads yearly to other countries. Detroit Stove had distribution centers in Stockholm, Frankfort, and London, as weil as in Buffalo, St. Paul, and Chicago.

Besides heating stoves, both the giant stove companies made full lines of furnaces, domestic and commercial ranges, and cast-iron holloware.

Many skills and trades essential to this dynamic industry were fostered through apprenticeships and other training. Industrial designers, metallurgists, production specialists, model-makers, pattern-makers, core-makers, molders, wclders, grinders, sheet-metal

201

then became the Detroi tMic higan Stove Company, easily the wo rld 's largest.

Most of the officers and directors of both co mpan ies we re retaincd.

Profits continued at a h igh level as th e bu ilding boom o f those years createcl a ready market fo r th e company's products.

In 1929 the co mm on stock was lis ted for th e firs t time on the Detro it Stock Exchange. Coming ou t at 59.00 a s hare, it To prom?te its produc.ts, Michi/!~n Stove Company built this lwge wooden replica for the promp tly c limbed to 1893 Chicago Colun~b1an Expos1t10n. Laterit stood beside the factory on fast Jefferson and $ 11.00 on ly to fall to then on the State Fa1r Grounds. (Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library) $5 .00 in the s tock market crash of 19 29 and to as low as $.50 a few yea rs late r. go Columb ian Ex position . Measuring 23 feet hig h, 30 A yea r late r, in 1930. it was eviden t that the stove fcet long ancl wcig hing 15 to ns, it was an imponant business was in a de pressed state and worse was to fo llocal ancl touris t s ig ht for many years. By 1927 it was low, in co mmo n ¡with the rest of the eco no m y. The on a pedcs tal near the Belle lslc Bridge bu t was moved co mpan y cut its clividend to $. 10 a share from $.60, to the Stat e Fairgrouncls in 1965 and in 1972 turned ancl that was the last one it paid for mo re than a ovcr to thc Detroit His to ri cal De partment. The lancldecade. O ne u nprofitable year followed another, with ma rk wood cn s tove is fond ly remembered by seve ral few exce pti o ns, a nd layoffs a nd ot he r d rastic ge nera ti o ns of Detroiters. eco no mi es were the ru le . Fora few years of the DepresBy l 920 stove manufactu rinbo was cha noin o from b b sion the s tock was frozen , wi th no trading whatever. basically a fo u ndry o pera ti o n to one in volving sheet T he Detroit-M ic higan Stove Com pany s urvived ancl me ta! and s tamping, as gas came to be the preferred returnecl to profitability early in the 1940s, but it never coo king fuel a nd the design o f domesti c ranges was recovered its fo rmer leaclers hip posi tion. a ltered acco rdin g ly. Colorful , attracti ve ly-dcsig necl World War 11 brought a co m p lete sh utdown in ranges intencled fo r modern ki tc hcns mad e their no rma l produ ctio n, excep t for cooking a nd hea ting appearance, a nd Dc troit's produc ti on o l' s toves, ranges , equipmen t procluced for the armecl forces. A new faciland furnaces avcragcd 350,000 units an nua lly in the ity was acquired on Mound Road and the Meta! Fabri1920s, eno ugh to maintain De tro it's world leadership cating Division was fo rm ed to turn out armor plate. by a comlo rtab le margin . On ly the au to mo bile indus try That proved very profitable to the co mpan y during th e o utranked the stove indus try as a processor of meta!. war years.

The stove indus try in Detroit usecl an average of 25,000 In 1945 a tremendous pen t-up demancl for s toves tons of meta! annuall y d u ring pea k production yea rs of ex is tecl a nd the De troit-M ic higan Stove Company was the 1920s. able to move quickly into the ma rket. lts s tove manufacturing capability had bee n mothballed and was AMICABLE U NION intact, read y to go wi tho ul reconversion. T he compa ny In 1925 th e Detroit Stove Works, a lways somewas the envy of othe r Detroit industries that experiwhat !arge r and mo rc jJro fitabl e th an the Michi boan ' enced lo ng and difficult postwar conversions and turntook over th e latter co mpan y in a friendl y merge r. aro u nds.

T hen fol lowed several yea rs o f peak producOperatio ns were co nsoliclatcd at the Eas t j effersontion , wi th handsomely-styled products for the trade Grand Bouleva rd sitc ancl the Eas t jefferso n-Aclair pla nt was clemolish ed ancl thc site solcl. The eo mpan y

202

and extra dividends for the stockholders. The s tock we nt on the New York SLOck Exchange.

In 1948 the Detroit-Michigan Stove Compan y LOok over the A-B Stove Company of Ă&#x;attlc Creek, whieh had wetl-established lines in the electric range market and in compact units for trailcrs and mobile homes. Those were markets in which the Det roitMichiga n company had not been represented and they helped LO fill out its product line. Eventuatl y the Ă&#x;aulc Creek plant was sold and its operations combined with those in Detroit.

D EMAND C ooLS OFF The postwar boom represented the last peri od of consistent high profitabilily for the Detroit stove industry. By the early 1950s the accumulated demand had been satisfi ed and conditions in the American stove industry were increasingly unfavorablc to the Detroit-Michigan Stove Compan y.

As with other Detroit manufacturers of a variety of products, the stove company was a high-cost producer in an industry where there was considerablc excess capacit y and consequent pressure on selling prices.

Much stove manufacturing was bei ng clone in the South , in newly-built plants with low labor costs. The Detroit plant was obsolescent and the old advantages of nearness to raw materials and to water transpon ation no longe r applied.

During this difficult period the Meta! Fab rica ting Division was liquidated and the propen y sold. The eompany founcl itsclf increasingly un competiti ve and profits were harcl to generate. In fact, red ink began to appear on the operating Statements and the trend was ominous and apparentl y irreversible. The days of Detroit's ve nerable sLOve industry appeared numbered.

Detroit-Michigan SLOve Company, however, was still headed by seasoned and resourceful executive offi cers and directors who did not panic in adversity. A merger was arranged in 1955 with the Welbilt Stove Company, of Maspeth , New York. lt was a largc, fami lv-owned maker of stoves, ranges, furnaces, and rclat; d products, including air conditioners and refrige rators. The add ition of the j ewel and Ga rland lines was a goocl fit and the New York Stock Exc hange listing was attracti ve.

The merged companies were called the Welbilt Corporation. The Detroit operation was continued for a couple more years, when all production of sLOves in Detro it came to an end. Detroit, which had for so long been extremely hospitable to an entire industry indeed had pioneered it - had made its last stove .

Welbilt demolished the East Jefferson plant s hortly

This Jewel stove from a 1908 catalogue shows the elaborate iron castings which went into its manufacture, and provided Detroit with a cadre of experienced meta/ workers fo r the auto industry. (Donald M. D. Thurber collection.)

after its ac ti vity ended, afte r remov ing whatever equipment was usablc, and l he cleared site was sold to Uni royal as a parking lot. Combined with the nowcleared Uni royal site, it awaits re-deve lopment.

Wel bilt, now headquanered in Connecticut, carries on progressivcly and ge neratly pro fitably. Its Detroit roots are ac knowlcdged by its use of 186-+ as its found ing date. lts stock is traded on the ASDAQ Exchange. For those looking fo r vestiges of a vanished Detroit ind ustry, it is wo nh noting that Wclbilt still markets some of its li nes undc r the Jewel and Garland na mes.

In fact , the Ga rlancl li ne of heavy-duty commercial cooking equipment is still 1he world leader in that market, as it has been for over a century, with plants and distribution cente rs in severa l foreig n countries as well as in the United States. Think of Detro it the nex t time you are in a fast-food place, and look for Ga rlancl - it's probably therc. Then, as you drive away from the restaurant in your car, think of the au tomobile ind ustry and thc sLOve industry tha t hclped to spawn it.

203

n Dcc. 29, L941, al most thrce wecks afte r l hc japanese auac k o n Pcarl l larbor pl unged the Un ited States in lo v\lo rl d Wa r II , Presidcn t Franklin D. Roosevelt, in o nc of his fa mous "fircside chats," to ld f\ mcricans: "Wc must becomc the Arsenal of Democracy."

With tha t cl irccti ve, hc marshaled th e economic might of thc natio n to an cpic d isplay of mass prod uctio n the world had ncver known. By thc time the wa r - the grealeSI in thc history of h uman co nnict - was ove r, t\ mcrican cnginccrs and assemb ly- line workc rs had bui lt 12-+,000 ships, 300,000 wa r plane , -+ l billio n ro unds of ammun ition , l 00,000 lanks and an nored cars, 2.-+ mil lion mil itary tru cks and produced -+3-+ millio n tons of stccl an cl 36 billio n yards of cono n text iles.

In tackling this prodigious task, Michigan, thcn with only four perccnt of the natio n's po pulation, obiained more tha n 10 pcrccnt of the ncarly $200 billio n awa rd cd in major contracts by the U.S. and foreig n govc rn mcnts from junc 19-+0 10 September J 9-+5. vVay nc, \1-,las hte naw, Oakland and Macomb co unLics acco un tcd fo r morc than 70 pe rccnl of thc stat.e's prod uctio n. And of Detro it, histo ria n Alan Cli ve wro te: "1 o American city . â&#x20AC;&#x17E; carried out mo re war wo rk."

Enginee rs in thc mctro politan area madc a mo numental contributio n lo Allicd victo ry, more than vindicating Roosevelt s his toric exhonati on.

T heir success traccs back to \Vo rld \Var 1 when, even withoul Roosevclt's ringing ex hort atio n to inspi rc

Victory 'Garden' Manztfacturi11g finns 111utate, 1nushroo111 as makers of nzunitions, other war 111ateriel by l lugh \\"r;1y :--. k C:ann

Top: The "Arsenal of Democracy" cra11ki11g out M-3 tanks at the Chrysler Detroit Tank Arsenal, August 3, 1942. (Chrysler Historical Collection)

20-l

them, they made their first contribution to an Allied victory in history s first global conflict.

After the war erupted in 1914, Detroit factories took munitions orders from England, France and other European governments. Consequently, the entry of the United States into the conflict in 1917 found several factories ready to step up to a wartime footing. "Practically every plant of any size was swung over to this business," records a City of Detroit historical account.

"And in spite of the fact that approximately 60,000 skilled workmen left for the fighting front, the industrial army at home was near 275,000."

NUTS

&

Within 15 years war clouds massed ominously on the horizon across the Atlantic. As part of their rearmament programs, European nations began placing orders for military equipment with the United States.

Auto companies were the first to become involved in making products for what would become World War II. They supplied Britain and France with war materiel during the l 930s without interrupting the production of cars and trucks for the domestic market. Bu t in 1941, following the Pearl Harbor attack, they confronted the daunting task of totally reconverting all their facilities to war work.

Within days of the Dec. 7 attack, the government tasked the auto companies with building 75 percent of all aircraft engines, more than one-third of all machine guns, nearly 80 percent of the tanks and tank parts, half of the diesel engines and all of the motorized units for the army.

The reconversion of the auto industry was masterminded by William S. Knudsen, a former president of General Motors Corp.

80LTS OF POWER

America's entry into the First World War sent into battle Detroit's highly developed system of standardization, high tolerances and interchangeablity - the nuts and bolts of mass-production. The automobile industry, lacking any experience in military manufacturing, unleashed a flood of trucks, ambulances, field-kitchen trailers, artillery subassemblies, tanks, airplanes, airplane engines and submarine chasers. This materiel tipped the war decisively in favor of America's exhausted allies and established the United States as a world power.

Railroad-equipment-builder American Car &: Foundry Co. was one of the first Detroit factories to get into defense work. In 1915 it began filling orders for artillery shells from Britain. France had a contract with the Dodge Brothers to build recoil mechanisms for howitzers. Buick was building subassemblies for tanks and tractors for Britain. And Packard was developing the Liberty aircraft engine.

In 1917, when the U.S. became a co-belligerent, American Car went on three shifts a day to make shells.

The Ford, Lincoln, Dodge and General Motors plants joined with Packard to mass-produce 8- and 12-cylinder Liberty aircraft engines. Fisher Body built airplane fuselages, and the Ford plant at River Rouge constructed Eagle subchasers for the Navy. GM also turned out 20,000 trench-mortar shells a month while 90 percent of its truck production went off to war. The army adopted the Cadillac V-8 as its standard staff car. And the Buick Model 16AA ambulance became as familiar on European battlefields as the jeep would become two decades later.

Following the armistice in November 1918, the auto industry was demobilized. Although domestic auto production has never ceased, it found a sales backlog of half a million cars and trucks in the postwar marketplace.

S1GNIFICANT SITDOWN

Most auto builders date their transformation to a memorable meeting in Detroit on Oct. 25, 1940. Everyone who had anything to do with the manufacture of automobiles attended - from primary producers, parts and appliance fabricators to tool and die makers.

Knudsen outlined principles and practices for farming out subcontracts. And when America entered the war, these principles enormously streamlined the participation of thousands of small industries in the national defense program.

Knudsen announced that he intended to use the auto industry to back up the airplane industry. As a result, DeSoto, Chrysler, Hudson and Goodyear Rubber Co. were soon building a long line of parts for Glenn L. Martin Co. of Baltimore. Murray Corp. did the same for Boeing's B-17 Flying Fortress. And Fisher Body Division of GM backstopped parts-making for North American.

Within months, engineers and designers from GM, Ford and Chrysler and from hundreds of parts and subcontracting firms swarmed through the plants of the aircraft industry. They made rough sketches, took notes and soaked up airplane expertise and know-how.

Consequently, two years after the Pearl Harbor attack the auto industry was turning out: â&#x20AC;˘ complete B-24, Grumman TBF Avenger and F4F Wildcat aircraft and Waco CG4 gliders;

205

• pans for the B-17 , Martin B-26, onh Amerimodcl - scvcn momhs ahead of schcdu lc. 1n March, 1942, when the contrac t called for dclivcring 280 can Mitchell B-25 , Curtiss SB2C Hell Diver. wcapons, Saginaw shippcd 28,728 - and droppcd the Douglas A-20 Boston, Cuniss C-46 Commando, Consolidated C-87 Express, Douglas pricc per copy from $66 7 to $ 141.44.

C-64 Skymaster and Vo ught OS2U l<ingfish1n tackl ing production of th c fa mo us Swcdisher; clcsigned Ocrl ikon cannon, Pontiac Division cnginecrs • engi nes for thc Non h American P-5 1 Mu tang, vi nually reclcsignecl thc cmirc piccc. Their simplificd Bel l P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss BT-H Valiant, brccch casing, cut machi nc time from 240 hours to 90. and for Britain s Avro Lancaster, Del-lavilland Thc new dcsign rcduccd total prod uctio n time by 35 Mosqui to and Vickers-Su permari ne Spitfire. hours and tri mmed $ 166 fro m thc unit cost.

O n Jan. 20 , 1942, the Packard cngincers comnewly crcated War Producplctcly rcdraftcd the bluetion Board haltcd producpri nt for Britain's Rollstion of passengcr cars and Royce Merlin a ircraft light trucks. Thereafter, cnginc. Thcy did so in ordcr auto cngineers spent thc to ac hicve thc onc-ten-thouwar mass-producing prodsa nclLhs-of-an-inch toleructs to va nquis h th c Axis ances demanded by Detroit's powers. They turned their mass-prod ucc rs. Packa rd brains and hands to makclel ive recl the firs t nine Mering arms and ammuniti on, li ns at a cost of $6. 25 million , wit h the co mpan y's military vchicles, arti llery and airplanes and eq uip"reaping" a profi t or $6,206 mcnt ranging from gyroo n the dea l. compasses and rangc fi ndFrom Sept. 1, 1939, ers to top-secret devices when the war erupted in fo r atomic bombs.

Europe, until August 1945 , The ho no r roll in this when Japan surrende red, colossal undcn aking conthe auto industry dclivcred tains too many examples almost $50 bil lio n won h of to list them all. A few citawar matericl. Thiny-ni ne ti ons must stand proxy for Tanks, trucks, airplanes, guns were the stuff of pcrcent of it consisted of the many.

Detroit in the wars. One o f GM 's unique contribu- aircraft and aircraft parts, Ford fabricatcd the tions was this "Duck" amphibious cargo truck used about 30 percent was milibiggcs t airp lane plant in in landings from Normandy to /wo Jima. (General tary vchiclcs and parts, and the world - Willow Run , Motors) L3 percen t went into tank whi ch buil t fo ur-engincd production. Marine equipmcnt, guns, an il lery and B-24 Liberator bombers. A milc long, quancr-mile wide and costing $100 millio n, ammunition were among thc othcr majo r itcms . the plant was larger than the combincd prewar plants Amo ng th c unsu ng hc rocs of th c ho mc fro m were of the majo r airplane manufacturcrs of the day - Boethe Detroit arca·s man y small wa r plants, those with ing, Douglas ancl Consolidated. Thc facility bui lt in lcss than 500 employecs. '·Without these plants, it excess of 8,500 Liberators - more than o ne evcry would have been impossible fo r the plane faetories, hour. tan k arscnals. truek makers and shipyards to achieve Chrysler constructed its tank arscnal in Wa rrcn in their productio n goals," said M. A. Holmes, regio nal 10 months and began shipping units by September director of the Smallcr War Plan ts Corp. "The avcrage 194 1. The arsenal built morc than 25 ,000 tanks.

American thinks of war producti on in tcrms of finished Mass production of the Browning .30-calibcr bombers, tanks, guns and ships. He forgc ts that each of machinc gun went to GM's Brown-Lipc-Chapin , AC these major items contains perh aps hundrcds of pan s Spark Plug, Frigidaire and Saginaw Stecring d ivisio ns. and subassemblies produced by concerns whosc names In micl-November of 1940, Saginaw producccl its first wou ldn' t cven bc recogn izecl."

206

BRAINS

& B RAWN

In 1971 , as U.S. part ic ipation in the Vietna m war was in its dccl ine , Chrysler was working o n a $52 milDe tro it bra ins and proclucti o n ex pcnise s tcppecl li on o rd er for M-60 tanks, and G M had a $34 m ill io n into the breec h du ring lesse r wa rs in Ko rea ( 1950-53) co ntract fo r automobile engines, spare parts, armored a nd Vie tnam ( 1964-75). perso nnel carriers, truc ks and M- 16 rines.

Within wce ks of the in vasio n of Sou th Korea by its And in 1991, the un ique hu man a nd indus trial nonhern neig hbo r, Fo rd , ßuick a nd 'as h were nego tiresources of the De troi t metropolitan area went into ating w ith the Dcpanme nt o f Dc fe nse for th e p roducact io n o nce aga in o n th c s iele of the U.S. a nd its all ies. tion o f Prall & W hitn ey cngines fo r ß-36 Co nrnir MlA L Abrams battle ta n ks built by Ge neral Dyna mics bombers, Boeing B-50 med ium bo mbers, a nd Fairchild in the Sterli ng Heigh ts arsenal o utfi ued U.S. Army C-11 9 and Douglas C-124 transpon aircraft. armo rcd spearhcads executing Ge n . No rma n In th e firs t year o f the war, Detroit received the Scln va rz ko pf's epic left hook a ro und the o pposing bulk of $7.6-bill io n wonh of co ntrac ts awa rdcd to forccs , cnding the Gulf Wa r aftcr J 00 hou rs of groundMi chigan. Ford built a plan t in Li vonia to produce Mbased hos ti lities.

48 tanks. Pac kard co nAs d emanding as th e s truc ted a fac ility in U tica to production fea ts recorded ma nufac ture jct e ng in es. during the Ko rean and VietAmo ng the pri ncipal ho ld nam wa rs we re, the auto ers of co ntraets for tactical indus try o nce again de mo nveh icles we re G M (2 1/2s tratcd its a mazing n exibiliton truc ks), Do d ge (a mbul)' by clelive ring the goods lances) and Frue hauf (light wit hou t inte rrupting the and hcavy trailcrs) . fl ow o f ve hicles fo r th e Thc $7.6- bi ll ion figure nation' s civilian market. rcpresen ted th c pea k o f mil Experts say that moditary ex pc nditures in Mi chiern tcc hn ology has proga n cluring the Ko rean wa r. fo undly altered milita r y Ancl it is weil won h noti ng s trategies a nd doctrine as that in this co nnic t , th e they would app ly to wo rld governm ent s pcnt 9.5 perwars o f the future. So it Ford astounded its critics and nay-sayers in two cc nt of a ll its mili tary prosee ms un like ly tha t the impossiworld wars by mass-producing the seeming cure mcnt funds in Mic higan auto indus try w il l eve r - primaril y in the metro- ble - Eagle boat subchasers at Rouge in 1918 and aga in face a produc ti o n these 8-24 bombers at Willow Run, photographed po litan Detroit area. (Thc demand as prodigious as co mparable frac ti o n for June 24, 1943. (Mike Davis collection) that of Wo rld Wa r II. Be World War 11 was 10.5 perthat as it may, many recall ce nt. ) T hree yea rs la te r, thosc momen to us years as when th e armis ti ce agree melll was co ncluded, th c the City of Detroi t's fines t hou r. state's dcfense spencling - the bulk of whic h continued Fo r Mi chigan a nd the United States, it was "probato be co ncentra ted in metro po lita n Detroit - fe il to bly the greatest eo llecti ve ach ievement of all time," app rox imate ly $650 mill io n annuall y. wrote Donald F Nelson , chairma n of the War ProdueIn mid- 1966, w he n Amc ri ca escala ted its mil ita ry tio n Boa rd .

"No o the r s uc h .. . effort was ever a u e mptinvolvcmen t in Vietnam. millions o f add itio nal clolla rs ed by th e huma n race. " were pumped into th e me tropo lita n area for thc pu rchase of trucks, jeeps, eng ines a nd M-60 tanks. Tha l yea r, the s ta te's clefense co nt racts hit Sl bi llio n , a pea k no t reco rded since the Ko rea n co n ni ct, w ith Detro it o nce aga in ge tting the ,·ast bu lk of the wo rk.

207

Advances in refrigerator design are shown by this Kelvinator publicity release illustrating 1925, 1940 and 1950 models. (Frank Butt/er collection)

o m e applian ee clevelo pme nt a ncl man ufaeture in Detro it p reeedecl its "Motor C ity"' ro le, b ut Ameri ea's ro m ance with the au to obscured the ci ty's pi onee ring rolc in appliance inven tion and manufaeture. For a t leas t the last third of th e l 9t h cen tur)' a ncl firs t thi rcl of the 20th ce ntury, Detroit's inclustrial reputation was based o n productio n of hea ti ng and eooking stoves by at leas t fiv e manufacturing eom pa nies.

Detro it's claim as the birthplace o f elce tri c rcfrigerat io n for the home ca me so me 50 years a fter s tove manufact uring began.

T he firs t s uccessful ho use hold rcfrige ra ting system was a n iclea that became real ity, thanks to the fo uncle rs o f Kelvinato r who came together in Detroit. T here were three men in vo lved in the pio neering work. First was Edmund j. Cope lancl, a fo rm er ß uick exeeutive ancl fi rs t pres ident o f the compa ny, who in 19 14 lecl the team whic h overcame early problems leacling to a lea kproof seala nt o f the chem iea l refri geran t an cl a tro ublefree thermos tat to maintain safe foocl-keeping temperatures. A second founder was atha nicl ß. \.Vales , a Bos to n, Mass„ inve nto r attrae ted to Detroit by the young auto indus try, w ho had a n idea for mecha nica l rcfrigera tion. The third was Arno ld H. Goss, o f De troit, fo rme r secretary of ßu ick.

G uardia n Frigera tor Company, fore runner of the Frig iclai re electric re fr igera to r, a lso was started in De troi t in 191-t. lts 19 19 acq u isi tion by Will Du ran t for

A Chill on Appliances State fridge makers nearly frozen out by auto union pay rates

by Frank B11crkr

208

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Gene ral Mo to rs led to its move to Dayton, O h io, where under C harles Keu e ring's in venti ve guicla nce il became the nuclcus of G M's huge home applia nce busi ncss.

Kclvinato r's claim to being first was no t cl isputccl al though thc Frigida ire name was to gain housc holcl rccogniti o n as virtuall y a ge neric nam c for the app li ances. Kclvinator was to re mai n a ho mc town co mpa ny until it was so lcl in thc late '60s. lts still -standi ng 1927 Pl ymo uth Road headquarte rs in northwest Detroit was jo kingly refcrrecl to as the "Tower of th e Ca th cclral o f Refr igeration. " Copclancl, who afte r fo uncling Kelvinato r wc nt o n LO hcad anot he r refrigerato r company bea ring his own namc, la ter explained the obstacles to carl y rcfrigeratio n devclopmc nt: "After wc fin ishcd o ur first compressor, we cncou ntered a ll the problcms wh ic h had Ooorcd cveryo nc eise. There was leakage bo th in a ncl o ut o n thc s ucti o n siele of the compresso rs. lf wc co uldn't seal thosc gases, wc wcre th ro ugh. We usccl sulfur clioxicle, a nd any mois ture that go t in wou lcl frcezc thc co mpressor up so yo u hacl to break it o pen wi th a hammer. " Copelancl and hi s foreman ex pcrimcntccl w ith gene lite, a poro us, powd ered compo und of oxidc and graphite produced by Genera l Elcctric. Thc ir 1c mpcra1ure cx pcrime nts led to the matc ria l's s ucccssful applica tio n as an cffec ti ve scal. " Fo r years we had evcrybod y buffaloed. Nobod y knew how wc madc gcnclite hold gases," Cope land recallcd.

The companys firs t refrigera ting mcchan isms werc buil t during l 91-+ in a machine shop o n Eastj cffcrso n at Chcne in Detroi t. In 19 16, the co mpany inco rpora led as th c Elcc tro-Auto matic Refrigcrating Company, lnc. Two mo nths latc r, it was renamecl Kclvinato r Co mpan y in tribut e to Lo rd Kelvi n , thc Ă&#x; ri tish scic ntist who hacl pio nee rcd the principlcs of rcfrigcra tion .

During th e nex t 10 yea rs refrigerating mcchanisms were remo te units installecl in ex isting icc-boxes w hich hacl achievecl cooling using large blocks o f icc. T hc Kc lvinato r mec ha ni sm was placecl al thc s iele of thc cabinet o r even in the basement because of size a ncl so und. Co nn ec tio ns to th e cabine ts wcrc rcla tively simple. Mil li o ns of usable iee-boxcs werc co nven ed to th e Kelvinato r systcm, so il was no t until 19 25 that l<cl vinato r bro ug ht o ut the inclustry's first self-co ntained unit - thc e ntire cooling syste m in o ne cabinct.

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The earliest electric refrigerators by Kelvinator utiJized the old "ice box" cabinets and put the compressor mechanism in the basement, as shown m this drawing. (Frank Butt/er collection) uc t line by acqui ring the Nizer Co rporatio n , then th e !arges! manufacturer of ice cream cabinets. lt a lso c reatcd a subsidiary, Refrigeratio n Disco unt Corpora tion, to finance purchases by dealcrs and their customers.

Kc lvina to r of Ca nacla, Limitecl , was fo rmecl to assemble and distribute re fr igerato rs.

Still later in tha t decacle, the co m pany brough t in a strong ncw pres ident, George W. Maso n, who had a n impress ive ma nage ri a l reco rcl wi th Chrysle r and Copela ncl Products . Mason guided th e compan y to growth a ncl an expa nded procluet line including the acquisitio n o f Ranco Inc., which had s uppliecl Kelvinator w ith the rmostatic controls. Under Maso n's leaclership, ash-Kelvinator Co rporatio n was fo rmecl in 1937 by mc rging with ash Motors.

As a di vis ion of the co rpo rat ion , Ke lvi nato r ex panded its product li ne to incluclc free zc rs, electric ranges, water hcaters, a ir co ncl iti oners and disposers.

At th c sa me time, its co mmerc ia l line was expanded to inclucle wate r coole rs, bevcragc dis pe nse rs, froze n food d is play cabinets and simila r p roclucts. In 1952, the

( ORPORATE DEVELOPMENT Public rcspo nsc lcd Kelvinator to purc hase its maj o r eabinel sup plier, a Grand Rapids co mpany and to markct a seco nd bra nd name, Lcona rd , aft cr thc cabinc t co mpan y's fo und er. T hc company broad encd its procl-

209

the parcnt company was establishcd. While many appliance manufacturers' plants were organized by unions in the traditionally lower-cost electrical industries, Kelvinator, Frigidaire and Norge were divisions of companies rcpresented by the UAW Consequently wage levels at their plants were closer to those of the auto industry than to others in the home appliance industry.

Ford Motor Company joined the appliance industry in 1962 by purchasing ailing Philco, manufacturer of both "brown goods," (radios, television sets, etc.) and "white goods," (traditional kitchen appliances), but its Philco employes had been organized by the electrical worker unions. Kelvinator was even more susceptible to non-competitive labor cost pressures bccause its Grand Rapids plant and its plastics plant at Evart, Michigan, were suppliers to AMC's automotive division.

While Kelvinator's history was marked by acquisitions during much of its early and Nash-Kelvinator periods, thc '50s were to reverse those earlier expansions. Fierce competition for survival in the auto industry and thc need for cash led American Motors to spin off subsidiaries to pay for design and development of its compact cars under the leadership of George Romney. Supplier companies such as Ranco, known for its Oasis and Ebco namcs in office water coolers, were sold. The Plymouth Road plant which had continued to produce refrigeration compressors was closed in 1957 and manufacturing consolidated at Grand Rapids. What was once the "Tower of Refrigeration" symbolized AMC world headquarters in the '60s and carly '70s.

Marketing co9ditions which ravaged the home appliance industry beginning in the late '50s took their toll on all appliance companies but the largest such as General Electric and Whirlpool were able to survive.

Othcrs became targets for acquisition and merger.

Kelvinator fell to this trend when American Motors sold the division in 1967 to Cleveland-based White Consolidated, a conglomeratc which would gobble up many brand names including Frigidaire, Westinghouse, Philco and many others. In what proved to be a harbinger for American Motors, ReDisCo, the finance subsidiary, was sold to Chrysler in this same time frame.

Today the Kelvinator name is continued along with many other brands, many produced in Grand Rapids under a single corporate ownership.

home appliance line was completed with thc addition of laundry equipment by the acquisition of Altorfer Bros. Company (ABC brand) of Peoria, IL. Kelvinator became a division of American Motors Corporation when Nash and the Hudson Motor Car Company merged in 1954.

Kelvinator exportcd its products as carly as 1924, only 10 years after the first successful refrigeration systems were built. The first export shipment consisted of a dozcn rcfrigerators made in Detroit and shippcd to Shanghai. From that bcginning, international operations bccame worldwide; manufacturing was carried on in subsidiary companies in Canada, England, Italy and Puerto Rico and in liccnscc companics in 18 plants in 17 additional countrics. Distribution of Kelvinator and Leonard applianccs was carricd on in 141 countries through morc than 220 distributors. Kelvinator's namc is still seen in some of thesc countrics today as it is in the U .5.

Kclvinator contributcd many "firsts" to thc homc appliancc industry from its beginning to modern timcs, including: 1914 - First successful automatic rcfrigeration for the home 1925 - First sclf-containcd refrigerator 1935 - First refrigerator with across-thc-top frozcn food ehest 1948 - First top-to-bottom refrigerator 1952 - First automatic-defrost without heating clements 1955 - First side-by-sidc frcezer/refrigerator combination, thc Foodarama 1955 - First disposablc foil oven lincrs 1960 - First refrigerator with foamed-in-place insulation During thc frantic post-World War II buying period, Kclvinator scramblcd to buy steel to meet the market demand for home appliances. Extreme rctail competition lead to the success of mass merchandisers or discount rctailcrs who replaccd convcntional franchiscd appliance dcalers. As a conscquence, manufacturers began to lose control of retail pricing as retailers largely abandoned traditional brand loyalty and brand exclusivity. Instead, they demanded more and morc price concessions bascd on thc economies afforded by larger shipmcnts, warehousing, promotional and advertising allowances, and other factors.

UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD Manufacturers such as Kclvinator werc subject to varying labor costs depending on thc industry in which

2 ]()

Burroughs Adding M achine Co. plant on Second Boulevard, about 1919. (AKA)

Just Doesn't Add Up Burroughs, others lost out to teen-age tinkerers: go figure

bY Jon Lcl\\cll

T hat commc n t wasn't m adc in Califo rnia's Si lico n Vallcy. lt was macle sa rdo n ica ll y in thc ca rl y 1980s in De t ro it in thc execut ive s u ile o f w hat was thcn o ne of th c wo rlcl's la rgcst co mputer compa n ics, Ă&#x; urroughs Co rpora ti o n.

Loca tcd almost literall y in thc s haclow of the Gen-

o n 't tell me a bo ut th e com puter ind ustry. Th is is thc o nl y bus incss in history w h ere a Fo rtun e 500 co mpa ny ca n get bl inds ided by a 15-ycar-o lcl tinke ring in a ga ragc."

2 11

eral Motors Building in Detroit's New Center area, Burroughs was ba ttling to remain co mpetiti ve in a business a nd teeh nologieal maelstrom that rages to this day. T he figh t con ti nues fo r Unisys Corporatio n (a 1986 merger of Burroughs a nd Sperry Co rpora tio n) in Blu e Bell , Pe nnsylva nia , but fo r thc vctcrans of Bu rro ughs the warm me mories are of Detro it triu mphs and techni eal milesto nes tha t went largel y unn o ticed in a city do m inated by the auto indus try.

That was just fi ne with earl y leaders o f the company who we re co nte nt to run a paternalistic and hugcl)' profita ble co mpany that provided employes s uch perks as a company-owned country club in rela ti ve o bsc urity. Latter-day cha irmen such as Ray W. Mac Do na ld a nd fo rmer Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumen thal were less pleased w ith the low profile o f what had become a $5 bi llio n co mpany.

Compute rs were a logical evolutio n of a co mpa ny whose founde r, W illiam Seward Burroug hs, in ve nted the world's first prac tical addi ng machi ne ( the abac us is another story) in 1886 a nd revolutio nizcd the lives o f boo kkeepers and accountan ts. Starteei in St. Lo uis, the co mpany moved to Detroit in 1904 to ta p the area's rich s upply o f skilled craftsmen . Origina lly call ed the A meric~ n Ari th mome ter Co. , it became the Burro ug hs Adcl ing Mach ine Co.

V ALUE-A DDED Bus iness mac hines s pun from adcli ng mach ine tec hno logy we re , in fact, the compu ters o f their d ay, a llowing co mpan ies to grow rapicll y and sti ll kecp rcasonably sophisti cated records witho ut roo ms full of people filli ng o ut ledgers. T he com pa ny thrivecl u n til the o nset o f th e Great Depressio n. By the ea rly l 930s, to pu ll itself o ut of a n environ me nt t hat was a t best stagnan t, the co m pan y had broug ht in a fres h ge neratio n of managers wh o were casti ng abo ut fo r ncw tec hn ica l ho rizo ns.

Worlcl War II o penecl those horizo ns. Burroughs qu ie tly became th e !arge scale proclucer o f thc supersec re t No rden bo mbsight, crecl itecl by his to rians wi th revolulio n izing aerial warfare and con tribu t ing impo rtantly to th e All ied victory in Europe.

Duri ng the 1940s , Burroughs also buil t the e lec troni c me mo ry for EN IAC, the wo rlcl's first clec t roni c a utom at ic co mpute r. T hese days, that n ig htma rish roomful o f vacuum tu bes a nd

miles o f ha nd-wirecl circuits would be easily outperfor mecl by the perso nal co mputers o n most clesktops.

During the l 950s ancl l 960s, Burro ug hs Corporatio n (as it renamecl itself in 1953) sco recl a number of tech ni cal fi rsts. Thc company clevelo ped thc worl cl's fi rst clesk-sized co mpute r in 1954 a nd the first o perationa l tra nsisto rized co mpu ter sys te ms used in evc ry Mercury a nd Gemin i man ned s pace n ig ht missio n.

Dcfcnse systems beca me an important part of the Burroughs product m ix. Sa les grew fourfold from $94 mi lli on in 1948 to $389 millio n in 1960.

In 1959, sensing a good thing, RCA made a n uns uccessful a ttcm pt to buy the compa ny.

Decid ing to go it alone , Burroug hs steppecl up its efforts in its area of traditio na l strength - busincss syste ms. Focusing its efforts o n !a rge, mai n-frame and meclium-sized co mputc rs , it tried to take on the General Motors o f its industry, IBM , vin uall y across thc boa rd .

In so me ind us tries, no tabl y ban king, hospitals, ai rli ne reserva tio ns sys tcms and !arge govern ment co mpu ter installatio ns, Burroughs gave IBM fit s. T he company dcvelo pcd o nc of the wo rld's pri mary intc r-ba nk internationa l clectron ics fu nds-transfc rring systems , SWIFT, a nd clevclo ped a series of la rge-scale co mputers that became thc cla rli ng of com pu te r sophisticates.

Sales soa red to )943 mi llio n in 1971 a ncl $2.8 billio n by 1979.

Ă&#x; lG, AND BLUE 1n the end , howeve r, the biggest pro blcm turned out not to bc thc trcnch warfarc wi th IBM's market ing jugge rnaut. Iron ically, bo th co mpani es got bli ndsided by those pesky kids in garages w ho devclo pcd microco mputers and soft warc tha t simp ly cha nged the rules o f the computcr game.

W hcn Bur roug hs merged w ith Sperry, it had to shed 24,000 o f 12 1,000 tota l employecs. Survivor Un isys reportcd rcvc nues of $7.7 billio n and cmployment of o nly 49 ,000 at thc end o f 1993 .

Bu rroug hs' fo rmcr worlcl hcadquarte rs thcsc days houses o nly a fract ion o f the peo plc who as late as the m icl l 980s s pi llccl over into a series of adjoin ing builclings. And Unisys con tinucs to struggle to fi nd its place in a b us iness wo rld red csig ned by techni call y crea tive c hildren.

Computers have replaced old- fashioned mechanical adding machines.

he di ffe re ncc between the Detroit Ri vc r today, a nd what it was o ne hund red yea rs ago , is s triking . These days - in a sense - the Detroi t Ri ve r " isn't there" fo r most peoplc in G rea ter Det ro it.

Detroit's River

S ure , people see iL. Eve ryo ne s to ps and looks occasiona ll y. A passing s hip from w ho kn ows w here. Ă&#x;righ t sa ils s tand o ut; s ma ll assortcd p leasure an d fis hing boa ts are no tecl; the bluc o r the ice is remarked upon .

T hc Am bassad o r Bridge has a cenain majcsty. Sa ilboa ts in t hc s um mer are neat. The july 4 th firewo rks are s tunning.

Still, the Det roit River toclay is s tati c landscape, like a scene ry pa in ting - in o ur mi ncls, it is n't alive especia lly comparccl to anything that mig ht be s huuing down a freeway.

The freight ers prove th is like not hi ng eise. N inctynine percent o f thc pcople who look at the river da il y a ren't awa re that the ocean s h ips have the s harp-poi nted bows. O r that ocea n s hips a re never mo re than 700 feet long, bccause thc Weilan d Locks at the far end of Lake Erie wo n't take bigger s h ips.

Most peop le a ren't aware that the lakc boats havc blun t venica l bows. Th at the biggest 'lake boa ts' reach L,000 fee t in lengt h. That 1,000 fcet pu ts th em a mong the very la rgest moving objects o n the face of the earth .

Tell the kid s to look fo r an "apartmen t" ho use o n the Stern. [f th c Ste rn is nat rig ht acroSS the 105-foot width , it's a th ousa nd-footer. Tell th e kids to look for

L ike the wheels of indust1y, it's always rolling, whether noticed or not

by D ougb s \\"illiam s

Top: The ore ship WILLIAM CLA Y FORD being launched in 1953 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works shipyard in River Rouge. (Mike Davis col/ection)

213

Lhe bicycles Lhey ricle on Lhe deck of Lhe 600 to 1,000 foo lers to geL from one end Lo ano ther.

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N"e'v Meebanieal Atlva1dages

ConC.rnl

LIVJNG RIV ER; RIVER LIVJNG

IL was incredibl y r ec·cption hy thc bouting frutcrnity ut thc l'icw York Boot Show Jus t Januory. different a hunclrecl Cnille llcd Heod popularity lias s tc1111ily yea rs ago. Back then Lhe sonrc1l. All 1•yf's nrc turning to CniJJc Hc•cl Detroil River was a H cud o with endlcss >'lnmps of npp rovnl. vibrant, living thi ng. lt T l1c introclu<'tion of :\lulti-Flc:<ibl(· Con· loomecl !arge in eve rytrol- thrN' ~ pl'eil" forwnril , n cutrnl, a111I one's life. ll was Lhe lifen"vf· r~'' - nntl th t."" runny o thc r Muprrior li ne for wo rk, jobs , mr<"ht1ni1·nl rrfiiwm(·nts of \.uill1• Hccl enterp rise. The river ll1·11ds, l11H"c h ee n re~ ponsi hl c for i!nlc" decicled whether il was th nt 1·clip"" nny prr,·ious r c1·orfl in Cnilll' a goocl day or a bad day, hi>'IOr)'· Anol ,.,,„)' nnturully >'0. fü·<I whether Lhe year was a 111·1111>' i.:in· outhouril fu n ~ ••xnctly wh ut good one or bad. Whal tlu·y wunt- fnst, •·on\'e nient, 111111plcnsurahl•· '"atrr t rnns portution. Anil thcy l111n• happenecl o n Lhe river r1' "l"""lt•1I with nr<lf'ril thnt 111.t\'I' kl'pt affecLed dai ly life. th<' Cai ll 1· fudory nt pcnk proiluction )lor4• Hemmns for C":\11, l .E"S Toclay - excepl for month of'tcr month.

Oucscandin~ S111u-rioric~· ! some small emerprises, 1\IMJ"' j „ il111„lr11 l 1•d llH· t1( t•ITt•t•ti111.: t l w I A•tulin;r <li-nkr>' in C\"l'ry lcrritory will dedi caLed fisherfolk and fi,r „p t.'t'll c h n11 ,.: 1·„ h~ u •irupl r n1 11,rt1u•n1 uf Ihr ),.. pku~•·•I to s how yon tl1e New Cntll C' lillt· r lrnn 1tlr - thrt•t• "'l'''''d" '"'""'''· 11r11t r11 I, u 111 I sailing types - for most rf''\t• r 04r - I r111• n111lti - Ar, i lil1•t•11n l rol. ( } O tlirr Hr•tl l l 1•u1I H,• d lkutls. S1·e this 1·ompkte li nc ut frut ur•':i ir w lt11l r u ur" tl ".!Ol~ n JH•ut•r hend . full 111111 of Lhe people in so ulhnutl rollt•r l wnrini: 1·o n11 l rur t iu11, ''" l r r - 111 11 0l r tl rx thl'ir Hh owroonu; - 1notors for rvf• ry l111u „ 1 . pr11 p1· ll1•r lh n l t i lt!>11\rr•1l.,...,lr u r tioi11'1. 1·~· n l rif­ east Michigan, Lhe ri ver bout, for cvcr~· hoating purpo!ic-rnci111!, ""nl •·u11li11a.: - nml 1·h·d r ir „ 1 nrti 11 ~. ir t lt•,oirr1I. fl Ei: I rn could be pavecl over. l i1d 11 . 1•11rt u l.l1'. J.ti"n rrn l 111 il i1 y. nml tno~l!·I ~ fi~ hi11µ. <'X ploring, or i.:em·rul 11 tility. ur1• t1\1li l 11l.l1•. :-to·r t l 11•111 nl ) Hllr dc1t l1•r '„, or fur Alas.

Yis it ~· mu· ü iill1· H<•<I 111·1111 cl('t1ll'r totluy. ral1t loJC u1ul ( 1111 i11fur11 u ,1iu11 .

The metropo liLan «;An.1.E :\IOTOH 4 '.0~IPAY\", 6256 S..c•ond Hh·d., DETHOIT. ~·u·u. area is here because the river is. Delroit 's first populalion boom came One of several outboard motor manu facturers operating in Detroit was the Caille when Lhe Eri e Canal company, whose product is shown in this 1930 advertisement. Cai/le's plant was on opened in 1825. There Second ~ear the Burroughs facility, and the company also manufactured coin-operweren't any real roacls ated dev1ces such as scales. (Mike Davis collection) Lo-and-from here then , just olcl Indian Lrails. er the num ber had been near its IJeak of 1 ' 545 saili no b some "pavecl" with logs into so-callecl "plank" roacls. ships averaging 25-+ Lons. That year, L870, 625 steamShipping by water is now, has been, ancl probably ers averaging 219 tons were in competition. Cast yo ur always wi ll be Lhe chea pesl way lo move goods. mincl back to a sailing ship, a wo rking ship powered by The economic history of the ri ver was wriucn first sail , carr)'ing 320 tons of goods. Think about how wit h furs ancl the ex lraorclinary European clcmand fo r those goocls got on a boat, and off. Envision how the them. Then came lumber ancl co pper. lron ore and shi p came into pon , and ldt. Think what il meant for metalworking ancl automobiles foll owecl . goods and materials to arrive and depart under ya rcls of Today the auto plants look for green fi clds li ke a canvas. herd of cattl e. Thats where modern aulo plants havc ßy 1890 there we re 1,507 sleamers averaging 430 migrated. tons. Coming events we re foreshadowed und er the In 1890 there were 1,236 sailing s hips avcraging coal smoke spewing fon h from th eir boi lers.

320 to ns wo rking the Great Lakes. Twcnty years earlii;;. i111plit·it ~·

riwiflJ;

\~ritr

21-l

Remember too, it was just a few years over a century ago that the steam-powered ships passed the number of working sailing ships on the Great Lakes. "Sailing is still very competitive in cost," went the common argument. "lt takes fewer people to operate and it's not dependent on fuel." Sounds like Roman days, not something dating from when the Engineering Society of Detroit began.

PROLIFERATION

&

In its life, Great Lakes built 328 hulls, 226 of them major vessels. Of those 226, 120 hulls were Great Lakes-faring ships, 106 salt-water ships ("salties" in marine parlance). In addition to those that worked on the water, some worked below it. Great Lakes hulls number 44 to 52 were sections of 3/8 inch nickel-plated steel cylinders, each 23 feet 4 inches in diameter and 21 feet 10 inches long. They were floated to a location in the Detroit River, held by two huge anchors of 22 tons each buried 700 feet upriver, joined into two parallel tubes, and sunk. On june 1, 1910, they began work as a railroad tunnel and function to this day.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, in 1995 the most famed lake ship, was built by Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse. Launchedjune 7, 1958, she was 730 feet long and 75 feet wide, the first of a new dass. Some called her the "Queen of the Great Lakes." A glamour ship, she set a record of some kind every year of her short life. On Nov. 10, 1975, with 27,000 tons of taconite filling her three huge cargo compartments, a storm drove her to the bottom of Lake Superior. Today she lives on in Gordon Lightfoots song, an annual memorial service at the Old Mariners' Church on East Jefferson and the newspaper stories that surface regularly about the ship and her end.

PROFIT

Detroit's river over the past one hundred years, until very recently, was a garden of economic activity.

The river was where businesses and industries took seed and flowered, where jobs were, where profits were to be found and livelihoods made. Sometimes those businesses bloomed like they were in a moist, hot jungle.

Often they died and disappeared without a trace.

Sometimes after they died, they were the fertilizer for other huge enterprises that did it all over again.

Consider one example.

Great Lakes Engineering Works was a huge enterprise. In two locations on the river it built large ships through two world wars.

Great Lakes Engineering was the largest ship builder on the Great Lakes, and "equal to any on either coast with two or three exceptions," according to the 1904 Beeson's Marine Directory. At Great Lakes they could "build two to four of the largest type of steel boats at the same time," according to Beeson.

In its late maturity, Great Lakes built the SS William Clay Ford in May 1953. lt was 647 feet long, 70 feet wide and drew 35 feet and was called a member of the "Pittsburgh dass" because Pittsburgh Steamship ordered three in August 1950.

Today you can look out on the Detroit River from the original wheelhouse of the William Clay Ford. lt's been installed, complete, with working radios, at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle. (The Dossin is a small jewel itself. lt was a gift from the Dossin family of soft drink fame, Nehi and Pepsi. On the east side of Belle Isle, it's profoundly neglected but still a real treat).

Take a look at the Museum's model of the Car Ferry Steamer Sainte Marie. She was built by the Detroit Dry Dock Co. in 1893. At 302 feet by 51 feet, with a draught of 24 feet, she was the "largest and heaviest wooden hull operating on the Lakes." Note the propellers at bow and stem.

The last ship built by Great Lakes was the Arthur B. Homer in November 1959, launched two years before the company ended.

LUXURY ON THE LAKES

Three famed ships called the City of Detroit 1, II and III give a hint of how eyes and minds looked at the water years back. The first City carried both passengers and freight around the Lakes for the D&C Une starting in 1878. The last, the City of Detroit III, was launched in 1912 with "rich interiors" and accommodations for 1,440 passengers on seven decks. Seven decks. The largest steel-hulled sidewheel ship of her time at 455 feet long, she worked until 1950. The end of the City III came close to the opening of the interstate highway system, a roadway web that altered the American landscape forever.

The ship business was not just about the big ones.

The street that runs from EastJefferson to the river along the upriver edge of Waterworks Park was known as "Motor Boat Lane" in 1910. Here teemed for many years a variety of boat yards, small shops, engineering works, manufacturing operations, all dedicated to power boating.

Here was bom the Belle Isle Boat "Bearcat." At 26 feet and powered by a 200-hp Hai Scott engine, it sold for $2,600. Then came the 26-foot ChrisCraft with a war-surplus Curtiss aircraft engine, selling for $3, 700.

Here's where ChrisCraft bloomed, where Gar Wood and Hacker blossomed. All gone today.

215

Waterman wasn't the only Detroit maker of outboards. Caille Brothers made them too, along with "coin operated machines," polite terms for the likes of nickelodeons, penny-for-your-weight scales and slot machines, the last better known by youthful nickeland-dime gamblers as "one-armed bandits." The office and factory was on Second Boulevard opposite Burroughs Adding Machine. Caille's Liberty Drive Single appeared in 1917 and lasted until 1930. lt was a onecylinder two-hp outboard. The Caille Red Head Model 25 was a two-cylinder, 15-hp, 5-speed outboard with an adjustable pitch propeller. Outboard output ended about 1935.

Other Detroit outboard companies included American, Clarke Troller, Continental, Cross Radial, Sea Gull, Detroiter, Emmons, Gray Gearless, Strelinger, and Sweet.

Now the Waterman outboard company wasn't Great Lakes Engineering Works, the Detroit Stove Works, or any of the industrial operations that took root on the river; boomed and later disappeared. But as a metaphor for all that, the Waterman outboard engine will do.

Forgetting is effortless. We live in a mutating video interstate freeway world. Everything passes the windows at 60-plus miles an hour. Even remembering how central the Detroit River was to everything in this corner of southeast Michigan takes real effort.

Take three points: • Cadillac built his fort between two rivers, the Detroit and the Savoyard. The Savoyard's gone, the fort's gone, Detroit's still here.

• In the l 920s if you stood in any of Detroit's three huge, famed downtown department stores, j.L. Hudson's, Crowley's or Kem's, you might hear a reference to "wetlegs." Everyone knew it meant Canadians. They came shopping by ferry.

• Waterfront property was crucial to French settlers here. lt was their opening to the rest of the world, their interstate of the day.

Thus hundreds of farms up and down all the waterways were a hundred yards wide, called arpent.

They were also a mile deep inland. We pay for that to this day. North-south travel in Detroit, along old property lines, is a snap. East-west travel in Detroit is still clumsy, 250 years later.

Still another example: Gray Marine Motor Co. Few people have heard of it today. A business that was planted in 1906, grew, roared to where it built 20,000 diesel engines in the wartime, pre-freeway days of 1943. Those marine powerplants, from 5 to 225 hp, marle Gray the largest marine diesel manufacturer in the world. Today Gray's another unsung industrial ghost.

You would be hard put to find a finer example of this thesis than you'd get in a short talk with Cameron Waterman. Ask him and he'll say "Yes, my dad invented the outboard motor."

Waterman has been a member of the Engineering Society of Detroit since 1959. A registered professional engineer, he retired in 1971 after starting in 1935 at Detroit Edison. Like his father, who had the same name but with a middle initial, B, Waterman was a lifelong Detroiter and Grosse Pointer.

ÜUICKLY ÜUALIFIED Quickly, with the caution of a scientist, Waterman hastens to add that "l can't really say he 'invented' the outboard. But he was the first in production."

Research the topic yourself: it's thin findings.

When Cameron B. was a law student at Yale in 1905, his son tells, he took the Curtiss engine from his motorcycle and hooked it up to the gas light. lt ran.

Waterman senior had drawings made, then applied for and received a patent, number 851,389. He came back to Detroit and started building and selling small engines that went on the back of your rowboat and made life a whole lot easier.

In the first year, 25 of the air-cooled engines were made and sold. Lake Muskoka, Ontario, proved the change-over point. The cycle-based Waterman outboard ran perfect into the wind but overheated with the wind. Tims a change to water cooling.

Back in Detroit the new powerplant grew popular.

Volume from a plant on West Fort in 1907 was 3,000.

By 1915 the Waterman had a reversible propeller and removable head. lt could also be used for stationary power "around the camp or farm." Also by the end of 1915, more than 30,000 had been sold, very large numbers in those days.

And the end? A market survey in 1917 said there was no future to the business. There simply weren't enough cities close enough to water to interest enough people.

So the business was sold to Arrow Motor and Marine of New York that year. They made the Waterman Porto until 1921; the company went under in 1924.

216

The First home of Parke, Davis & Co., in the 1870s. (D etroit Free Press)

Drug lndustry: The Legit One Two 1najor 111edicine nzakers gave 1narket a shot in the ann h\· Boh ( :osgron;

Nelson. ßaker & Company ancl 200 at the Charl es Wright Compan)'· All these firms are go ne toclay as Detro it entities, altho ugh several origi nal Parke, Davis faci lities survive in the state .

Parke, Davis was a pioneer in setting Standards fo r the phannaceutical inclust ry. In 1901 Parke, Dav is esta blished the first systemaLic method of Lechn ically proving th e value of a new medicinal agenL bcfore marketing. This was fo llowed in 1902 by the first industri al builcling spcc ilka lly erectecl in th e U.S. by any commercial insLiLution solcly fo r Lhc purpose of cienLilic rescarch. In 1907 Lhcy crcatcd thc first clepanmen t fo r fi eld tcsting ex perimen tal medic ines, a fiele! which is known today as cl inical investigatio n.

Undcr th c su pervisio n of scie ntific director Dr. E. M . l loughto n, P-D firs t produccd standard izccl meclicincs using chem ical assay, was give n U.S. ßio logical Liccnse 1 um ber 1, fi rsL prod uccd diphthcria vaccine, sent ex peditions throughout the worl cl seeking medici -

he past 100 years have seen a revolutionary change in the manufacture and distributio n of fin c pharmaceuti cals th roughouL th e Un it ed States and th c worlcl. Detroit was at the fo refront of this inclustry fo r the first 85 years of th e last hunclred.

By 1895 our cit y in a sho n 40-yea r period had rise n to world leadcrship in the manufacturc of presc ripti on drugs, dental and ve tcrinary product . Thc Lwo largest U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturcrs had their headquarLers and main manufacLUring plants hcre. They werc Frederick Stearns & Company. fo unclcd in 1856 and Parke, Dav is Company, which traced its bcginn ings Lo 1862.

By 19 29 Detro it's pharmaceutical industry hacl ovcr 4,000 cmployees, a ve ry high percentage of who m were women. O f these, 2,500 were wiLh Parke, Davis ( the firm hacl over 4, 100 wo rldwid e), 500 at Stearns, 250 at 2 17

Davis inco rporated Lhe venture in 1875, but it remained unp rofitable - as it had been si nce Dr. Duffield's found ing - until 1877. The firs t dividend was paid in 1878. Thereafter Parke, Davis never fai led to pay a dividend unLil its separate identity vanished in 1970.

Under George Davis' instigation, the firm sen t researchers 10 remoLe pans ol' the worlcl such as the Andes and the Fiji lslands. Their mission was Lo fi nd exoLic natural materials, particularly plan ts, from which medi cinal products could be extracted. So succcssfu l was Lhis operaLion that a New York Ci ty branch was establis hed to import crude drugs as weil as export domestic finished product. The erude raw materials we re also sold to 01her pharmaceutical houses.

Geo rge Dav is assembled an assoc iated team of leading scienLists engaged in pharmaceu ti cal research.

Some wo rked directl y for Parke, Davis in their laboraLOries, others at un iversities whe re the firm financially s uppo ned their research. GreaL results wc re prod uced.

Fo r instan ce, it was Davis who brought the japanese born , Un iversity of Glasgow educated chem ist Dr. j okichi Takamine (1854- l922) inLO association with the firm. At the turn of the cenwry Takamine isolated the blood-pressure-raising hormone epinephrine from animal ad renal glands. This prod uct is so weil known today that few people realize that "Adrenaline" is a Parke, Davis brand name. lt was the first hormone obtai ned in pure form and the first whose chemical structure was determined.

Ano th er example of Parke, Davis-supported research is Dr. E. A. Dois)' of St. Louis, who developed Dilantin in 1938 for the control of epi lepsy. In 1946 Dr. George Rieveschl of the Unive rsity of Cinci nnati developed Benad ryl, o ne of the first and most essential antihis tamines.

The broad s pectrum ant ibio tic Chloromycetin (chloramphenico l) was developed by compan y research teams in 1949.

Despite all this, Parke, Davis eventually succumbed to a combination of too few new products and the firm's high cost of a un io n labo r force in an anLiquated Detroit plant. The final blow was Parke, Davis' inabi lity to replace the profits lost when key patents ex pi red.

Des pite P-D's many strengths - including its broad producl line, wo rldwide distributio n system, resea rch division and modern o utstate plants - the s tockholders, controlled b)' promin ent Detro iters, so ught mo re profitable investments. The result was that in 1970, Parke, Davis was mergecl in Lo the Wa rner-Lambert Company headquanered in Mo rris Plains, New Jersey. Today, the Parke, Davis name continues as

At a Pa rke, Davis labo ra to ry in the 1950s, a worker in sterili zed clo thing inoculates incubated eggs with live influenza virus in an e ffo rt to develo p a successful vaccine. (Detro it Free Press) nal planLs, introducecl the mass-producecl gelali n capsule, established a worl clwide neLwo rk of manufaeturing branches (by l 955 there were over 60), was one of onl y Lwo U.S. compan ies provid ing a complete line of ethical and non-prescripLion drugs LO pharmacists, had the firsL indusLrial pharmaceuLical library, ancl publis hed medical journals fo r physicians as weil as technical magazines for pharmacists.

An importanL conLribution, although not unique to Parke, Davis, was the mechanization of production.

1n the L890s Parke , Davis had roo ms of wo men hancl rolling pills. just a few years laLer, Colto n tableting machines made to Parke, Davis specificati ons produced 225,000 Lablets an hour. From the earliest days Parke, Davis emphasized quality conLrol , beginning wi th raw materials and packaging and continuing Lhrougho ut the manufacwring process, as weil as tes ting the end product even after distribu tion.

Parke, Davis began in 1862 wiLh Detroit physician and pharmacist Dr. Samuel Pearce Duffield ( l833 l 9 l 6). His manufacturing ve nture became the partnership of Duffield, Parke & Compan y in 1866. B)' L87 L afte r Dr. Duffield had withd rawn, the firm acq uired what wo uld become the most famous corporate name in medicine of the 20th century, Parke, Davis & Company.

D RUG Ă&#x153;IVIDENDS hs principals combined the business talcnLS of the Lall scholarly financier Hervey Coke Parke ( 1827l899) with the marketing gen ius of wholesalc drug salesman Geo rge S. Davis (1845- 1930). Parke and

2 18

In 1887 Stearns turned the business over to his sons Frederick K. and William L. Stearns. While the firm continued for another 50 years, it appears to have lost its cutting edge in fine pharmaceuticals when the founder retired. The Stearns company lost its identity in 1937 when it was sold by the heirs to the United Drug Company, whose Rexall drug stores proliferated throughout the U.S. Unlike Parke, Davis in its later years, Stearns products were more of the over-thecounter variety than fine pharmaceuticals. They included the popular mouthwash "Astringosol" and the "Day Dream" line of toiletries.

Frederick Stearns & Company's last office and plant location were the works of architects William B. Stratton and Albert Kahn, beginning in 1900. They survive today at the corner of EastJefferson and Bellevue, just west of the Belle !sie Bridge. Vacant for decades, they were converted several years ago into the fashionable "Lofts" apartments.

a Warner-Lambert brand. Its Detroit manufacturing complex was closed in 1980 and sold to the Stroh Brewing Company.

Stroh has redeveloped the 1873 red brick complex.

The former administration building on the river is headquarters to Talon Industries. The River Place Hotel is housed in the 1902 research building. The Stroh Place office building, formerly the 1929 concrete-reinforced main production plant, includes a well-known restaurant. The older timber-framed buildings dating back to the 1870s have been made into fashionable apartments.

AN EXCESS OF EGGS The drug firm's Parkedale Biological Farm near Rochester still produces biological products such as tetanus, polio, diphtheria, infiuenza and other vaccines. Created in 1908, Parkedale once occupied 700 acres to grow medicinal and animal products. The Parke, Davis Holland, Mich., chemical plant is another part of the Warner-Lambert conglomerate. The scope of this operation is staggering. For example, 4 million eggs are used annually in the production of vaccines.

The company's research laboratories in Ann Arbor near the University of Michigan's North Campus opened in 1959 and have been expanded several times.

These modern laboratories, and the resource their staff represents, were a major reason for Warner-Lambert's acquisition of Parke, Davis.

Frederick Stearns & Company, which in 1895 was Detroit's other world-renowned pharmaceutical firm, was founded in 1855 as a small one-room laboratory behind the drug store of pharmacist Frederick Stearns (1831-1907). During the Civil War, the Stearns firm gained enormous stature as a purveyor of medicines to Michigan troops. At that time the firm quickly grew into a large four-fioor plant in downtown Detroit equipped with steam power, milling and extraction apparatus.

Frederick Stearns was concerned with quackery and in 1876 introduced a concept of non-secret family medicines. He offered a few simple preparations with full usage descriptions and listed their ingredients.

Other druggists took to the idea and had Stearns manufacture similar products for them to be sold under their label. This "ethical specialties" system of manufacture introduced by Stearns continues today in the marketing of generic and private brand drugs. By 1895 the firm claimed to operate the oldest and largest laboratory of its kind in the world. Among its many achievements, Stearns introduced the first "hause organ" newsletter for pharmacists in 1879.

CAPSULE Ă&#x153;EVELOPMENT In 1895 gelatin capsules were a major Detroit pharmaceutical product. Developed and manufactured here, capsules, convenient and important in masking taste and easing "swallow," were originally made by hand.

The first machine-made gelatin capsules were developed in 1874 by Detroit pharmacist and inventor E A. Hubei. Introduced in 1876, his factory's production was always sold in its entirety to Parke, Davis. The latter used the capsules in their own manufacturing and sold empty capsules to other pharmaceutical houses. In 1901 Hubei sold his capsule manufacturing plant to Parke, Davis, which remains one of the world's leading producers under the Warner-Lambert banner.

In the 1930s Detroit socialite and inventor Robert P. Scherer developed the revolutionary one-piece soft gelatin capsule machine. Unlike the Parke, Davis capsule, these are filled during the capsule manufacturing process. For many years the R.P. Scherer Company limited itself to filling soft gelatin capsules on contract for firms such as Parke, Davis with medicinals supplied by the customer. Vitamin capsules were one of the early uses of this process. Today, the R.P. Scherer Company is the leading Detroit pharmaceutical manufacturer, although it may be considered more a packager than a research-oriented drug producer.

Another present day Detroit manufacturer akin to and supporting the pharmaceutical industry is Difco Laboratories. Difco is renown for its production of biological media, reagents and the kits. Its products are used in scientific and pharmaceutical laboratories throughout the world.

219

etro it's early 20th century renown as a rai lroad-car-bui lding center began in 1853, when Dr. Geo rge B. Russel (1 8 16- 1903) opened o ne of the first commercial ra il car shops in the Micl wes t. This was one of th e cit y's earli est manufacturing industries. In 1859, in part to suppon his car man ufacture, Russe! bui lt th e firs t blast furnace west of Piusburgh near the present Bel le !s ie Bridge.

The fo uncl ry po rti o n of the firm became th e Russe ! W hecl & Fo undry, which contin ued in to th c 1920s, prod ucing rail ca r whecls, logging cars, and cast and forged car parts . The Griffi n W heel Compan y, which movecl to Detroit in 1870 fro m Rochester, .Y„ was another ea rly Detroit ra il fo uncl ry. Long since relocated to Chicago, Griffin toclay is the largest prod ucer of ra il car wheels.

In 1871 Geo rge M. Pullman ( 183 1-1897) purchased the car builcli ng pan of Dr. Russel's business, the Detroit Car & Man ufactu ring Company. Until then Pullman hacl his sleeping cars built to o rcler. Fo r te n yea rs Detro it was the manufacturing and repair h ub for the orn ate mans ions-o n-wheels operat ecl by his Pullman Palace Car Com pany.

In 1881 Pul Iman bui lt his soc ial-experiment factory tow n of Pullman , III „ nea r Chicago, the largest car manufac tory in the wo rlcl. This was after Detroit's Common Co uncil clenied Pullman·s request lO vacate land 1.0 do u ble the s ize of his Detroit plant. The Pullma n Car Wo rks- Detro it continuecl as a branch un til 1893, w hcn it was closed as the markc t fo r s lee ping cars became increasingly satu rated.

Working for

The Railroads Area rail engine & car builders had heyday while sun shined h,· Hob Cosgrol'(;

By the 1980s, the tatest stal e-of-the-art in locomotive design was this GM Electro-Motive Division 5050, claimed to be the most fuel- efficient locomotive in America. (General Motors)

220

The Detroit car builders - including Michigan Car, Peninsular Car and Pu ll man along wi th the carbuilding s hops of the Michigan Centra l and Gra nd Trunk railroads - fostercd a local supplicr base incl uding local foundries and the stove companies. The parts supplied inclucled forgi ngs ancl castings, especially wheels, axlcs, ancl car hardware which were also sold to rail roacls ancl out-of-town rail ear eompanies. The availability of qual ity Miehigan lumber in the pre-1900 era of wooden cars was a ke y factor in the rapid growth of De troit"s car-building business.

James MeMillan, John 5. Newberry and others formecl the Miehiga n Car Company in 1864. Colonel Frank J. Hec ker and Charles Lang Freer, with financial backing fro m Ge nera l Russell A. Alger and James F. Joy, founded the Peninsular Car Company in 1885. In 1892 these two companies mergecl to fo rm the mighty Michiga n Penins ular Car Company.

In 1895, before the U.5. automobile industry was born, the Michigan Ca r Company's shops occupiecl 39 acres at Michigan Avenue ancl Clark 5trcet near the late r General Motors Cadillac Division complex. The Peninsular plant was sited on 52 acres aL Ferry and Russell where Detro it's inci nerato r is now.

In 1898 Michigan Peninsular Car became a cornerstone of a new 17-member car-building cartcl , Ameriean Car & Fo uncl ry, headquarterecl in New York City.

In 1907 ACF employecl over 9,000 in its two Detroit plants, turning out 100 rai l cars per clay. ßut this was down to 2,500 employes by 1919 and procluction hacl virtually ceased by 1930. The older rail facilities ancl high wage Ooor clictatcd by Detroit's automobile plants wcre uncloubtedly factors. In the l 930s and '-fOs ACF built its line of motor buses in part of the immense former Peni nsular plant.

In 1934, General Motors introduced the First successful diesel-powered train in the country, a streamliner on the Burlington line out of Chicago. By the 1960s, diese/ locomotives made museum attractions out of the steam locomotives which had ruled the rails fo r 130 years. (General Motors)

BACK IN BUSINESS

Whiteheacl & Kai es plants now house car-repair companies do ing contact wo rk fo r the railroacls.

Detroit's man y diverse manufacturers have long supplied th c rail roacl industry, although in reccnt yea rs only a few have been ded icatecl to that market. The Detroit Lubricator Compan y and the Detroit 5eamless Tubes Compa ny supplicd steam locomot ive com poncnts until thc last U. 5. railroad operatin g Steamers, Dct roit's Grand Trun k Western Rai lroad , "dropped its fires'° in 1960.

Toclay, onc of the best re membered African-A merican in ve ntors is Detroit's Elijah McCoy ( 1843-1929), who held over 40 patents fo r s team locomotive automati c lubricators. His name is sa id tobe the source of the ex pression „The Real McCoy,"' used to advert ise the products of his Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Compan y.

Detro it woulcl again proclucc rail cars. In the l 950s, Evans Products in suburban Plymouth built ca rs for hauling automobiles and auto parts as did the olcllinc structural stecl supplier Whitehcacl & Kaies in Ri ver Rouge beginning in the l 960s and Paragon 5tecl in ovi in the l 970s.

Among the ears thesc firms producecl were the 85foot-long bi-lcvel ancl tri-level auto rack lht cars introdu cecl in the early l 960s ancl still the primary means of transpo rting new aut omobiles. ßefore then aut o mobiles were s hippcd in difficult-to-loacl box cars. ßy the midl 980s all of the relatively small Detroit rail car builders were out of procluctio n in a business dominatcd today by just a few extremely large prod uccrs. The fo rmer

22 1

Opposite: Daisy Air Rifle advertisement from a pre-WWll comic book. (Tom Yates collection)

slarted in 1882, it produced windmills under the uninspiring name of the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. ll was 1888 when Clarence Hamilton created an air rifle constructed entirely of metal and presented it to the company's Board of Directors as a potential new product. Lewis Hough, the former vice president and general manager, looked at the prototype and exclaimed, "Boy, that's a daisy!" and a famous name was born.

However, the company's name was not changed unlil 1895 when it was decided the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company did liltle to inspire the purchase of an air rifle.

The Daisy Company's worldwide market presence is due largely to Charles Bennen, who dedicated most of his life to the company. He introduced the Daisy air rifle to almosl every civilized country in the world except Russia. The Daisy enjoyed almost universal acceptance. Chinese Imperial officials feil the BB-gun was a lethal weapon and refused to allow its import until Bennett, ever the promoter, invited a dignitary to plink away with him. Daisy became so successful in international markets that air rifles have been manufactured in Europe and Japan which were little more than Daisy clones.

Great Toys for Girls, Boys Locally, Daisy blossomed and Lionel chugged along

by Tom Yates

l was the object of dreams for virtually every 10year-old boy from the 1930s to the '60s. We'd be reminded of il every lime we opened or finished a comic book.

There, on the inside or back cover, was the advertisement that inspired our dreams - a slick, four-color pitch for the Daisy "Red Ryder" lever-action saddle carbine, a BB-gun. lls blued steel barrel and receiver almost leapt from the pages. The genuine wood stock glowed with the depth of the finish. You knew il was the real thing because Red's picture was right there beside it. Red was a popular folk figure of the times, immortalized in comic-book fiction.

We dreamed of owning a Daisy Red Ryder, but few of us ever attained it. In tens of thousands of homes throughout the U.S., the admonition rang out: "You'll shoot someone's eye out with that!" We aspired but usually failed.

The Daisy Manufacturing Company, long a mainstay of Plymouth, Mich., has not always been known for its BB-gun production. When the company first

LACK OF VISION If Daisy's executives were successful in the toy field they showed less foresight in other areas. In 1903 Bennett tried to get the Daisy Company to invest in the infant Ford Motor Company. Unfortunately, company attorneys ruled that it was against their corporate bylaws, so the idea was abandoned. By 1912 their relatively small investment would have been worth millions. The directors no doubt felt sincere regret for the legal position. However, Bennett himself personally invested $5,000 in Ford Motor Company, selling out in 1907 - before the debut of the Model T - for what he thought was a huge, five-fold profit. (His $5,000 gave him five percent of the company's stock!)

Daisy was no stranger to innovation. They produced a metal rifle in a time when air rifles were most-

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Tell Dad to hang one of these beautiful Daisys o your Chris tmas T ree! Wh y not make it a western saddle carbine? RED R YDER CARBINE featu res Golde n Bands, adju stabledoub le- notc h RearSight , LightningLoader inve n tion for loadin g l 000 shot in 20 seconds, ca rbine style Coc k ing Lever. full- lengt h Fore-piece, 16- inch Leat her T hong knotted to a uthe ntic Swivel Carbine R in g-a nd R ed R yder's brand on p1stol g rip s tock . Comes packed in colored cart on. C hoose you r favont e D aisy-b uy it now a t an y ha rdw a re, sports goods or department s tore.

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ly made of wood. They were also responsible for the invention of the Daisy Pump Gun, the plunger-type water pistol, a metal "bluing" method still in use by real gun manufacturers and a process that provides a rust-proof finish on parts in various colors.

In all the years of its operation, Daisy has kept out of the firearm or lethal weapon field - mother's admonitions not withstanding - and stayed solidly in the toy arena. Their one constant has been dedication to high quality. As an example, when it was found that Minneapolis youths were salvaging steel ball bearings to shoot in their BB-guns, the company encouraged the use of steel shot, as opposed to the traditional lead shot, and sought to design air rifles to accommodate the safer steel pellets.

Their dedication has not been limited to quality, either. lnjune 1942, the company halted production of air rifles and began producing dies and other war materials during World War II. Over the years kids have been enthralled and entertained by Daisy models such as the Buzz Baron, the Buck Jones, the SOth Anniversary Golden Eagle, the futuristic Buck Rogers model, the Rocket Pistol, the Disintegrator, the Liquid Helium Water Pistol, the "Bull's Eye," the Davy Crockett, the Zorro, the Annie Oakley (for girls!) and the current line of "TV Guns of the West."

Daisy manufacturing spent its first 76 years of operation in Plymouth. On May 5, 1958, the company closed down the Michigan operation and moved to Rogers, Ark, for larger facilities (and probably lower costs). According to a Daisy spokesman, the company has built millions of air rifles. They're still in Rogers, and still producing the "All American" BB-gun.

The Red Ryder model is still sold today, still in blue steel with a real wood stock. The retail price of $24.95 is not so far removed from the pre-WWII Sticker of $2.95. And 1 finally achieved my dream of ownership!

ly it was designed as an attention-getter for merchandise in store windows. To Cowen's surprise, people were more interested in the electric car than the merchandise in the window. Cowen changed his marketing target from merchants to children and changed the world of toys.

Over the years the Lionel trains fascinated small boys and girls and not a few fathers. Throughout its history the company has made a number of moves, bought out competitors and been bought and sold by a number of investors and larger companies. Somehow it has always managed to keep turning out high-quality, realistic-appearing models of full-sized trains.

In 1970 Lionel production was moved from the East Coast to Mt. Clemens, Michigan shortly after being purchased by General Mills. lt became part of the food company's Fundimensions toy division. Curiously, the Detroit area had become a fractional model mecca through the manufacture of promotional scale models for the automobile companies.

The operation prospered and grew until 1983 when General Mills consolidated all its toy manufacturing operations and moved them to Mexico. Two years later Lionel trains became a division of KennerParker Toys, a spinoff of General Mills' non-food operations. At that time, toy train manufacturing operations were moved back to Mt. Clemens, but the Lionel future seemed threatened.

In 1986 the business was saved - at least it was so believed by toy train buffs - when shopping center magnate and car collector Richard Kughn bought Lionel and formed the current corporation, Lionel Trains, Inc. One of his conditions was that the company and its manufacturing would stay in Mt. Clemens.

He also bought up spare parts inventories from around the country and consolidated them in Detroit.

Under Kughn's leadership, Lionel has prospered far beyond his modest hobby expectations. lt has lines of scale model electric trains - especially the solid "0gauge" - sold both as reasonably-priced toys and as five-figure collectibles: handsome reproductions of l 930s Lionels.

Today Lionel continues to entertain children, parents, collectors and even museum goers. The Detroit Historical Museum has an extensive, working toy train exhibit, a perennial favorite of museum visitors, while Henry Ford Museum usually mounts an electric toy train display at Christmastime. Indeed, where would any self-respecting department store or mall be in December without scale model electric trains?

RAILROADS IN REPLICA While thousands of boys aspired to the Daisy air rifle and mothers despaired, many youngsters were more successful in a second, less dangerous quest. If we couldn't have a BB-gun we could at least enjoy the pleasures of an electric train. The preferred selection was a Lionel. Today boys and girls alike, not to mention their parents, can still aspire to own a Lionel train, thanks to Detroit entrepreneur Richard Kughn.

The Lionel company started in New York when joshua Lionel Cowen invented a small battery-powered electric car that ran on a circular track. Original-

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One o f the more accurate visions of the future was this prospect of a superhighway intersection in 1960 shown in a General Motors exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. (General Mo tors)

n March o f 1995, Mike Davis, ed itor- in -chief of T hc Tec hn ology Cc n tury, m oderated a pane l d iscussio n o n the future wi th th ree dis tin guis hed faculty m embe rs at th e Un ivers ity o f M ic higa n. A transcr iptio n foll ows o f the wiclc ranging o bse rva tions of Dr. David E. Co le , Director o f the O ffice for t he Stud y of Automotive Transportalion a t the Trans po rtation Resea rch Instilllte; Dr. C raig Marks, co-d irec to r o f the joel D. Tau ber Man ufactu ring Ins titute, and Dr. Wi lliam R. Mart in , Dea n o f Acade mi c Affairs and Professor of Nuclear Enginee ring al the College o f Engin eering.

Dav is: Pu t yo urself back m en tall y to 1895, with th e k nowledge you mi gh t have hacl the n , ho lcling a s imilar kincl o f position. W hat m ig h t you have prognosticated ? - ancl apply it to today.

Co le: One way to look a t it is in tcrms of the macro iss ues thal are s ig ni fi can t and are go ing to in Oucnce, in one fo rm o r anot hcr, our future. An examplc is glo bal ization. We loo k for globalizat io n to have really a profound ro le in ou r future. W hat cloes that mean ?

Davis : 1 th in k o f that mo re as a corpo ratc, o rgan iza tional iss ue than a tech no logica l iss ue.

Co lc: No. One of t he charactcri s tics o f t he futurc is, that it's going Lo be more and mo rc cli ffi cult to separate s uc h cons iclcratio ns. Pure tcc hnology can't bc tho ugh t o f outs id e th e com ext o f g loba lization. One exampl c - a few yea rs ago the q ucstio n was, wh o is lcad ing in va ri ous areas of tech no logy arouncl th c wo rlcl. Now it's getting to thc poi n l w here that question

Technological Future Panelist speculate on this centennial as a 1nidpoint to the next

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is irrelevant because technology moves across boundaries so quickly, in multinational companies, it's a global commodity.

Marks: If you look at the manufacturing world, it used to be that you thought of a manufacturing company here with its headquarters, an engineering department, a marketing department and a manufacturing facility. In the globalization sense, today you may have idea generation in one part of the world, the development activity in some other part of the world, manufacture taking place in several parts of the world, and final assembly being put in still other parts of the world. The ability of teams of people to work together, through improvements in verbal communication as well as information and data transfer in the next few years, is going to revolutionize the way we conduct businesses like manufacturing.

Davis: Again, that doesn't sound technological...

Marks: Those operating characteristics are all enabled by technology.

have the skills to do what needs to be done? Another issue is the whole environmental/natural resource issue. We need to make sure we have a survivable planet. On the other hand, how do we use the resources that will be required in the most efficient and effective way?

Marks: The new buzzword is sustainable technology.

Martin: International trade barriers, accords, how nations work with each other, all are important for both the globalization and environmental issues.

Cole: Yes, the environment is really a global issue.

The trade issues and the trade barriers are another aspect. Increasingly, I don't think we can separate things into packets. One of the things that historically we have not been very good at is systems thinking.

Almost as a matter of survival, we have to think in terms of systems.

Marks: Systems thinking is a macro issue in two senses of the word. From an engineer's standpoint, systems engineering requires a macro view of problems. lt used tobe, you could spend your whole career dealing with a few components in the system, and increasingly that is just not possible. The development of every piece of a complex system is so dependent on the rest of the components that systems engineering is becoming a way of a life.

Davis: Let me play a devil's advocate role here. I know that back in the 60s Ford imposed a systems engineering discipline on the product development areaâ&#x20AC;&#x17E;. So what you're saying is that things that were talked about 25 or 30 years ago, now people are beginning to understand and put their arms around?

HUMAN FACTOR Davis: Yes, but we're talking about a change in human nature that is breaking down some barriers, and what l'm wondering is whether in the technological community these barriers are falling faster than they are, perhaps, in the political community?

Cole: Well, l'm not sure that necessarily the barriers are falling. I think what we're seeing is technology exploding and our ability to interface with it is not keeping up.

Marks: Information technology actually is moving faster than we can use it. lt presents opportunities for people who can see and exploit the technology already there. h is just waiting to be used.

Cole: The fields of opportunity are huge for just using what we already have, let alone trying to push new knowledge forward. In fact, globalization and information technology specifically are tremendously important.

Davis: So that's another of your macro issues.

Marks: Most data today is computer-generated. It's a digital world coming about. The ability to store, retrieve and transmit data, and turn that data into information is undergoing a revolution. lt's all enabled by digital electronics. Then, the communication aspect - which is a separate issue - enables people, through both audio and visual communication, to essentially eliminate the barriers of distance and time.

Davis: What are some of the other macro issues?

Cole: I think the issue of human resources is important. How are we going to find the people who

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Marks: In the auto industry, broader recognition of the need for systems engineering has to do a lot with the supplier rationalization issue - which says, as an OE manufacturer I can no longer deal with 3,000 suppliers. I've got to deal with a smaller number of suppliers, because I want them to be an integral part of my development process from Day One, and to take on design and development responsibility for significant sub-systems.

Davis: I guess this what is behind Prince no longer beingjust a mirror vendor? They have empowered him because he is a good vendor?

Marks: If he takes on systems responsibility, he is able to add vanity mirrors to visors and headliners, add side door panels and next instrument panels and eventually, maybe, design an entire interior system. Sourcing major sub-systems is the only way an OE can get

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think of doing a product design without working with the manufacturing people.

Davis: Well again, this is something 1 know was talked about, and evidently just really didn't happen, 25 or 30 years ago.

from 3,000 suppliers down to 200, which is where they are headed.

Cole: The complexity of just managing things that are too big is overwhelming. Everyone is trying to simplify the best they can. Consequently we take large tasks or challenges and break them up into smaller parts. We do a great job of dealing with each part, but often a poor job of assembling them back into the whole. This notion applies to much of what we deal with as engineers. We break things into chimneys; separate departments in companies, different disciplines within academic departments, manufacturing and product engineering, or manufacturers and suppliers with, all to often, little communication across the boundaries. We strive to become experts within our particular chimney. Systems thinking requires us to create linkages between these separate domains. In fact those that excel in crossing the interfaces, in bringing different disciplines together, are critical to improving the effectiveness of our profession.

Marks: You're not replacing excellence in individual areas but you are adding to it the capability to design more predictable systems.

Cole: We have not been good at managing interfaces.

Davis: Of course, we are talking, really, about that which we are most familiar with, which is the auto industry. So is it happening elsewhere?

Marks: Systems engineering is increasingly a way of life for engineers. lt has to do with the increasing complexity of products, the trend toward sophisticated electronic controls, and our ability to deal with these trends.

Davis: This implies very large organizations. There is not much room in here for the little guy, the small companies, the small suppliers.

Cole: There are great opportunities for people or organizations that are good at managing interfaces. I look at my own background in mechanical engineering, with thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, machine design, etc.; there was very little connectivity between the disciplines. Any product you can buy in a hardware store brings together most engineering disciplines in some way, shape or form. But we are not good at weaving together. The japanese, however, have brought a culture that appreciates the importance of a more holistic philosophy. Consider a japanese meal, there is food value but also an attractive and even artistic presentation. Philosophically it is not a large step to a production system such as Toyota's, where there is tremendous holistic thinking - where, for example, you wouldn't

FUEL FIZZLE Cole: Think back to the SOs, everybody was looking forward to fuel injection - which was the new fuel management system on the block - many were saying that in five years fuel injection would replace carburetion. Several things happened. Fuel injection didn't turn out to be quite as good as its sizzle, and the carburetor didn't stand still. The carburetor became a moving target and there wasn't the enabling technology for fuel injection, in this case electronics, to permit development of an effective injeclion system. But by the 80s the carburetor had become too complex and couldn't meet the challenge of emissions, fuel economy and driveability - and solid-state electronics was integrated into fuel injection. The carburetor died swiftly.

Marks: And what also triggered that transition was the regulatory requirement laid down. We couldn't handle it any other way. We wem to the three-way catalyst and the precise air/fuel ratio control it required.

We tried for a few years to achieve that control with carburetors and we just couldn't make it.

1 would like to mention another macro issue dealing with smaller companies and globalization. An organization known as Michigan Future has articulated an interesting vision of a new economy which is based, not on a few large companies, but upon 18,000 small manufacturers who are really the backbone of manufacturing in Michigan. What they are saying is, if these firms - through adopting the technologies and management techniques that are now available - are linked together with the communication and information technology we've talked about, they could become not just suppliers to the Big Three automobile manufacturers, but world-class suppliers to anyone in the world.

Cole: They're on a data base that is accessible.

Marks: You put together the right combination of those small companies to do any particular job. No, any one company cannot do the job but today you can conceive of what they call the virtual corporation which is a kind of business arrangement which links these companies together to perform a certain task. lt may be a task that lasts for just six months or it may last for six years, and they may be involved in several such linkages. But the flexibility and capability that now exists - in terms of what technology brings and makes possible in those types of businesses - makes that a pos-

229

sible scenario. Are we going to d o that? Tha t d cpends on a lo t of things. lt depcnds not only on the technology, which for the most part is not the limiting factor, it depends on people's attitudes and und crstancl ing of this, and the way in which we d eploy our ed ucatio nal resources a ncl train people, and where we put ou r efforts. That's what Michigan Future is all about. lt is getting that vision exposed to people a ncl figuring out ways to begin to move towards that way of doing business.

Dav is: Would this require a ny changes in thc legal system or changes in human nature?

Ma rks: No t necessarily. l t may require some training and education , but mainl y it requires a n acceptance o f the concept - that it is a good way to do business.

Martin: W hat is interesting is that a lot o f companies a re driving this - it is not the government that is particularly pushing this.

Marks: lt really could mean the difference betwce n the de mise and the survival of these compa nies.

Davis: A natural evolutio n ?

Marks: Because without some kind of ope rati on such as this, many of these co mpanies wi ll not be compe titive in the global market.

Martin: lf you saw somet hing clicln't exist , you just went ancl clicl it.

Cole: And we havc, historically. Wc did that kind of thing in the a uto motive inclustry routine ly in the 50s - for cxa mple, the '55 Chcvy with its new e ngine, transmissio n , bocl y, chassis, the w hole works . lt was takc n from co ncept to procluction in lcss than two years„.and this was beforc comput crs.

Marks: Wi th a vc ry small tcam o f people.

Cole: O f course.

T hal was one of th e key fca tu res of a n excellen t product development process.

Ma rks: And that is why this vi rtual company idea makes a lot of sense when you start ta lking abou t the d ivers ity that the marketplace is looking fo r ancl th c quic k res ponse time. Havc you heard abou t bicycle manufactu ring in J apan? You ca n go to yo ur bicycle dealcr and he measures you for fit. Yo u clecide w hat )'OU want, a ll the custom features of your bicycle, and it will be Dr. William R. Martin deli vercd to your home in threc days. They say, "Wc could d o it in 48 hours b ut the cus tomers woulcln't bclieve we reall y did it." (laugh ter) Thc point is t hat peo plc are loo king for quick response time a nd mo re d ivcrsity a ncl mo re a bili ty to custo mi ze the product to their needs a nd wants. lncreasingly, this is bccom ing possiblc if the upstrea m opera ti o n is co nfi gurcd a pp ropri atc ly. Aga in , th e enablers are informa tion and co mmuni cat ion technology and so me ncw organ izational structures. When they are put in place thcy will provide a co mpetitive ad van tage. That's w hat is go ing to d rive it. T he guy tha t ca n provicle the qui ck rcsponse is go ing to get the markct.

Davis: So we co ulcl co nclude, as wc look to the 21 st ce ntury, the first ordcr of cha ngc - because it is alreacly o n-st rea m or at the bcginning of the strea m is going to bc some vcry d ifferent ways of cloing busi-

FLUIDITY Cole: The real keys to survival have shiftecl from things like stable, large organ iza tions to quick, smart organizati ons - that's agility. The entire co ncept of agi lity requires new thinking and enabling tec hnology.

Whether we're talking abou t agi le manufacturing or the virtua l organization means that we truly adopt "form-follows-function. " This is a phrase we have used for a long time, but historically we have not clone formfollows-function because we love form. We love it in the univers ities w ith our various departments ancl clisciplines. Likewise we love form and structure in industry a ncl other institutions Davis: ls Ford 2000 maybe w hat you arc talking about?

Cole: No, it may or may no t be. The whole idea is tha t you really focus on a n objective or function and treat fo rm as a variable in the true agile environ ment.

Davis: Sounds a little like the Manhauan projec t„.

Cole: In a way 1 suppose it is, because th erc you had a consuming focus for w hat the objective was, and there was a sense o f urgency about it that suppressecl the importance of fo rm„.

Davis: And all the turfs .

Cole: That's right.

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ness, of organizing, not only business but campuses or what have you?

is a surrogate measure of knowledge. Knowledge is really something eise and there are several dimensions to it. One is knowing something and the other is knowing how to do something.- doing what you know, taking the knowledge or the intellectual capability you have and converting it into some kind of action. There are a great many smart people who know a lot but can't put it into a form of some value.

Martin: 1 would like to explore the information technology a little more too, a couple of items there.

One is high-performance computing, advanced simulation along with a few things that you simply aren't able to do or take too long to do, for example simulating crash environments.

Virtual reality is another application of information technology that is going to revolutionize who knows what. We will see large inroads of this technology, including automotive design and many other areas.

People who know these areas, who can apply the technology, are using them to design automobile interiors now. That's one obvious application.

Marks: It's in its infancy and it's on one of these (gesturing upwards) curves.

Martin: But clearly it works.

Marks: You're going to get to the point where the object can be viewed as a three-dimensional holograph, laser-crea ted.

Davis: So virtual reality is an artificial simulation but in a controlled, total atmosphere, all in the computers?

Marks: Yeah, il's the ultimate three-dimensional visual representation. Right now we put the image on a flat screen or you must wear a hood. Eventually it will be a holographic image. For all intents and purposes it appears "here," only it is computer-generated. There is a huge advantage in the ability to modify that image and to interact with a three-dimensional virtual object, to have it simultaneously presented in more than one location. Many possibilities open up.

Martin: The advanced simulation techniques allow you to combine simulation with virtual reality, to be able to simulate the physical process while you tweak this or do that. Tweaking may actually have a huge effect somewhere that can't be predicted very easily.

With high performance computing you can couple all that into the virtual reality.

Cole: Medical applications?

Martin: Yes, incredible medical applications.

Davis: One of the things 1 suggested is that, even though your disciplines are somewhat far afield, if we look back 100 years to the world of 1895, the average life span was 4 7 years and there were all kinds of health

INSTITUTIONAL INERTIA Martin: We (on the campus) are the last bastions to change.

Cole: You mean of resistance to change. One message we are suggesting here is that you can't look at things in separate packets because they are woven into a more complex mosaic and because of that, it makes it more difficult to conceptualize. Historically 1 think what we have clone to simplify our world has defeated the idea of systems thinking. We have dealt with complex problems always but we have tried to break them up into parts and 1 think as a nation we have excelled at dealing with the parts. Look at the breakthroughs and the knowledge developed here at University of Michigan in the narrow disciplines. Throughout the entire U. S. 1 think we're really world dass in terms of moving discipline-based knowledge forward. Where we have our problems is in taking packets of knowledge that have been separated from the whole and reassembling them back into the total system.

Davis: Any other macro issues?

Cole: I think there is the issue of government policy. The policy interface with technology cannot be ignored. Whether we're talking about government regulation, national defense or global competitiveness, the technology-policy interface is critical.

Another is the shift from a product-oriented thinking to a process thinking. Our traditional thinking was product focused where we thought about the end point.

What we are moving to is a process mentality where we think of how we get to the end point. The problem we often faced with a product-oriented philosophy was that the process was not in control. If you think of Deming's philosophy and the idea of process control, normally we think of manufacturing processes. But now we are beginning to realize that it applies to everything eise as well. There is a design process, marketing process, a process by which we create policy in government. We often look at the end point rather than how we get there. lf the process is under control, the product of that process will take care of itself. lf the process is not under control, you are lucky if you get the product you really want.

Another issue is the concept of what knowledge really is. What is knowledge? Can it be benchmarked and measured? We have attempted in many ways to use surrogates for knowledge. Organizations with large numbers of PhD's, MB.AS, MS's, BS's say they are smart.

Unfortunately a degree is not really knowledge itself, it

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threats that were omnipresent. The key question today is the eure for cancer. We can't imagine what it might be, but if we're optimists we think, we're going to find il. We don't know if it will be nexl week or five years from now.

Davis: You can't predict what is going to be discovered.

Cole: We are moving from essentially an alpha numeric world to a visual world. Dan Atkins commented several years ago that a fairly small fraction of computing power was really being used at the interface between the human being and the computer. In the future most of that power will be applied to the interface, resulting in a much more friendly and powerful computing environment.

Marks: Atkins, one of our faculty, believes we are headed for what is beginning to be called ubiquitous computing. He says, as technology continues to increase computer memory capability, speed, and sophisticated visual, aural and tactile presentation of information, we will eventually get to the point where we don't really know we have computers. They will become just a part of our everyday experience. Today, the interface between the computer and humans is still pretty clumsy, with keyboards, touch screens and its things like that. But as computer power continues to increase, he says that 95% of that increased capacity is going into improving the human-to-computer interface. The goal is to allow you to converse with the computer, to interact with it as though it weren't there.

When you want something to happen, your natural way of communicating will make it happen.

Cole: We know now that they can tap into nerves, replace an arm, and people manipulate it on the basis of their thought processes.

Davis: Would that work to overcome paralysis?

Martin: Last night on TV, 1 saw a documentary on treating people with Parkinson's Disease. lt was a little different but still they were able to localize a nerve area with Parkinson's Disease and block it. lt was incredible.

Cole: We tend to look at that as medical but it really was technology. The whole idea of a visual world with a transparent interface to the digital world is profoundly important. You can say that things done by "cut-and-try" are basically in a terminal stage. The whole tradition of building something, or trying something, is moving to an analytic framework. For example, we have rapid prototyping technology like stereo lithography. It's a very clever thing where we shine a laser on a pool of light-sensitive polymers and essentially can "grow" a part. Is that virtual prototyping or is it just an intermediate step? Because probably we will not need to create that part physically but only virtually. From an engineering perspective what we're probably going to do is go from the concept to actual product. I think the potential for math-based or simulationbased engineering is to get to the point where we'll go

MULTIDISCIPLINARY MEDICINE Cole: We know that human beings aren't immortal.

We can eliminate cancer or heart disease but something eise will then become the new medical challenge.

Marks: There is an interesting parallel here with some of the systems engineering and cross disciplinary kinds of things we spoke about earlier. The interaction of the medical community and the engineering community already is producing all kinds of neat new approaches. If you look at the incredibly sophisticated surgical techniques that are available today, they are not generated by medical people or engineers working alone.

Cole: Here at the University, the engineering college's ME's, EE's, even nuclear engineers are interfacing with the bio-medical or bio-engineering activities.

These represent very significant activities within these departments.

Davis: So this is really a new marriage of engineering and medicine which hasn't really existed before?

Cole: No not really. When 1 was a student here the med school was actively recruiting the high-gradepoint students to go into medicine - as physicians and they wanted to bring engineering thinking into medicine.

Marks: The dentist who works in my mouth is building things on engineering construction principals and the materials that he's using have come out of developments in material science.

Martin: We hired a chemical engineering faculty member last year who has a joint appointmenl in the dental school.

Marks: The benefits of cross-disciplinary activity extend to a lot of fields.

Davis: If we are going to kill cancer let's get everybody in on the act, not just physicians. lt isn't quite happening yet, but we can speculate it is becoming more common.

Cole: 1 think one thing we need to realize, and 1 will use information technology as an example, is that we're just starting up the learning curve. Most people today would say we are well up in the learning curve but in reality we are probably just getting started. lf you recognize this, it is difficult to visualize the kind of ride in information technology we're likely to be taking over the next few years - but it will be an exciting one.

233

directl y to pilot line production to validate whaL we plan Lo bui ld. The whole process of engineering should be dra maLicall y s hon ened. Esse ntiall}' the role of the shop in Lha t proccss almost disappears. The shop then becomes not Lhe s hop to create prototypes and to provide engincering thi ngs. but the shop that crcates the productio n LOoli ng.

Ma rks: Developmen t of the manufac tu ring process is all going to be simulated.

Dav is: You mentio ned a couplc or minutes ago that computing power is doubling ever three yea rs, is it gaining momentum o r losing mo mentum?

Ma rtin: lt is no t gaining, it's still do ubling, but over a longer pcriod of ti me.

Dav is: Because in the kinds of things we are talking abo ut, 1 could visualizc would j ust use huge amoun ts of capacity. But the huge amo unts of capacity that wc have today, we re unthought of a few yca rs ago.

Martin: 1 thin k wc are seei ng somewhat of a modest slow down of th is rapid accclcration. So it is still accelerating but it's slowing down.

tures. These kinds of things inherently have longer time scalcs associatcd with them than with computcrs. fo r cxample. So thcre is some comfort wit h a levcl of investment and hardwa re that s lows the pace down a bi t compared to the computer business.

Marks: In pred icLing Lhe fu ture, 1 think one of thc stablc Lhings yo u can count on is Lhe desire of peoplc fo r personal mobi li Ly, Lhe Lhi ng that has d ri ven this automobile industry worldwide. Of course, with thc tremendo us changes of commun ication capabi li ty providing Lhc ability for people to interacLfrom a clistance as if they were toge the r, some impact on travel is bound to resul l.

Dav is: Working fro m yo ur home.

Ma rks: There's an inLe resLi ng project today, ty ing toget her research people in four places in the wo rld, running an experiment which is physicall y goi ng on in Gree nlan d. They all interac t as tho ug h th ey were in the room with the equip ment in Greenlancl , ru nning the expe riDr. Craig Marks ments.

Mart in: The of Unive rs it y Michigan offers a course wi th Cal-Berkeley that has thc classrooms here and in Berkeley, ancl fully interactive students and facu lty at both campuses.

Ma rks: So Dave's origina l theme of globalizaLion says companies Lhat arc operaLing on a global basis need the abili ty to have Leams in teract in this fashion.

T hal is beginning to happen now, not 10 years or 20 yca rs from now.

Davis: Chrysler just buil t Lhis huge, marvelous new tcchnology ccnter.

VIRTUAL EXPANSION Cole: 1 think sorne peo ple hope that is thc casc too.

You have companics like SiliconGrap hics. Thcy did no t cxis L10 years ago and Loday they are a $2 billion company. T hey' re in Lhc fo rdro nl of Lhe an or virtual rea lity and the visual rcprcscnLatio n of things. Thcy rnus L esscntiall y reinven t Lhcmselves evcry year to year-anda-half. Th is company and thei r pecrs are bringing some fan tastic ncw Lools to the world of engi necring.

Ma rks: They are kn own for Lhcir wo rk in jurassic Park and Te rminator II in the movie business, but thcir real impacL will bc in manufacturing busincsses that will be changecl by this Lhree-climensional visual compuLi ng in an incredi bly impo n ant way.

Ma rtin: There is a Clll-Lhroat feel LO Lhe whole ncld of comp uting with thesc s tart-up companies. The wo rst th ing yo u can do with a s tart-up company is have a great product and not havc anothcr o ne, say 18 mo nths behind , or you're dead . Thcre is a whole list of companies that failed in Lhe last lO years, especiall y in the harcl wa re busincss.

Colc: That's rea ll y whaLcaught companies likc IBM off g uarcl . They son of owned onc paradigm and all of a sudden a new paradigm cxplodcd o n Lhcm ancl Lhcy we rc not sufficic ntly agile.

Ma rtin: BuL Lheir pockcts werc clcep cnough ...

Colc: ThaL's o ne of thc nicc things abo uLan indusLry like the auto ind us try, nice in the sense you'rc dea ling wit h )arge phys ical entitics, complex things wi th man y pans that wcigh a grcat dcal and havc large struc-

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stand what your needs are - and introduce what have been called agents, really surrogates for you, which will search through the maze of information - and provide back to you whatever you really want. These agents will search for whatever time and in whatever universe of information databases you are interested in. That is a remarkably effective way of getting information.

Cole: When you think of technology in general and our ability to use technology, things are not moving in a uniform state. We have some technologies such as information technology that have moved out in front of ouT ability to use them effectively. Life is a series of little steps and they are not all necessarily in sync.

Davis: We talked about the enabling processes that are ongoing, that we have in hand, or can reasonably project. The safest predictions are the ones that don't go too far. Can we shift over and try to think about some specific areas? Energy is one and 1 don't know what other broad things, because energy touches on so much and is so key to everything.

Martin: Currently, we're using hydrocarbons, a limited and finite resource, literally burning it up. We have a choice that we are not willing to implement.

Davis: Where do you think il is going to go?

Cole: Fundamentally, there is no energy shortage and there probably never will be, technically.

Davis: So it truly comes down to an optimum eneTgy conversion. Hydrogen has infinite energy?

Cole: Well there is no such thing as infinite anything. But there is a lot of energy - for example, we could harness fusion. But when you look at hydrocarbon from a petroleum standpoint, it is quite inexpensive and is readily available.

Martin: Natural gas is cheaper. Gas plants are cheap, there is no financial risk.

Marks: Which has a great advantage, to co-locate a bunch of people. Ford, on the other hand, is going to design cars on a worldwide basis. Ford 2000 envisions a system that will allow people, whether they are in Europe or Japan, in this country or in Southeast Asia, to interact as though they were in the same room. That technology will be a reality in the very near future.

STAYING MOBILE

So you ask then, relating back to my earlier statement, "How is this capability going to affect the demand for transportation ?" 1 still think personal mobility is a very fundamental, human-nature kind of thing. Is radically improved communication going to change that? 1 believe it is going to supplement it. 1 don't think it is going to replace peoples' desire to go see Grandma for Thanksgiving.

Davis: Well, obviously production workers are still going to have to go to the plant. In theory, 1 suppose they could push a button even from home to operate the computerized work station. 1 was in the Ford Romeo Plant last spring and was astounded to see that when something goes wrong with a machine, it calls up its keeper on a beeper and says "come fix me."

Marks: The ideal is that it anticipates what is going to go wrong and calls before it shuts down.

Cole: That's prognostics. But the realities of what human beings are and what their needs are is critical. lt is like trying to redefine a new aTchitecture foT a vehicle. One of things that is fixed is the architecture of the human being. Once you say a car is going to have to support five people and so many cubic feet of luggage, you define a great deal about the vehicle package.

One of the things that comes with human beings is the need for social interaction. We have some very basic needs, so what technology does is help satisfy some of these needs, or give us more time for addressing what humans really want to do and less time dedicated to what they really don't want to do. So in a sense all that we're talking about here is a sort of a human enabler that can optimize the role of human beings in society.

When you think about information technology and we talked about technology being way ahead of OUT ability to use it - one of the problems is that we have an information overlap. If you project that into an engineering environment, look at the vast amount of technical literature available. You don't want to spend a year to find a nugget pertinent to your job. So the ability to effectively manage vast quantities of information becomes crucial.

Marks: The information available electronically is exploding. Techniques are developing that will under-

CALIFORNIA Ă&#x153;UESTION

Davis: What do we do about California?

Martin: California utilities are buying energy across the nation, so they are expecling to import their energy, export their emissions, and let the rest of the country worry about the consequences Cole: Consider the zero emission vehicle program - they look at the use of the electric vehicle and don't regard the production of electrical energy as creating a pollution source.

Davis: There was much discussion of this yesterday by the retired engineering executives group at Ford Research Lab, along the lines of, you could take the biggest bite out of the Los Angeles pollution problem

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by ge11ing 1he olde r ears off th e road but loeal officials wo n't do it. ..

Cole: O r maintaining 1he cars beuer.. .80% of 1he problem is caused by 20% of the cars .

Davis: O ne of Fo rd's resident inve nto rs, George Mu llcr, yea rs ago said 1hat he thought wc would end up wi1h an ESD's panel discussion on the Future. From left: editor Mike Davis, Dr. David E. Cole, Dr. electric vehicle. \Ve have William R. Martin and Dr. Craig Marks.

10 have the way or gctling 1here. We need a battery w hich has n't Davis: We in Detroit know this, but we have n't becn in ve111ed yet. been ve ry successful in convincing othcrs. Now 1 Cole: You co ulcl have an electric ve hiclc soo ner unders tand that these gove rnmcnt-ind ustry tcams are 1han a hybrid, but a hybrid probabl y has greater potenbegin ning to make a li ttle headway. tial over 1he lo ng term . The hybri d ean provide lo ng PO LITICAL PROGNOSTICATION driving range and negates some of the cri tical dcficicncics of batteries, like relativcl y low energy and Cole: One or the keys to good fo rwa rcl thin king is power clens i1y and 1hc life-cycle problems wi th dcc p to be able to "reacl the tea leaves." There was one big tea clischarge. So it is, perhaps, a better soluti on, but it's a lea f laicl out in last Novembers electio ns in this counli1tle funher away. try wh ich was a majo r poli tical bombshcll. Clearl y one Davis: 11 appea rs to be a cost issue and , 1 s upposc, or the factors in the clection is that people by ancl !arge a pollu1io n issue. don't feel they have been ge tting the greates t bang for Colc: Thal gclS to one or the fundamental dri vc rs their buck.

1hat wi ll emcrge, and that is, 1he rcality o r laek of realWe have fo und in thc car busincss, wi th a typieal ity of global warming as an environmental issue bascd car being about $20,000, that th c afforclability issue is on thc burning of carbons. \Vc're in a si 1ua1ion wherc vcry impon ant to consumers. They are concernecl wc reall y don't kn ow. There is eviclencc that suggcs1s abo ut value. One of the interesting pans of afforclabili1here is, and also tha1 1hcre is not. Some say, '"so what if ty is tha1 consumers in many ways arc their own worsl wc do havc a li11lc global warming." Global warmi ng encmies - because 1hey are demancling 1hings that eould be a major cons iderati on in how we view th e they can't afforcl. In fact, if you look a1 a 1975 car, cnvironment. Pollutants like unburn ed hyd roca rbons, upclated 10 1995 with th e same basic set of features as nit rogc n ox icles and carbon-mo nox icle arc rcally no big in 1975, it is mo re affordab le than it was 20 years ago. cleal bccausc it's a matter or eco nomics as to how much ln 1erms o r the number or weeks an avc ragc Amcrican we wanl 10 rcclucc them. Carbo n dioxicle is an cntirc ly wo rkcd to buy that car, it is actually a linlc morc affo rcldiffe rent mau er. able 1han it was 20 ycars ago. Now if you add regulatoAn issuc here is th c fact wc havc rcac hed 1hc end ry manclates ancl the new fcaturcs customcrs specify, it or o ur rcgula1o ry rope, in being abl c 10 crcate wisc cnviis a lot lcss affordablc. ro nmental policies wi1hou t having good analytical Ma rks: Mike, wc have n't saicl anyt hi ng very protools, 1hings likc cconomic analys is ancl ris k analysis. fo uncl about encrgy cxcept therc is no looming cncrgy \Ve arc cen ainly in an area wi th the car where affordshon agc. The success of thc automobi le toclay owes a abili1y is a problem toclay, wh ich means thc economic lot to clevclopments in th c petrolcum incl ustry and the issues rcla1ed 10 th e car are goi ng to bc much mo rc sigwork of man y peoplc who have honcd 1hc cnginc-fuel nifica n1 than th ey have becn. We must bc careful not to rclations hip ovcr thc years. As wc go forwarcl , th is conaclcl consiclerably tO the COSt of the ve hicle for marginal tinuing cvolu1 ion of cngines ancl fuc ls coulcl alte r car enviro nmental benefi ts. Ve ry high levels of pollutio n clcsigns ancl perfo rmance in a sig nifi cant way. eo ntrol are probably going tobe resistecl by consum ers.

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Davis: You're speaking of fossil fuels or hydrocarbons?

Marks: Traditionally, we have worked with variations of hydrocarbon blends, but at the SAE meeting last month, dimethyl ether was revealed as being a good fuel for diesel engines. lt was reported that the economics may not be too bad, and this fuel produces a completely different tradeoff between NOx and particulates. There were four papers, which involved a Danish firm in the petroleum business, Haldor Topsoe, and an Austrian firm, AVL, who had done a lot of the basic research work.

The initial supply could be obtained by converting a plant which is building methanol today. The interesting thing about this discovery is that, forever and a day, it was chiseled in stone that as you decreased NOx in a diesel, emission of particulates increased and visa versa. This fuel, dimethyl ether, simply eliminates that unfavorable trade-off.

Cole: lt is a paradigm shift fuel for diesel.

Davis: Some rebirth of the diesel possible?

Marks: The diesel is very much alive and kicking in Europe. Some people promote the diesel as a "green engine" in Europe today. The reason is, its fuel consumption is lower. Carbon dioxide is regarded as more of a problem in Europe, and people worry about the greenhouse effect. The broader issue on this subject of fuels is our ability to create new molecular structures with predetermined physical characteristics. This applies in the materials field as well. We are beginning to be able to specify what it is we want the final material to do, and build the chemical compound and structure to produce that result. This is happening in drugs, in some petroleum products and in some basic materials, particularly polymeric materials. The ability to have entirely new levels of performance for materials or for fuels is something that is on the horizon. The enabling technology again goes back to simulation and computing power, the kinds of things that we talked about earlier.

Martin: Without having seen virtual reality, there is no way you can predict anything to do with it... we're simply not on the same paradigm.

Davis: With our wonderful 20/20 hindsight, if you went back to 1895, and you had the kind of knowledge then that you have today relatively speaking, where do you think you might have come out? Look at Scientific American at the turn of the century, the lead article's all on vehicles, horseless carriages, the whole thing's on steam.

Cole: Look atJules Verne, look at what a visionary he was. 1 don't think he was necessarily a visionary

because of substantive knowledge. 1 think he was guessing and dreaming. 1 think unfortunately it is hard for engineers steeped in technology to really dream.

Marks: 1 am beginning to think that the pace at which change will take place has less to due with technology today than it has in the past. Technology is moving so fast that it is outpacing our ability to assimilate it. The rate of change has much more to do with infrastructures and organizations and the ability of people to adapt to change than with the availability of technology. Another issue arising from this rapid pace of technical change is how to increase the technical literacy of the general population. For progress, government policy needs to be supportive, and in a democracy you are paced pretty much by an infrastructure that can be supported by people's understanding of what is going on. If people are 20 years behind the technology, you are not going to get that technology to come to full bloom very rapidly.

TEACH ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

What this suggests is that we must address how to teach people about technology, how to get them to understand what benefits it offers. Again the digital world is making a lot of educational innovations possible, self-paced education and hands-on exploratory kind of education on a life-long basis. We are going to get to a point where people can, just from their own curiosity, learn things you can't begin to teach in a formal setting. lt has been said, with a computer and a CD disk you can teach physiology today to kids in high school heuer than we could ever teach it in college with a professor lecturing. I'm not saying there isn't a need for formal education. What 1 am saying is, there's a tremendous need to get people to understand more about technology and its proper use, in order for us to reap the benefits available today.

Davis: In the real world we're looking at what it seems to me a dumbing down. Am 1 not correct that college board scores in science and math are lower than they used to be?

Cole: The real paradox we're dealing with is that we're far more sophisticated with technology, it is far more comprehensive and pervasive.

Now a corollary to that, again related to systems thinking, is the blending of the behavioral and social sciences with the hard sciences. You can see some clue to that if you look at who runs organizations. People who run organizations such as the car companies are typically either from the business disciplines like finance or accounting, or from engineering. Characteristic of these people is that they are very quantitative.

239

Show them a number and they can make a decision.

Many went into business and engineering because they didn't like the social and behavioral areas. But when you look at what the impediments are to change, or the transformation of industry, or more relational, cultural types of things, that's all over on the "soft" side. If you think of a box as an organization, in part of it is the "hard" or quantitative stuff, this is where most of us live. In the other part of the box are the "soft" issues, the people issues, the qualitative. Quantitative people are not very skilled in this part of the box .. We need to manage the interface between the hard and the soft.

Where are the soft people, the behavioral scientists or the social scientists? Rarely do you find them inside technically-based organizations. One of the things I can envision is the movement of behavioral, social-science-based thinking into our technically oriented organizations, leading to a better blending of the hard and soft sciences.

Davis: In the behavioral sciences, 1 can see a very good case for virtual reality. That was very clear from what 1 saw yesterday, where they were physically imposing additional tasks on the driver so they could measure performance.

Cole: How do you motivate people to change, how do you motivate people to learn, how do you motivate people to accept a different environment. From the hard side, what do we say, "Either you change or eise"?

Soft thinking really focuses on the total human being.

Martin: An example of how we have failed miserably in educating the public about science and technology in general is nuclear power, particularly nuclear waste. When you talk about encapsulating nuclear fuel, waste disposal, it scares people to death. The problem is politics and law, not technology. You have to take care of a modest amount of heat, ten 100-watt bulbs is the amount of heat to dissipate. You want something that won't corrode for a hundred million years? Use an inch of copper, capped with stainless steel on the outside. Yet we have people perceiving this overwhelming "national problem" that is absolutely not there.

Davis: lt sure is an education issue. But I think it has to do with the American Psyche. We are a nation of radicals because our ancestors came here because theywere going to get out of the old country. lt is a fear of technology.

This is another public education issue, because there is no such thing as zero risk for most activities. But, until you understand the concepts of probability and statistics, you are not going to believe that.

Davis: They only apply that to hard science. They don't apply this zero risk thing to their lives.

Cole: There was an interesting TV program a year ago. The moderator had a group of people in a room talking about environmental risk. One vignette addressed a city in Colorado where many people had been living in homes built on mine tailings for over a 100 years. The EPA declared it a super fund site and wanted to move the town and haul the stuff away.

Somebody in the town said, we've been here 100 years, let's see how sick we are. So they conducted epidemiological studies and found there were no health problems. Now EPA is so insistent there is a problem, they are force-feeding pigs dirt from the town to see if they can find some health problem. On the same program the host said to the audience, what if we had this new, very clean fuel, but there are going to be 15 people killed next year because of its use. He asked the audience whether they would accept this fuel, and they rejected it. Then he said, well, we have that fuel today, it is natural gas, and there are something like 200 deaths a year related to natural gas. Everybody was horrified.

This is a perfect illustration of the zero-risk mentality that we have. lt is really a curse in terms of effective decision-making, whether we talk about asbestos problems in the schools or air pollution. My point is that we are moving in the right direction when we talk about affordability and risk and economic analysis. We must use science to facilitate practical decisions.

Davis: Truly you are preaching to the saved, but my observation is we have a huge barrier in the school system because l suspect that our biggest problem is teachers at the elementary and high school level. Not to say there aren't some very good teachers out there.

Marks: There are some exciting experiments going on and some school systems are doing very innovative things. But many schools are still doing things the same old way and l am told that parents, in general, are very satisfied with their schools. This may be good or may be bad. People need to understand more about how much heuer the educational process could be, by using some of the innovative approaches in these experimental programs.

Davis: Certainly computers have invaded the schools.

Marks: lt is more than just computers and technology, however. lt is understanding very different

RELATIVE RISK Marks: It's something even more fundamental than that. lt has to do with the idea of zero risk. Some public policies say zero risk is the only acceptable amount.

240

Davis: If it works and spreads, are we going lo get rid of our agriculture-based school year?

Cole: Industry now realizes it has to optimize its use of resources. If you have a factory not working on weekends or evenings, that's a poor use of those assets.

We must use all of our assets and resources effectively and efficiently, including plants, people and natural resources.

Davis: Globalization will get to us, 1 guess, on this.

Marks: The fact is, today we are not competitive in our educational process.

Davis: Maybe we have identified a major area of change which has no technological aspect to it.

Cole: There are many fuzzy boundaries here. Some things are very difficult to compartmentalize. Our traditional way of organizing things is to break it down into its parts, that is how we write papers, conduct research, do engineering...

Martin: It's how we teach school....

Cole: ... and maybe we are going to have to rethink that process. Now we are looking at some tools that can enable that.

Let me throw out another tremendously important issue, the idea of values, ethics and morals. Where does that fit into the context of what we are talking about here? We talked about human beings, collaboration, and new ways of thinking, but we have some real problems. Many think there's a "value" world and then there's the separate world of technology. The fact is, these worlds are becoming intertwined.

If you consider ethical issues in industry, you have two things that have happened in the past few years.

One is the fast pace of change with a high rate of turnover of people. The embedded ethical code that was part of the history of industry, and was passed from one to another in an orderly fashion, has begun tobe fractured by the speed of change.

Secondly, with globalization we have now the intermixing of many cultures at a very high rate. Many of these cultures have different ethical codes. Both factors are creating problems. We are restructuring to work in more interdependent ways. Companies and individuals are trying to work together more effectively. We believe in teams and close working relationships.

One of the things fundamental to achieving close working relationships between groups, individuals or teams is trust. We have to trust one another. What is the foundation of trust? 1t's a shared value system. You cannot have trust if you're working with one code and somebody eise is working with another code.

Davis: That's a very interesting thought. 1 could see how that works, because it is so value-related, and it's

ways for people to learn. Bill, why don't you describe what is going to happen in this new instructional center being built on the North Campus?

Martin: The Integrated Technology lnstructional Center is a forty- million-dollar state-funded facility. It's actually hard to define its use, it was intemionally built with the idea that we don't really know how it's going to be used. It's going to evolve as our needs change. lt's going to be a place where engineers, artists, musicians meet in the middle of our campus. ll's across from the architecture building, across from the music building, and right next to the engineering building. lt will have performing studios and then il is going to have our digital library, wired to the world. There is a place there for a virtual reality lab.

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION Marks: Students will be teaching students as much as professors will teach students, and people are going to learn in a experiential way. 1 think that kind of learning is going to revolutionize the educational process.

Davis: What you are saying is by taking people that are in the soft disciplines and exposing them to technology it may open a door to technology that wouldn't have been there before?

Marks: We tend to separate left brain and right brain education. For instance, we teach engineers to be analytical people. We sort out kids from the time they are in kindergarten-first grade, by whether or not they are good in analytical areas, and encourage those that are good to go into technical areas. Creativity is a totally different mauer than analysis and the creative artist uses a totally different approach to solving problems.

But a good engineer often needs to be very creative.

Melding these skills by broadening the educational process is what is going to happen in this center.

Someone described K-12 education as this wonderful process where we take children S or 6 years old who have an unbounded interest in learning and experiencing everything, who perceive everything they touch as something new to be learned, and in 12 years we turn them into robots that resist learning, so that you have to cram down their throat every piece of learning they get. By the time they graduale, you have to force feed them. That's dumb. There must be heuer ways and, yes, 1 believe the computer is an enabling technology which can help some of that happen.

There are other process changes being tried, too, such as ungraded classrooms, team teaching and team learning, and around-the-year schools without long summer recesses.

241

the breakdown of so me of those trad it ional valucs that's go t us in so111e of thc picklcs wc'rc in from a socielal point of view. ( ULTURAL (URVEBALLS

Co le: A pcrfect example is that in a number of cultures, kickbacks are s tanclarcl busincss practicc .. .

Davis: Wc're pracLically Lhc on ly innocenls herc in th c Unitcd Stales ... Thc wholc su bstancc of our convcrsaLion this afternoon sLrikes 111e as vc ry hu111an isti c.

You're LechnologisLs and yeLthis is vcry humanistically bascd and somehow 1 don't think Lhat would have bcen a considcratio n 100 yea rs ago.

Marks: Thal 111ay bc why so111c tech nologists have macle preclictio ns t hat don't look vcry s harp 20 ycars later, because they cl icln't Lake in to account the human na ture siele of things.

Martin: Have we wrung it dry or harclly startccl?

Cole: 1 clon'Lthin k this is a vcry easy task 10 tack le.

Davis: 1 did n't expcct it to be. l clidn'l reall y wa nt 10 come forth with, weil , we'rc goi ng to have an all-plastic car that will gel 100 mpg by 2003.

Cole: Goocl. 1 thi nk what we are suggcsting is, thcre is a whole diffcrclll thought arca 1ha1 is no ntracliti onal for tcchn ical pcoplc Lo dea l wit h. Certainly it's reOccted herc in o ur organizations that wan t Lo bc ve ry quan tilat ivc, "s how 111c a number and 1'11 makc a dccision," ancl realizing thcre is a vv hole universc of th ings you can't dea l with in that fas hion. You can ta lk abou t valucs, cthics, feelings, relationshi ps and th ings of this type. The agile environmc nl , vinual o rga nizat ions, all of thcse Lhings require a kincl of a blencling of what wc are ta lking aboul. The behavio ral, life ancl social sciences, thc hard or 1radi1ional physical scicnces, they are all bccoming connccted. This will be a great challcnge fo r all of us.

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Contributors to

The Technology Century Brucc J. Annett Jr. is director of universil y relations and alumni scrvices ,,, Lawrcnce Tech110l osic.JI U11iversi1y which he joinecl in 1976 as director of public re!.Jtions.

Earlier. An11ett held positions with DePauw University and Albion Co/lese. He is a director of the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, .111d a member of the /ntem<ltiona/ Association of Business Comnwnicators, Ensineerins Socicty of Detroit, Economic Club of Detroit, among ot/1ers. Under An11e1t's feadership, Lawrcncc Tech /Jas won a larse number of awards for publication e'celle11ce. He holds a B.A. from Albion College a11d an M.A. from Michigan Stare University. A Michis,1r1 11ati1'e, /1e was born i11 Pontiac and srew up in W.1terford Township, Mich.

Wit/1 dual /oves of cngineerin11 and history, llob Cnsey /J,1s a mec/1anical en111neering clct:rec from Rose-Hulma11 /11stit111l' of Tecl111olo11y, a bachelor's degree in America11 history from Towson Stare

Uni\ crsity, tlnd

,1

master's dewee in history of teclmolosy from the Uni1•ersit)' oi Del.lware. 1 le " orked for 12 years as a11 e11gineer at Bet/Jlehem Stee/'s 5parrows Point, /\laryl.ind plant, and has lieen a historia11 and curator for thc Institute of f/ectric,1/ ,1nd Electronics Engineers, 5/oss Furn.1Ces National Historie Landmark, .md the Detroit Historicaf 1\ luseum. /Job is currently cur.1tor of transportation at Henry Ford /\luse11m 8 Greenficld Village.

Ja ne l

Frank Bulllcr is a

Braunslcin

joinecl The Associ,1tecl Press in Miami out of tlw Univcrsity of Florid,1 ,111d was 1r,111sfcrred two ycars /a1cr 10 Detroit as AP's n.11ional .wto writer in 1986. In 1988, she moved to thc Detroit Free Press, where shc w,1s .111 .w1011101ive nrriter and 1/1e11 a marketing co/11111nist beiore striking out as an incff'penclent joumalist in 199-!. Braunstein currentl)' spccializes in automotive writins for wclmical tracle and consumer mag.izines. She Jives In Grosse Poi11te, Mid1.

Troy-based pub/ic relatiom com11/t,mt, a pvrsuit /1e bei;a11 in 1970 after having been dircctor of devclopme111 for the Detroit Institute of Technology ,111d co111m1.111ica1ions director for the Greater Dl'troit Ch,1mber of Commerce. For 12 )'e.Jrs hc w.1s with American Motors Corp„ where he was responsible for the .1ppliance division's p11blic relations. A jo11malism sracl11ate of Ohio 51.lte University, he has recently eamccl creclit in a m.1ster's program .11 Ccntral Michigan. Bull/er has been a lon1:time mem/Jcr of tlie 5ociety of Professional /ournalists, the P11blic Relations Society of America, and was a member of the E50 Publicatiom Commillee for many years incfuding as

chairman.

Bob Cosgrovc h.1>

Charlollc \V, Craig

bccn ,1 Detroiter since I %0 when he /Jegan a nine ye,1r carcer nrith /1,1rkc, Davis II. Compan)'· /Jorn in Toledo, Ohio ,mc/ a wac/11 .11e of the University of Toleclo with a 8.5. in d1emistry, he p11rsucd sradu,1te studics in //J(• business .1nd archival discip/ines at \ \t.1y11e State U11i1·ersity. He h.1s OC'C'n a re:,ide111 of Dctroit's lndi.m Vilfage Nistorical District ince 1965. l leis ,1 founding mem/Jer and .1 p.l>t president of the 8/11ewawr Mic/1ili•ll1 Ch.1pter. N.llional Raifw,iy l-fütoric,1/ 5ociety; ,, member and ;ince 1989 ,1ssociate eclitor and trustee of the New York Ce11tr,1/ 5)'Stem 1-/istorical 5ociety; and in 197 J he founded the Indian Vilf,111e 1-fistorical Colll'ctio11s, of w/1ic/1 he is a past presic/<•111.

is a busincss writcr for thc Detroit Free Press, where shc /Jas worked since 1979. After stints in the city room and the City-County

243

Bureau, she was na1nccl an assistant city cditor in 1983.

Crai1: joined the Free Press Editorial Board in 1990, ancl served as reacler represe11tatil'e ancl assist,1nt to the C\ CCutiv(• editor until going back to t/1e business staff in 1994. Bl'fore the Free Press, Craig w orkcd for three years in Fore/ Motor Co. public relations. /Jeforc rord, she was a fea/l/re wriwr ancl colum111s1 at The Detroit News. II graduale of the University of Missouri 5chool of Journafism, she lives i11 Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. She is .1 membcr of tl1c Economic Club of Detroit ancl is a past president of thc Detroit Press Club.

Mikc Da vis (editorin-c/1ieO is autlwr o( arc/1i1ec/ural and marine history books and count-

less newsµaper i1nd m;ig,1zinc stories.

An adjunct professor of arc/1itectur.il history at Eastem Michigan Universit)\ he formerly 1vas D etroit Historical Society e \ ccutive director, Evenin}; News Association cor-

porate con11m111ications directo r, Ford Motor Company technical infonnation manager, /Jusine.<s Weck assistan/ editor anrl a M iami Daily News reporter. With a IJ.A. from Yale ,wd doctoral studies in tec/moloi;ical history at Ml,1yne State U11iversity, Davis belongs to the Automotive Press Asssociatio11„ Sociel y of Automotive fllginc•ers, Detroit Section SAE /-lis tory Commiuee, Public Re!.ltions Socicty of America and thc Algonquin Ch1i>.

Al Flcming jo incd Eisbrenn er Public Rel,1tions, wlicre l1e is no w vice president, following more than 35 years as <ln au101notivc reporter, colvmnist,

editor and publisher. Fleming spent

more rhan 12 ycars as an editor at Au/01110/ive News. Before that, he was executive cditor of Ward's Auto Worlrl, anrl has been ,wtomotive columnist for 1hc Chris1ian Science Monitor, 1he Detroit Frce Press a11rl other p11blica1ions and media. H e is autlwr o f tlw book "Advenlurcs in Autoland. • Tlic Bloo111(ield 1-/ills, Mich. resident also has becn heard da i ly since 1972 on MfMI) r,1dio's "Al Fleming'.< AulDmotive lnsii;ht." His a1v,1rds include th e A111erican Business Press ]esse H. Nc,1/ Award for /Jest series of

C h ris Dyrd a rnrrl'nlly c/1airs ESD's Pu blica1io11s Co111mi11ee, pfa)•ing a kcy ro te in shepherding T/1e Tec/1110/ogy Century. W ith ESD since 19/Jfl, he has also parliäpated on i ts M embership Committee. D)'fda is m<1naser of vehicle programs ,md control in Chrysler's Minivan Pla1for111, as ,111 ourgrowth o( his 15 years of engi neerini; experience in vehicle dcsigna and dcvelopment. A Troy resident, he lwlds a /Jachelor's in electrical engineering from At1ichigan State Uni·

versily, ,111d a manage111en1 degree from 1hc Un iversity of Michii;an.

Ja mes P. Ga lla ghc r is a 40 year obscrver of the cons1wcl io11 ind ustry and archi1 ec1ure, ilS a w rit er and erlitor, a111hor and pu/Jlic relations execlllive.

A senior edilor for 18 years for Time, lnc and M cC raw1 /il/ on tlieir l10usi11g magaLine, House & /-lome, hc retumed to Detroit in 1970 ,111d scrved a;; direClor of pu/Jlic affairs for lhc architccwra l/enginccrini:: firm of Smith, 1-/inchman .~ Grylls Associal es. 1-/c i s the autlwr of 1he hislory of l hat firm '.< tlrsl 125 )' ears, .md of a hislOry of 1he orii;in and tl1c restoration o( lhc Wayne Coun ty Courthouse.

Now retired, hf' has renovated nine houses in Dctroil's historic Wes/ Vill.1i;c. /-lc contirwes 10 write for various 111'1~,uines and newspapl•rs.

ror

1he p.1st 15 years Paul A. Eise ns te in has operated The De1roil /Jureau,

an

international, multimedia nelvs

Service speciafizing in autornotive, hightec/1, bus-iness and rela ted topi cs. His work .1ppears in such pu/Jlic,11ions as T/1e Cllfistian Sc ience Monilor, The Economi st. lnvestor's Btisines> D,1i/y, P,1rade mag.uine, Ccrmany's Avto M o tor und Sport .•md Nikk,in ]idosha Shi111bw1, Japan's leadins .wto111otive publica lio n. He also appc.1rs Oll ,1 v,lfiety oi radio and television llelworks. 1lis most f<Xent an1ong a 11tm1ber of awards is tlw lt\l/Jeels dward, presented by Tlie D etroit Press Club Fo11n d,11ion for coverage of the llascent electric vehiclc ind ustry.

A loc,1/ joumalist

since

graduatiny

from W.1y11e State Un ivel'sily in 1977, Martha Hindes spent I0 yea rs rcporting

ne ws,

IJLJsilless and fcature stories for The Dei roit News. In 1987 she formecl Automol ive Bureau 10 co1-cr industry-related lopics for local and nationa l pu blications. A memlx•r of Dctroit's Automotive Press Association, she ,1/so served for sever.11 years as a celebrity judi;c .it th e Detroit Windsor llllem.1 tio11al Frecdom Fesl iva/'s Whcl'is of Freedom colleclor car contest.

Slie li.1s /Jeen a i::ucsl lecturer Oll featurc writini; for WSU journa lis111 classes.

editorials and fc,1wre writing. A native of Detroit,

he is a gmdti.1 te of Wa yne St,1te University.

Cha rles K. Hydc is professor of history at W.1 yne Sta/e University. He eamed his bachelor's in hisl or)• from the University of tv1._1ss-

achuse11s at A1nherst and his Ph.D. in hislory from the Universi1y of Wisconsin .11 Madison. /-lc IMs wriuen scveral hooks, includini; De lroii, a n lnduslrial H islo ry Guidc.

(1980); O ld Re liable, ;\ n lllus1ra1cd Hislory of lhe Qu incy M ining Compa ny (1 91l2J; The Norlhe rn Ligh1s: Lighlhouses o f lhc Upper Grcal Lakcs ( 1986); ,111d Hisloric Highway ß rid ges o( Mic higa n ( l 9<JJ). f-le will soon pu/Jlish ,1 histor)• of tht• U.S. coppcr industry.

Daniel Jarvis is a

M ikc Ko llins has had .1 loni; career

cun1mu11ications spccialist with Deiroit Edison. A former newsp,1per writer, phoiographcr and production 111.inagcr, he is a 1987 i::raduate of Wayne State Uni-

.1s an auto mo tive e ng ineer, historian ,md writer and race Cc1r driver. An

Ollio native, Kollin.< wo rked as an automolivc engincer

Vt}rsil )' .inrl SC'rves

.is vice presidcnl o( 1/1c WSU Alumni Association /Joard of Directors.

for

Chryslc•r in thc 1930> ,1nd './Os beforc scrving in the N.wy durini; Wor lrl War II. H e then worked for S111rlebakerl'ad.1rd in the ' ./O.< and '50s before rci oining Chrys ler in 1955. 1-fe /1as contri/J uted to Motor Trend

.111d to auto

mainll'nance publications ,md

has hcld IJll•mber>hips and leadership posilions on a numbcr uf profcssio1MI boards and associa1io11s, incfudins Socicty of Aul omotive [ ni;inet•rs, U.S. 1\1110 C/u/; and tl1e iVlichisan flldustrial Tr.1ini11g Coimcil.

244

Reginald Larrie, a Michigan

native,

received his bachelor of arts from Upper lo1va University, his master's in education from Marygrove Co/lese and a Ph. D. irom Pacific Westem University.

His byline has appeared i11 11u111erolls pllblicatio11s tllfoughout the country, inc/11di11g Thc Michig.111 Chronicfe, Detroit Free Press, thc Detroit News a11d Ward's AutoWorld. Larrie has also tau1-1h1 courses i11 Germany .1s a visiling professor of Africa11 American History for Wa)'lle Stille U11iversity ancl is an instructor at W.1yne Collnty Co111111unity Co/lese.

Hugh W. McCann, a native of Northcm lrelancl ,incl a sracluate of Indiana l11stitu te of Tech11ology and thc U11iversity of Michigan, covers science and tcchnology for the The Detroit News. A formcr cngineer, he beg,1n his profcssiona/ CcJreer in iour11a/is111 elf Newsweek magazi11e in 1959 .111d reported for tlw Detroit Bureau for seven years. He wo rked as a seneral assig11me111 reporter for the D etroit Free Press from 1969 to 1976. McCan11 has produced television documentaries, authored cl nove/ sct in World War I a11d co -.wthored a book on World V\~1r II.

H avins

moved 10

magazi11e pllblish ing from daily ,1nd weckly newspaper

ecliling ,1nd manage· me11t, David Tell is m,111aging editor of ESD's Tech11ology

and E2m

n1a~azines

and designed and copyedited its centennial book. Le.1pirogging from bricf Stints with

his a'1na rnatl:!r Brown University's arts and Jiwrary 111agazine and with tlw Lowe ll (New Hc1mp. hire) Sllt1, Tell became copy editor ,mc/ iood columnist/res1aura11t critic for the Worce;ter (Mass.i Telegram. Upon 1110\•ing to Michig an in 1990, hc joined Tl1e (A dria11) D,1ily Telegra111 as assi;1a111 news editor/busincss edilor, later becoming news eclitor for SCN Com1111111ication Group's weekl)' newspaµcr and its rnont hly Lakcfront magazinc in Oakland Collnty. Tell's backsrou11c/ .ilso i11cll1des graduale work in philosophy .111d severcil ycars' employn 1cnt in lnunan resources.

Jon Lowcll is a 25 year vetera11 of Detroit joumalism.

1-/e is currently auto editor at WXYZ-TV, a comn1entator on \ti!JR radio and a free-lancc writer. H e spent 12 years ,1s a Newsweek corrcspondent bascd in Detroit, I 0 years as senior editor at Ward 's Auto World, a11d three years duri ng the early / <JBOs as director of co111111u11icatio11s for Burroughs Corp.

Richard E. Mar- j liurgcr is presidenl ~ e111eritus and professor of physics, 111c1the1natics, anc/ computer science at Lc1\vrence Tecli· nolosical U11iversity, where he joined the adjuncl farnlty i11 1965. He served as preside111 of the 1111iversit)' from 1977 to 1993, when he rctllrned to full lime teaching. M,1rbllr[!er is past president of 1he Eng ineering Society of Detroit and other distinguisl1ed groups. His 40year scientific c,1reer inclucles time at G M Research Labomrories, .1t Lawrence Tech, ,111c/ i11 tlw Air Force, where he collabor.11ed 011 the developme111 of a photovo/taic cell. A native of D etroit, Marlwrger eamed tl1fee degrees in physics, i11c/11ding his Ph.D„ at Wayne State University. 1-/e won ESD's Horace H. Rackham 1-lllmanitarian Award and the ESD Affiliate Council's Gold Award, amont: many other honors.

Local free-Jance journalist Maurcen McDona ld ivri tes busi11css articlcs for the Detroit Free Press a11d variou s al/tomo tive public,1-

Louis Mleczko has been .1 s1.1fi writer for The D etroit News since 1971; as transportation writer there, h e broke the story 011 the Zi/w,wkee Bridge accide11t of 1982, and reported 011 co11stn1ctio11 of 1he Detroit People Mover and ils d esig11 and constwction proble111s, among other 111ctro issues a11d b c.lts. Prior 10 thal he spent four years at Akron /Ohio) Be,1con Journal, where he sharecl the Pulitzer for coverage of the sl10oting c/e,1t/1s o f tollr Ke11t St.11e University students by O hio Nation.11 Guardsmen i11 May 1970. 1-le ,1/so worked at The Macomb Daily, where assignments i11c/11ded 1967 D etroit riots and 1968 World Series. He is a graduale of M o nteith College, W.wn e State U11iversi1y, 1969, Bachelor of Philosophy d egree, journalism major.

tions, teaches corpora te newsleuers at \N.1 yne State Univers ity .111d produ ces newsletters ior scveral clie11ts. Over the last 20 re.1rs she visited c,rr de,1/ersl1ips ,icross the U.S. while writing for a Chevrolet traini11g p llbli cation, wrote automotivl' stories for the Ne\v York Times ,111d edited several alltomotive fact books ior Ward's Communications. She ,1lso did stin ts i11 PI< at th e Southeast Mic/1i1-1an Coll11cil oi Governmcnls iSEM COGJ and Nl'w Detroit.

Donald Thurlier has purslled a Ions c.1reer in public rclatiom and fllndraisin1.: managernent si11ce graduatinJ.: Harvard in 19.JO. He 110 111 serves as honorary chairman and senior consllltc1nt to the firm he startcd i11 1958 ,111d irom ivhich he retirecl in I <J82. H e has been a member of tlw Michi1-1.111 Cripplcd Childrc11 Co111miss io11, th e state Board o i Ed11catio11 ,md the Mic/1ig,in H istoric.11 Commissio11 and was .l re1-:ent of th c Universif)' oi !Vlichii:an ,111c/ first chairman of tlll' Bo,1rd of Tru tces oi \<\l,1rne Coullf)' Comn111nif)' Co/lese.

His princip,1/ activities since 1986 have becn 011 the board of /Jllle Cross Bille Shield oi Mic/1iga11, as cl1air until / 992, ,1nd presc11ll)~ .1s vice chair111,111 oi the Atfichigan Histo ric,1/ Center Fou11cl.11ion.

245

l

G ary S. Vasilas h has workcd in advertisinB cllld journa/;s111 since 1 ge1ting his mastcr's in literalt!rc fro111 Eastem Michi1-1.111 University in 1977.

H e has hcld positions as senior editor of iVl;11wf,1ct" ri111-1 E11i:i11eerin1-1, associate editor 1vitl1 The Rockford Insti tute and creative director 1vith G. Temple Associ,1tt's . No•v editor in c/1ief of Production magazine, Vasil,1sh has al so IJee11 publislwd in Tl1e \'\lall Stree/ Journal, Lightworks, Werkstatt 1111d Betrieb and clse1vl1ere.

J. R. Wargo is a consultant to induslry on public illterest activist tactics alld agelldas.

He received a bac/1elor of arts degree from a Midwestern ulliversity in 1956. A sixyear U.S. Navy career included tours as a radar officer with blimp and fixecl wing patrol squadrollS, the study of Malldarin Chinese at the Naval lntelligence Sc/100/, and service with the 7th Fleet in the North Pacific. 1-le was UPI bureau c/1ief ill Cleve/and, thell Detroit bureau chief, McGraw Hilf World News, 1965-1973.

Following a professional journalism fellowship al Stanford University, he worked ill Washingtoll, D.C., coverillg federal regulatory agencies for ßusilless Week. From 1976 until 1991, he was associated with a Irade association representing tlie nuclear illdustry. He resides ill Mclean, Va

Doug Williams has as a consequence of three clecacles as a journalist gai necl much more appreciation for history as a cliscipline ancl encleavor than when he was a stuclent at W,iyne Stare University. A onetime editor of ESD publicatio1JS, Williams l1as also clone time M Iran Age ancl the Detroit Free Press. A resident of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. , he has writtell ancl publishecl about techllofogy, busilless, cars and crime.

Anthony (Tony) Yanik is editor of the

Tom Yates is a freefallce journalist livillg ill lllkster, Mich.

In the past he's beeil a telepholle operator, power hause layout operator, artist, temporary worker for Kelfy Sen1ices, r,1cing program coordinc1lor for an auto racing series in the micl-'70s ancl pursuecl another clozen or so other occupatiolls. 1-fc's beeil free-lancillg for 15 years, the last six fulftime. His work has appearecl ill both the Detroit Free Press ancl Detroit News, " Popu/ar Mechall ics, " "Autoweek, " "Motorhome" and more than 15 other inclustry, automoti1•e and gencra l intercst publications. He's o ne of the few members of the Detroit Press Club ancl APA who skyclives.

Natiollaf Automotive History Collection publication, "Wheels, • alld has ,1Uthored numerous articles on automotive history for this publication as well as others such as the •chronicle, • the bimonthly magazine of tl1e Historical Society of Mic/1igan. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Historians, lnc., the Algonquin Club, and the Society of Automotive Engineers Historicaf Committee, for w/1ic/1 he organized and chaired a special session lionoring five automobile clesigner greats in 1990, ancl presentecl tlie paper, SAE92085, "The Automobile: Umvanted Technology - The Later Years" in 1992.

246

Natalynne Stringer Williams is market-

'. J

ing clirector for the Detroit Zoologica/ Institute ancl a freelance writer/ecli1or.

Formerly, she was marketing ancl PR director ior tl1e Detroit Historical Department, all account execwive at Casey Communications Management, commt.micc11ions manager for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governmenls, ancl a PR representative at Coca-Cola USA. Williams has also clone a number of free-lance ecliting proj ects for Cafe Research, lnc. alle/ has workecl as a p11blicity/ marketi11g consultant; clients included the Detroit Institute of Arts, the M etropolitan Detroit Convention ancl Visitors Bureau, the University Cultural Center Associatioll, ancl th e Museum of African Americall History. Williams is a graduale of Wayne Stare University.

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ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP

Congratulations to The Engineering Society

ANR PIPELINE COMPANY

Congratulates

Business Consulting

ESD-The Engineering Society

Services

AMP Your full-service supplier of automotive electronic interconnections, worldwide.

AMP Incorporated Harrisburg, PA. 17105 (800) 522-6752 FAX 986-7575

•

Information technology

for 100 Years of Outstanding Service to the Engineering and Manufacturing Industries ANR PIPELINE COMPANY 519 Renaissance Center Detroit, Michigan 48243 (313) 496-7115 FAX: (313) 496-5638 248

Productivity / Reengineering Cost and performance management

ISO 9000/ QS 9000

•

Suite 2700 500 Woodward Ave. Detroit, Michigan 48226

The Who's Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

.1 ~!~~w ~?,~g;, 42040 Koppernick Road Canton, MI 48187 Phone:(313) 451-9449

Celebrating 30 years as a leacling international manufacturer of specialty vehicles and open-air systems.

• • • • •

Con vertibles Specialty Vehicles Sunroofs Trim Systems Program Management

ASC Incorporated One Sunroof Center Southgate, Ml 48195 (3 13) 285-49 11 (3 13) 246-0500

Fax: (3 13) 451-9462

ATEQ Corp. manufacturers world 's fa stest and most sensitive leak, flow and pressure testin g instruments.

Lab. semi-automatic or fully automated test systems for quality control.

We serve automotive, meclical, gas, appliance, packaging ancl many other inclustri es.

Our products are sold and serviced in 28 countri es, including Japan.

For more information. please ca l1 us at 800-646-9449

BADGER

.J~L. OIL PUMPS & KITS PISTONS CYLINDER SLEEYES

Manley

BADGER / MANLEY A Dynagear Company 2500 Curtiss St. Downers Grove, Illinois 60515 (708) 969- 1008 FAX: (708) 696-9307

IBDO Congratulations ESD on your 1OOth! from

BDO Seidman Technology and Training Center Taking Technology Forward with Innovative Business Solutions 9 M.A.S. 90 & BusinessWorks 9 Microsoft Windows' Applic ations 9 Manufacturing Systems Cl assroom, on-site & customized training. For details, contact J arnie McCorrnick at: (810) 362-2100.

BDO Seidman 755 West Big Beaver Suite 1900 Troy, MI 48084-0178 Tele. : (810) 362-2100 Fax: (810) 362-3157

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BALOGHi The leacler in lnclustrial Radio Frequency ldentification congratulates ESD on 100 years of service to Manufacturing & Engineering.

The next century's technology today.

3990 Varsity Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48108 800-252-RFID

The Who's Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

ThE ßooMER CoMpANy Supplying the Construction lndustry since 1903 ARCHITECTS & E GI 1EERS

"Striving to be the Best" • lndustrial Manufacturing • Commercial/ln stilutional • Power Generati on • Pub lic Works • Waste Management 60 1 West Fort St. Detroit, M I 48226 (3 13) 963-2300 (3 13) 962-4269 FAX

MATERIALS

FABRICATIONS INVENTORY DELIVERY

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CAlllBlllDGE Where SolutionsTake Shape CAMB RIDGE I NDUSTR IES ... setti ng a new standard in plasti cs through "engineered . oluti ons and product di versity" for your automoti ve systems needs.

PROCESSES • lnjection Molding • Comprcssion Molding • Liqu id Molding • ß low Molding • Ex trusion Molding

MATER IALS • GMT • SMC • BMC • GRU • Woodfi ber • Thermoplastics • Empcflcx

Boom Equipped Delivery Fleet

1940 East Forest Detroit, M148207 313•832•5050 Fax 313•832•0520 Michigan Wats 800•482•6422

$$

555 Horace B rown D ri ve Madison Heights.

M I 4807 1 (810) 6 16-0500 (8 10) 6 16-5032

CyberMetrics COR P O R AT I ON

CROWNE PLAZ~ PONTCHARTRAIN CITY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Michi gan's leading environmental management company, o fferin g a comprehensi ve line of services, including: • Des ign. con. tructi on and operation of landfill s; recycl ing and compo ting faciliti es; • Solid waste co llection and di sposal; • Site remediati on and con struction.

3400 East Lafayette Detroit, M I 48207 (3 13) 567 -4700

Two Washington ll lvd.

Detroit, l\lichigan 48226-.i4 16 (3 13) 965-0200 • FAX:(3 13) 965·9-'64 For Worlclwidc Rcscrvations.

Ca ll 1-800-2-Crownc

.+ 15 Renovated Deluxe Rooms. lncluding 33 Suites. Crowne Plaza Club Executive Level Floor. Free HBO. ESP . Sport's etwork. C . State of the Art Fitness Center Outdoor Pool.

Mesqui te Creek Stcakhouse with Patio Dini ng.

Room Service 6am - 12 Mid. P-Jazz Outdoor Jazz Scrics May -A ugust General Ma nager's Wcek ly Cocktai l Reccption Adjaccnl IO Cobo 1lall and foc Loub Arena.

1ninutc> l'rom Rcnai >sancc Center. Financial Di>tric1. Grccktown. T iger S1adium . Ha11 Plaza.

Pcoplc Movcr monorail sto p' adjaccnl 10 ho1cl

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Si nce 1988. CyberMetrics has helped thou· sands of manufacturing companies get con· 1rol of product qua lity. We are a major devel· ope r of PC-based qua 1i ly manage me nl soft ware tools 1hat include: GAGEtrak

Gage ancl instrument calibration management GAGEstat Gage R&R studies SUPPLIERtrak Receiving inspection and SQA management SCRAPtrak Scrap ancl clel'ect tracking with Pareto analysis COSTtrak Cos1-of-Quali1y analys is and 1racking DCS Engineering Drawing Cont rol System and more . . .

CyberMetrics Corporation 12900 Hall Rd „ Stc. 400 Sterling Heights. MI 483 13 (8 10) 726-7676 (T EL) (8 10) 726-7677 (FAX)

The Who's Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

DätaMyte

As we approach our 70th Year ... we salute

Ready to meet your QS 9000 needs wi th: • Quantum Factory EnGagc!"' gage cali bration and management soft warc.

• Quantum SPC QA"' quality analysis soft warc.

•Quantu m SPC DC"clata collection software.

• 3000-series Radio Frcquency data collectors with - Freq uency Agile Sprcad Spcctru m Tcchnology - Torque and Angle capabili ty.

ALBERT KAHN ASSOCIATES, INC. and

THE EHG.IHEERIHO $0CIETY 1HS. 1H5 A C ENTURY O F ACHIEVEAIEHTS

A HEW l ll LL.EHHIUAI OF DISC OVERY

on the Grand Occasion ofth eir IOOth Anni versaries.

Congratulations!

~- Roclcwell Automation AJ/en-Brad/ey • DataMyte

r>rentice

1894 West Maplc Road Troy. M1 48084 (8 10) 280-7000

Appl 1cal 1on Eng ineeri ng Solution s

Oak Park, Michigan

'DAVIS "Quality With Reliability" Since 1921 •Meta! Stampings & Assemblies • ln-House Prototype/ development capabilities • Presses fro m 50 to 2000 ton • Four Subsidiaries serving auto & related industry

DEI_ TEC

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DeMaria Buitding Company, tnc.

ls ISO/QS-9000 a bad word?

For Gage Cali bration and Control get

"GR&A"

TH E EHC IHEElflHO SOCltT Y t ••S.tHS A CEHTURY OF ACHtt VEMIHTS A NEW MIU. EHH/UM OF OISCOVEAY

(Gage Record & Analysis)

For Preventi ve Maintai nance and Schcduli ng get

"PMM" (Prcventivc Maintainance Manager)

DAVIS INDUSTRIES, INC. 14500 Sheldon Road, Sui te 140 Plymouth, MI 48170 (3 13) 4 16- 1400 (3 13) 4 16- 17 12 (FAX)

co11grat11/ates ESDThe E11gi11eeri11g Society

for 100 years of contribution to Detroit.

We look forward to your next century of service with confidence.

Free Demo Disk Avai lable 907 Cleveland Li ncoln Park. MI 48 146 (3 13) 386-6888 FAX (3 13) 386-6 14 1

2:) 1

45500 Grand River Ave. PO Box 8018 Novi, MI 48376 PH: 810-348-8710 FAX: 810-348-6251

The Who's, Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

Ct'DCT Full service automotive supplier with 9 divisions and affiliates. * DCT Weiding & Assembly * DCT Material Handling * DCT Advanced Engineering * DCT Component Systems * DCT Automation * Stature Prototyping Services * Control Power-Reliance * Utilase Systems * Utilase Blank Weiding Technologies

DCT 20101 Hoover Rd. Detroit, MI 48205 (313) 839-9800 (313) 839-1486

II

DynaLoglc

EnginMting, lnc.

A Benham Company • Process and Facilities Control Design •System & Database Integration • PLC and DCS Software Engineering • Graphie User Interface Software • Communication/Network Software • Documentation/Annotation •Panel Design, Fabrication, Testing • Start-up, Training, Installation • Turn-key Services 3285 Martin Ad. #106 Walled Lake, MI 48390 810-669-3275 Fax: 810-669-1150

Donnellq Serving Automotive Customers Worldwide Through Technology and Innovation

III DYNAGEAR INC THE FULL LNE MANlfACTURER

Dynagear, Inc., is a full-line manufacturer of timing chains, gears, sprockets, oil pumps and various timing and oil pump accessories for domestic and import applications, and heavy duty and high performance automotive markets.

Headquartered in Downers Grove, 111., it is the only singlesource timing components manufacturer in the United States.

DONNELLY CORPORATION 414 E. Fortieth St. Holland, MI 49423-5368 (616) 786-7000

Since 1924

YOUR SINGLE SOUR CE FOR QUALITY ENGINEERING EARTH~

TECH

5555 Glenwood Hills Parkway SE Grand Rapids, Michigan 49588

616-942-9600

252

DYNAGEAR, INC. 2500 Curtiss St„ Downers Grove, II. 60515 (708) 969-1008 / (708) 969-9307

El:Hllß Worldwide Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturer

Congratulates ESD - The Engineering Society on its 100-year Anniversary and salutes it for its Contributions to Engineering and Manufacturing Echlin lnc.

100 Double Beach Rd. Branford, CT 06405 (203) 481 -5751

1!11 !liil

ELLIS NAEYAERT GENHEIMER ASSOCIATES

Thankyou

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for being a dynamic force in engineering and technology advancement for 100 years.

Ellis / Naeyaert I Genheimer Associates, Inc. 888 W. Big Beaver, Ste. 1000 Troy, Michigan 48084-4736 810 / 244-8700 Architects • Engineers • Planners

(9FEDERAL

MOGUL

ENVIRO MATRIX Engineering Excellence

* Water and Wastewater Treatment * Plant Decontamination and Demolition

* Site Evaluation and Reclamation * Environmental Assessments

* Remediation Systems, Design, Construction and Operation

EM is a Michigan OUSTC and a prequalified consultant with major financial and manufacturing corporations Kirit T. Ravani,P.E. CHMM Bruce D. Hassen, P.E. CHMM

1274 Liberty, Suite 604 Detroit, MI 48226 (313) 964-1550 (FAX) (313) 964-1770

The Environmental Quality Company Comprehensive environmental solutions for generators of hazardous and nonhazardous waste streams.

• treatment • stabilization • solidification • solvent recovery • recycling • fuel blending • disposal

EQ-THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMPANY 1349 S. HURON ST., YPSILANTI, MI 48197 1-800-KWAl.ITY (592-5489)

FENDT Builders Supply, lnc.

A world leader in the manufacture and distribution of precision parts since 1899.

We add value by getting the right part to the right place at the right time„. anywhere in the world.

FEDERAL-MOGUL CORPORATION P.0. Box 1966 Detroit, Michigan 48235 810-354-7700 810-354-8950 (Fax)

Quality concrete products and services since 1924.

Blocks, architectural concrete masonry units, interlocking pavers, Keystone retaining walls.

22005 Gill Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335 (810) 474-3211 (810) 474-8110 (FAX)

253

"THE AUTOMOTIVE INTERIOR SUPERSTORE" SALUTES

THE ENGINEERINGSOCIETY ONITS HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

Findlay Industries, Inc. Safes & Engineering Center 1957 Crooks Rd. Troy, MI 48084 (810) 643-1900

.•·I

EXCELLENCE 10.DAY'S PREPARAIION DETERMINES 10MORROW'S ACHIEVEMENT

FOLLMER, RUDZEWICZ & CO„ P.C. ls pleased to announce lts excluslve membershlp In the IRONBRIOGE CPAllSO Network.

The IRONBRIDGE CPA/ISO Network offers a proven, practlcal approach to lmplemenUng ISO 9000 lhats based on the way your ccmpany operates.

ftl#l\lr

French & Rogers

French & Rogers offers a wide range of busin~-to-busin~ marketing services for clients in a variety of industries. For 27 years, we've been a vital marketing resource and have produced award-winning work.

Contactjames Meloche, President and an ESD Member since 1979.

1 .__ " ' - " " " ' - - - - TM

No one is more dedicated to anticipating and solving your automotive component needs than Freudenberg-NOK,

as part of the largest seal ma.nufacturing operation in the world

For lnfonnatlon - contact Peter Meagher at (810) 355-1040

FOLLMER, RUOZEWICZ & CO., P.C. •

CERTFIED PU8UC ACCOUNTANIS

French & Rogers 5750 New King Street Suite330 Troy, MI 48098-2696 TEL: (810) 641-0044 FAX: (810) 641-1718 E-MAIL: 76247.2752 @compuserve.com

Corporate Headquarters 47690 East Anchor Court Plymouth, MI 48170 (313) 451-0020

Globally Yours

LJUl Handy&Harman n.nJ Automotive Group, lnc.

Hoechst Celanese Hoechst (0

Excellence from concept to customer

H.B. Fuller Company Servicing the O.E.M.s with air and fluid handling components and systems in various materials for many decades

Headquarters, Sales and Technical Center 1900 Opdyke Ct. P.O. Box 215530 Auburn Hills, MI 48321 (810) 377-0700 (810) 377-2085 FAX

Formulator, manufacturer of world-class technologies in adhesives, sealants, and coatings for the automotive industry.

Congratulations to the Engineering Society on your 1OOth Anniversary.

Automotive Teclmology Ce11ter 31601 Research Park Dr. Madison Heights, MI 48071 Phone:800-633-7789 FAX: 810-585-4897

254

The Advanced Material Group of Hoechst Celanese Corporation Congratulates the men and Warnen of the ESD-The Engineering Society

-~IR!I -. ..-"&iii&i ....,„. ~=.:=~ A 1MW MIL&DrNfCMI'

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for 100 years of Excellent Service to the Automotive Community

1195 Centre Raad Auburn Hills, MI 48321-7007 Ph. (810) 377-2700 FAX (810) 377-2981

';l]ie WJio's Wbo Directory of COrp()rate Sponsors

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~ 100 VEARS 100 YEARS 100 YEARS 100 YEARS

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1 HUBBELL, ROTH & CLARK, INC. Consulting Engineers

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Engineers • Geologists • Sdenlists • ~anners

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Hull & Associates, lnc., salutes the Engineering Society for 100 years of sound engineering, industrial, and technological advancements and for its contribution to our future.

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FORT MILL, SOUTH CAROLINA

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Hull & Associates, lnc., is A Leading Engineering Company With Over 80 Years of Services to Detroit Industry and Communities

celebrating 15 years of providing environmental and consulting engineering services to public and industrial clients throughout the Midwest.

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On It,s Centennial Anniversary

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555 HULET DRIVE, P.O. BOX 824 BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI 48303-0824 (810) 338-9241 (810) 338-2592 FAX

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2726 Monroe Street Toledo, Ohio 43606 (419) 241-7171 FAX(419) 241-3117 Headquarters

e

Jervis B. Webb Intel offers a comprehensi ve line of advanced VLSI components including 8-and 16bi t microcontrollers, flash memories, in-vehicle serial networking/communications devices, and complete hardware and software development support tools and technical services to meet electronic system design needs.

5000 W. Chandler Blvd.

Chandler, AZ 85226 1-800-628-8686

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308 SPRINGHILL FARM ROAD FORT MILL, SOUTH CAROLINA 29715 PHONE (803)548-8500 FAX (803)548-8599

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John E.Green Company Mechanical Contractor

Company MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMSINTEGRAlORS

and

ESD The Engineering Society A Shared History of Innovative Excellence 34375 West. Twelve Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331-5624 USA Phone: 1-810-553-1220 Fax: 1-810-553-1228

255

CONGRATULATIONS TO E.S.D. ON 100 YEARS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS WE'VE BEEN WITH YOU MOST OF THEWAY....

JOHN E. GREEN COMPANY SINCE 1909 220 VICTOR AVENUE HIGHLAND PARK, MI 48203 (313) 868-2400 (313) 868-0011 FAX "GENERATIONS OF INTEGRITY AND SERVICES"

The Who's Who Directory of Corp:orate, Sponsors

IUUllllS Kantus Corporation combines manufacturing capabilities in Lewisburg, TN with design and development in Southfield, MI to produce automotive interior and electronic systems.

Products: Instrument Clusters, Instrument Panel Systems, Electronic Control Devices; Electronic Circuits, Sensors, Fuel Sending Units, and Airbag Diagnostics, lnterior and Exterior Trim.

201 Garrett Pkwy.

Lewisburg, TN 37091 PH: (615) 359-4001 FX: 359-2151 400 Galleria Officentre, Suite 417 Southfield, MI 48034 PH: (810) 352-7780 FX: 352-3114

Manufacturers and finishers of plastic components for the automotive industry -grilles, wheelcovers, body side moldings, bumper trim and bumper systems.

Lacks Industriesand Plastic-Plate 5460 Cas~adc Rd Grand Rapids, MI 49546 (616) 949-6570

INC.

Serving the Automotive lndustry with highly innovative, high quality electronic, electro hydraulic, electro pneumatic and electro hydraulic components for today and the future.

1400 S. Livernois P.0. Box. 5020 Rochester Hills, MI 48308 (810) 656-0880 (810) 968-1957

BRINGING AUTOMOTIVE PARTNERS TOGETHER SINCE 1953

CONGRATULATIONS ESD

fAX (616) 285-2367

B

PRODUCTS

AUTOMOTIVE SALES ENGINEERS

31420 Northwestern Hwy. Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (810) 932-5445 (810) 932-5464 FAX

Libbey

Owens Ford

A member of the Pilk1ngton Group

LECTRON

Leckie &Associates, lnc.

SALES ENGINEERS

Libby-Owens-Ford is a member of the Pilkington Group, one ofthe world's largest manufacturers of 'Glass for Building and Transport'. As a member of the group, LOF has access to global resources. The company maintains a leadership position in solar control glass technology and has comprehensi ve in-housc concept-to-completion capabilities. All this is backed by extensive research and development activities.

In addition to glass manufacturing and fabrication. LOF is also a leader in glass encapsulation (both PVC and RIM). This technology, which bonds finished automotive glass parts in a plastic frame, is viewed as a practical solution for enhancing automotive styling and aerodynamics while providing efficiencies at the vehicle assembly linc.

35715 Stanley Drive Sterling Heights, Michigan 48312 (810) 795-1001 (810) 795-5190

256

(LINK) 60 years of innovation in Test and Automation Systems for Brakes, Clutches, Transmissions, Springs, Motorsand other Vehicle components ongratulations to the ESD for 10 years of innovation in personal and professional development for engineers and scientists.

---------------

Link Engineering Company 43855 Plymouth Oaks Blvd.

Plymouth, MI 48170 Phone: 313/453-0800 Fax: 313/453-0802

ßl Steel As the leading producer of value-added, flat rolled and

LUCAS ASSEMBLY & TEST SYSTEMS

tubular steel products for the automotive, appliance and electrical equipment

WITH OVER 50 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

industries, LTV Steel relies on advanced manufacturing and information technologies to satisfy its customers' needs for high quality manufacturing materials.

Markel CORPORATION

Providing electrical, mechanical, and thermal insulation solutions to the automotive industry for fifty years.

• Tubular fluoropolymer extrusions of PTFE for abrasion resistant mechanical control cable liners and low permeation fuel and fluid lines.

• Heal shrinkable tubing for electrical insulation and mechanical protection of metal tubes and lines.

• Oxygen sensor and other high temperature fluoropolymer leadwire constructions.

• Tubular fiberglass and other textile sleeving for thermal, electrical, abrasion and vibration insulation.

• Silicone rubber tubing, leadwire and self-fusing tape.

CONGRATULATIONS ESD FOR 100 YEARS OF OUTSTANDING SERVICE 12841 STARK ROAD LIVONIA, MI 48150 (313) 522-9680 (313) 522-9344 FAX

Congratulates

The Engineering Society for 100 Years of Excellence in Serving the Engineering and Manufacturing Industries

5500 New King Street Troy, MI 48007-7002 (810) 641-2500

MAX _ __

„McDOWELL&

BROOCK INC.

IPKASSOCIATES

R E A L T 0

R

s

~ From One Centennial Organization to Another: Congratulations!

Consulting Engineers since 1978

Geotechnical Services Hydrogeological Services GeoEnvironmental Services

Birmingham 300 Woodward Ave. 810-644-6700

West Bloomfield 7011 Orchard Lake 810-626-4000

Materials Testing & Inspection

Bloomfield Bills 1133 W. Long Lake 810-646-1400

Clarkston 27 South Main St. 810-625-9300

Environmental Drilling & Monitoring Well Installation

• Fluid and mechanical tubings from a variety of polymers.

Rochester 850 West University 810-656-6500

- - - - - P.O. Box 752 • • • • • Norristown, PA 19404 - - - - - Tel. 610-272-8960 • • • • • Fax 610-270-3138

Corporate/Relocation 74 West Long Lake 810-647-2200 800-356-2130

257

21555 Hatcher Ave. Femdale, MI 48220 (810) 399-2066 (810) 399-2157 FAX

The Who's Who Directory of Corporate SponsQrs ''Since 1922"

MIC1L1N· BECAUSE SO MUCH 15 RIDING ON YOUR TIRES~

Congratulates •HIGH VOLUME 60 TON TO 600 TON •HOT & COLD ROLL STEEL, STAINLESS, HSLA, STEEL/PLASTIC LAMINATE • SUBASSEMBLIES ROBOTIC WELDING, STAKING, TAPPING • DESIGN SERVICE & PROTOTYPES SERVING AUTOMOTIVE, OEM, AND 1ST & 2ND TIER SUPPLIERS

VASSAR PLANT (517) 823-8581 FAX: (517) 823-8585

THE ENGINEERING SOCIETY 1895-1995 A CENTURY OF ACHIEVEMENTS A NEW Mll.J.l!NNIUM OF OISCOVERY

on 100 Years of Service to the Engineering & Manufacturing Industries

MELVINDALE PLANT (313) 928-4500 FAX: (313) 928-5189

DETROIT SALES OFFICE (313) 953-9555 FAX: (313) 953-9556 SAGINAW PLANT, CORP. HEADGUARTERS, &MIO.MICHIGAN SALES OFFICE

1·800·394·1433 (517) 754-1433

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FAX: (517) 754-1103

1860 South Jefferson Ave. Saginaw. MI 48601

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Modern Engineering Full product development including automotive engineering and design, prototype and manufacturing services, analysis and computer services, contract engineering, & technical capabilities world wide.

Modern Engineering, lnc.

MICHELIN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY DIVISION 3290 W. Big Beaver Rd. Suite 201 Troy, MI 48084

28000 Dequindre Warren, MI 48092-2498 (810) 578-6000 (810) 574-9695

.=:. =...::: - -~~ __ .._.. ____ -- „~ -~_,

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An American Sensor Manufacturer that produces „.

• Proximity Sensors • Photoelectric Sensors •Limit Switches • Special Application Sensors

A Sensing Products lnnovator with breakthroughs like ...

• Snap-Loc~ Time-Tested Heavy Duty Limit Switches • Cylindicato~ Cylinder Position Sensors • ProxBlox™ Sensor Manifolds • Patented Latching Short Circuit Protection • Weid Field lmmunity: (WFI) We Pioneered it!

• Lifetime Replacement Policy: The industry's first. still the best!

Namco Controls Corporation 5335 Avion Park Drive Highland Heights, Ohio 44143 216-460-1360 Tech Support

~INTERNATIONAf

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from .N,IVISTNI

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BUILT FOR YOUR BUSINESS 5M Navistar is the largest manufacturerof medium and heavy trucks and buses in North America, and is a worldwide leader in diesel engine technology and production.

Navistar International Transportation Corp.

455 North Cityfront Plaza Drive Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 836-2000 (708) 865-4300 FAX

FAX: 216-460-3800 1-800-NAMTECH

258

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-The:Who's--Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

NSK NSK CORPORATION

NSK Corporation - An enviro11memal/ysou11d U.S. industry /eader in the marketing, design am/ manufacture of anti-friction bearings and other precision products.

Four divisions to meet all your bearing and precision products neeeds: •Automotive Products Division • Industrial Bearing Division • Precision Products Division • RHP Division Domestic production, with facilities in: Ann Arbor, Michigan Franklin, Indiana Clarinda, lowa Full technical center capabilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan 3861 Research Park Drive P.O. Box 1507 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1507 (313) 761-9500 (313) 761-9510 (FAX)

PEmN FORDREE&

Cülv1PANY PC

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Over 37 years of service to our clients.

The people with the experience to give you ideas for your business success.

901 Wilshire Drive, Suite 400 Troy, MI 48084 Phone: (810) 362-3600 FAX: (810) 362-4707

• Sales • Parts • Service • Rentals Serving the Michigan Construction lndustry for 35 Years.

Congratulations to the Engineering Society on its lOOth Anniversary 3573 East Palmer Detroit, M 1 48211 (800) 877-3057 (313) 921-6020

Leaders in Vision Teclmology. ...

With the Vision to Make it Work!

Congratulations ESD

on 100 years of Outstanding Service.

23855 Research Drive Farmington Hills, MI 48335 (810) 478-7710 (810) 478-7059 FAX

PHILIPS

e

CONGRATULATIONS TO ESD FOR 100 YEARS OF SERVICE Philips also recently celebrated their 100 Years.

We Design & Develop Contactless Sensors, Stepper Motors, and Programmahle Control Modules.

Philips Technologies 32605 Twelve Mile Road, Suite 308 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (810) 553-6030 FAX (810) 553-6018 259

PSG Corrosion Engineering, Inc. A Corrpro Company

Corrosion Engineering Surveys & Investigations Cathodic Protection Design Materials Installation 1605 Mutual Building Detroit, MI 48226 (313) 962-5272 (313) 962-5633 FAX

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~JAcksoN C~MpANY Process Instrumentation and Equipment •Level •Flow • Temperature • Pressure 1973 Brinston Troy, MI 48083 (810) 689-9950 FAX: (810) 524-3228 (800) 421-GEMS

SCHROTH ENTERPRISES, INC. PRODUCER OF QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

• J. L. SCHROTH eo.

Custom Rubber Products

• WEAVE ALLOY PRODUCTS eo.

Stainless Mesh & Fabrications • METALLURIGICAL PROCESSING CO.

Fully integrated design engineering and total environmental management consulting services including:

Raybestos maintains a core philosophy of partnering with customers from development forward in order to fine-tune materials to very specific needs.

For more information contact our Detroit sales office:

Raybestos Products Company

Production Painting

RMT/ANN ARBOR

32255 Northwestern Highway Suite 280 Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334 Phone: (810) 851-6940 FAX: (810) 851-6305

1143 Highland Drive, Suite B P.O. Box 991 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0991 (313) 971-7080 (313) 971-9022 FAX

SIEMEN,S

"=milat1R\ INSTRUMENT, INC. Since 1926

Saluting the Century of Education and Technical Dialog lnspired by the Engineering Society 9f Detroit

Production Heating Treating

• KENCOAT CO.

Air Permitting Ait Control Tec/1110/ogy Design C011struction Services Facility Operations Gr01mdwater Protection Hazardous Waste Management /nd11strial Faci/ity and Process Design /nd11strial Hygiene /nfrastr11ct11re Laboratory/App/ied Chemistry Services Process Opitmization Services Process Safety Management Remediation Services Risk Assessme111 Sediment Ma11ageme11t Solid Waste Management Strategie Enviro11111e11tal Ma11ageme11t Undergro1md Ta11k Managemelll Wastewater a11d Waste Treatment

Siemens Automotive 2400 Executive Hills Drive Aubum Hllls, Michigan

260

Cost Effective Solutions for your Applications. Representing leading Manufacturer of lndustrial Instruments for Measuring and/or Controlling Flow, Pressure, Temperature, Level and Other Process Variables. Repair, Calibration and Certifications Service Available.

24487 Gibson Dr. Warren, MI 48089 (810) 755-3110 (810) 755-3255 (FAX) (517) 496-9250 - MIDLAND (419) 885-0386 - OHIO

The Who's Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

lenneto Automotive SERVICES: Waterborne and so lvent based urethane topcoats and "one coat color coats" fo r PVC and TPO. Waterborne urethane vacuum form abJe and heat acti vated laminatin g adhesives for polyolefi n foam s, PVC, ABS and other composite materials.

SULLIVAN WARD BONE TYLER AN D ASHER, P.C. T hc L aw Fi rm Devoted to Scr ving The Neecls of the Design Professional ancl Constructi on l nclustry.

Tenneco Automotive is the industry's leading manufacturer and marketer of exhaust systems and ride control products, with 1994 sales of $2 billion.

The company operates 49 plants in 15 countries and sells its products in more than 100 countries.

Permuthane Coatings 13 Corwin Streel PO Box 3039 Peabody, Massachusetts 0 196 1-3039 (508) 53 1-037 1 (508) 532-9062 (FAX)

1000 M accabees Center.

25800 Northwcstern Hi ghway.

Southfielcl, MI 48037- 1000 (8 10) 746-0700 / (8 10) 746-2760

11 1 Pfingsten Rd ., Deerlield, lllinois 60015 Ph. (708) 948-0900 FAX: (708) 940-6020

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TIODIZE/MICHIGAN Specialists in the development and applicaton of advanced coatings to prevent fri ction, wear and corrosion including molydisulfide dry fi lm lubricants, PTFE bonded coatings, mold releases, aluminum pigmented corros ion coatings and a varity of special app lications including organic fi nishes fo r automoti ve applications and specs, zinc phosphate and bu lk dip/spin.

28966 Wall St. Wixom, MI 48393 (8 10) 348-6050 (8 10) 348-2520 (FAX)

A Stant Company WAYNE FOUND RY& STAMl'ING COMPA NY

Providing over 75 years of Wiper System Expertise to the A utomotive Industry Worldw ide, Congratulates ESD-The Engineering Society

OVER 55 YEA RS OF FORM ING DEEP-DRAWN STAMPINGS FOR MASS TRANS IT. AIRCRAFT AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTR IES. • PRODUCED STARl ~ UP BODY PA NELS FOR HIE 1948 TUCKER CA R. • SPECIALIST IN ALUMINUM. STA INLESS STEEL. 11CKLE ALLOYS. C.R.S. •DROP HAMM ER PRESSES. STRETCH PRESSES. TOGGLE PRESSES. KIRKSITE TOOLS.

on 100 Years of Service 850 Stephenson Hwy. Suite 508 Troy, MI 48083 Phone: (8 10) 583-2900 Fax: (8 10) 583-2908 26 1

3 100 lfüß ßARD AVE. DETROIT, MICH. 482 10-3293 (3 13) 894-7430

FAX (3 13) 894-19 19

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The Who's Who Directory of Corporate Sponsors

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THE WOODBRIDGE GROUP Your Undercover Performer Count on The Woodbridge Group tobe your global undercover performer of the highest quality Polyurethane Foam Cushioning materials, the cushioning material of choice.

Automotive Headquarters 2500 Meijer Dr. Troy, MI 48084 (810) 288-0100

ZF INDUSTRIES, INC. ÂŽ

World's largest independent supplier of axles, transmissions, and steering technology.

Over 80 years supplying the mobile equipment industry.

47774 Anchor Court, West Plymouth, MI 48170 (313) 416-0027 (313) 416-1948 FAX 777 Hickory Hili Dr. Vernon Hills, IL 60061 (708) 634-3500 (708) 634-0736 FAX

MYRON ZUCKER~ We are equally proud to be celebrating our 45th year in business.

This makes us the oldest manufacturer of power capacitors and harmonic fil ters in the Midwest.

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315 East Parent Street

Royal Oak, MI 48067 PH: (810) 543-2277 FAX: (810) 543-1529

On behalf of the staff of Engineering Technology Publishing, lnc., the official publisher f or

ESD, the Engineering Society, we extend our thanks to all of the companies whichjoined ESD in its centennial celebration.

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¡ hub of auto manufacturing, southeast Michigan has been the scene of many of the mo8t significant industrial developments of the century, to which this book bears witness. Yet the book also describes many other areas of technologically enabled endeavor and commercial enterprise in which Detroit and Michigan have been prominent in propelling advances. Looking at the confluence of the region's ore and mineral deposits and its enviable position amid Great Lakes shipping channels, it's no surprise that important segments of chemical, maritime, railroad and other industries sprang up here. As another spinoff of the internal combustion engine, the aerospace industry has major roots around Detroit. Highly notable and often seminal developments also occurred in the region in the areas of public utilities and infrastructure, energy, health care and communications, and public, private and commercial architecture, in response both to the needs of industry and the population that burgeoned along with it.

The efforts of a great number of talented and knowledgeable journalists, historians, industry aficionados and others have gone into the production of this book, which documents like no other the role of Michigan inventors, industries and engineers in changing the world we live in. Few could have overseen such a project as have the ESD representatives charged with doing so, whose unerring first move was to engage noted longtime Detroit-area journalist, PR man and historian Mike Davis to orchestrate it. It's hoped the result will be widely perceived as a credit to all involved, as an attestation to ESD's vision and most of all, as an enduring testament to "the Technology Century."

-David Tell, associate editor

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_THE ENGINEERING SOCIETY 1895·1995 A CENTURY OF ACHIEVEMENTS A NEW MILLENNIUM OF DISCOVERY

~ ~~~ 111111111111111111\\ III 11111 II II 11111 2019-4-60 The Technology Century : 100 Years of ESD _The Engineering Soclely 47776643 1 33 I English 1 Hardcover