People of the Century - Putting America Behind the Wheel
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Engineering Management History of Science and Technology Materials Engineering Mechanical Engineering |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | WPI |
| Description: | "As the heyday of the great railroads was waning, the age of the automobile was beginning. Several WPI alumni played pivotal roles in the development and success of the early automotive industry. Perhaps the most famous is Elwood Haynes, Class of 1881, who built one of the first gasoline-powered cars in America and took it for a brief drive near Kokomo, Ind., on July 4, 1894. The car is now in the Smithsonian Institution, and a monument commemorates Kokomo as "the birthplace of a new era of transportation." Haynes turned his invention into a successful business, the Haynes Motor Co. He also founded Haynes Stellite Co., which commercialized seminal discoveries he made in the field of metallurgy. As a student at WPI, he had become discouraged when a steel razor blade he made rusted. Later, he became one of the first researchers to develop and manufacture stainless steel. He also invented a number of alloys of chromium, cobalt, tungsten and molybdenum. One, called Stellite, was much harder than many steels and proved an ideal material for cutting tools." Image caption: Elwood Haynes in his historic automobile in Indiana at the site of his first test drive. |
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| Keywords: | Elwood Hayes, automobile design, history of technology, Haynes Stellite, Stellite, Haynes Motor Company |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | Events in History can be used to connect current technology with its roots. |
| Difficulty: | Very Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Very Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 1998 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.wpi.edu/News/Journal/Spring98/wheel.html |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
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