Haynes, Elwood

SUBJECT AREA: Automotive engineering, Land transport, Metallurgy

[br]

b. 14 October 1857 Portland, Indiana, USA

d. 13 April 1925 Kokomo, Indiana, USA

[br]

American inventor ofStellite cobalt-based alloys, early motor-car manufacturer and pioneer in stainless steels.

[br]

From his early years, Haynes was a practising Presbyterian and an active prohibitionist. He graduated in 1881 at Worcester, Massachusetts, and a spell of teaching in his home town was interrupted in 1884–5 while he attended the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1886 he became permanently diverted by the discovery of natural gas in Portland. He was soon appointed Superintendent of the local gas undertaking, and then in 1890 he was hired by the Indiana Natural Gas \& Oil Company. While continuing his gas-company employment until 1901, Haynes conducted numerous metallurgical experiments. He also designed an automobile: this led to the establishment of the Haynes- Apperson Company at Kokomo as one of the earliest motor-car makers in North America. From 1905 the firm traded as the Haynes Automobile Company, and before its bankruptcy in 1924 it produced more than 50,000 cars. After 1905, Haynes found the first "Stellite" alloys of cobalt and chromium, and in 1910 he was publicizing the patented material. He then discovered the valuable hardening effect of tungsten, and in 1912 began applying the "improved" Stellite to cutting tools. Three years later, the Haynes Stellite Company was incorporated, with Haynes as President, to work the patents. It was largely from this source that Haynes became a millionaire in 1920. In April 1912, Haynes's attempt to patent the use of chromium with iron to render the product rustless was unsuccessful. However, he re-applied for a US patent on 12 March 1915 and, although this was initially rejected, he persevered and finally obtained recognition of his modified claim. The American Stainless Steel Company licensed the patents of Brearley and Haynes jointly in the USA until the 1930s.

[br]

Principal Honours and Distinctions

John Scott Medal 1919 (awarded for useful inventions).

Bibliography

Haynes was the author of more than twenty published papers and articles, among them: 1907, "Materials for automobiles", Proceedings of the American Society of Mechanical

Engineers 29:1,597–606; 1910, "Alloys of nickel and cobalt with chromium", Journal of Industrial Engineering

and Chemistry 2:397–401; 1912–13, "Alloys of cobalt with chromium and other metals", Transactions of the American Institute of 'Mining Engineers 44:249–55;

1919–20, "Stellite and stainless steel", Proceedings of the Engineering Society of West

Pennsylvania 35:467–74.

1 April 1919, US patent no. 1,299,404 (stainless steel).

The four US patents worked by the Haynes Stellite Company were: 17 December 1907, patent no. 873,745.

1 April 1913, patent no. 1,057,423.

1 April 1913, patent no. 1,057, 828.

17 August 1915, patent no. 1,150, 113.

Further Reading

R.D.Gray, 1979, Alloys and Automobiles. The Life of Elwood Haynes, Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society (a closely documented biography).

JKA