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Owen Ray Skelton

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Owen Ray Skelton
Skelton in 1920
Born(1886-02-09)February 9, 1886
Edgerton, Ohio,U.S.
DiedJuly 20, 1969(1969-07-20)(aged 83)
Palm Beach, Florida,U.S.
Occupation(s)Engineer,automobile designer
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Owen Ray Skelton(February 9, 1886 – July 20, 1969) was anAmerican automotive industryengineer and automobile designer. Along withFred M. ZederandCarl Breer,he was one of the core group who formed the present dayChrysler Corporation.He made material contributions to Tourist Automobile Company,Allis-Chalmers,Studebaker,and was the main engineer behind theChrysler Airflowautomobile. He was elected to theAutomotive Hall of Famein 2002.

Early life

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Skelton was born on February 9, 1886, and went by the nickname "Skelt" from when he was a child. His family lived inEdgerton, Ohio,at the time of his birth.[1]His father was a shopkeeper sellinghorse harnessesandsaddlery.[2]Skelton worked as a shop apprentice at his father's shop part-time in his youth. He went to the local public schools as a child and after graduating from high school he enrolled atOhio State University.He graduated with a degree inmechanical engineeringwhen he was nineteen.[3]

Career

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From 1905 until 1907, Skelton's first job in the automotive industry was with thePope-Toledoautomobile factory inToledo, Ohio,noted for their gasoline-powered engine technology.[4]He advanced to the design drafting department at Detroit'sPackard Motor Car Company.[2]As he became more experienced with expertise, Skelton simultaneously gained the reputation of being a design analyst who understood the entire transmission of a car, and a master specialist in rear axles and gear boxes.[1][3]

Skelton was one of the partners who designed theBenhamautomobile from 1914 to 1916. The startup firm failed to sell the automobile. Its construction appealed to another automaker also interested in streamlined design,Studebaker.TheSouth Bend, Indiana,firm vice president and chief engineer,Frederick Morrell Zeder,offered Skelton an engineering position redesigning theirdrive trains transmissions,and rear axles.[2]Skelton accepted Studebaker's pay offer of 58 U.S. cents (equivalent to $18 in 2023) per hour.[5]The money-losing Studebaker needed to produce a speedy design for a new, inexpensive, mass-market automobile that could compete with the two new automobile conglomerates,Ford Motor CompanyandGeneral Motors(GM). The struggling firm set up a design shop inNewark,and gave a relatively free hand to the shop's three principals, Zeder, Skelton, andCarl Breer.[3]The threesome became known as "The Three Musketeers"for their design work of the 1918 Studebaker.[1][2][4]

ZSB Engineering

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Main article:The Three Musketeers (Studebaker engineers)
Durant'sLocomobilecontained a pioneering six-cylinder engine, partly designed by Skelton.

In 1921 Zeder, Skelton, Breer, and several associates left Studebaker to start an independent Newark automobile design-and-engineering firm, "ZSB Engineering." The luxury-orientedDaniels Motor Companyhired ZSB to design their 1922 V-8,[6]but the high-end car listed for $7,450 (equivalent to $136,000 in 2023), a prohibitive price for that day. Later in 1922, ZSB became interested in the mass market and was hired byBilly Duranton a motor design for theFlint automobile.The ZSB-designed six-cylinder engine with an updraftcarburetorwas later used on theLocomobile,a luxury automobile built byDurant Motors.Skelton and ZSB in the same year contracted out aconcept car design,tentatively called theZeder-Six.[7][8]ZSB failed to obtain financing to complete the design work as an independent firm, but news of their work reached the ears of an aggressive car making executive,Maxwell'schief executive officer (CEO)Walter Chrysler.This contact proved to be decisive to Skelton's career.[9]

Chrysler obtained financing in early 1923 to merge Maxwell, the Detroit-basedChalmers Motor Car Company,and ZSB Engineering. The merged firm's operations were consolidated in Detroit in June 1923, initially under the name of "Maxwell-Chalmers."[10]With ZSB's six-cylinder engine design as an integral element, Maxwell-Chalmers's cars sold well, and the firm underwent rapid expansion under CEO Chrysler's leadership. In 1925 Maxwell-Chalmers became theChrysler Corporation.[11]

Chrysler Corporation

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As a chief design engineer for Chrysler, Skelton is credited with leading the development of a rubber engine mount system for cars. Directed to develop ideas to reduce motor vibration, Skelton's team conceptualized more than 1,000 separate ideas;[12]the Chrysler team combined the best concepts into a new system known as "floating power."The rubber engine mounts and other components of the system significantly reduced the transmission of engine vibration to the passenger compartment, thus smoothing the ride.[12][13]This Skelton/Chrysler engineering innovation was adopted throughout the automobile industry.[5][14]

Skelton also led the innovative development of four-wheel hydraulic brakes as a standard feature on Chrysler cars.[15]His work continued to be significant in development of the rear-engine, all-steel-body Chrysler cars developed through the 1930s and into thepostwaryears, as Chrysler took its place as a full-fledged competitor to Ford and GM.[5]

Personal life

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Skelton lived inPalm Beach, Florida,andGrosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.He was a member of theEverglades Cluband Tennis Club in Palm Beach, the Grosse Pointe Club, Country Club of Detroit, and the Detroit Athletic Club. In 1931, he became a vice-president of the newly founded Chrysler Institute of Engineering. It had close ties to theUniversity of Michigan,and awarded degrees in engineering subjects. Skelton became a member of the Chrysler board of directors in 1937. He retired from his position as an engineer with the company in 1951 and served as a director until 1954. Skelton died at the age of 83 on July 20, 1969, in Palm Beach. Funeral services and interment were in Detroit. He was survived by his wife Edith, two daughters, a stepdaughter, a brother and eleven grandchildren.[16]Skelton was inducted into theAutomotive Hall of Famein 2002.[17]

References

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  1. ^abcWright."Owen Skelton, Executive Engineer".Allpar.Retrieved16 December2012.
  2. ^abcdHyde 2003,p. 106.
  3. ^abcCurcio 2001,pp. 271–272.
  4. ^abYanik 1994,p. 7.
  5. ^abcThe Encyclopedia of America Business History and Biography (The Automobile Industry 1920–1980),Zeder-Skelton-Breer Engineeringby Richard P. Scharchburg; p. 503
  6. ^Curcio 2001,pp. 281–282.
  7. ^"Studebakers in New Corporation to build the Zeder Car".The New York Times.New York, New York. May 4, 1922. p. 21 – viaNewspapersOpen access icon.
  8. ^"New Six soon to be on Market".Oakland Tribune.Oakland, California. May 21, 1922. p. 19 – viaNewspapersOpen access icon.
  9. ^Curcio 2001,pp. 270.
  10. ^The Encyclopedia of America Business History and Biography (The Automobile Industry 1920–1980),Zeder-Skelton-Breer Engineeringby Richard P. Scharchburg; p. 505
  11. ^Curcio 2001,pp. 294–301.
  12. ^ab"The 1931–32 Plymouth PA: Walter Chrysler's Fistful of Aces".Allpar. 2020.RetrievedMarch 14,2021.
  13. ^Curcio 2001,p. 477.
  14. ^"What is this Floating Power".Popular Science. 1932. p. 89.RetrievedMarch 14,2021.
  15. ^"Pioneer Chrysler Executive is dead".The Palm Beach Post.Palm Beach, Florida. July 21, 1969. p. 18 – viaNewspapersOpen access icon.
  16. ^"Owen R. Skelton, Chrysler Ex-Director".Detroit Free Press.Detroit, Michigan. July 21, 1969. p. 12 – viaNewspapersOpen access icon.
  17. ^"2002 Automotive Hall of Fame inductees".Automotive News.77(6006): 11. 2003.

Bibliography

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