Clinton Edgar Woods (February 7, 1863 – December 19, 1927) was an
electrical
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
and
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...
,
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
, manufacturer of automobiles in Chicago and New York City.Sophia Smith (1903) ''Mack genealogy. The descendants of John Mack of Lyme, Conn., with appendix containing genealogy of allied family''. p. 332 He was the author of one of the first books on
electric vehicles
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
, and an early management author.Yehouda A. Shenhav (2002). ''Manufacturing Rationality: The Engineering Foundations of the Managerial Revolution''. Oxford University Press. p. 221
Biography
Woods was born in
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Belchertown (previously known as Cold Spring and Belcher's Town) is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropol ...
, where his father was a
coachbuilder
A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.
The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...
.Gijs Mom (2004) ''The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age'' p. 29 "At early age he was left orphan and obligated to earn a living and acquire an education."Clinton E. Woods in ''Western Electrician'' (1894). Vol 14-15. p. 244 Woods moved to
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...
, in 1871.Halliday Witherspoon (1902) Men of Illinois ' p. 52 He received his technical education in mechanical and electrical engineering at the Boston School of Technology (nowadays Massachusetts Institute of Technology), which in his time was the first American university to offer a curriculum in
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
.
In 1886 Woods drifted into steam and electric work at local central stations at
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...
, at
Peekskill
Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, north of New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across f ...
and at Newburg, N.Y. Subsequently, he worked in general construction and engineering. In 1889 he joined the National Electric Manufacturing Company in
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire ( ; lit. "clear water") is a city in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Eau Claire and Chippewa County, Wisconsin, Chippewa counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat, seat of Eau Claire County. It is the List of citie ...
. He started as inspecting engineer, and became electrician-in-chief in 1892. In 1892 he joint the Standard Electric company in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, later in the 1890s he started two automobile manufacturer companies: the American Electric Vehicle Co. in 1895, and the Woods Motor Vehicle Co. in 1896. After an unsuccessful start, the Woods Motor Vehicle Co. made a restart in 1899. Woods became general manager of the Fisher Equipment Company in Chicago, the company that build the bodies for the American Electric Vehicle cars.
In July 1899 Woods initiated an automobile club of wealthy drivers to promote the automobile interest, after the South Park board in Chicago had banned the automobile from streets and boulevards. Woods left the Fisher Equipment Company in 1901 and became a
car dealer
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
for which he founded the Woods-Wering Co. Woods sold electric cars and trucks, among others to the
U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
and the
U.S. Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860 by ...
, but this dealership did not last long. In 1905 Woods held an important position with the
International Harvester
The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...
Company, and subsequently at the
Pope Manufacturing Company
The Pope Manufacturing Company was an American manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles. The company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope around 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, and incorporated in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1877. Manu ...
and the Pennsylvania Reaper Company.
In 1900 Woods had also started writing, and published one of the first books on
electric vehicles
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
. Afterwards he wrote more books on accounting, business, and factory management. Since 1907 these were published under his own C. E. Woods & company based in Brooklyn, N.Y, later Woods publishing company. In the 1910s he moved to
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...
, where he continued to work under the flag of Woods Industrial Engineering Company. Among other things he developed and offered mail order courses of study in
Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...
, and was advisory engineer at
Remington Arms
Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...
. In the 1920s Woods also became one of the directors of the National Bank of Commerce in Philadelphia. Over the years Woods kept making inventions, and obtained over a few dozen patents.
Woods was married to Ida Noble Humphrey in 1881, and they had one daughter Florence Estella, born in 1882 and known to be the "first lady to own and operate an automobile in New York City."
Death
Woods died on 19 December 1927, the result of burns that were suffered in an industrial accident at his factory in
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the borough population was 8,300.
Doylestown is located northwest of Trent ...
. He had been working with floor wax that ignited. After his death, his patents were assigned to Julia E. Woods.
Work
In the 1890s Woods came into prominence in the West of the United States as electrical worker. He is further noted for starting two automobile companies, the second building cars under the name "Clinton E. Woods." Woods is further remembered for published one of the first books on electrical cars, and several works on management and accounting.
Electrical engineering
Woods came into prominence in the emerging field of electrical engineering late 1880s and early 1890s. An 1894 article in ''Western Electrician'' mentioned, that Woods work had "won for him reputation and prominence in the electrical field. He has designed for he Standard Electric company in Chicagoa complete line of arc, alternating and constant potential dynamos, motors, etc., such accessories as transformers and instruments for perfecting the system, during the last twelve months."
Furthermore, the article mentioned, that Woods is "not only an electrician but a manufacturer, having advanced many improved methods of manufacturing dynamo-electric machinery, which have greatly enhanced the value of his work from an artistic and mechanical standpoint. From the knowledge and ability Mr. Woods has displayed and opportunity for results which are in his possession, much is looked for from his future work."
Automobile manufacturer
In Chicago in 1895 Woods founded the automobile manufacturer company American Electric Vehicle Co with the support of
Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a British American business magnate. He was an innovator and investor based in Chicago who helped create an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States. Insull created hold ...
with a capital stock of $250,000. This company merged in 1898 with Indiana Bicycle Co. to become Waverly,Car Companies on earlyelectric.com. Accessed May 7, 2013 and later as Pope-Waverley would produce cars until the year 1914.
In Chicago in 1896 Woods founded the
Woods Motor Vehicle
Woods Motor Vehicle Company was an American manufacturer of electric automobiles in Chicago, Illinois, between 1899 and 1916. In 1915 they produced the Dual Power (U.S. Patent # 1244045) with both electric and internal combustion engines which c ...
Company to manufacture electric automobiles. At first the company turned out to be unprofitable, and had to be re-capitalized. In September 1899 the Woods Motor Vehicle Company made a restart based in New Jersey with a capital stock injection of $10,000,000 by Samuel Insull, August Belmont, Jr., and some other
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
investors. Woods lost his equity position, and was at first installed in the position as General Manager of the company, that build the bodies for the American Electric Vehicle cars, and later as
consulting engineer
Engineering consulting is the practice of performing engineering as a consulting engineer. It assists individuals, public and private companies with process management, idea organization, product design, fabrication, maintenance, repair and operati ...
. The car company eventually produced 8 different type of models.
The Electric Automobile: Its Construction, Care. and Operation
As pro-car advocate in 1900 Woods published the book "''The Electric Automobile: Its Construction, Care. and Operation,''" which is a particularly interesting for the engineering of early electrics. About the reach capacities of electric automobiles, Woods explained:
:''Manufacturers of electric automobiles are often asked the question: "Will not a battery sometime be made to run a vehicle one hundred or more miles on one charge?" While this may be possible, the writer hardly thinks it will ever be probable, and his experience with the public is that it is wholly unnecessary, speaking generally and from a practical point of view. Improvements now being made in batteries, in the attempt to make them stand more rapid charges and discharges are much more important than one which will give them a larger mile-age capacity...''
About speeding with electric automobile, Woods further explained:
:''Manufacturers of automobiles in the United States are confining themselves, without exception almost, to a maximum speed within the limits cited, and as very few accidents have occurred in the use of electric automobiles from fast driving, it is safe to say that when city councils do take up the question, all of these things will be considered, and a reasonably fast speed allowed automobile users. Surely twelve to sixteen miles an hour is fast enough when we consider that in city work it is practically double the speed and one-half the time made by the horse. On the first introduction of motor vehicles, a great deal of stress was laid on speed, articles appearing in many papers advocating extremely high speeds, and in some of the tests and races given in this country, nearly fifty per cent of the value of an automobile as a prize v/inner was placed in its speed. The absurdity of this, however, is already proven. Almost any speed desired can be obtained from an electric automobile. It is simply a question of power application and gearing, and those who wish to ride at breakneck speed should only be allowed to do so in places provided for the use of high-speed and racing machines, as roadways or racing tracks set aside for their exclusive use, which will no doubt in time come in the same way that they have been provided for horses.''
The book further focussed on the elementary conditions of the electric automobile, its construction and rules concerning care and skillful operation. Woods stipulated that "the automobile is not a single item produced like the bicycle and sewing-machine," but comes with "a wide range of application in its utility and design,... a wide range of prices in its cost of production and marketing,... nda multitude of different elements to cater to by the various demands for its usage."
Organizing a factory: an analysis of the elements in factory organization
In 1905 Woods published his first book on
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...
and
organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
, entitled "''Organizing a factory: an analysis of the elements in factory organization''," which second edition was published in 1907. In this work Woods aimed to present an analysis of the elements in
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
organization, the fundamental principles of factory management, and the methods to be used in every department of factory operation. In the Preface (1905) he further explained:
:''American business men hold that the only way to learn to do things is to do them. This opinion has had much truth and fact to justify it, but it has been undergoing a marked transformation in the past decade. For men are coming to realize that, although no one can learn to do a thing by merely being told how it is done, such precious knowledge greatly facilitates his learning how to do it when once he gets into practical work. It affords him a strong foundation, barren and useless in itself, but a firm basis upon which to build the structure of business experience.''
Woods visualized the fundamental principles of factory management in a series of four
diagram
A diagram is a symbolic Depiction, representation of information using Visualization (graphics), visualization techniques. Diagrams have been used since prehistoric times on Cave painting, walls of caves, but became more prevalent during the Age o ...
s, showing organization elements (I); authorities (II); segregation of authority (III); and expenditure divisions of a factory (IV). This visualisation is an early example of resp. a
flow diagram
Flow diagram is a diagram representing a flow or set of dynamic relationships in a system. The term flow diagram is also used as a synonym for flowchart, and sometimes as a counterpart of the flowchart.Harris. (1999, p. 156)
Flow diagrams ...
; a
business process modeling
Business process modeling (BPM) is the action of capturing and representing business processes, processes of an enterprise (i.e. modeling them), so that the current business processes may be analyzed, applied securely and consistently, improved, ...
or even a
business reference model
Business reference model (BRM) is a reference model, concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business of an Business, enterprise, Tertiary sector of the economy, service organization or government agency.
In enterpri ...
; an
organization chart
An organizational chart, also called organigram, organogram, or organizational breakdown structure (OBS), is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and positions/jobs. The ter ...
; and a visualization of
management accounting
In management accounting or managerial accounting, managers use accounting information in decision-making and to assist in the management and performance of their control functions.
Definition
One simple definition of management accounting is th ...
:
About the segregation of an industrial body into authorities and departments Woods further explains:
:''Figure III shows the segregation of an industrial body into authorities and departments. This chart shows the absolute division between the commercial and manufacturing ends of the business emphasized in the accompanying discussion and the authority lines connect the various departments in these two divisions with the governing authorities. In each case the number and formal name of each department is in the apex of its triangle, the various detailed duties that come under it are grouped beyond; the productive departments in the manufacturing section are left empty, because their work will vary with the kind of factory under consideration—each factory carries the same non-productive departments.''
The third picture was five years later republished in Parsons' ''Business Administration'' (1909). He commented, that the diagram "represents in detail the various branches of a large manufacturing concern. First the origin, elective power and executive heads of the company; then the producing, accounting and sales departments... with all their miscellaneous duties."
Due to these works Woods is recognised as being among the foremost early 20th century writers on accountancy and management, with others such as Henry Metcalfe,
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consulting, management consultants. In 190 ...
Harrington Emerson
Harrington Emerson (August 2, 1853 – September 2, 1931) was an American Management consulting, efficiency engineer and business theorist,Horace Lucian Arnold, Charles U. Carpenter,
Alexander Hamilton Church
Alexander Hamilton Church (28 May 1866 – 11 February 1936) was an English efficiency engineer, accountant and writer on accountancy and management, known for his seminal work of management and cost accounting.
Biography
Church was born in U ...
and
Henry Gantt
Henry Laurence Gantt (; May 20, 1861 – November 23, 1919) was an American mechanical engineer and management consultant who is best known for his work in the development of scientific management. He created the Gantt chart in the 1910s.
Gant ...
.Wilmer L. Green. ''History and Survey of Accountancy.'' 2014. p. 134