Edward Gowen Budd (December 28, 1870 – November 30, 1946) was an American inventor and businessman.

Early life

Edward Gowen Budd was born in

Smyrna, Delaware Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover metropolitan statistical area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2020, the population of the town is 12,883. The international juri ...

, on December 28, 1870. He studied engineering in Philadelphia in 1888. He took correspondence courses and studied at the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

Career

Early career

After graduating from public high school aged 17, Budd went to work as an apprentice in a machine shop. Two years later, in 1899, he moved to Philadelphia to finish his apprenticeship with the Bement Machine Company. He studied correspondence courses voraciously with the Franklin Institute schools and filled his spare time with experimentation and scientific reading. He then took his knowledge of pressed steel to the railroad industry. He worked with the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

on a contract for

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

, building the first all-steel

car 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 ...

. From 1900 to 1902, he worked for the American Pulley Company as a shop superintendent. He then worked for Hale & Kilburn, designing railroad car seats and interior trim. He resigned in 1912 after the firm showed lack of enthusiasm in moving into the automobile body business.

Budd Company

In 1912 he founded the

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense produ ...

, which initially specialized in the manufacture of pressed-steel chassis frames for

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s. His company was soon supplying an all-steel sedan body to auto manufacturers. Following discussions between them which began in 1913 Budd's first big supporters were the

Dodge brothers Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

, who purchased 70,000 all-steel open touring bodies in 1916. They were soon followed by an all-steel Dodge sedan. The brothers had not believed such a thing possible but they were persuaded to allow Budd to go ahead with the design, die-making and press-installation needed for actual production to begin. Other US manufacturers soon followed Dodge's lead. Closed bodies outsold open bodies from 1923 on. To hold all this steel together, Budd also pioneered the use of

arc welding Arc welding is a welding process that is used to join metal to metal by using electricity to create enough heat to melt metal, and the melted metals, when cool, result in a joining of the metals. It is a type of welding that uses a welding power ...

in automobile manufacturing.

Stainless steel

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in the 1930s, Budd pioneered the fabrication of

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

and helped create the ''

Pioneer Zephyr The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' is a diesel engine, diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second internal combustion-po ...

'', a streamlined train for the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

. Budd stainless steel railway cars were very successful for many years. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Budd was also the original maker of the

bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

projectile and the

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used dur ...

. He and his company were also instrumental in the development of the radial disk brake and the automatic wheel line.

Personal life

Budd married Mary Wright in May 1899. He had two sons, Edward G. Budd Jr. and Archibald W. Budd, and three daughters.

Death

Budd died on November 30, 1946, at his home in Philadelphia. He is buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Legacy

Budd's ''

'' was the first of many streamlined

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

s. The original trainset is on permanent display at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. In 1985, 40 years after his death, Edward G. Budd, the "father of the stainless-steel streamliner", was inducted into

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum honoring influential figures in the history of the automotive industry. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, US. The Hall of Fame is part of the MotorCities National Herita ...

. In 2015, 70 years after his death, Edward G Budd was inducted into

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. At the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal cit ...

's National Railroad Hall of Fame. He also received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers's Medal.

References

* PBS Online / WGBH (2000) ''Edward G. Budd''. * President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), ''20th Century Great American Business Leaders: Edward G. Budd''. * * ''Steel in our lives''. Retrieved January 19, 2005 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Edward G. 1870 births 1946 deaths People from Smyrna, Delaware American automotive pioneers American people in rail transportation American mechanical engineers Businesspeople from Delaware Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery ASME Medal recipients