Alloys and Automobiles: The Life of Elwood Haynes - Softcover

Gray, Ralph D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578601231 ISBN 13: 9781578601233

Publisher: Guild Press Emmis Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

Originally published in 1979 and out of print for many years, Alloys and Automobiles: The Life of Elwood Haynes,the 2002 edition is now available. The author is Ralph D. Gray, Professor Emeritus of History, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (Indiana).

The book is an interesting read that will hold your attention from beginning to end. It profiles the life of one of Kokomo’s outstanding citizens, Elwood Haynes (1857-1925), and, in so doing, gives the reader an insight into the exciting new industries that he helped create at the turn of the century that, in time, influenced the economic future of Kokomo, Indiana, as well as the nation.

Best known as a pioneer in the automotive industry, building Indiana’s first, and the nation’s second, gasoline-powered automobile in 1894, Haynes also designed and supervised the laying of the first long-distance natural gas pipeline in the world during the Indiana gas boom of the 1880s and 1890s, developing methods of transporting natural gas that are still in use today. Primarily a metallurgist, his first love, he invented both Stellite, an enormously hard tool metal, and other alloys, most importantly, stainless steel, now commonly used daily throughout the world.

Gray has captured the personality of Haynes, his life and times in an engaging yet well-documented work that would be welcomed in home libraries or research facilities.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Ralph D. Gray, professor emeritus of history, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, is an Indiana native and a graduate of Hanover College. After study abroad and teaching in Ohio, he returned to Indiana in 1964 to teach history at Indiana University at Kokomo, where he began his study on the life and work of Elwood Haynes, a respected past resident of that city. He then moved to Indianapolis in 1968, where he taught at IUPUI until 1997. Holding advanced degrees in history from the University of Delaware and the University of Illinois, Dr. Gray has specialized in recent years in Indiana and midwestern history and is the author of books and articles in American economic, political, and cultural history, including Public Ports for Indiana: A History of the Indiana Port Commission (1994) and Indiana History: A Book of Readings, Indiana University Press, 1994. His most recent publication is IUPUI: The Making of an Urban University, Indiana University Press, June 2003.

In Alloys and Automobiles, Gray presents a comprehensive, documented picture of both the man and his work.

Review

"... Gray presents an excellent picture of [Elwood Haynes's] accomplishments in pioneer automobile development and metallurgy." -- Professor James D. Norris, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Indiana Magazine of History, 1980

"Gray makes the bits and pieces of history as delicious as the fare at a family reunion picnic." -- Sara Sanderson, Columnist The Speedway Town Press, 2002

Edition details

• Publisher: Guild Press Emmis Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1578601231
• ISBN 13: 9781578601233
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 230