Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-02
HOW COFFIN WON HIS SPURS
Hard Work and Plenty of 1t is the
Explanation.
COFFIN IS THE CENTERP1ECE
Began TO show Hts Talents while IL
student at the University of
MIchIgan-SurprIse the
Professors.

To win your spurs in these engineering
days, YOU must deliver the goods in cargo
lots. II there were royal roads to any of
the sciences the street to engineering glory
would be the last one paved. That's why,
when a mechanical genius towers up above
us all, we stretch our necks for a good
look and wonder how he did It and where
In lies the reason for his greatness.
Hard work and plenty of II IL the ans
wer ninety-nine times In hundred and
that explanation IL perfectly fitting in the
case of Howard Il. Coffin, whom Michi-
gan claims for her own, though he was
born on a farm in Ohio thirty years
ago.
Mr.. Coffin. who Is the vice president ana
head engineer of the Hudson Motor Car
company, has been the centerpiece around
which much of the important American
automobile engineering has revolved.
Like all big fellows who achieve success
in broad sense. Mr.. Collins energies
have been directed along unselfish lines
His theories, deductions and inventions
have been for the advancement not only
of the various concerns which enjoyed
the benefits of his association, but Of the
whole motor world.
The man working at the bench in the
automobile shops. the repairman In the
garage, the racing man on the track and
the mechanician who loves his car, all
speak of Howard Coffin with the same
high respect.
IL was while working his way through
the University of Michigan back in 1898
that Mr.. Coffin first began showing a me-
chanical cunning which surprised and de-
lighted the leading engineering professors
on the Ann Arbor campus. He found time
TO construct. largely in the university ma
chine shops, gas engine, gasoline launch
and a steam engine automobile That car
was driven up to the Hudson factory in
Detroit the other day and purchased by the
Hudson Motor Car company as curiosity
1t is stu in good running shape In spite
of its twelve years OF service.
Future IL Decided.
Building that car decided MI Coffin
future. IL made him an automobile man.
Now his advice is to turn boys loose and
let them work with their own hands, con-
structing what they please
As a direct result of this initial feat OF
automobile engineering the Odds company
sought the services of the youthful designer
and shortly after he had entered the shops
OF the Olds motor works of Detroit in 1902,
he was placed at the head OF the expert
mental department Of that company,
NpAAAh was sSilN 10 EuIOpt III ldVd by the
Odds company TO study foreign motor car
methods He was brought back to Detroit
in 1905 and made chief engineer of the Olds
company In short time he brought out
the first fOur-cylinder Oldsmobie-a Coffin
car.
The next few years we're a whirlwind OF
time for Mr. Collins, as well as for two of
his associates, Messrs. r. ID. Chaplin and
+. o. Benzer That trio, combining all
essential qualifications for manufacturing
automobiles, withdrew from the olds COM
pany and with L. r. Thomas formed the
f. r. Thomas Detroit company. Mr.
Coffin was made vice president and en-
glneer of the new Organization and in that
capacity was responsible for the design
of the Thomas 20"
The success Of the Thomas 20" was i'm
mediate and Mr.. Coffin was in even
greater demand. In addition TO his De-
uoit work, he was consulting engineer OF
the T. r. Thomas Morton company OF
Buffalo in the winter OF 1903 and played the
dual role until November 1907.
The saying is trito that the busiest
men find time TO do the greatest things
and that surely in true in the case OF
Howard e. Coffin. II was during the sum
mer OF 1907 that he developed the design
OF the thirty horse car afterwards known
- 'ho NAahheIs ~ IN TINS N'VV Gar
he incorporated many features which till
that time ha1 been found only in the high
est priced foreign and American cars.
Brought Out Features.
such widely discussed features as the
two bearing chAnk shaft, cylinders cast en-
bloc. a peculiar type OF unit power plant
and an annular ball construction were in
oorporated into this 1880 car Both thirty
horse and forty horse cars we're known as
The ChalmerS 80 and Chalmers go