"On This Day" In Engineering History

On this day in engineering history, Soichiro Honda founded the Honda Motor Company, a Japanese motorcycle manufacturer that would one day become the world's largest builder of engines. After introducing its first automobile in 1963, the Tokyo-based car company developed a series of compact cars during the 1970s.

The first such vehicle to reach the shores of the United States, the N600, failed to capture the interest of American consumers. In the wake of the Arab oil embargo and the oil crisis of 1973, however, a fuel-efficient vehicle named the Honda Civic began to enjoy a measure of success. During the decade-long energy crisis that followed, roomier versions of the Civic gave Detroit's Big Three automakers a run for their money - and stole some of their market share.

Civic Duty

In July of 1972, the Honda Motor Company replaced its so-called Kei Cars with the first Honda Civic. Equipped with a four-cylinder 1160-cc engine, this compact car featured front power disc brakes, reclining vinyl bucket seats, and an AM radio. A year later, Honda announced that its compound vortex-controlled combustion engine (CVCC) met the requirements of the 1970 Clean Air Act, landmark legislation that required a 90% reduction in emissions from new automobiles sold in the United States by 1975. While other car makers were forced to design and build emission-reducing catalytic converters, Honda just dropped its latest CVCC engine, the ED1, into the 1975 Honda Civic.

Two years later, the Japanese automaker announced that the Civic ranked first in U.S. fuel economy tests for the fourth year in a row. While other automakers struggled to design fuel-efficient cars of their own, Honda introduced its Prelude. Fitted with a four-cylinder, 1751-cc CVCC that provided 72-hp at 4,500-rpm, the first Honda Prelude was available with either a two-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission. The Prelude's leather seats and electronic sunroof may have appealed to some car buyers, but fuel economy remained paramount as the 1979 Iranian Revolution roiled the world's petroleum markets.

Motocross and Market Share

During the 1980s, the Honda Motor Company won the 500-cc Motocross World Championship and returned to Formula One (F1) racing. The Japanese automaker also expanded its American manufacturing operations and U.S. market share. Since 1976, Honda had been building a mid-range sedan called the Accord. In 1982, the car company achieved an historic "first" when the Honda Accord became the first Japanese automobile to be built in the United States. Just three years after the first American-built Accord rolled off Honda's assembly line in Ohio, the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP) added a second assembly line.

The 1980s also marked the introduction of Honda's first luxury automobile - the Acura. Designed for car buyers in Hong Kong and North America, the first Honda Acura was available in two models: the Legend, a powerful V-6 sedan; and the Integra, a sedan or hatchback with front-wheel drive. Ultimately, the success of the Acura led Toyota to develop the Lexus and Nissan to build the Infiniti.

The End and the Beginning

During the last decade of the twentieth century, the Honda Motor Company continued to innovate with variable valve timing and lift electronic control (VTEC). VTEC, a valve train that was designed to improve the volumetric efficiency of Honda's four-stroke internal combustion engine, incorporates two camshaft profiles and selects one of them electronically. Developed by Honda engineer Ikuo Kajitani, VTEC is a direct descendant of revolution-modulated valve control (REV), which was introduced on some Honda motorcycles in 1983.

Today, the Honda Motor Company is still the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer, and the biggest builder of internal combustion engines. The automaker's products include fuel-sipping hybrids and sturdy sports utility vehicles (SUVs), spacious sedans and family-friendly mini-vans, and benchmark cars such as the Civic and the Accord. While other automakers struggle to retool their factories in order to meet consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, the 2009 Civic Hybrid gets 45 mpg.

Editor's Note: Click here for Part 1 of this two-part series.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVCC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTEC

http://www.epa.gov/oms/invntory/overview/solutions/milestones.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_energy_crisis

http://www.welovehondas.com/prelude.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Accord

http://corporate.honda.com/press/article.aspx?id=4105

http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hybrid/

On this day in engineering history, Soichiro Honda founded the Honda Motor Company, a Japanese motorcycle manufacturer that would one day become the world's fifth largest car company. Today, Honda is the second largest automaker in Japan, the fourth largest carmaker in the United States, and the world's largest maker of engines. The company's product lines include automobiles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), jets and jet engines, robots and lawn mowers, scooters and motorcycles, marine engines and watercraft, and electrical generators.

The Chimney and the C100 Super Cub

In 1937, a young mechanic named Soichiro Honda began selling piston rings to Toyota. The sub-contractor expanded his enterprise to the manufacture of other engine parts, but Japan's defeat in World War II destroyed much of the island nation's industry. Japanese citizens still needed basic transportation, however, so Soichiro Honda began attaching engines to bicycles. In 1946, he bought 500 two-stroke motors that were designed to power electric generators. The mechanic mounted them on proprietary bicycle frames and adapted the surplus motors to run on turpentine, a fuel that he distilled from pine trees.

Ten years after he began selling piston rings to Toyota, Soichiro Honda's 1/2-hp A-Type went into production. Nicknamed the "chimney", the first Honda motorcycle belched smoke and stank like turpentine. Nevertheless, the motorbike became a popular mode of personal transportation at a time when money was tight, fuel was scare, and public transportation was crowded. In 1949, Soichiro Honda improved upon his original design with the D-Type, a motorbike that could reach speeds of 50 mph. Then, during the 1950s, Japanese consumers snapped up the C100 Super Cub, and easy-to-ride motorcycle with a crossbar-free frame.

The World's Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer – and More

The end of the 1950s marked the birth of the Honda Motor Company in Japan and the founding of an important subsidiary, the American Honda Company, in the United States. As sales of Honda motorcycles spread across North American and around the world, the Tokyo-based company introduced a small pickup truck, the T360, with four different body styles and a 30-hp engine. Several months later in 1963, Honda unveiled its first automobile – a two-door roadster with a four-cylinder, 44-hp engine. Weighing just 1500 lbs., the Honda S-500 had a four-speed manual transmission with a chain drive for the rear wheels.

During the early 1970s, the Honda Motor Company became the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Not content to rest on its laurels, however, the company set it sights upon the American automotive marketplace.

Editor's Note: Click here for Part 2 of this two-part series.

Resources:

http://corporate.honda.com/america/timeline.aspx

http://www.carseek.com/reviews/honda/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda

http://www.edmunds.com/honda/history.html

http://smokeriders.com/History/Honda_History/honda_history.html

http://www.just-auto.com/factsheet.aspx?id=205

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S500

On this day in engineering history, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 made landfall at Galveston, Texas, battering the Gulf Coast city with winds of 135 mph and claiming between 6,000 and 12,000 lives. Over one hundred years later, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is still the deadliest storm to strike the United States. Now rated a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, the Great Galveston Hurricane occurred at a time when tropical storms weren't named and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) did not yet exist. Herbert Saffir and Bob Simpson, the civil engineer and meteorologist who developed the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in 1971, hadn't even been born.

Isaac Cline - Villain

On that fateful day in September 1900, Galveston's most important meteorologist was Isaac Monroe Cline, the chief of the U.S. Weather Service Bureau there. Sometimes branded a villain, Cline once encouraged local resistance to plans to build a protective seawall around the city. As the Tennessee-born meteorologist wrote in an 1891 article for the Galveston Daily News, such a structure was unnecessary because a hurricane with massive strength would never strike the island. In the years that followed, sand dunes along Galveston's shore were reduced to fill low-lying areas of the city. Meanwhile, Cline spent considerable time studying how weather affected human health.

Isaac Cline - Hero

Isaac Cline's life was changed forever on September 8, 1900, when the Great Galveston Hurricane claimed the life of his pregnant wife and the lives of thousands of his fellow Galvestonians. According to two-hour documentary called "Isaac's Storm" that aired on the History Channel in 1999, Isaac Cline ignored verbal accounts of an incoming storm and refused to issue reports about a hurricane. Later, armed with his barometer, the meteorologist rode on horseback across Galveston to warn his fellow citizens. In the decades that followed, Isaac Cline would further redeem himself by studying the science of tropical cyclones, writing textbooks and publishing papers that experts used until the technology of air reconnaissance became commonplace after World War II.

Resources:

http://www.1900storm.com/storm/index.lasso

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Hurricane_of_1900

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale

http://www.tngennet.org/monroe/cline.htm

On this day in engineering history, the last American-built Rolls-Royce Phantom I was delivered to the home of Mrs. M.S. Morrow of Whitestone, New York. Manufactured at the Rolls-Royce plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Phantom had replaced the Silver Ghost, a 6-cylinder vehicle whose popularity had prompted the British-based company to open a second American factory in Springfield in 1921. Ultimately, over 1500 "Springfield Ghosts" graced the roadways of the United States. Some Phantom I vehicles (as shown in the picture at left) are still in working condition today.

Pushrod Engine

Unlike its predecessor, the Rolls-Royce Phantom I featured a new pushrod, straight-6 (L6) engine that used aluminum instead of iron in its cylinder heads. Sometimes called an overhead valve (OHV) engine or I-head engine, a pushrod engine places the camshaft in the cylinder block. Rods or pushrods then actuate the rocker arms above the cylinder heads. In turn, this actuates the valves. The lifters or tappets, parts of the rocker arms that make contact with the valve-stems above the cylinder heads, transfer sideways force and impart linear motion. Tappets fail or break over time, however, and pushrods can flex or snap at high engine speeds.

Both Sides of the Pond

The 7668-cc engine in the Rolls-Royce Phantom I is also notable in that it produced relatively large amounts of power for its automotive era. Equipped with a 4.25-in. bore and 5.5-in. stroke for a total of 7.7 L of displacement, the pushrod engine was designed to move a heavy car along primitive roads. During the 1920s and 1930s, Rolls-Royce built a total of 1,241 Phantom I's at its factory in Springfield, Massachusetts. A larger number of vehicles (3.500+) were built at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, England.

Three-Speed and Four-Speed Transmissions

Unlike their American counterparts, the British-built vehicles featured a manual, four-speed transmission instead of a three-speed design. Both the British-built and American-made vehicles were considered to be luxury cars, however, as their elegant design still suggests.

Resources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=7577

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Phantom_I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Limited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushrod_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tappet

During the late 1970s, heavy snow and rainfalls raised groundwater levels in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. As water pooled above an old toxic-waste dump, the nearby LaSalle Expressway obstructed the flow of runoff to the nearby Niagara River.

Eventaully, 55-gallon drums with benzene and dioxin began to surface. Ponds and other standing waters became contaminated. For homeowners who lived closest to Hooker Chemical's old dumping grounds, evidence of a problem was inside. Basement walls oozed and noxious chemicals filled the enclosed, indoor air. Sump pumps that were designed to remove water were no match for chemical corrosion.

Deniable, Not Liable

In 1978, a neighborhood mother began to wonder if her children's recurring health problems were caused by these mysterious substances. Lois Gibbs, the 26-year old president of the Love Canal Homeowners' Association, launched a door-to-door campaign to demand the cleanup of the 99th Street School, which had been built directly above the old Hooker landfill. City officials toured the site, but failed to act.

Gibbs met resistance on several other fronts. Occidental Petroleum, Hooker Chemical's corporate successor, argued that the neighborhood's alleged health problems were unrelated to buried chemicals - and that residents couldn't prove these chemicals came from Hooker's disposal site anyway. Middle-class homeowners feared the worst, but worried that they lacked the financial resources for a prolonged legal battle. Some resigned themselves to selling their homes at loss.

The Power of the Press

During the summer of 1978, the Niagara Falls Gazette followed Gibbs' lead and ran the first of several stories about toxic waste at Love Canal. Subsequently, the New York State Department of Health held hearings in which residents described how children were unable to play in their backyards because the soil burned the bottoms of their feet.

On August 1, the New York Times ran a page-one story about the old Hooker landfill, bringing the matter to national attention. A day later, the New York State Department of Health recommended the relocation of pregnant women and young children who lived in the neighborhood. Then, on August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal.

This was the first time that federal emergency funds were approved for an event other than a natural disaster.

A First-Hand Account

Sadly, the Love Canal tragedy continued, as angry residents fought to convince skeptical government officials. Still, some scientists were sympathetic. Eckardt C. Beck, a district administrator for the U.S. Environmental Administration (EPA) from 1977 to 1979, toured Love Canal soon after the New York Times story broke. In January 1979, he wrote the following in an article for the EPA Journal.

"Corroding waste-disposal drums could be seen breaking up through the grounds of backyards. Trees and gardens were turning black and dying. One entire swimming pool had been had been popped up from its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of chemicals. Puddles of noxious substances were pointed out to me by the residents. Some of these puddles were in their yards, some were in their basements, others yet were on the school grounds. Everywhere the air had a faint, choking smell. Children returned from play with burns on their hands and faces."

Author's Note: Click here for Part 1 of this story. "On This Day" in Engineering History will continue its coverage of Love Canal to commemorate other significant dates.

Resources:

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/December95/638.txt.html

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/specialcollections/lovecanal/about.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal

http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/07/2008-08-07_the_lessons_of_love_canal_lost_unless_su.html

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/nature/lovecanal.html