Edward Gowan Budd

Edward Gowan Budd (1870 - 1946) was an American steel engineer who greatly advanced the manufacturing and quality of railroad cars and automobiles.

Budd was born in Delaware in 1870. He studied engineering in Philadelphia in 1888. In 1899, he transfered his knowledge of pressed steel to the railroad industry. Notably, with Pullman, Budd created lighter, stronger and safer steel bodied railroad cars to replace the wood-bodied versions.

In 1912, Budd started his own company to look for other uses for pressed-steel technology. He sold some examples of all-steel bodies to General Motors, Studebaker, Willys, Oakland and Tatra. His first big supporter were the Dodge brothers, who purchased 70,000 bodies in 1916.

However, Dodge placed the steel bodies onto conventional chassis frames. Budd envisioned pushing his technology even further. In 1924, He found another visionary in André Citroën. By 1934, they had developed the Citroèn Onze Légère, the first unibody, pressed steel automobile.

In order to hold all of this steel together, Budd also pioneered the use of arc welding in automobile manufacturing.

Budd is today listed in the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, MI.

References

• Steel in our lives - article including information on Budd Retrieved January 19, 2005

• Setright, L J K (2003). Drive On! London: Granta Books ISBN 1-86207-698-7