{{Short description|American industrialist and automotive engineer}} {{Infobox person |name = Howard E. Coffin |image = File:Howard-e-coffin.jpg |caption = Portrait of Howard E. Coffin in the 1900s |birth_name = Howard Earle Coffin |birth_date = {{birth date|1873|9|6}} |birth_place = [[West Milton, Ohio]], U.S. |death_date = {{death_date and age|1937|11|21|1873|9|6}} |death_place = [[St. Simons Island]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], U.S. |alma_mater=[[University of Michigan]] |occupation = American automotive engineer and industrialist |years_active = 1895–1937, his death |spouse = Matilda V. Allen, 1907–1932, her death |children = }} '''Howard Earle Coffin''' (September 6, 1873 – November 21, 1937) was an American automobile engineer and industrialist. He was one of the founders of the [[Hudson Motor Car Company]] with [[Roy D. Chapin]]. He was a charter member of [[SAE International|The Society of Automotive Engineers]] and president in 1910, and as one of the [[One-dollar salary|"dollar-a-year men"]] served as chairman of the [[Aircraft Board]] which organized aircraft production and industrial mobilization during World War I.<ref name=Ciment07>James Ciment, Thaddeus Russell (ed) ''The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II, Volume 1'', Publisher ABC-CLIO, 2007 {{ISBN|1-57607-849-3}} pages 44–45</ref> He retired from the Hudson company in 1930 but acted as a consultant. He died accidentally in 1937.
==Biography== He was born on September 6, 1873, on a farm near [[West Milton, Ohio]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Michigan Alumnus, Volume XXII |date=1916 |publisher=Alumni Association of the University of Michigan |location=Ann Arbor |pages=14 |language=en}}</ref> and raised there and in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]], during his early years. He was the son of Julius Coffin and Sarah Jones Coffin, both an immigrant from England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hyde |first=Charles K. |title=Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson, and American Motors |date=2009 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-3446-1 |location=Detroit |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref> He completed his preparatory education at a boarding school in [[Tennessee]] and the Ann Arbor High School.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hannan |first=Caryn |title=Georgia Biographical Dictionary |publisher=State History Publications |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-878592-42-2 |publication-date= |pages=194 |language=en}}</ref> He studied mechanical engineering at the [[University of Michigan]]. It was there that he constructed his first automobile. It was steam-powered, and he used it to deliver the mail around town. He also made use of the university's engineering shop in 1898–99 to build his first internal combustion engine. This automobile is preserved in the [[The Henry Ford|Henry Ford Museum]].<ref name=":0" />
Coffin is known in automotive circles as the Father of Standardization, a result of his initiative in standardizing material and design specifications and in arranging for automobile manufacturers to share their patents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neiberg |first=Michael S. |title=The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-046498-1 |location=Oxford |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The National Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly |publisher=Bostonian Publishing Company |year=1918 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=116 |language=en}}</ref> These accomplishments enabled the American automobile industry to grow quickly. Upon graduation in 1902, he started working for Oldsmobile as chief experimental engineer, and later as chief engineer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Buddy |title=Sapelo: People and Place on a Georgia Sea Island |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8203-5016-5 |location=Athens, GA |pages=213 |language=en}}</ref> Roy Chapin and he compiled the first comprehensive instruction book for car owners.<ref name=Butler>Donald F. Butler, "The History of Hudson" Crestline Series, Motorbooks International, 1982, 1992 {{ISBN|0-87938-696-7}} page 7</ref><ref name=Hyde>Charles K. Hyde,''Storied independent automakers: Nash, Hudson, and American Motors'', Wayne State University Press, 2009 {{ISBN|0-8143-3446-6}} page 95</ref>
He then worked for the E. R. Thomas–Detroit Motor Car Company. This development came after Coffin and Chapin failed to secure financial support in the Pacific coast to organize their venture. On the way back to Detroit, they met Edwin Thomas on the train. The pair was able to convince him to fund the Thomas-Detroit Company.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kollins |first=Michael J. |title=The Small Independents |date=2002-02-01 |publisher=SAE International |isbn=0-7680-0904-9 |location=Warrendale, PA |pages=200 |language=en}}</ref> By early May 1906, he was one of the five founders of what became Chalmers–Detroit Motor Company, as first vice-president.<ref>http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-863 ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'': "Howard Coffin 1873–1937", retrieved 2011 May 06</ref> He served as vice president and chief engineer of Hudson Motor Car Company, designing many of their early models. With new financing thru one of the six principals, the respected department store merchant and bank officer, Joseph L. Hudson, provided much of the capitalization set at $100,000. The first Hudson, Model 20, was built on July 3, 1909.
A millionaire by age 30, Coffin purchased extensive real estate in Georgia such as [[Sapelo Island]], and [[Sea Island, Georgia|Sea Island]], turning it into a resort. Coffin married Matilda V. Allen of [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], in 1907.<ref name=":1" />
When the United States were confronted with [[World War I]], Coffin joined the Naval Construction Board and was also the chairman of the Committee on Industrial Preparedness in 1916,<ref>{{cite news|title=TO TRAIN INDUSTRY FOR A WAR CRISIS; Committee on Preparedness Proposes Small "Educational Orders" for Great Factories.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/03/27/archives/to-train-industry-for-a-war-crisis-committee-on-preparedness.html|work=The New York Times|date=27 March 1916}}</ref> and in 1917 became chair of the [[Aircraft Production Board]].<ref>Anne Cipriano Venzon, Jerold Brown in ''The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 1999, {{ISBN|0-8153-3353-6}}, page 153</ref> After he had resigned under corruption allegations in March, President [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilson]] appointed [[John D. Ryan (industrialist)|John D. Ryan]] in April 1918 to replace Coffin as head of the board.<ref>Anne Cipriano Venzon, Jerold Brown in ''The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 1999, {{ISBN|0-8153-3353-6}} , pages 153 and 520</ref>
He inadvertently killed himself at Sea Island on November 21, 1937, the result of a gunshot wound from his favorite rifle.<ref>{{cite news|title=Howard Coffin Is Shot Dead with Own Gun|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1937/11/22/page/1/article/howard-coffin-is-shot-dead-with-own-gun|accessdate=3 April 2017|work=Chicago Tribune|date=22 November 1937}}</ref> He and his wife are buried at Christ Church at [[St. Simons Island]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Howard E. Coffin}} * {{findagrave|6599219}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffin, Howard E.}} [[Category:1873 births]] [[Category:1937 deaths]] [[Category:People from West Milton, Ohio]] [[Category:People from Glynn County, Georgia]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Ann Arbor, Michigan]] [[Category:Engineers from Ohio]] [[Category:University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni]] [[Category:American automotive engineers]] [[Category:American industrialists]] [[Category:Hudson Motor Car Company]] [[Category:American founders of motor vehicle manufacturers]] [[Category:Naval Consulting Board]] [[Category:Council of National Defense]] [[Category:Firearm accident victims in the United States]] [[Category:Deaths by firearm in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Accidental deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)]]