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William Bushnell Stout
- Wayne State University Press
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William Bushnell Stout 1880-1956 "Stout stockholders invested from $1,000 to $5,000 each with the distinct understanding that they might lose all their money." —Stanley Knauss * Iike Henry Ford, William B. Stout was a man with ideas J considerably ahead of the times. And Stout was able to express his ideas in words, in drawings, as models, and as full-scale devices. His contributions to air, auto, and rail transportation have been truly inspiring. William Bushnell Stout was born March 16, 1880, in Quincy, Illinois , as twin to a sister who died at six weeks of age. He was the son of James Frank Stout and Mary C. Bushnell Stout. His father was a Methodist minister who insisted the family live by Methodist rules. The father 's occupation required the family to move with frequency—to Danville , Illinois, in 1881; Bloomington, Illinois, in 1884; West St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1887; southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1889; and Mankato, Minnesota. About 1897, William enrolled in the Mechanical Arts High School in St. Paul, where his father was pastor of the First Methodist Church. Although his father and mother moved on to Red Wing, Minnesota, he stayed in St. Paul, where he worked afternoons in an office copying patent papers and finished high school in 1899. He attended Hamline University for two years and taught in a country school for a year before entering the University of Minnesota. At the university, he supported himself by writing a column for the Minneapolis Times, each article describing some novel device he had designed. Because of eye trouble, he left the university in 1904 and went on a solo motorcycle trip through Europe, supporting himself by writing stories describing his trip for the Minneapolis Times. Back from Europe, he became acquainted with Alma E. Raymond of Napanee , Ontario. They were married in Winnipeg on June 16, 1906. The Stouts were to have one daughter, Wilma Frances. Stout was an entertaining as well as informative speaker, and in 1907, he was called upon to speak before the Minneapolis-St. Paul En- * From the oral reminiscences of Stanley Knauss, assistant to William Stout. 275 Henry's Lieutenants gineering Society as a substitute for the famous aviator Octave Chanute . Stout was then well known locally by his pen name "Jack Kneiff," with a column for the Minneapolis Times for which he was paid eightyfive dollars per month. Along with his column and his technical drawing , he also sang in a church choir and amused gatherings with his Swedish-dialect stories. In the summer of 1908, Stout and his wife explored Europe on a motorcycle; again, he sent stories back to the Times in return for expense money. While living in Minneapolis, Stout had been designing motorcycles and building model airplanes which he flew very successfully at local events. By 1912, Stout's reputation as a technical writer had led him to Chicago and the position of technical and aviation editor of the Chicago Tribune. There he founded AerialAge magazine and formed the Illinois Model Airplane Club. In 1914, he was appointed chief engineer of the Scripps-Booth Company in Detroit. He also became advertising manager and sales manager for the Scripps-Booth automobile, which tried to compete with the Model T but failed. His Boy's Book of Mechanical Models was published in 1916 while he was in Detroit. In 1917, Stout became chief engineer of the Aircraft Division of Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, but he left soon for Washington to serve as adviser to the U.S. Aircraft Board. It was then that he designed and supervised the building of the S-X plywood cantilever airplane. In September 1917, Stout moved back to Detroit, with residence at 55 Seward Avenue, to work for Motor Products Company. Two years later, he formed the Stout Engineering Laboratory, where the Batwing plane was built for the Navy and flown on December 23, 1921, and three all-metal torpedo planes were built during 1922. In late 1922, Stout organized the Stout Metal Airplane Company, with 128 prominent Detroiters each investing $1,000. Offices were in the General Motors Building, and the Stout family residence was 250 Hague in Detroit. This organization designed and built the Air Sedan in 1923, and in 1924 the 2-AT, the first successful all-metal commercial airplane in the United States. Among directors of the Stout Metal Airplane Company were Edsel Ford and William B. Mayo of the Ford Motor Company. Stout was...