A Brief History of the Dana Corporation
A Classic Story of American Industry
The story of this company is a true American classic – if you've ever ridden in a car, bus, truck, or train, the chances are 100% certain that you've been transported with the help of a Dana product. We hope you enjoy learning about their story as much as we did.
An Engineering Class Assignment
At the beginning of the 20th century, motor vehicles used sprockets and chains, like bicycles, to transmit power from the engine to the wheels. The chains were noisy, unreliable, and inefficient. They were also difficult to lubricate and protect from the dirt and debris of the unpaved roads of the time.
In the spring of 1902, Clarence Spicer, a sophomore at Cornell University, devised a better way to transmit engine power while working on an engineering class assignment. He placed universal joints, which enable angular motion in all directions, on both ends of a tubular shaft located between the axles. He also encased the universal joints in protective bowl-shaped housings to hold their lubricant and protect them from the road. Spicer's invention of the modern driveshaft helped moved the nascent motor vehicle industry forward.
Spicer Casings for Universal Joints
Spicer received his patent for the "Casing for Universal Joints" on May 19, 1903. Later that year, with his wife Anna, he formed the C.W. Spicer Company. The following year he hired his first employees. The company experienced immediate success and enormous growth. Renamed the Spicer Manufacturing Company in 1909, the company was nearly destroyed by early success as it simply could not keep up with its customers' orders.
The Dana Corporation
By 1913, the company was in desperate need of financing. Ever-increasing orders created larger and more complex manufacturing problems. The solutions - more space, more equipment, more capacity - required capital. A young attorney from New York named Charles Dana spotted the opportunity and agreed to loan Spicer $15,000. Two years later Dana owned nearly half the company and was elected to its board of directors.
Interior of Spicer Manufacturing Corporation facility
South Plainfield, N.J. 1920s.
Copyright © Dana Corporation
An unconventional man, Dana had worked occasionally in college and afterwards as a cowhand on a ranch in Chihuahua, Mexico. He also served three elected terms on the New York state legislature. Spicer's strengths were to experiment, invent, and design, while Dana's were to build, capitalize, and sell. The two made an unlikely but complementary and successful team.
Clarence Spicer
Copyright ©
Dana Corporation
Upon expressing the desire to devote his energy and enthusiasm to the company on a full-time basis, Charles Dana was elected its president at the age of 34. Clarence Spicer remained as vice president and chief engineer until his death in 1939. Spicer's creativity and inventiveness gave birth to one of the motor vehicle industry's oldest, largest, and most successful companies. He also reached the very top of his profession: the presidency of the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Charles Dana
Copyright ©
Dana Corporation
The company experienced tremendous success under Dana, due in part to serving the U.S. government during World Wars I and II. The company was renamed to Dana Corporation in 1946 in his honor.
The company weathered huge economic upheavals during the 20th century, both in peace and in wartime, and continues to adapt to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Dana retains its position as a giant in the automotive industry. The company produces axles, driveshafts, engine, frame, chassis, and transmission technologies and today serves every major vehicle producer in the world. Dana's automotive, commercial, and off-highway vehicle customers collectively produce more than 60 million vehicles annually. The company employs 46,000 people in 26 countries. Based in Toledo, Ohio, Dana reported sales of $9.1 billion in 2004.
All because of Clarence Spicer's engineering class assignment in 1902.
– by Mary Ecsedy, December 6, 2005, Moab Utah
[With special thanks to the editing department at Dana Corporation, and to Robert Leonardi, Director of Intellectual Property, Dana Corporation.]
