Monday 13th April 1925

Elwood Haynes (67) founder of the Haynes Automobile Company died. Haynes, the founder of the Haynes Automobile Company, led a remarkable life that began in Portland, Indiana. Haynes started his own car company, which he ran for nearly three decades. He is credited with a number of automotive innovations, including the rotary engine,(1893). But Haynes’ greatest achievements came as a metallurgist. He was the first American to pioneer the oxidization of steel and the use of chromium to retard nature’s oxidization process. He eventually received a U.S. patent for “stainless steel,” although the invention first surfaced in England under the name “rustless iron.” He became the architect for the Indiana Natural Gas Company’s pipe network, which provided most of Chicago with natural gas. Haynes was the first man to suggest that natural gas should be dehydrated before it was piped, a principle still in use today.