Hubert Jozef ("Hub") van Doorne (1 January 1900 – 23 May 1979) was the founder of Van Doorne's Aanhangwagenfabriek (Trailer factory) and of Van Doorne's Automobielfabriek (vehicle factory) known as DAF, together with his brother Willem (Wim) van Doorne.

Early years

Van Doorne was born in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, a confusingly named small town in

Dutch Limburg Limburg (, ) is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is bordered by Gelderland to the north and by North Brabant to its west. Its long eastern boundary forms the international border with the state of North Rhine-Westph ...

, the son of blacksmith Martin van Doorne (1870–1912) by his marriage to Petronella Vervoort (1866–1952). In March 1912 the family moved to Deurne where van Doorne's father almost immediately died. Van Doorne was keen to take on his father's business, but was considered too young: instead he became an apprentice in the small Mandiger machine factory of nearby

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

van Doorn was employed as a chauffeur-mechanic by a well known local doctor named Hendrik Wiegersma. Subsequently, he worked for the De Valk

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

. In 1920 he established his own business concentrating on metal working involving items such as stoves, bicycles and motor vehicles. However, he gave up on this business after four years and returned to Mandiger's as company manager.

Van Doorne's Aanhangwagenfabriek N.V. and its successor

With financial support from the brewery by whom he had been employed ten years earlier, van Doorne returned to self-employment in April 1928, establishing his own metal based manufacturing and repair business, concentrating on items such as cabinets, ladders, window frames and, increasingly, trailers which led to the business being renamed in 1932 as van Doorne's Aanhangwagenfabriek (DAF). Although the business initially employed just four people, including Hub and his brother Wim, in just one year it expanded to the point where it employed 30 people. The business subsequently expanded into truck production and, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, production of military vehicles. It was on account of the move into powered vehicles that the firm's name was changed again to Van Doorne's Automobielfabriek (DAF). The business evolved as a partnership between Hub and his brother Wim, with Hub retaining responsibility for technical and engineering aspects of the business and his brother Wim looking after the financial and administrative aspects. It was Hub who would develop and apply the concept of

continuously variable transmission A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of gear ratios. This contrasts with other transmissions that provide a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. T ...

for which the firm would become well known in the 1950s and 1960s. Their

Van Doorne transmission A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...

, using a belt drive between two adjustable coned pulleys, was widely used as the ''

Variomatic Variomatic is the continuously variable transmission (CVT) of the Dutch car manufacturer DAF, originally developed by Hub van Doorne. It is a stepless, fully-automatic transmission, consisting of a V-shaped drive-belt, and two pulleys, each o ...

'' in small DAF cars.

Personal

Van Doorne married on 15 July 1929, Henrica Maria Reijnders (1905–1987), the daughter of a substantial local retailer. She would later receive papal commendation for her energetic work in the social field. The couple produced five recorded children. For a time the van Doorne family lived in Eindhoven, but they soon returned to Deurne, and were still living there in 1979 when Hub died. He was buried at the local Jacobshof cemetery where today his body lies in a protected area beside those of his wife and three of his children Anny (1930–2004), Jeffrey (1932–2006) and Piet (1934–1982).

Sources and further reading

This entry includes information from the equivalent entry in the

Dutch Wikipedia The Dutch Wikipedia ( nl, Nederlandstalige Wikipedia) is the Dutch-language edition of the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. It was founded on 19 June 2001. As of , the Dutch Wikipedia is the -largest Wikipedia edition, with articles. It w ...

External links (in English)

Hub Van Doorne's induction into European Automotive Hall of Fame
February 2, 2009

External links (in Dutch)

Hub en Rie van Doorne in klei
-

Eindhovens Dagblad ''Eindhovens Dagblad'' is a daily Dutch newspaper based in the city of Eindhoven. In 2017 it had a circulation of about 80,000. History ''Eindhovensch Dagblad'' first appeared on 23 December 1911. In 1963 it was bought by the owner of its comp ...

, 9 December 2006
Duobeeld officieel als geschenk aanvaard
- Eindhovens Dagblad, 5 mei 2007
Balkenende onthult beeld Van Doorne
- Eindhovens Dagblad, 7 augustus 2007
'Komst premier toont belang V. Doorne'
- Eindhovens Dagblad, 7 augustus 2007
Beeld van Doornes geplaatst in Deurne
- Eindhovens Dagblad, 17 augustus 2007
Balkenende onthult beeld Van Doornes
- Eindhovens Dagblad, 18 augustus 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Doorne, Hub Van 1900 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Dutch businesspeople Dutch automobile designers 20th-century Dutch inventors European founders of automobile manufacturers People from Horst aan de Maas