Willard Frederick Rockwell, Sr. (March 31, 1888 – October 16, 1978) was an American engineer businessman who helped shape and name what eventually became the

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

company. He created and directed a number of major corporations with a wide range of products for the automobile and aviation and related industries. By the 1970s he was a leading figure in American defense industries. "If it moves, we probably made something on it," was his boast.

Early career

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, where his father was a contractor, Willard attended public schools before attending the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

for three years. In 1909-1915 he was the chief engineer for several small companies. In 1915, he moved to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, becoming manager of a company making axles for automobiles and trucks. During

World War I 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 ...

, he was a civilian specialist in the Motor Transport Division of the Army Quartermaster Corps. In 1919, he started his first company in

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

. He sold it to the Timken-Detroit Axle Company in 1928, staying on as its manager, and also a director of Timken. He became president of Timken in 1933-1940, and chairman of the board 1940-1953. During

World War II 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 ...

, it produced 80 percent of the axles for large army trucks, and 75 percent of the armor plate for tanks. Simultaneously he was president of several smaller companies. By 1947, his combined enterprises had 5,000 employees in 15 plants, with sales of over $62 million. He merged them into Timken in 1953 to form the Rockwell Spring and Axle Company, of which he was chairman of the board. In 1958, his conglomerate was renamed the Rockwell Standard Corporation, and became one of the largest suppliers of parts to the automobile and truck industry. It produced a wide variety of automobile parts, such as transmissions, gears, springs, bumpers, and especially axles for trucks, buses, streetcars, tractors and other motorized vehicles. Rockwell was always an engineer at heart; He received several patents, such as one in 1926 for an "improved double reduction and reversing differential axle construction especially useful for bus axles." Rockwell became interested in aviation after the war, and produced a wide variety of engine parts, as well as a small executive aircraft. Expanding beyond transportation, his companies made meters for the gas and water industries. He also made power tools, valves,

taxi meter A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

s, and

parking meter A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street par ...

s. For example, the Pittsburgh Equitable Meter and Manufacturing Company was a conglomerate, comprising many companies that manufactured items ranging from water meters to ball bearings. The company became a major player in the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...

of the 1960s. In 1967 Rockwell-Standard merged with North American Aviation, becoming North American-Rockwell, and Rockwell stepped down as chairman. It was renamed Rockwell International in 1973 and became the prime contractor on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

. Sales reached $6.3 billion in 1979, ranking it number 11 in defense contracts, in addition to its major presence in commercial aircraft, electronics, automotive components. Numerous major corporations brought Rockwell onto their boards, including banks, insurance companies, and railroads.

Family

Rockwell came from a

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...

family and married Clara Thayer, a descendant of

John Alden John Alden (c. 1598 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Sou ...

who arrived aboard the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' in 1620. The couple had five children, Kay, Janet, Willard Jr., Eleanor, and Betty. He was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

and Republican. He brought his son Willard Frederick "Al" Rockwell, Jr. (1914-1992)New York Times, Sept. 26, 1992
/ref> into the network of family businesses in 1947. Rockwell Jr. became a senior executive for several of them before taking over in the mid-1960s, leading work on the NASA

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

and

programs until his 1989 retirement. Willard Sr. also brought his brother Walter F. Rockwell (1899-1973) into the family business, making him president of Timken-Detroit Axle 1933 to 1953, as well as other roles.

References

External links

Willard Rockwell
at

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Automotive Hall of Fame biographyHistory of Rockwell Automation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwell, Willard 1888 births 1978 deaths American chief executives American industrialists Businesspeople from Boston Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Burials at Homewood Cemetery Engineers from Pennsylvania Henry Laurence Gantt Medal recipients Pennsylvania Republicans 20th-century American businesspeople

Early career

Family

References

Further reading

Primary sources

External links