Vincent Hugo Bendix (August 12, 1881 – March 27, 1945) was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through per ...

. Vincent Bendix was a pioneer and leader in both the automotive and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

industries during the 1920s and 1930s.''Vincent Bendix. Enshrined 1991'' (National Aviation Hall of Fame, Inc.)

Background

Vincent Hugo Bendix was born in

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Islan ...

. He was eldest of three children born to

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, Reverend Jann Bengtsson, a native of

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from ...

, Sweden, and his wife Anna Danielson, also an immigrant from Sweden. While in Moline the family name was changed to "Bendix". They later moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois and Vincent purchased the

Palmer Mansion The Palmer Mansion was a large private home constructed 1882–1885 at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois. Once the largest private residence in the city, it was located in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side neighborhood, fac ...

in 1930, for $3,000,000.

Career

In 1907 Vincent Bendix founded the

Bendix Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, ...

of Chicago to manufacture

automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, called

Bendix Motor Buggie Bendix may refer to: People First name * Bendix Hallenstein (1835–1905), New Zealand businessman Middle name * Kim Bendix Petersen (born 1956), Danish singer known by the stage name King Diamond Last name * John E. Bendix (1835–1905), Ame ...

s. After two years and producing 7,000 vehicles the company failed. In 1910 however, Bendix invented and patented the

Bendix drive A Bendix drive is a type of engagement mechanism used in starter motors of internal combustion engines. The device allows the pinion gear of the starter motor to engage or disengage the ring gear (which is attached to the flywheel A flywheel ...

, a gear that could engage an engine at zero rotational speed and then (through the aid of a spring and the higher speed of the running engine) pull back and disengage automatically at higher speed (nominally the engine's running speed). This drive made the

electric starter A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. T ...

practical for automobile engines and later for engines in

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

and other motorized vehicles. In 1922 his father was killed when he was hit by a car with drum brakes; his father's death inspired him to study braking systems. He found a French braking system that he considered to be superior to any braking systems available in the United States's market. In 1923, Bendix founded the Bendix Brake Company, which acquired the rights to French engineer

Henri Perrot Henri Perrot (21 August 1883 – 1961, in Paris) was a French engineer who was one of the pioneers of the automobile industry from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He holds numerous patents in the field of automotive drum/s ...

's patents for brake drum/shoe design a year later. In 1929, he started the

Bendix Aviation Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...

and founded the Transcontinental Bendix Air Race in 1931. In 1942, Bendix started Bendix Helicopters, Inc. Bendix Aviation and Bendix Brake would later be renamed

.Bendix Brakes, History

Death

Bendix died at his home in New York on March 27, 1945, of

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart at ...

.Associated Press, “Victor Bendix Dies Of Heart Ailment”, The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 28 March 1945, Volume 51, page 1.

Honors

*1929 - Knight of the Swedish

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star ( Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of t ...

*1931 - President of the

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

*1936 - Knight of the French Legion of Honor. *1984 - Inducted into the

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum. It was founded in 1939 and has over 800 worldwide honorees. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. the Automotive Hall of Fame includes persons who have contributed greatly to a ...

*1991 - Inducted into the

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...

References

External links

"Rites for Vincent Bendix"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', April 1, 1945
Bendix Appliances homepage

''Popular Mechanics'': "Certificate of Brake Test Made Automatically by Small Recorder" (April 1936)
— ''portable brake testing unit developed and sold by Bendix in the 1930s.''
Bendixline (1957–1958, 1962–1964)
– Digitized copies of the Bendix Products Division newsletter {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendix, Vincent 1881 births 1945 deaths 20th-century American inventors American founders of automobile manufacturers American people of Swedish descent Automotive businesspeople Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago) Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Engineers from Illinois Knights of the Order of the Polar Star National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees People from Chicago People from Moline, Illinois People in aviation Bendix Corporation people