Background
Vincent Bendix was born on August 12, 1881, in Moline, Illinois, the first child of John and Alma (Danielson) Bendix. His father, of Swedish descent, was minister of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church in Moline.
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Vincent Bendix was born on August 12, 1881, in Moline, Illinois, the first child of John and Alma (Danielson) Bendix. His father, of Swedish descent, was minister of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church in Moline.
Early in Bendix's childhood the family moved to Chicago, where, at thirteen, he designed a chainless bicycle. Though his father wished him to prepare for college, he left home at sixteen and went to New York City to pursue his interest in mechanical invention, supporting himself by such jobs as elevator operator and stenographer in a law office. He designed and supervised the building of an experimental motorcycle in which he reputedly interested Glenn H. Curtiss, the aviation pioneer. Bendix acquired information and experience in mechanical technology as circumstances permitted, but there is no record of formal education in this field.
Vincent returned to Chicago about 1907. Employed for a time as sales manager of the Holmsman Automobile Company in Chicago, Bendix became fascinated by the potential of the automobile. In 1908 he built and sold a few vehicles under his own name and thus gained insight into the inadequacies of the early motorcar. Realizing that hand cranking retarded its acceptance and that the first electric starting motors performed poorly, he concentrated, with what proved to be typical foresight, upon the development of a transmission device providing a dependable link between the starting motor and the car's engine. On November 10, 1914, he was issued his first two patents on a "starter for engines. " A year earlier he had found a manufacturer, the Eclipse Machine Company of Chicago, capable of making the triple-thread screw needed for the starter. In the year his patents were issued he licensed this company to manufacture the Bendix starter drive, the first being installed on Chevrolet's "Baby Grand" touring car. By 1919, production had soared to 1, 500, 000. He also saw the opportunity to improve upon the early automobile brake.
In France in 1923 at an automobile show, the restless, enthusiastic, incisive Bendix met the reserved, studious Henri Perrot, an outstanding French automobile engineer. Perrot had licensed General Motors in America to manufacture a linkage system for four-wheel brakes; he had also patented an internal-expanding brake shoe. At the time most automobiles had only simple two-wheel band brakes. Bendix seized the opportunity to acquire exclusive license to the Perrot brake shoe as well as Perrot's interest in the brake-linkage license granted General Motors. To manufacture the brake, he established the Bendix Brake Company in South Bend, Indiana, and to finance expansion he formed the Bendix Corporation on December 18, 1924. Production increased from 650, 000 brakes in 1926 to 3, 600, 000 in 1928.
By 1924 the essence of Bendix's genius had emerged. He was an inventor - he acquired more than 150 patents, mostly on the brake and the starter - but his primary endeavor and success, to use his own words, was "the development and worldwide acceptance of some mechanical devices. " He identified inadequacies in expanding technological systems, such as the automobile, and sought improvements either through his own inventions or through licenses on the patents of others. Through these he acquired a near monopoly of critical components. His interest and his drive extended beyond invention and development to the organization and financing of manufacturing. As the technology with which he associated expanded, he and his companies
During the "Lindbergh Boom" of 1927-29, Bendix entered the aviation industry, on April 13, 1929, changing the name of the Bendix Corporation to the Bendix Aviation Corporation and acquiring control of companies manufacturing aircraft components. Only 8 percent of the new corporation's sales were aviation products, but ownership of the Scintilla Magneto Company, producer of magnetos for aircraft; of the Pioneer Instrument Company, developer and maker of critical instruments for aerial guidance and control; of the Delco Aviation Corporation, manufacturer of electricalequipment for aviation; of the Eclipse Aviation Corporation, producer of aviation starters and generators; and of other aviation manufacturers deeply involved Bendix and the corporation, through its patents and its manufacturing facilities, in the expanding industry.
General Motors, for $15, 000, 000 cash and other considerations, had purchased one-quarter of the Bendix Aviation Corporation at the time of its founding. After the depression, in 1937, generally unsatisfactory conditions in the Bendix corporation led General Motors to install two members on its board of directors. Although Vincent Bendix remained president until February 24, 1942, and was then briefly chairman of the board, his importance in the affairs of the corporation diminished. The corporation was reorganized from a form of holding company to an operating company, and managers and engineers from Bendix subsidiaries contributed to the creation of a research-and-development-based, highly diversified corporation that expanded dramatically during World War II.
During the 1920's Bendix invested heavily in Chicago real estate. His purchases included the luxurious home of Potter Palmer on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, which he hung with Rembrandts and other works of art and called the Bendix Galleries. In 1929 he contributed $130, 000 for an archaeological expedition to Tibet and other Asiatic countries under the direction of the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin; an object of the expedition was to purchase and bring back a complete Lama temple, to be erected in Stockholm, for which he gave $65, 000. He was decorated by the Swedish king in September 1929. Bendix had a "dazzling" copy of the golden pavilion of Jehol in Manchuria erected at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 and again at the New York World's Fair in 1939.
By 1938 Bendix had organized the Bendix Home Appliances Corporation, which produced an automatic washing machine that became widely used. On June 7, 1939, Vincent Bendix suffered "the biggest blow of my life" when declared an involuntary bankrupt after holders of Chicago real estate bonds he had guaranteed brought suit. Bendix listed assets of about two million dollars and liabilities of fourteen million. The Bendix Aviation Corporation was not involved, but Bendix resigned as president and chairman in order to be "free to devote my time to the field of development, unrestrained by executive demands. " At the time of his death, at sixty-three, in New York City of coronary thrombosis, Bendix Helicopters, Inc. , which he had formed in June 1944, was developing a four-passenger helicopter for mass production after the war.
Vincent Bendix was a well-known inventor and successful businessman. During his life Bendix founded the Bendix Corporation, the Bendix Brake Company, the Bendix Aviation Corporation, Bendix Helicopters, Inc. , and the Bendix Home Appliances Corporation. He acquired more than 150 patents, mostly on the brake and the starter. By the 1930's he had become widely known to the public as an industrialist whose multimillion-dollar corporation made at least one part of every automobile (starters, four-wheel brakes, air brakes, carburetors, air horns), and also complex and vital parts for exciting new aircraft. Bendix established the famous Transcontinental Air Race and donated the coveted Bendix Trophy. Bendix was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991.
Vincent Bendix was president of the Society of Automotive Engineers elected in 1931.
Vincent Bendix married Elizabeth Channon on April 6, 1922; she divorced him in July 1932. They had no children.
