George Huebner

George Huebner
Born George John Huebner
(1910-09-08)September 8, 1910
Detroit, Michigan
Died September 4, 1996(1996-09-04) (aged 85)
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Nationality American
Other names George John Huebner, Jr.
George J. Huebner
Occupation Engineer
Known for turbine engines
Notable work turbine engine automobile

George John Huebner (September 8, 1910 – September 4, 1996), also George John Huebner, Jr. and George J. Huebner, was an executive engineer who worked for the Chrysler Corporation. He designed the turbine engines used in Chrysler experimental automobiles. He developed the first practical gas turbine engine for a passenger automobile.

Early life

Huebner was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 8, 1910. He was the son of George John Huebner (Sr) and Ruth Reigel Huebner.[1] His father was a stockbroker and published Tooling and Production magazine.[2] His grandfather was an automobile parts dealer and many times sold parts and material to Henry Ford.[2] Huebner was a high achiever in school and skipped a few grades. He enrolled at the University of Michigan when sixteen years old. His first classes were in economics, taken with an intention to follow in his father's footsteps as a stockbroker. He later became interested in mechanical engineering and changed his major. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1932.[3][4]

Mid life and career

Huebner joined Chrysler Corporation part-time in 1931 before graduating from the university a year later.[5][6] He was at first a research engineer and in 1936 became assistant chief engineer at the age of 26.[4][7][8] He held that position until 1939 when he went to the Central Engineering Division to work with Carl Breer, one of the core engineers of 15 years before.[4][9] One of his first jobs there was working on aircraft turbine engines.[3] In the 1940s, with a group of engineers, he designed a liquid-cooled V-16 fighter aircraft engine. In 1949 the U.S. Navy gave Chrysler a contract for the design of a 1,000-horsepower turboprop aircraft engine of which he was the chief engineer.[10][11]

Stock 1956 Plymouth Belvedere
1963 Chrysler Turbine automobile

Huebner became chief engineer of Chrysler's Research Division developing experimental automobiles.[12] There he was in charge of gas turbine engine design and became Director of Research in 1955.[3][13][14] He was responsible for the design of the first automotive V-8 engine with a hemispherical combustion chamber.[15] Huebner, as research engineer at the Chrysler Corporation in 1956, directed the project of the first transcontinental trip in a gas-turbine automobile.[16][17][18][19] The automobile used was fitted with a gas turbine engine of his design.[20] It was given the name "Chrysler Turbine Special".[21]

Huebner drove across the United States in the turbine engine automobile, a converted 1956 Plymouth Belvedere.[22][23] He left New York City with his driving crew on Monday March 26, 1956 and traveled 3,000 mi (4,830 km) on the nation's highways with a support caravan of station wagons of equipment. Huebner, as the driver of the Plymouth automobile, arrived four days later in Los Angeles on Friday evening March 30.[22][24] He designed and developed the engine that was used in the car for the trip.[25][26] The first transcontinental trip of a gas turbine car ran on white gasoline, fuel oil, and diesel oil.[27] Sometimes normal leaded gasoline, as used in piston automobiles, was burned as a fuel.[28] It was driven at 40 to 45 miles per hour (64 to 72 km/h) and averaged 13 to 14 miles per US gallon (18 to 17 l/100 km).[28]

Huebner believed he had put in motion the idea that a gas turbine car was going to be the trend and the conventional 70 million piston-driven automobiles then on the road would be replaced by this technology.[29] He continued to develop the automobile turbine engine for the next ten years.[30] During Huebner's career a gas turbine automobile was never mass-produced for the public.[31] They were too expensive for the average car owner.[32] Chrysler had a version of Huebner's turbine engine installed into the Abrams military tank that is the main battle tank for the United States and other countries.[11]

Chrysler, with Huebner as their director of research, made 50 experimental turbine powered automobiles in 1963. The two-year test had inconclusive results and several problems noted.[11][33][34] The major stumbling block to mass production was its poor fuel economy of 11.5 miles per US gallon (20.5 l/100 km).[35] There were six generations of experimental turbine automobiles where Huebner was the director. Huebner held forty patents on various inventions related to turbine engines. He wrote 17 engineering papers. He became president of the Chrysler Institute of Engineering in 1960.[10] In 1962 he was honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his leadership in developing the technology for potential mass-produced turbine passenger automobiles.[36][37]

Redstone rocket

Rocket engines

Chrysler was awarded from the United States Army Ordnance Corps a contract in 1953 to produce intercontinental ballistic missiles. Huebner was named executive engineer in charge of Chrysler's Missile Branch.[11][14][38] At the time he was serving as executive engineer of research for Chrysler in their automotive division.[6] He developed a complete research and development missile facility that included engineering, testing, and production of the Redstone rocket.[37] These rockets ultimately launched into orbit the first U.S. satellites and the first manned space flights.[11] Huebner worked closely with Wernher von Braun on the space program.[39] For two years he worked on this rocket project and then went back to automotive research.[36][37] Huebner described his rocket days in a 1959 Boys' Life magazine article titled "Rehearsal for Space" that was spread out over 3 pages for his complete story.[40]

Later life, legacy, and death

Huebner retired from Chrysler in 1975 when he was 65 years old.[41][42] He had developed the first practical gas turbine engine for a passenger car and continued to advance this technology until his death.[4] Huebner was known as the father of the automotive gas turbine engine.[11][43][44] He was regarded as the father of Chrysler's turbine program.[45] He died of pulmonary edema in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on September 4, 1996.[4][11]

Family

Huebner's wife was Trudy and they had two sons.[11]

References

  1. ↑ GTI 1960, p. 27.
  2. 1 2 Lehto 2010, p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 Lehto 2010, p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Furlong 2001, p. 129.
  5. ↑ Buckendale 1962, p. 2.
  6. 1 2 "Tucson Gets A Preview Of Chrysler Turbine Car". Tucson Daily Citizen – p. 18. Tucson, Arizona. March 18, 1965 – via Newspapers.com .
  7. ↑ Langworth 1985, p. 86.
  8. ↑ Bonnier 1961, p. 38.
  9. ↑ SAE 1973, p. 50.
  10. 1 2 Furlong 2001, p. 130.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cardenas, Edward L. (October 8, 1996). "George Huebner, ex-Chrysler executive engineer". Detroit News, p. 2C. Detroit, Michigan.
  12. ↑ "Turbine Car Make Debut". The Robesonian, p. 7. Lumberton, North Carolina. December 27, 1961 – via Newspapers.com .
  13. ↑ McGraw 1953, p. 7.
  14. 1 2 Turpin, Ted (March 7, 1966). "Huebner Visit Focuses Interest On Turbine Car". Tucson Daily Citizen, p.35. Tucson, Arizona – via Newspapers.com .
  15. ↑ SAE 1977, p. 169.
  16. ↑ Kane 1964, p. 61.
  17. ↑ Carroll 1963, p. 51.
  18. ↑ Auto Driver 1956, p. 4.
  19. ↑ "Turbine Car Ends Long Test". San Bernardino County Sun – p.27. San Bernardino, California. March 31, 1956 – via Newspapers.com .
  20. ↑ "First Car Powered With Gas Turbine Engine Ends Transcontinental Trip". Corsicana Daily Sun – p. 1. Corsicana, Texas. March 31, 1956 – via Newspapers.com .
  21. ↑ Hearst 1956, pp. 72–76.
  22. 1 2 Lehto 2010, pp. 15–17.
  23. ↑ "Cyclone in a Box". Brownwood Bulletin – p. 7. Brownwood, Texas. April 23, 1956 – via =Newspapers.com .
  24. ↑ "A Dodge Dart". The Monroe News-Star, p. 5. Monroe, Louisiana. January 2, 1962 – via =Newspapers.com .
  25. ↑ "Chrysler Gas Turbine Car Ends Tryout". The News-Palladium, p. 9. Benton Harbor, Michigan. April 2, 1956 – via =Newspapers.com .
  26. ↑ "Chrysler Renews Turbine Quest". The Daily Times-News, p. 33. Burlington, North Carolina. July 26, 1973 – via Newspapers.com .
  27. ↑ "Utahns See Gas Turbo Auto Engine". The Ogden Standard-Examiner, p. 26. Ogden, Utah. August 5, 1962 – via Newspapers.com .
  28. 1 2 "Turbine Car Reaches Coast". The Daily Inter Lake – p. 8. Kalispell, Montana. April 1, 1956 – via Newspapers.com .
  29. ↑ "Chrysler to Produce Gas Turbine Car". The Daily Telegram, p. 3 . Eau Claire, Wisconsin. December 27, 1961 – via Newspapers.com .
  30. ↑ "Chrysler Has Turbine Center That Could Radically Change Designs". Standard-Speaker, p. 18. Hazleton, Pennsylvania. December 28, 1961 – via =Newspapers.com .
  31. ↑ "Gas Turbine Cars Aren't For Sale ... Right Now". The Lincoln Star – p. 3. Lincoln, Nebraska. June 4, 1967 – via Newspapers.com .
  32. ↑ "Turbine Too Costly For Average Driver". Freeport Journal-Standard, p. 14. Freeport, Illinois. June 7, 1967 – via Newspapers.com .
  33. ↑ "Gas Turbine Cars Still Long Way Off". News-Journal – p. 6. Mansfield, Ohio. June 11, 1967 – via Newspapers.com .
  34. ↑ "Chrysler's Turbine Tests Bring Off Mixed Reactions". Valley News, p. 23. Van Nuys, California. May 3, 1966 – via Newspapers.com .
  35. ↑ Langworth 1985, p. 193.
  36. 1 2 Furlong 2001, p. 131.
  37. 1 2 3 "George J. Huebner views Engines, Emmissions, and Energy". Automotive Engineering. 81 (2): 50. 1973.
  38. ↑ Michigan Alumnus 1957, p. 192.
  39. ↑ Lehto 2010, p. 9.
  40. ↑ Boy Scouts 1959, pp. 55, 65, 66.
  41. ↑ Ward 1976, p. 33.
  42. ↑ Irvin, Robert W. (November 5, 1975). "Pioneer Says Expect Turbine Cars in '80s". The High Point Enterprise – p. 59. High Point, North Carolina – via Newspapers.com .
  43. ↑ Mortimer 2015, p. 129.
  44. ↑ "OBITUARY – George J. Huebner". The University Record, October 15, 1996. University of Michigan. Retrieved July 23, 2017. Huebner is known as the "father of the automotive gas turbine engine."
  45. ↑ "Chrysler Is Undecided On Turbine Car Future". The Fresno Bee The Republican, p. 30. Fresno, California. April 13, 1966 – via Newspapers.com .

Sources

  • Auto Driver (1956). Auto Driver. Counterpoint. Huebner holding a power turbine wheel, duplicate of that used in the engine to transmit driving force to the rear wheels is George J. Huebner, Jr. It was the first transcontinental journey of an automobile powered by a gas turbine engine.
  • Bonnier (July 1961). Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. ISSN 0161-7370.
  • Boy Scouts (September 1959). Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. ISSN 0006-8608.
  • Buckendale, L. Ray (1962). L. Ray Buckendale Lecture. Society of Automotive Engineers.
  • Carroll, William (1963). Automotive Gas Turbines. Coda Publications. Two years after the first gas turbine had been successfully installed in a production Plymouth sedan, a 1956 Plymouth became an experiment under the direction of George J. Huebner, Jr. "Even in its present, infant stage of development," Mr. Huebner said, "the gas turbine's performance rivals that of piston engines which have had a design history of more than 100 years. The historic test was the first transcontinental journey of an automobile powered by a gas turbine engine.
  • Furlong, James W. (2001). Memorial Tributes. National Academy of Engineering.
  • GTI (1960). Gas Turbine International. Gas Turbine Publications.
  • Hearst (June 1956). Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. ISSN 0032-4558.
  • Kane, Joseph Nathan (1964). Famous first facts. H. W. Wilson. The first transcontinental trip in a gas-turbine car took place in 1956. The Turbine Special, a 1956 stock four-door Plymouth sedan, left New York City on March 26, 1956, and arrived in Los Angeles, CA, on March 30, covering 3,020 miles in 95 hours 15 minutes, including 74 hours 19 minutes of driving time. It was driven by two-man teams of turbine research engineers under the direction of George John Huebner, Jr., executive engineer in charge of research for the Chrysler Corporation.
  • Langworth, Richard M. (1985). History of Chrysler Corporation. Beekman House. ISBN 978-0-517-44813-7.
  • Lehto, Steve (2010). Chrysler's Turbine Car. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-56976-549-4. Huebner planned to drive the car cross-country to prove the reliability of the Chrysler turbine.
  • McGraw (January 1953). Aviation Week and Space Technology. McGraw-Hill.
  • Michigan Alumnus (1957). The Michigan Alumnus. UM Libraries. UOM:39015071120748.
  • Mortimer, John (30 March 2015). The nearly engine. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-326-17707-2. George J. Huebner, Jr. is best known as the 'father of the automotive gas turbine engine'.
  • SAE (January 1973). Automotive Engineering. Society of Automotive Engineers.
  • SAE (February 1977). Automotive Engineering. Society of Automotive Engineers.
  • Ward (1976). Ward's Auto World. Ward's Communications.
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