Henry L. Haskell

Henry L. Haskell

Henry Lincoln Haskell (January 2, 1863 – April 3, 1940) was a businessman and inventor. He ran manufacturing businesses related to plywood and lived in Ludington, Michigan, US.

Early life

Haskell was born on January 2, 1863 in Aurelius of Ingham County, Michigan (then Jackson County). His father was Reuben Sprague Haskell (1813–1890). His mother was Mary McGee Haskell (1816–1876). He moved with his family in 1865, when two years old, to Olivet, Michigan. In 1882, when he was 19 years old, he relocated to Ludington, Michigan, to get work in the lumber industry.[1]

Career

Main articles: Carrom Company and Carrom

Haskell established a basket factory in 1883 when he was 20 years old.[1] This became the Ludington Novelty company in 1889 that made various items, among them games.[2] Haskell invented the game of Carroms in 1889 to keep young boys out of pool halls where they might get bad habits and wanted them to develop family associations instead.[3][4][5] He patented his Carrom game board in 1892.[6] Haskell first made these by hand with the assistance of crude planing equipment.[7] He started to mass produce the game board in 1893.[8] He found the people of Iowa bought his game more than anyone else.[8]

Innovations and inventions

Haskell ribless canoe made from one piece of plywood and no skeleton ribs
Main article: Haskelite

Haskell invented a formula for a waterproof glue in 1913.[9] The glue was made from blood-album.[10] From this glue he made a material of "plies" of crossed grain layers of wood, that is known today as plywood. Haskell named this composite material after himself with the brand name Haskelite. He worked out the mechanics of being able to mold and shape this plywood into three dimensions.[11] From this plywood he made a canoe that was molded from one piece of plywood.[12] The canoe plywood was shaped by hydraulic presses as an innovation devised by Haskell.[13] The unusually designed canoe of no skeleton framework or ribs was given the brand name Arex ("king of the water") and made out of the Haskell Manufacturing Company building on N. Rowe Street in Ludington, Michigan.[14] It later became better known just as the Haskell canoe. Haskell formed the Haskell Manufacturing Company in 1916 to make boats and canoes.[15] He incorporated it with $100,000 in 1917.[15] The Haskell Boat Company made 600 Haskell canoes in the first year.[16]

The second factory, Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation of Grand Rapids, discontinued making canoes in 1918 and made plywood exclusively for the US government and its allies during World War I. Over three thousand military airplanes were made with Haskell's plywood.[17] After 1922 Haskell again made boats, canoes, oars and paddles until 1934. During this same time he also made wooden aircraft parts for commercial airplanes with the shaped molded plywood. Most of the airplane parts made for the next three decades were the fuselage and wings.[18] The airplane parts were based on his patent of "Aeroplane-body" (US 1344634 A). The first heavier than air machine to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, the Curtiss NC-4, was made from Haskelite – the plywood Haskell invented.[16]

Family

Haskell married Miss Elizabeth Thayer in 1892 when he was 29 years old. She was a Latin teacher at the Ludington High School. Thayer was from Plymouth, Michigan. Their children were Helen Thayer Haskell (born 1894), John Paul (born 1898), and Mary Elizabeth (born 1903).[1]

Later life and death

Haskell died in Detroit at the age of 78 on April 3, 1940. He is buried in Thayer cemetery at Northville, Michigan.[19]

Societies

Haskell and his wife were members of the Congregation Church in Ludington.[20] Haskell served on the Ludington School Board and on the Ludington Library Board. He also served as the county probation officer.[1]

Patents

His patents included:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Services Friday for H.L.Haskell". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. April 6, 1940 – via Newspapers.com .
  2. ↑ Williams, Leonard P. (December 22, 1952). "Carrom Industries / from Lumber to Game Boards". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan – via Newspapers.com .
  3. ↑ "Industry on Parade". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. December 22, 1952 – via Newspapers.com .
  4. ↑ "Carrom Company is Diversified". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. September 3, 1965 – via Newspapers.com .
  5. ↑ Anne McCollam (July 11, 2003). "Vintage game's value caroms". Ukiah Daily Journal. Ukiah, California – via Newspapers.com .
  6. ↑ "Local Company Contributed to war effort". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. June 26, 1993.
  7. ↑ Cabot, James L. (February 27, 1990). "My Turn – Carrom source material origins". Daily News (p. 4). Ludington, Michigan.
  8. 1 2 "veneer plant canoe". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. March 20, 1934. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com .
  9. ↑ John 1930, p. 18.
  10. ↑ "Haskell Canoe". Online Library. Mason County Historical Society. 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016. The plywood and glue was made from albumin blood from Chicago stock yards.
  11. ↑ Saarinen 2006, p. 257.
  12. ↑ John 1930, p. 19.
  13. ↑ Hard_Record 1916, p. 37.
  14. ↑ "Haskell Finances Company to Manufacture Canoes and Boats in Tubbs Building / Waterproof glue adds durability to veneer coatings". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. October 19, 1916. p. 3.
  15. 1 2 Oil_Field 1916, p. 615.
  16. 1 2 "Ludington Man Starts Factories that pay more than $5,000,000 in Wages". Mason County Enterprise. Ludington, Michigan. May 9, 1922. p. 1.
  17. ↑ Dunbar 1955, p. 439.
  18. ↑ "Ludington is birthplace of plywood airplanes". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. July 15, 1943.
  19. ↑ "Henry L. Haskell dies in Detroit". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. April 4, 1940 – via Newspapers.com .
  20. ↑ "Obitiary – Mrs. Helen Haskell Slater". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. September 21, 1976.

Sources

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