ClarenceW.Spicer
invented the first viableautomotive
universal joint, which he used to develop a driveshaft for transferring power from the engine to the axle. Before Spicer’s invention, power transmission in automobiles was accomplished by a chain and sprockets.He foundedthe
Spicer Universal Joint Manufacturing Company, which would eventually become the Dana Corporation.
Spicer was bornon an Illinois dairy farm on November 30, 1875.The Spicer family owned a creamery, whereClarencelearned rudimentary mechanicalskills watching his father repair machines in the shop.HeattendedaSeventh Day Baptistschool–Alfred University in New York–where he met his wife Anna Olive Burdick.Spicer moved home to Illinoisin1894 to help run the family business, he married Burdick in 1896and moved to New York to attend Cornell Universityshortly after. At Cornell,heconceived the idea for the driveshaft.Spicer built an experimental car in 1903 that proved his universal jointwassuperior to the awkward, easily broken chain drivesthat propelled automobiles of the era.TheSpicer Universal Joint Manufacturing Company wasestablishedin Plainfield, New Jerseyin 1905. In 1914, Charles Dana joined the company, put it on a solid financial foundation, and assumed leadership. Spicer remained with the companyfor several years after,and eventually held 40 patents for a variety of inventions. He died in Miami,Florifa, in 1939 at the age of 64.