Harry T. Woolson
Harry T. Woolson (1876-1951)
1953 Obituary [1]
HARRY T. WOOLSON was a retired executive engineer of Chrysler Corporation, and former President of the Chrysler Institute of Engineering. He was actively identified with the growth and development of the automobile industry for more than thirty years, and was associated with the engineering division of the Chrysler Corporation from the time the company was formed, in 1925, until his retirement in January 1947. He died at the age of seventy-five.
Born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1876, Mr. Woolson graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1897, and worked as a draughtsman for the National Meter Company, Brooklyn, New York. When the Spanish—American war broke out, he enlisted in the navy and served for six months as a second-class machinist.
Following his discharge he returned to the National Meter Company and later joined the Gas Engine and Power Company before moving to Charles L. Seabury and Company (now the Consolidated Ship Building Company), New York, where he remained until 1915 as chief engineer.
From 1915 until he joined Chrysler Corporation, Mr. Woolson was associated successively with the Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit, as truck engineer, Studebaker Corporation, Detroit, Willys Corporation, Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Zeder-Skelton-Breer Engineering Company, Newark, New Jersey. Mr. Woolson became associated with the engineering division of Chrysler Corporation at its inception in 1925.
He served as chief engineer for ten years before being appointed executive engineer in 1935. He became vice-president of the marine division (now the marine and industrial engine division) in 1936 and was made president of the Chrysler Institute of Engineering in 1940.
During the 1939-45 war Mr. Woolson was principally engaged with tank construction and was responsible, among other things, for the design of Chrysler tank engines. In 1945 he was honoured with two awards from the Army Ordnance department for his work in tank engine design, and also received a citation and medal from the Stevens Institute of Technology. Mr. Woolson was elected a Member of the Institution in 1947. He also served as national president of the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1937 and was a life member of that society and also of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.