The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company   Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

 St. Clair Rubber Company During World War Two
Marysville, MI

1923-1988

This page added 4-18-2023.

 In 1923, the St. Clair Rubber Company was started by Detroit businessman Hugo Scherer to manufacture rubber products for the automobile, aircraft, and boating industries.  Marysville, MI is an industrialized town along the St. Clair River that separates the United States and Canada.  The town is south of Port Huron, MI.  The company's location allowed it to provide its products to the automobile industry in Detroit, MI, and also to the boating industry downriver in Algonac, MI.  Boat makers Chris-Craft and GarWood were both located in Algonac.  During peacetime before World War Two, the company typically employed 175 workers.  One product manufactured by the workers at St. Clair Rubber was automotive rubber floor mats.

St. Clair Rubber Company World War Two Products:  The company had four major contracts for helmet liners for the M1 steel helmet totaling $3,098,000.  According to an article in the June 27, 1945, Port Huron, MI Times Herald, the St. Clair Rubber Company produced 2,000,000.  The unit cost per helmet liner was $1.56.  The manufacture of 2,000,000 helmet liners required 750 workers for this operation. 

Table 1 - St. Clair Rubber Company's Major World War Two Contracts
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Number Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Liners Helmet - Army Quartermaster 199-QM-23809 $1,034,000 2-1942 4-1942
Liners Helmet - Army Quartermaster 199-QM-24379 $842,000 3-1942 5-1942
Liners Helmet - Army Quartermaster 199-QM-25193 $1,172,000 4-1942 9-1942
Liners Helmet - Army Quartermaster 199-QM-36057 $50,000 6-1942 7-1942
Total   $3,098,000    

The next three photos were taken at the Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society in Eastpointe, MI.  Among its many excellent displays, this museum has a display on the Michigan companies that made the World War Two M1 steel helmet and plastic helmet liner. 


St. Clair Rubber produced this liner which goes inside the steel helmet.  As can be seen in this photo, there is more to making a helmet liner than just molding the liner.  All of the interior webbing needed to be installed.  This allows the entire unit to then sit somewhat comfortably on the users head.  I use the term "somewhat," as wearing a steel pot is not at all comfortable.  They are heavy and awkward on one's head.  Author's photo. 


This information placard with the St. Clair Rubber Company-manufactured helmet liner gives an excellent background on the product.  Westinghouse developed a high pressure molding process that superseded the low pressure method.  Other companies made these helmet liners for the rest of the war.  My research, as noted above, indicates the company produced 2 million helmet liners.  However, the important item to remember is that the company manufactured a product needed to help keep American servicemen safe in the early days of World War Two.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.

After losing the helmet liner contract, employment at the plant dropped to less than 200 employees.  For the duration of the war, employment ranged between 175 and 200 employees. 

The St. Clair Rubber Company supplied a variety of rubber products for the war effort.  Previous to World War Two, the company had developed its own rubber adhesives for attaching rubber to metal, plastic, or another piece of rubber.  In March 1945, the company shipped 150,000 gallons of synthetic rubber and rubber cement for use by the U.S. Army and Navy.  The company also produced a special rubberized felt that was used in self-sealing aircraft fuel tanks.  It made aircraft engine gaskets that were shipped to the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit, MI for installation in the Rolls-Royce 1650 Merlin aircraft engine Packard was building under license.


This Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Riverside, OH.  Packard built 54,714 Merlin engines during World War Two.  The St. Clair Rubber Company supplied rubber gaskets for this famous engine.  Author's photo.


This photo shows the Packard-built Merlin on display next to its most famous American application, the North American P-51D Mustang.  Author's photo.

The company was involved in the manufacture of 3,000 gallon fiberglass tanks used in the Pacific.  St. Clair Rubber Company received sheets of fiberglass from its manufacturer.  It then coated them with a synthetic rubber and shipped them to a third company that made the rubber coated fiberglass into the final product. 

The company also coated aircraft flotation devices and compounded rubber under sub-contract for Goodyear that was used for tank treads.  It also processed special sheet rubber for Goodyear for use in its aircraft products.

The company also was a supplier of rubber parts and adhesives for gas masks.

The former St. Clair Rubber Company Plant:  The original factory located at 1765 Michigan Avenue in Marysville, MI was built in 1919 by the Athol Manufacturing Company.  St. Clair Rubber purchased it in 1923 and remained there until it went out of business in 1988. 


Image courtesy of Google Maps. 


The labeling on the map is incorrect.  Wild wood condominiums is to the south of this location.  Image courtesy of Google Maps.

 

 

 

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