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  
   

Other Lansing Companies that contributed to winning World War Two
Dail Steel Products Company in World War Two
Recognizing a Company from my Hometown that contributed to the winning of World War Two

Lansing, MI
1913-1972

This page added 9-23-2021.

Dail Steel Products of Lansing, MI was originally formed in 1911 as the Dail-Gier Company, located on North Grand Avenue at Ionia Street.  The principal owners of the Dail-Gier Company were Ernest I. Dail and B.S. Gier.  In 1913 the two partners went their separate ways and Dail Steel Products moved to 750 East Main Street, occupying the former Cove Manufacturing Company factory.  Early products of Dail Steel Products were bread boxes and metal card racks.  The company initially had ten employees which increased to 187 workers by 1948.  During World War One, the company produced products for the war effort.  As the company grew, it became a metal stamping house with customers in the automotive, home appliance, and agricultural industries.


Ernest I. Dail


Before starting Dail Steel Products, Mr. Dail was a postcard salesman.  He invented a revolving metal rack to display his cards.  Now these are found in stores that display all sorts of wares, including magazines.  The metal racks were one of the first products of Dail Steel Company.

In June 1937 Dail Steel Products had a public open house of its new office building at the corner of South Hosmer and East Main Streets to celebrate its 25 anniversary in business.  Another reason for the public open house was that the building had the company's Dailaire Air Conditioning system installed.  The company wanted prospective customers to come in and experience how well it worked.  The new office building included six offices, a drafting room, a school room, sales and accounting offices and storage space.


This artist's rendition shows the new Dail Steel Product administration building. 

Dail Steel Company Products:  Along with the revolving metal display racks mentioned above, Dail Steel Products also manufactured steel shipping boxes that bakeries used to ship bread as its first products. 

In 1914, Dail Steel Products manufactured the Wolverine Indoor Toilet System for use in dwellings that were not connected to a sewer system.  One potential use for the Wolverine Indoor Toilet System was for small country schools.  Dail Steel Products specified one toilet bowl for every 20 students.  The company built six different steel tanks with capacities from 142 to 585 gallons.  The 585 gallon tank accommodated six toilet bowls or 120 students.  The tank was of copper steel construction, not stainless steel that would be used in similar construction today.  The company supplied a germicide for the system.  There was no outlet for the tank as there is in a modern septic system and the tank would have had a finite life to it.  It is unknown how many units were sold and installed.

During World War One, Dail Steel Products could no longer procure the materials it needed for its product line of the Wolverine Indoor Toilet System.  However, the government had requirements for stamped parts.  It was in 1917 and 1918 that the company began purchasing punch presses and was able to secure government contracts.  This was the transition point at which Dail Steel Products moved into stamped parts rather than assembled products.  After World War One the company added a new building and focused on supplying the automobile industry with stamped parts.  In Lansing there were several local customers for its stampings.  At the end of World War One, the Olds Motor Works, the Reo Motor Car Company, and  The Duplex Truck Company were in Lansing.  In 1922 the Durant Motor Company came to town with a new assembly plant on Verlinden Avenue. 


Dail Steel Products could very well have supplied for this 1919 Model T Oldsmobile 3/4-ton truck.  Author's photo.


This 1926 Durant Star was built by the Durant Motor Company.  It could also have Dail Steel Product stampings in it.  The Star was the low priced line of vehicles produced by Durant, for which production ran from 1922 to 1928 at Lansing.  Author's photo.


Most of us had a red steel wagon when we were young.  Most of them said "Radio-Flyer" on it.  I still have a Radio-Flyer wagon in the garage for the grandchildren to play with.  What I learned in researching Dail Steel Products is that it invented the steel children's wagon.  In 1920 Dail Steel Products entered the toy market with the "The Wolverine Speedster" wagon, which was the first all-steel children's wagon.  It was an Ernest I. Dail design.   It was such a success that other companies quickly entered the market with similar products, resulting in Dail Steel Products exiting the toy business altogether.  Today's wagons are historically linked to Dail Steel Products and "The Wolverine Speedster."  How cool is this?

On May 21, 1935, Ernest I. Dail was awarded patent number 2,002,312 for a "Furnace and Air Conditioner."  The term "Air Conditioner" was not the same as how it is currently used, which is for a unit that takes the heat out of the air and cools a dwelling.  The way Ernest Dail used the term "Air Conditioner" was to actually use water to clean the air as it moved through the furnace.  This is a quote from the first paragraph of the patent:  "This invention generally relates warm air furnaces of the type in which air from the atmosphere may be washed or otherwise conditioned and mechanically propelled to various points of distribution."

The complete patent can be found at this link:  Ernest I. Dail Patent 2,002,312

Dail Steel Products then started selling furnaces under the Dailaire name which later used city water or well water to cool the air as it passed through coils in the furnace.  The downside of this system is that it used an extensive amount of water.  The company notes that the water used in the Dailaire system in its new administration building was stored in a tank on the roof that was then used to water the grass.  In cold months the Dailaire system allowed for the furnace to humidify the air that went into the house.

This twenty page pamphlet published by the Dail Steel Company in 1938 explains in detail the theory behind heating and cooling with a Dailaire product: 
Taking the Mystery out of Air Conditioning

On April 1, 1940, Mr. Bruce McLouth purchased the heating and air conditioning division of Dail Steel Products and formed a new company named McLouth Air Conditioning Corporation.  Mr. McLouth had previously been the heating and air conditioning engineer for Dail Steel Products for six years before starting the new company and becoming its president.  The new company employed Dail Steel Products' former engineers and installers from the Dailaire division of the company.  After the April 1, 1940 announcement, there is no more information on the McLouth Air Conditioning Corporation in the historical record.

Prior to World War Two, Dail Steel Products did more than make metal stampings for other companies.  I personally know that the company built standard furnaces, because my grandfather had a Dail Steel Products furnace in his basement.  I used to spend a considerable amount of time with my grandfather working on projects in his basement.  I distinctly remember the furnace.  It was typical of the furnaces in many houses in Lansing that were originally coal burning and then converted to burn natural gas or fuel oil.  The 1934 Cooperative Tractor Catalog shows Dail Steel Products of Lansing, MI as being a supplier of steel sheet.  The Cooperative Tractor Catalog also had a category for steel stampings and Dail Steel Products was not listed there.  In the 1928 edition of the  Cooperative Tractor Catalog, Dail Steel Products was shown as being a supplier of agricultural tanks. 

On April 30,1942, Lansing industrialist and president of Dail Steel Products, Ernest I. Dail passed away.  He was replaced with his brother Elmer Dail, who had been general manager of the Jarvis Engineering Company of Lansing.

The End of Dail Steel Products:

  • In June 1971, there were rumors that the company would either close or move out of Lansing.  Dail Steel Products had no comment on the matter. By this time Lewis Dail was president of the company and the address of the company was now 1000 South Hosmer.  It is unknown whether Dail Steel Products workers were represented by a union.  There is nothing in the historical record of any strikes against the company nor any other union activity.  After World War Two there were numerous strikes at most of the union represented companies in Lansing which, for the most part, included all of the manufacturing companies.  Several companies, including John Bean and Motor Wheel, eventually moved production out of Lansing due to labor issues.  So, when there was word that a company will move out of Lansing area, it was assumed to be labor related.  So, Dail Steel may have been having labor problems or its labor cost was too high to compete with non-union companies.  We will never know.

  • In August 1971 the company put 35 punch press machines and other related equipment up for sale.  The address for the auction was 1000 South Hosmer, not 750 East Main Street.  This is because I-496 was laid right over Main Street in Lansing.  This may have also resulted in the demolition of the administration building.  The construction of I-496 may have been one of the causes of Dail Steel Products closing.

  • In December 1971 the company had two forklift trucks up for sale. 

  • On June 8, 1972, the remaining equipment of Dail Steel Products was put up for auction.  This was authorized by the company's Board of Directors.

  • On October 8, 1972, Dail Steel Products was listing its factory for sale or lease.  The factory was described as a 46,000 square foot heavy industrial building with modern office space.  The facility was located on 2.6 acres.

  • In May 1974 the Lansing Storage Company used the former Dail Steel Products factory as an auction site.  Several other companies in Lansing used the former Dail facility to hold auctions. 

When Dail Steel Products closed, it was the longest existing family owned business in Lansing.  This is such a sad ending for this Lansing company.


The current building on the site of the former Dail Steel Products Company in Lansing, MI is now the home of Ideal Instruments, a division of Neogen Corporation.  In 2017 Neogen spent $1.3 million for  a complete rehabilitation of the former Dail Steel Products plant.  The rehabilitation of the building added over 39,000 square feet and 25 new jobs.  It can be seen in this photo that the north side of the building was completely redone and looks very modern.  If I had arrived before the work was done, I would have seen the building like it was when Dail Steel owned and operated the facility.  Author's photo.

Ideal makes precision veterinary drug delivery instruments in the facility.  Ernest I. Dail would be proud of the fact that Ideal Instrument division of the Neogen Corporation is making use of his former plant to make high tech products.


The parking lot was the former location of the Dail Steel administration building that was built in 1937.  It may have actually been partially located where I-496 was built at in the late 1960s.  At this location I-496 was built directly over East Main Street in Lansing.  This may have resulted in the demolition of the administration building.  It caused the address of the company to change from a Main Street address to 1000 South Hosmer Street.  Author's photo.


This photo shows where the newly restored building on the right joins with the original factory building.   Author's photo.


The south side of the complex shows a building of an earlier construction type.   Author's photo. 


 Author's photo.


This Sanborn Insurance Company map shows the Dail Steel Products in 1951 at the location of East Main and South Hosmer Streets.  In 1951 the plant to the south of Dail Steel Products was owned by the Kold Hold Manufacturing Company.  However, from 1915-1945 this building was the home of John Bean, which made agricultural spraying equipment.  John Bean most likely was a customer of Dail Steel Products for many of the metal stampings it needed in its products.  During World War Two John Bean manufactured chemical decontamination products for the U.S. Army Chemical Corps which may have used Dail Steel Products stampings.  John Bean also built crash trucks for the U.S. Navy that may have required Dail Steel Products stamped parts.


This Google Maps Satellite view shows the same location as the Sanborn map above does.  However, Alpine Sign and Printing is not in the former Dail Steel Products plant.  This is incorrect.  This view shows that I-496 was laid down right over East Main Street and possibly onto the property of the Dail Steel Products. 


This enlarged Sanborn map shows the detail of the factory in 1951.  The northeast building had two floors for painting and coating metal stampings.

World War Two Products:  Metal stampings are ubiquitous and are used in many types of products.  It is unknown what stampings Dail Steel Products produced to help win World War Two, as that information is unavailable.  It is known that the company's resources were 100% dedicated to the war effort.  However, if we assume it was a supplier to local companies in Lansing, there are several possible products it could have produced during the war.  The following is educated conjecture. 

The Reo Motor Car Company, which was just a mile away from Dail Steel Products, produced 1,424,473 aerial and depth charge fuzes for the U.S. Navy.  Two examples below show how Dail Steel could have stamped out parts for these fuzes.  Making fuzes was not part of Reo's peacetime product line, as it was a truck manufacturer, and probably did not have the presses for the stampings used on the fuzes.  Even in peace time, any small stampings Reo needed for its trucks could have been provided by Dail Steel Products or other dedicated stamping houses. 

Having the stamping house within walking distance during World War Two was helpful while gas rationing was in force.  This allowed the product responsible engineer at Reo and the tool design engineer at Dail Steel Products to talk face-to-face about the requirements for the Navy fuzes.  It also allowed for quick review of a sample run to make sure that the Navy inspector on location at Reo approved the parts.  It allowed for communication and prompt turn-around of new parts to move smoothly and quickly.


This photo shows the sixteen blade arming vane attached to the tail of a Mark 229 Hydrostatic Tail Fuze as a separate piece.  The arming van was 5.25 inches in diameter.  Author's photo taken in 2015 at the RE Olds Museum in Lansing, MI.


This Reo-built Mark 229 Hydrostatic Tail Fuze was used by the U.S. Navy during World War Two in its 650 and 1,000 pound depth charges.  Reo built 100,933 of these through July 1944.  The fuze is 16.33 inches long with a diameter of 3.25 inches, while the sixteen blade arming vane is 5.25 inches in diameter.  Depth settings were made by a hand dial on the device and could be set for 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 feet.  The small hole on the left end of the body was used to insert a pin into the device to disarm it.  Reo did not arm the fuzes it built.  They were inert when they left the factory.  The units were armed at another location. 


The Olds Museum changes its displays around for variety.  This is the same Mark 229 Hydrostatic Tail Fuze in 2021.  This presentation shows the arming vane's three components of two stampings and a machined or powder metal part in more detail.  The two stampings were good candidates for Dail Steel Products to make.  Author's photo taken in 2021 at the RE Olds Museum in Lansing, MI.


This Reo-built depth torpedo arming fuze was on display at the R.E. Olds Museum in 2015.  Note the cotter pin that keeps the vanes from spinning until armed, maintaining it in a safe mode.  Author's photo.


This fuze was also re-oriented when I photographed it in 2021.  It shows more clearly than the 2015 photo that the arming vanes on the device are actually two stamped parts attached with screws.  It also more clearly shows the cotter safety pin.


Just over a mile to the north of Dail Steel Products was the Abrams Instrument Company that made the U.S. Army Air Force CF-8 stereoscope map reader.  Abrams was a small shop and most likely did not have its own metal stamping capabilities.  It mostly designed the instruments it built and then had other manufacturers like Dail Steel Products provide all of the components for final assembly.  The embossed black steel frames are steel stamped parts.  Dail Steel Products had the capability on the second floor of its plant to paint steel stampings like this.  Abrams' original order for the CF-8 was 26,000 units in 1942.  It had other contracts for them later in the war and continued building them up through the end of the war.  Author's photo taken in 2021 at the RE Olds Museum in Lansing, MI.  


These two Abrams-built instruments on display at the RE Olds Museum in Lansing, MI have stamped metal covers and deep drawn metal boxes.  The stamped metal covers could very well have been done at the nearby Dail Steel Products.  Dail had the capability to stamp out and then paint the covers.  However, the metal boxes may have been beyond the capability of the presses that Dail Steel Products owned.  To make these it took multiple steps from a large tonnage press with a progressive die.  Author's photo.


This Abrams Instrument-built intervalometer on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH may well have a stamped out face plate by Dail Steel Products.  Author's photo.


Also at the National Museum of the United States Air Force is this Abrams CF-8 stereoscope map reader, which could have a Dail Steel Products manufactured frame.  Author's photo.

 The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the largest aviation museum in the world and the biggest tourist attraction in Ohio.  While it is all conjecture, products that Dail Steel Company may have manufactured for the two Abrams Instrument Company's products may be hiding in plain sight.  Parts from the company that Ernest I. Dail founded in Lansing, MI in 1913 may well be on display for the many visitors to the Museum.

Other Lansing Companies that contributed to winning World War Two
 

 

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