Owen Nacker

Owen Nacker
Owen Nacker
Born	Owen Milton Nacker; November 7, 1883; Highland Township, Oakland County, Michigan
Died	May 4, 1959 (aged 75); Pleasant Ridge, Michigan
Occupation	Automotive engineer
Years active	1900s-1950s
Spouse(s)	Pearl Leonard

Last updated April 30, 2019

Owen Nacker (November 7, 1883 in Highland Township, Oakland County, Michigan – May 4, 1959 in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan) was an American automotive engineer.

Highland Township, officially the Charter Township of Highland, is a charter township of west Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 19,202 at the 2010 census. Highland is a suburb of Detroit.

Pleasant Ridge is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. The population was 2,526 at the 2010 census, ranking 255th on the list of Michigan municipalities by population.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Early Automotive Career

Nacker was a consultant to Alanson Partridge Brush (February 10, 1878 – March 6, 1952 in Michigan) of the Brush Motor Car Company, makers of light car, the Runabout. As such he worked on the V-16 project at the Marmon Motor Car Company with Howard Marmon. This project was newly begun before Nacker left Marmon.

Brush Motor Car Company (1907-1909), later the Brush Runabout Company (1909-1913), was based in Highland Park, Michigan. The company was founded by Alanson Partridge Brush, who designed a light car with a wooden chassis, friction drive transmission and "underslung" coil springs in tension instead of compression on both sides of each axle. Although there were many makes of small runabouts of similar size and one to four cylinders at this time, the Brush has many unusual design details showing the inventiveness of its creator. Power was provided by a large single-cylinder water-cooled engine. Two gas-powered headlamps provided light, along with a gas-powered light in the rear. The frame, axles, and wheels were made of oak, hickory or maple, and were either left plain or painted to match the trim. The horn was located next to the engine cover, with a metal tube running to a squeeze bulb affixed near the driver. A small storage area was provided in the rear, with a drawer accessible under the rear of the seat.

V16 engine piston engine with 16 cylinders in vee configuration

A V16 engine is a V engine with 16 cylinders. Engines of this number of cylinders are uncommon in automotive use.

Marmon Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer founded by Howard Carpenter Marmon and owned by Nordyke Marmon & Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, US. It was established in 1851 and was merged and renamed in 1933. They produced cars under the Marmon brand. It was succeeded by Marmon-Herrington and later the Marmon Motor Company of Denton, Texas. The name currently survives through the Marmon Group of Chicago, Illinois.

Cadillac engine development

He was recruited in 1926 by Cadillac general manager Lawrence P. Fisher (October 19, 1888 in Norwalk, Ohio – September 3, 1961 in Detroit, Michigan) to work at the Cadillac Division of General Motors Corporation (GM). Nacker became head of engine development. He designed a 45 degree Overhead valve V-8 with an aluminum crankcase, five main bearings, counterweighted crankshaft with a front vibration damper and timing chain driving the generator. Cylinder blocks included cast nickel-iron liners extending into the crankcase with cast iron heads. This was the engine for Cadillac Division's new 1927 LaSalle companion model.

Cadillac is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac vehicles are distributed in 34 additional markets worldwide. Cadillac automobiles are at the top of the luxury field within the United States. In 2017, Cadillac's U.S. sales were 156,440 vehicles and its global sales were 356,467 vehicles.

Norwalk is a city in and the county seat of Huron County, Ohio, United States. The population was 17,012 at the 2010 census. The city is the center of the Norwalk Micropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area. Norwalk is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Lake Erie, 51 miles (82 km) west/southwest of Cleveland, 59 miles (95 km) southeast of Toledo, and 87 miles (140 km) north/northeast of Columbus.

Detroit is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the largest United States city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of Wayne County. The municipality of Detroit had a 2017 estimated population of 673,104, making it the 23rd-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music and as a repository for art, architecture and design.

Nacker was lead development engineer of the Cadillac V-16 engine project. This was probably the first car engine to be styled for aesthetics as well as function. Finned aluminum valve covers were used and wiring and piping were hidden under covers and panels and enamel was used on some engine surfaces. Nacker also developed Cadillac's V-12 that shared tooling and many components with the V-16.

Aesthetics Branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste and with the creation or appreciation of beauty.

V12 engine piston engine with 12 cylinders in vee configuration

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders each, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft. Since each cylinder bank is essentially a straight-six which is by itself in both primary and secondary balance, a V12 inherits perfect primary and secondary balance no matter which V angle is used, and therefore it needs no balance shafts. A four-stroke 12 cylinder engine has an even firing order if cylinders fire every 60° of crankshaft rotation, so a V12 with cylinder banks at a multiples of 60° will have even firing intervals without using split crankpins. By using split crankpins or ignoring minor vibrations, any V angle is possible. The 180° configuration is usually referred to as a "flat-twelve engine" or a "boxer" although it is in reality a 180° V since the pistons can and normally do use shared crankpins. It may also be written as "V-12", although this is less common.

Nacker also was the leader of the 1936 monobloc Cadillac V-8 engine development with John E "Jack" Gordon also in the later stages. This new V-8 was so smooth and powerful it rendered the V-12 obsolete. Therefore, the V-12 was dropped from production after the 1937 model year.

A monobloc or en bloc engine is an internal-combustion piston engine where some of the major components are formed, usually by casting, as a single integral unit, rather than being assembled later. This has the advantages of improving mechanical stiffness, and also improving the reliability of the sealing between them.

Cadillac was the first automobile maker in the world to mass-produce V8 engines. The company has produced many generations and variations of V8s since 1914. In 2010, when the Northstar engine series ended production, it became the last General Motors division to retain its own proprietary V8 design.

Hydramatic transmission

Nacker was also part of the team of engineers that developed the General Motors Hydramatic automatic transmission.

General Motors Company, commonly referred to as General Motors (GM), is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit that designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services, with global headquarters in Detroit's Renaissance Center. It was originally founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908 as a holding company. The company is the largest American automobile manufacturer, and one of the world's largest. As of 2018, General Motors is ranked #10 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

Hydramatic is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the Hydramatic was the first mass-produced fully automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile use.

An automatic transmission, also called auto, self-shifting transmission, n-speed automatic, or AT, is a type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually. Like other transmission systems on vehicles, it allows an internal combustion engine, best suited to run at a relatively high rotational speed, to provide a range of speed and torque outputs necessary for vehicular travel. The number of forward gear ratios is often expressed for manual transmissions as well.

Both the monobloc Cadillac V-8 and Hydramatic transmission were used in the M5 version of the Stuart tank during World War II.

Family

Owen Milton Nacker was the son of Harmon Nacker (September 30, 1857 in Dearborn, Michigan – November 17, 1913 in Milford, Michigan) and Dora Law (June 24, 1864 – Jun 28, 1918 in Highland, Michigan). They were married on November 22, 1882. Owen married Pearl Leonard (March 18, 1887 in Novi, Michigan – January 29, 1979) on November 23, 1904 in Highland, Michigan.

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The Northstar engine is a family of high-performance 90° V engines produced by General Motors between 1993 and 2011. Regarded as GM's most technically complex engine, the original double overhead cam, four valve per cylinder, aluminum block/aluminum head V8 design was developed by Oldsmobile R&D, but is most associated with Cadillac's Northstar series.

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An engine block is the structure which contains the cylinders, and other parts, of an internal combustion engine. In an early automotive engine, the engine block consisted of just the cylinder block, to which a separate crankcase was attached. Modern engine blocks typically have the crankcase integrated with the cylinder block as a single component. Engine blocks often also include elements such as coolant passages and oil galleries.

The Pontiac straight-8 engine is an inline eight-cylinder automobile engine produced by Pontiac from 1933 to 1954. Introduced in the fall of 1932 for the 1933 models, it was Pontiac's most powerful engine at the time and the least expensive eight-cylinder engine built by an American automotive manufacturer. During its 21-year run displacement of the "eight" increased twice as platforms grew. It was superseded by Pontiac's new V8, the 287, in 1955.

Turbo-Hydramatic or Turbo Hydra-Matic is the registered tradename for a family of automatic transmissions developed and produced by General Motors. These transmissions mate a three-element turbine torque converter to a Simpson planetary geartrain, providing three forward speeds plus reverse.

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The Cadillac ATS is a compact executive 4-door sedan and 2-door coupe manufactured and marketed by Cadillac and developed at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Cadillac assembles the ATS at the Lansing Grand River Assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan.

The Cadillac V-12 is a top-of-the-line car that was manufactured by Cadillac from the 1931 through the 1937 model years. All were furnished with custom bodies, and the car was built in relatively small numbers. A total of 10,903 were made in the seven model years that the automobile was built, with the majority having been constructed in its inaugural year. It was Cadillac's first, and is to date, Cadillac's only standard production V-12 powered car.

References

External links

American Heritage "The Return of the V-16"

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Owen Nacker
Born	Owen Milton Nacker (1883-11-07)November 7, 1883 Highland Township, Oakland County, Michigan
Died	May 4, 1959(1959-05-04) (aged 75) Pleasant Ridge, Michigan
Occupation	Automotive engineer
Years active	1900s-1950s
Spouse(s)	Pearl Leonard