Vincent Hugo Bendix
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Vincent Hugo Bendix (August 12, 1882 – March 27, 1945) was an American inventor and industrialist. He founded the Bendix Corporation of Chicago in 1907 to manufacture automobiles, called Bendix Buggies. After producing 7000 vehicles the company failed two years later, but in 1910, Bendix invented and patented the Bendix drive, a gear that could engage an engine at low rotational speed and then fly back and disengage automatically at higher speed; this drive made the electric starter practical for automobile engines, and later, for engines in aircraft and other motorized vehicles. The Bendix drive is still in widespread use at the beginning of the 21st century, so much so that mechanics often refer to such a mechanism simply as a "bendix".
In 1923, Bendix founded the Bendix Brake Company, and eventually created the first four-wheel brake system for automobiles. He started the Bendix Aviation Corporation in 1929, and founded the Transcontinental Bendix Air Race in 1931. In 1942, Bendix started Bendix Helicopters, Inc. Bendix Aviation and Bendix Brake would later be renamed Bendix Corporation.
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