Biography of Harvey J. Crane, Jr.
Biography of Harvey
J. Crane, Jr.
Born August 17, 1931 in Hallandale, Florida. The first son of a highly skilled
self employed machinist and fabricator.
Employed as a racing engine and chassis builder in 1948.
Formed his own Camshaft Manufacturing company in 1953.
Elected a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers 1958.
Incorporated the company as Crane Engineering Company, Inc. 1963.
Issued patent number 3,108,580 on a Roller Tappet design 1963.
Published the first ".050 duration" (cam lift) numbers in 1965. (Ref: Crane Engineering Company, Inc. catalog No. 2 spring edition - cost .50 cents)
Designed his first "Computer Cam Design" on a Time Share Computer, using a Teletype terminal, thru the phone lines, with the computer located at
ComShare Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1967.
Purchased a numerically controlled grinder with "ten millionths" of an inch of resolution for manufacturing master cams 1968.
Conceived of and assisted in the design of the Berco (Italy) camshaft grinder in 1972, and purchased the first production Berco cam grinder machine.
Purchased Universal Camshaft Company of Muskegon, Michigan 1974, the only manufacturer of SAE 8620 steel billet roller cams.
Elected a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers 1988.
Formed harvey CRANE, Inc., January 25, 1990. This new company offers Harvey's personal consulting services, along with precision measurement of camshafts on our own design camshaft measurement machine. This new measuring device achieves a very accurate
resolution of .0000008 inches (0.02 Microns) along with an angular resolution of 1.67 arc seconds. We also offer complete cam profile analysis and sell software used in the cam analysis and cam design field.
The CRANE CamDesign inc name has been changed to harvey CRANE, Inc. Several registered letters from the lawyers of CTG, Incorporated threatened a lawsuit. CTG, Inc is Crane Technology Group, Inc. and is the owner of Crane Cams. The official change to harvey CRANE, Inc. was made late in 1999.
In 2001 the words HARVEY CRANE became a registered trademark! These 2 words may only be used with written permission of harvey CRANE, Inc.
Until August 2005, my ex firm has refused to admit that I have not been with Crane Cams since January 25th of 1989! The HISTORY PAGE at the Crane Cams web site FINALLY REPORTS that Harvey Crane left the company in 1989 to pursue other interests. BS, I was FIRED! I now offer my services to their competitors.