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THE FOUNDER WAS HARVEY CRANE, JR. THE FIRST EMPLOYEE WAS BILL POHLE.
BILL WAS HIRED IN EARLY 1953 FOR LATHE WORK ON THE RACING REAR AXLE PART
OF HIS BUSINESS. A SECOND EMPLOYEE WAS ADDED DURING THE SUMMER TIME TO
PORT FORD FLATHEAD ENGINE BLOCKS. A THIRD EMPLOYEE WAS HIRED IN THE FALL
FOR GRINDING CAMS.
THE FIRST RACING CAMSHAFTS WERE GROUND ON A NEW STORM VULCAN CAMSHAFT
GRINDER ORDERED IN EARLY 1953 AND DELIVERED IN AUGUST.
HARVEY WAS DRAFTED OUT OF THE NATIONAL GUARD INTO THE ARMY IN SEPTEMBER
OF 1953. HE WAS DISCHARGED TWO YEARS LATER IN SEPTEMBER OF 1955.
AT FIRST, ALL CAMSHAFTS REGROUND WERE SIMPLE "COPY TYPE" RACING
CAMSHAFTS.
HARVEY'S FIRST CAM PROFILE ENGINEERING WAS STARTED ON JANUARY 1, 1957
WHEN HE BEGAN TO DRAW "DISPLACEMENT" GRAPHS OF THE LOBE PROFILE. WHEN
COMPARING THESE GRAPHS THRU A LIGHT TABLE, IT BECAME APPARENT TO HARVEY
THAT THE FIRST SMALL AMOUNT OF LIFT DID NOT REALLY CHANGE THE OVERALL
"AREA UNDER THE LIFT CURVE". THIS AREA OF LIFT WAS USUALLY LESS THAN
.015 INCHES OF CAM LIFT. THIS WAS LATER DISCOVERED TO BE THE "RAMP"
AREA.
WHEN THESE DISPLACEMENT GRAPH NUMBERS WERE INCREASED TO FOUR DECIMAL
PLACE DATA (.0001") WITH ONE CAM DEGREE SPACING (USING A HOME MADE 24
INCH DIAMETER DEGREE WHEEL), TRUE "DIFFERENCES" NUMBERS COULD BE
CALCULATED. THE FIRST DIFFERENCE OF LIFT IS CALLED VELOCITY. NOW THE
VELOCITY COULD BE
PLOTTED!
HARVEY ATTEMPTED TO SUBTRACT VELOCITY DIFFERENCES TO ARRIVE AT
ACCELERATION BUT THESE NUMBERS WERE TO "ROUGH" TO PLOT! A LARGER
DIAMETER DEGREE WHEEL WOULD BE REQUIRED! INSTEAD OF MAKING A LARGER
DIAMETER DEGREE WHEEL HE USED A NEW BRIDGEPORT ROTARY TABLE TO ROTATE
THE CAMSHAFT FOR MEASUREMENT. NOW, EXACTLY ONE CAM DEGREE LIFT
DATA WAS MUCH MORE REPEATABLE. NOW, THE ACCELERATION NUMBERS COULD BE
PLOTTED WITH MUCH LESS "SCATTER".
FINALLY THE FOUR DECIMAL PLACE LIFT DATA COULD BE "REVISED" AND THE NEW
DATA COULD BE USED FOR "CUTTING A MODEL LOBE" IN THE SAME NEW BRIDGEPORT
MILLING MACHINE.
THIS REVISION WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE USE OF A NEW PURCHASE OF THE
FIRST "ELECTRONIC" COMPUTER, A FRIDEN 4 INCH SCREEN FOUR FUNCTION
CALCULATOR.
SO MUCH FOR PROGRESS!
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