Secrets 5

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CRANE ENGINEERING COMPANY
FOUNDED JANUARY 1, 1953

THE FOUNDER WAS HARVEY CRANE, JR. ONE EMPLOYEE WAS HIRED IN THE EARLY PART OF 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.

IT WAS NOT UNTIL HE MET RICHARD MOSER AND JESS NOURSE THAT HE COULD AFFORD REAL COMPUTER DESIGNED CAM PROFILES.