USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 87
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Mr. Forster was born in Kansas. He was educated chiefly in the public schools of Terre Haute, Indiana, graduating from high school there, and after that spent eight years as an employe of the Pennsylvania Railway Com- pany, located both at Terre Haute and at St. Louis. As a business builder and sales pro- moter there is peculiarly eloquent testimony of his ability in the fact that during his serv- ice with the National Cash Register Company of Dayton he was sent all over this country and also abroad, spending about one year of the nine years with the company in England and other European countries. He had charge of special work for the organization in Chi- cago, and demonstrated again and again busi- ness initiative and forcefulness of the highest type. Then for eight years he was with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company of De- troit as general sales manager and assistant general manager with headquarters in Detroit. He supervised and organized sales forces in this country, in England, Continental Europe and Mexico, and again proved himself a master of practically everything connected with the technique of salesmanship and business promo- tion.
In June, 1914, Mr. Forster came to Cleve- land and took over the business of the Pack- ard-Cleveland Motor Company, of which he is president today. The Cleveland headquar- ters of the company were first located on Nine- teenth Street off Euclid Avenue, but on Feb- ruary 19, 1916, came into their present home fronting on Prospect Avenue and running through to Carnegie Avenue near Fifty-fifth Street. The company were the pioneers in ex- tending the automobile industry in that di- rection in Cleveland. The general structure is two stories in height, divided into two wings, while at the rear is a service station of three stories, known as the annex, which was com- pleted in 1917. This is undoubtedly one of the finest automobile showrooms in the State of Ohio, affording 125,000 square feet of floor space.
Mr. Forster is a director of the National Automobile Dealers' Association, is a director in several Cleveland companies, and business and social connections are represented by his membership in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Union Club, Hermit Club, Mayfield Club, Shaker Heights Country Club, Road- side Club, and the Cleveland Antomobile Club.
He is also a Mason, his affiliations being with Hyde Park Lodge No. 1425, Free and Accepted Masons, at London, England.
WILLIAM F. FINLEY, Public confidence is the foundation of successful banking in all its branches. When intelligent individuals have funds to deposit in a bank, they are very apt to ask a few questions before making choice of an institution, and not only inquire con- cerning the capital, liabilities and surplus, but want assurance that the officers of the bank are men of experience, of stable standing and of recognized integrity. Among the sound and reliable banking institutions of Cleveland, none can give more favorable information in answer to all such demands than the Gar- field Savings Bank, of which William F. Fin- ley, one of the city's representative business men, is vice president.
William F. Finley is a native of Ohio and was born at Millersburg, in Holmes County, October 16, 1879, belonging to one of the old pioneer families of that county. His parents are Calvin E. and Laura A. Finley, and his grandfather was David Finley, who was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and remained there as a farmer until 1820, when he came to Holmes County, Ohio He settled among the other pioneers and developed land which remained his home until his death, which occurred in 1860. He was a well known man in that section in his day and left numerous descendants.
Calvin E. Finley was born in Holmes County, Ohio, July 25, 1857, and after his schooldays were over engaged in farming until he retired from active life, in 1912, since when he has resided in the City of Cleveland, where all his children live: Earl, who is connected with the firm of Barton and Barton, stock brokers; Robert, who carries on a real estate business ; and William F., who is treasurer of the Garfield Savings Bank.
William F. Finley remained with his par- ents on the home farm, first attending the country schools and later the high school at Millersburg, from which he was creditably gradnated in 1896. For two years following he tanght school at Millersburg and then en- tered Mount Union College, from which in- stitution he was graduated in 1902. It was then that Mr. Finley came to Cleveland and became a bookkeeper in the Garfield Savings Bank in one year becoming teller. In 1906 he was made cashier of the Lake View branch of the bank, continuing as such until 1913, when
Vigo V. Sorbensen
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he was elected assistant treasurer of the main bank in Cleveland, and in January, 1916, be- came treasurer, and Jannary 1, 1918, was elected vice president. For fifteen years Mr. Finley has been honorably identified with this institution and his name in connection with its soundness is familiar to every one and is considerable of an asset.
Mr. Finley was married November 27, 1907, at Fredericksburg, in Wayne County Ohio, to Miss Grace Morgan, and they have three chil- dren, Helen, William and Elizabeth, aged re- spectively eight, six and three years. Mr. Finley and family attend the Windermere Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a republican. Mr. Finley belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to his old Greek letter college society, the Alpha Tau Omega, and is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Com- merce and the City Club.
VIGGO V. TORBENSEN is founder of and president of The Torbensen Axle Company, a Cleveland industry to which some reference concerning its history and its plant and out- put is made on other pages.
The head of this institution is one of the most highly trained and widely experienced mechanical and production engineers in America. He was born at Copenhagen, Den- mark, September 28, 1858, a son of H. V. and Maren Torbensen. Until he was fourteen he was a student in the Danish public schools. He then entered the Naval Technical School, pursuing the engineering course and graduat- ing at the age of twenty-one. As a machinist's apprentice he worked for two years at Aarhus and Nakskov, Denmark, and made such pro- gress there that his efficiency was recognized and he was made one of the beneficiaries of a fund set aside by the Government of Den- mark to afford boys specially proficient in various lines to secure a complete technical education. This enabled him to go to Derby, England, where he spent a year working as a machinist with the Midland Railway.
It was with this training and experience that Mr. Torbensen came to America, first locating at Philadelphia, where he was a ma- chinist with William Sellers & Company, manufacturers of machine tools, for one year. His next employment was at Edgemore, Dela- ware, where for two years he was in charge of the night force of the Edgemore Iron Works. Returning to Philadelphia he was machinist and electrician a year and a half with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company,
and was then put in charge of the electric underground railway system of Philadelphia. That position kept him busy for two and a half years.
From that he organized the firm of Clay & Torbensen, manufacturers of steam yachts and launches. They had a plant at Camden, New Jersey, for three years, and then moved it to Gloucester, New Jersey. At the end of five years Mr. Torbensen sold his interest in that business, and though already rated as one of the leading mechanical engineers he went abroad to get the benefit of further train- ing and study of the great industrial plants of Germany. For eight months he did experi- mental work with antomobiles and motor cycles at Frankfort, Germany, was engaged in similar studies and labors at Leipsic a year, and spent two months at Mannheim.
On returning to Brooklyn Mr. Torbensen was put in charge of the DeDion-Bouton Mo- torette Company, and during the year he spent with that business he designed and made and put in operation the first internal gear drive used in this country, a mechanism upon which the present great Torbensen Axle Company bases its output. From New York he went to Newark, New Jersey, and estab- lished the Torbensen Gear Company, of which he was president. This company manufac- tured automobile and special gears. At the end of five years he retired from the business and established The Torbensen Motor Car Company, manufacturers of trucks and truck axles. He was at the head of this company as president for seven years. Then in 1912 he organized The Torbensen Gear & Axle Company, and in 1915 the business was moved to Cleveland and in 1916 was reincorporated under Ohio laws as The Torbensen Axle Company. Mr. Torbensen has been president of the corporation since it was established in 1912.
Mr. Torbensen is a member of the Society of Automobile Engineers and a republican voter. At Philadelphia he married Evelyn L. Smith. They have three children: Clara U. is Mrs. Charles J. Long, of Bloom- field, New Jersey ; Margaret H., at home; and Allen P., who is a graduate of a technical school at Bloomfield, New Jersey, and is now serving in the Quartermaster's Department with the American army in France.
THE TORBENSEN AXLE COMPANY became a Cleveland industry in 1915, and in 1916 it was reincorporated under the laws of Ohio, at
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which time the name was changed from the Torbensen Gear & Axle Company to the Tor- bensen Axle Company. It is probably the greatest single permanent industry brought into Cleveland within recent years.
The business was established in 1912 at New- ark, New Jersey, from which city the plant was removed to Cleveland in June, 1915. It was incorporated in Ohio in September, 1916, and besides the change of name the capital was increased from $120,000 to $1,750,000. Five years ago the company had only thirty-five men on the payroll, while today the immense work requires the services of from 500 to 600 men. The growth of the business can perhaps best be illustrated by reference to the record of sales of the axles. In 1912 only thirty-one were sold, and the amount in successive years has been as follows: In 1913, 244; 1914, 175; 1915, 1,888; 1916, 11,055; and 1917, 30,000 axles. At the present time The Torbensen Axle Company is equipping one out of every three trucks manufactured in the United States. The company stands today as the larg- est in the world manufacturing rear motor truck axles. The Cleveland plant, occupied since June, 1917, covers four acres and fur- nishes 125,000 square feet of floor space. Even this is insufficient and about a thousand axles a month are being manufactured in outside plants.
During the past year the company and its products have become known everywhere be- cause of the broad and comprehensive scheme of national advertising. The company has also effected a close alliance with the Republic Motor Truck Company of Alma, Michigan, the largest manufacturers of trucks in the United States.
While Cleveland takes appropriate pride in the presence here of an industry doing an an- nual business of six million dollars or more, there is further ground for pride in the char- acter and equipment of the plant, which meas- ures up to many of the most perfect ideals set for industrial conditions. Apparently noth- ing has been overlooked in providing facilities for the welfare of employes. The company maintains a restaurant, hospital, doctors and nurses and orchestra. There are baseball and basketball teams, and an Employes Benefit Association. On December 24, 1917, the com- pany presented each employe with a five hun- dred dollar life insurance policy, and the plan of insurance provides for an increase in the protection corresponding to the length of time the employe remains with the company. The
maximum amount of the policy afforded is fifteen hundred dollars.
The officers and directors of the company are: V. V. Torbensen, president; W. J. Bax- ter, vice president; A. H. Ide, secretary ; J. O. Eaton, treasurer and general manager; and S. H. Tolles, director.
The company manufactures as its primary output the 'Torbensen internal gear axle. This is a type of axle and gear which has been de- veloped as a result of many years of experi- ence and painstaking study by Mr. V. V. Tor- bensen. Without attempting a technical de- scription, may be noted some of the essential features of the Torbensen axle and gear. One is that the rear axle proper is a solid beam whose primary and essential function is to carry the load and nothing else. No part of the weight sustained by the rear axle is shift- ed to any part of the driving mechanism. At the same time the driving mechanism is at- tached to the axle in such a way as to secure practically perfect, permanent alignment, without impairing any of the strength or in- terfering with any of the primary functions of the axle as a load carrier.
The Torbensen drive itself has been de- veloped as a solution of the many defects found in the use of the familiar chain drives, bevel gears and worm drives as applied to heavy truck operation. The Torbensen drive has all the advantages of the chain drive in that the power is applied close to the rim of the wheel, but with the manifest advantage that it is applied on the inner circumference rather than the outer, by means of a shaft in- stead of a chain, allowing the entire mechan- ism to be completely shut in, affording protec- tion from dirt, from the wear and tear famil- iarly associated with chain driving apparatus, and altogether making for strength, simplic- ity, quietness of operation and efficiency.
Some of the interesting points concerning the development of the Torbensen internal gear drive are found in a pamphlet recently issued by The Torbensen Axle Company.
"Internal Gear Drive is neither new nor comparatively new. Fifteen years have passed since it was introduced into this coun- try. In the earlier period of its development there was not the need for it which has come into existence coincidentally with the develop- ment of commercial vehicles, and its experi- mental days were over five or more years be- fore power driven commercial vehicles had attained any true recognition.
"In 1901 V. V. Torbensen, at that time fac-
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tory manager of the American plant of the DeDion-Bouton Motorette Company, de- signed, made and put in operation the first internal gear drive used in this country. After leaving that concern he continued to build Internal Gear Drive axles and in a com- paratively short time their various advantages had become recognized and the foundation for their adoption had been securely laid.
"But Mr. Torbensen labored under the dis- advantages which beset all pioneers. He was ahead of his time. Motor cars were used only as pleasure vehicles and the purchasers of the early models of automobiles were neither en- gineers nor were they possessed of discrimina- tion. Mr. Torbensen's venture was not with- out effect. The first of the commercial vehicles to be used in this country were the DeDion busses of the Fifth Avenue stage line in New York City. A large number of Inter- nal Gear Driven axles were imported from Europe for use in these vehicles and so snc- cessful have they proved in this racking ser- vice of continual starts and stops and heavy loads that they are still in use-one of the strongest endorsements of the claims made for the Internal Gear Drive.
"For fifteen years and up to the present time the Internal Gear Drive has continued to fulfill all demands made upon it, and with its developments and refinements during this period it has won the approval of engineers who have been concerned in solving the diffi- cult problem of the ideal drive for commer- cial vehicles."
HENRY LEONARD MACH is one of the suc- cessful Cleveland lawyers who have their of- fices in the American Trust Building. Mr. Mach has been steadily building up a legal business and reputation as a skilled and re- sourceful lawyer since he finished his work in the Harvard Law School ten years ago. Mr. Mach has many other interests that dis- tinguish him as a broad gange, liberal, pa- triotic American citizen.
He was born at Cleveland, December 27, 1879, son of Frank J. and Mary T. (Kohout) Mach. His parents came from Bohemia to Cleveland in 1865, and were married in this city. They are still living and the father is a retired farmer with residence in South New- burg, Bedford Township, Cuyahoga County. He is a republican in politics and has had a life long interest in music, and when more active played in the old Cleveland Grays band. Both parents are members of the Broadway
Methodist Episcopal Church, of Cleveland. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. Mary and Adolph died in in- fancy. Henry L. has a younger sister, Sylvia Emily Peterka of Cleveland.
Mr. Mach was educated in the Warren Grammar School at Cleveland and was a mem- ber of the first graduating class from the South High School in 1898. He took his col- lege literary training in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University, graduating A. B. in 1902, and then entered Harvard Law School, where he spent the years 1902-03. Ill- ness interrupted a further continuation of his studies for three years when he returned to Harvard and graduated LL. B. in 1908.
On returning from university Mr. Mach spent a year in the law office of the late B. C. Starr, an old Harvard man at Cleveland. After that he was in practice for himself with offices in the American Trust Building, and was associated with Judge David Moylan un- der the name Mach & Moylan until Mr. Moy- lan was elected one of the judges of the Mu- nicipal Court of Cleveland, where he is still doing duty. Since that time Mr. Mach has practiced alone and las enjoyed a large gen- eral clientage. For four years, 1914-18 he was solicitor for East View Village. He is a di- rector of the Cleveland Home Investment Com- pany and the Postal Supply Company.
Mr. Mach takes an active part in ward politics as a republican, is affiliated with Palacky Lodge No. 317, Knights of Pythias ; Woodward Lodge No. 508, Free and Accepted Masons, and Cleveland Chapter, Roval Arch Masons. He is a member of the Cleveland Bar Association, Civic League, has been on the of- ficial board of the Broadway Methodist Episco- pal Church since 1903.
May 29, 1911, Mr. Mach married Miss Blanche May Ward of Cleveland. She was born at Fishleigh, Essex County, England. She was educated in her native country and also in Cleveland. She was seventeen years old when her mother, Mary N. (Rider) Ward, died in England, and she came to Cleveland with her father, the late Thomas V. Ward, who was accidentally killed on one of the Lake Shore Railway crossings at West Park. Mrs. Mach is an active church worker in the Broad- way Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of the Monday Reading Club. They have three daughters, all born in Cleveland, Gertrude Elinor, Frances Marian and Helen Louise. The city home of the family is at 5423 Mumford Avenue. They have their sum-
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mer home at Linwood Park, Vermillion, Ohio, where they own a cottage on the lake known as "The Charmian Cottage," where the fam- ily live and enjoy outdoor life during the sum- mer. All the members of the family are ex- pert swimmers, the children having learned that art almost as much a matter of course as they learned walking. Mr. Mach so far as his profession permits is a practical farmer, and takes a great deal of interest in his father's place in Bedford Township.
WILLIAM JOSEPH CLARK, head of the Wil- liam Joseph Clark Company, investment se- curities at Cleveland, is distinctly a man of action, and has crowded his still youthful years with experience, work and varied business re- sponsibilities.
He was born at Kennedy, New York, Sep- tember 18, 1879, and comes of old and solid New England ancestry on both sides. He is the fifth William Joseph Clark in as many generations of the family in America. Two miles from his birthplace at Kennedy is the Town of Clark which was named in honor of his grandfather, William Joseph Clark, a prominent lumberman. The parents of Mr. Clark are Egbert R. and Christina (Lent) Clark, both natives of New York State. Both are now living retired at Jamestown. Egbert Clark was engaged in the lumber industry in his younger days, and is also connected with the Erie Railway and in business up to 1908, when he retired. At one time he was super- intendent of right of way for the A. A. & T. Company, controlling the Bell Telephone Sys- tem.
William Joseph Clark of Cleveland is the only child of his parents. He was educated in the public schools at Jamestown, and in the spring of 1898, while in high school and not yet eighteen years old, he was the second boy from his community to enlist in the service of the Spanish-American war. He got his fa- ther's consent, but his mother refused to sign the necessary papers required for a youth of that age, and at the end of thirty days he was dismissed with the equivalent of an honorable discharge. He enlisted in the Sixty-fifth Regi- ment of New York National Guard.
An interesting opportunity for experience came to him in a clerical appointment to serve with the United States-Alaska Commission during 1901-02. He went to England with the commission and with London as his headquar- ters he extended his travels in all directions over Europe. While there he completed a
course at the University of London, where he specialized in automobile engineering.
Returning to the United States, Mr. Clark located at New York City in 1905 and took up the automobile engineering profession and also the stock and bond business, and was busily engaged in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Pittsburg. In May, 1912, he removed to Cleveland, and has since con- tinued and extended his business interests, the handling of stocks, bonds and investment securities, and general promotion work. His offices are in the Hippodrome Building. Mr. Clark is president and treasurer of the Wil- liam Joseph Clark Company and is an officer in several other business organizations in Cleveland and elsewhere. He is unmarried and resides at 2098 East One Hundredth Street.
WILLIAM H. HUNT, president of the Cleve- land Life Insurance Company, one of the notably successful insurance companies of the Middle West, is a striking example of a self- made successful American. He has been for many years prominent in business, civic and social affairs, and one of Cleveland's most representative citizens.
William H. Hunt was born at Warren, Ohio, January 20, 1868, a son of William B. Hunt, of English ancestry, and of Rebecca Myers Hunt, of Dutch ancestry. Mr. Hunt attended the public schools of Warren and Akron, Ohio, entering The First National Bank of Akron when twelve years of age, remaining there eleven years. In 1889, at the age of twenty-one, he was made secretary of the old Akron Gas Company. In 1890, he became general manager and secretary of The American Alumina Company, a corporation with a capital of $500,000, and shortly there- after, assumed in connection therewith the position of Secretary and treasurer of The Akron Vitrified Press Brick Company. While a resident of Akron he was interested in many enterprises, and successful in all of his under- takings. Notwithstanding Mr. Hunt's natural inclination for the banking business, he as- sumed the general management of the brick company in 1893, as his chief occupation. His company shortly became a part of The Hy- draulic Press Brick Company, which subse- quently developed into a $10,000,000 corpora- tion, the largest concern of its kind in the world, and of which he became a vice presi- dent and manager, which position he held un- til June 1, 1909, when he resigned to accept
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the presidency of The Cleveland Life Insur- ance Company. The Cleveland Life Insurance Company was organized in 1907. Its board of directors is composed of some of the most suc- cessful business men of Northern Ohio. Great strides have been made and the company has under its present administration taken its place as one of the notably successful life in- surance companies of the country.
Mr. Hunt is one of Cleveland's most philan- thropic citizens, giving freely of both time and money towards work of this character. He is a trustee of Hiram House, and takes great interest in settlement and social work. With his intimate associate, Mr. F. F. Pren- tiss, he was one of the principal organizers of Saint Luke's Hospital, one of the most up-to- date and complete hospitals of the United States, of which he is treasurer and one of the trustees. Mr. Hunt is also a trustee of the Workingman's Collateral Loan Society, an institution which has been a great help to the poor people of the city. He is a life mem- ber of the Associated Charities. His practi- cal philanthropy has been spread in all direc- tions, and always where it will do the most good. He was for four years president of The Cleveland Builders Exchange, an insti- tution which is stamped with his genius for organizing ability. He has been always fore- most in developing and advancing civic art, and his refining influence has assisted largely in beautifying his home city. He was one of the organizers of the Civic Federation and served as it vice president. He was one of the original group of men active in a national movement seeking to rehabilitate American merchant ships upon the high seas, he having been formerly one of the trustees of the Amer- ican Merchant Marine League. His name is known to clay workers throughout the coun- try, having served as president of the Na- tional Brick Manufacturers' Association, and as president of The Ohio Face Brick Manu- facturers' Association.
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