William Bushnell Stout

William Bushnell Stout (1880 to 1956) was an American inventor, engineer and designer who worked at the meeting point of the automobile and the aeroplane. Born in Quincy, Illinois, he edited automobile and aviation coverage for the Chicago Tribune, founded the first aviation magazine published in the United States, and served as chief engineer at the Scripps-Booth and Packard companies before opening his own engineering firm in Dearborn, Michigan. His all-metal aircraft, built on the work of Hugo Junkers, led to the Stout 2-AT and the three-engined design that became the Ford Trimotor, and in 1925 his Stout Air Services began the first regularly scheduled airline in the United States. On the road he built the rear-engined Stout Scarab prototype in 1932 and later the experimental Forty-Six car, and he is also credited with ideas such as prefabricated housing and a sliding car seat.