Budd, Edward G (Gowen) (1870–1946)

US industrialist who introduced pressed steel with oxyacetylene-welded joints. In 1912 he began to produce all-steel car bodies, which soon became standard. In 1925 he began to make steel disc wheels for cars. He continued to experiment with stainless steel, building the first stainless steel aeroplane in 1931.

He was born in Smyrna, Delaware. He apprenticed as a machinist and by 1902 he was general manager at the Hale and Killern Company (Philadelphia), a manufacturer of car seats and other parts for railways. He also built stainless steel train carriages called‘Buddliners’, selling 500 by 1941. In World War I his factory produced military equipment. During World War II he again retooled for military equipment and in 1946 consolidated his companies into the Budd Company.