Alexander Winton
British automotive pioneer
Died when: 72 years 1 days (864 months)Star Sign: Gemini
Alexander Winton (June 20, 1860 – June 21, 1932) was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver.
Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Cleveland, Ohio, making the city an important hub of early automotive manufacturing.
His pioneering achievements in the automotive industry included taking one of the first long-distance journeys in America by car and developing one of the first commercial diesel engines.
Winton left the automotive manufacturing business when he liquidated his car company in 1924 to focus on his powertrain engineering firm, Winton Gas Engine & Mfg.
Co., which he had established a dozen years earlier to focus on engine development.This business was later sold to General Motors in 1930 and became known as the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division.
Winton passed away in 1932 and is buried in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery.
