engineering

Hugh DeHaven

Hugh DeHaven is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hugh DeHaven rather than just read about it. In short: Hugh DeHaven (3 March 1895 – 13 February 1980) was an American pilot, engineer and passive safety pioneer. DeHaven survived a plane crash while training as a Royal Canadian Flying Corps pilot during the First World War, and became interested in improving human survivability in vehicle crashes.

Key takeaways

Hugh DeHaven belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hugh DeHaven to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hugh DeHaven from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hugh DeHaven (3 March 1895 – 13 February 1980) was an American pilot, engineer and passive safety pioneer. DeHaven survived a plane crash while training as a Royal Canadian Flying Corps pilot during the First World War, and became interested in improving human survivability in vehicle crashes. He has been called the "Father of Crash Survivability".

Early life DeHaven was born in 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a steel worker and inventor. He attended Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts from 1906 to 1909 before attending The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania from 1909 to 1914. Following graduation DeHaven attended Cornell University from 1914 to 1915, and Columbia University from 1915 to 1916. He tried to join the US Army Air Corps in 1916, but was rejected. He joined the Royal Flying Corps Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While training as a pilot during the First World War, DeHaven survived a plane crash. While recuperating from a ruptured pancreas, he tried to understand why he, and only he, survived that crash, noting that his cockpit was the only one that remained intact.

Early work Hugh Robertson DeHaven was an inventor of long standing. Between 1924 and 1933 DeHaven filed seven patent applications related to his design of a self-sharpening single edge safety razor. Between approximately 1930 and 1936 his De Haven Razor Corporation marketed a number of different models based upon these designs. DeHaven himself retired in 1933. In 1933, DeHaven survived a traffic accident which added to his interest in safety from his earlier airplane crash, and he began experimenting with crash testing using eggs. In 1939, DeHaven recommended the use of helmets and seat belts at a 45° angle in airplanes. He created the inertial reel and the concept of the "delethalized" instrument panel.

Crash Injury Research (CIR) DeHaven rejoined Cornell in 1942 as a research associate and started the Cornell Crash Injury Research (CIR) program. Based on his work, DeHaven published the classic Mechanical analysis of survival in falls from heights of fifty to one hundred and fifty feet, concluding that:

The human body can tolerate and expend a force of two hundred times the force of gravity for brief intervals during which the force acts in transverse relation to the long axis of the body. It is reasonable to assume that structural provisions to reduce impact and distribute pressure can enhance survival and modify injury within wide limits in aircraft and automobile accidents. In 1950, DeHaven published a report pointing to the second collision and the risk involved in vehicle ejection. He created the concept of "packaging" car occupants. He concluded: In 1953, the project split into two sub-projects, namely the Automobile Crash Injury Research (ACIR) and the Aviation Crash Injury Research (AvCIR) projects. Flight Safety Foundation takes over AvCIR (later Aviation Safety Engineering and Research (AvSER)), and continues the crash survival research started by DeHaven. AvSER is now part of Dynamic Science, Inc. DeHaven was issued US 2710649 "Combination shoulder and lap safety belt" in 1955 for the first three-point seat belt.

Quotes We will get into anybody’s automobile, go any desired distance at dangerous speeds, without safety belts, without shoulder harness, and with a very minimum of padding or other protection to prevent our heads and bodies from smashing against the inside of a car in an accident. The level of safety which we accept for ourselves, our wives and our children is, therefore, on a par with shipping fragile valuable objects loose inside a container. "...people knew more about protecting eggs in transit than they did about protecting human heads"

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hugh DeHaven

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hugh DeHaven claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hugh DeHaven before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hugh DeHaven ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hugh DeHaven

In research: Hugh DeHaven appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hugh DeHaven in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hugh DeHaven is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1895 births, 1980 deaths, 20th-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hugh DeHaven outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hugh DeHaven in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hugh DeHaven means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hugh DeHaven out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hugh DeHaven in simple terms?

Why does Hugh DeHaven matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hugh DeHaven?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hugh DeHaven.