Only four days after his 76th birthday, inventor and engineer William Bushnell Stout died of a heart attack at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. Stout, who made significant innovations in the aviation and automotive fields, had been born in 1880 in Quincy, Illinois. After graduating from the Mechanic Arts High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he briefly pursued his post-secondary studies first at Hamline University (likewise based in Saint Paul) and then the University of Minnesota.
Stout ultimately combined his considerable interest and expertise in mechanics with his strong enthusiasm for both airborne and surface transportation. He founded the Model Aero Club of Illinois, for example, and in 1907 began working as chief engineer for the Saint Paul-based Schurmeir Motor Car Company. In 1912, Stout became automobile and aviation editor for the Chicago Tribune. That same year, he launched the magazine Aerial Age. This magazine was among the first in the United States to be focused on aviation.
In 1914, Stout became chief engineer of the Detroit-based automobile manufacturer Scripps-Booth Company. Stout was hired two years later to serve as chief engineer at the newly formed aviation division of the Packard Motor Company (also headquartered in Detroit). In 1919, he went into business for himself by establishing Stout Engineering Laboratories…