PM Heldt seems to have been a writer, since about 1915, and seems to have been hired by Chiltons in the 40s or 50s, Engineering Editor of Automotive Industries, he was born in 1875, died in 1957
There doesn't seem to be information about him online... no Wikipedia entry (god damn it, that is a good source of info)
So, hello rabbit hole, I dive into you again!
I wasted about an hour, and finally discovered that PM Heldt was a founder of the SAE, and publisher of the Horseless Age! I shit you not
Peter Heldt of The Horseless Age, was a tireless advocate of the concepts that forged the creation of SAE. Heldt wrote an editorial in June of 1902 in which he said, "Now there is a noticeable tendency for automobile manufacturers to follow certain accepted lines of construction, technical questions constantly arise which seek solution from the cooperation of the technical men connected with the industry. These questions could best be dealt with by a technical society. The field of activity for this society would be the purely technical side of automobiles." A mere 27 months after Heldt's editorial the Society of Automobile Engineers was born.
By 1916 the Society of Automobile Engineers membership had grown to 1,800. At the annual meeting that year representatives from the American Society of Aeronautic Engineers, the Society of Tractor Engineers, as well as representatives from the power boating industry made a pitch to SAE for oversight of technical standards in their industries. Aeronautics was a fledgling industry at that time, and few could have been expected to know the essential role it would take in world history in a very short time. Early supporters of the concept of a society to represent aeronautical engineers were Thomas Edison, Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Martin, and Orville Wright.
Out of that fateful meeting in 1916 came a new organization with new horizons. This was to be a new society representing engineers in all types of mobility-related professions. SAE member Elmer Sperry actually created the term "automotive" from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) origins to represent any form of self powered vehicle. The Society of Automobile Engineers became the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the most important chapter in the SAE saga was underway.
Fabulous and much appreciated information. I was wondering why one of the listings says "Nyack, NY." Now I know why. Another famous neighbor in Rockland Cemetery is John C. Fremont.
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