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James Mapes Dodge (Manhattan, June 30, 1852 –Germantown, Philadelphia, December 4, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, industrialist and president of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers in the year 1903–1904. He is known as president of theLink-Belt Company, and as pioneer of applyingscientific management methods.[1][2]
Dodge was the son of William Dodge, member of theNew York bar, andMary Mapes Dodge, a children's writer and editor of theSt. Nicholas magazine. He grew up in Manhattan, attended theNewark Academy, and obtained degrees fromCornell University, andRutgers University[3]
After an apprenticeship at the shipbuilding companyJohn Roach & Sons, in 1876, he started a mining machine manufacturing company with E.T. Copeland in New York. When this didn't work out and the company dissolved, he worked another six years in manufacturing companies in Chicago and Indianapolis. In 1884 he founded Burr & Dodge in Philadelphia, that in 1906 merged with the Link-Belt Engineering company into the Link-Belt Company with Dodge as president,[3] later deLink-Belt Construction Equipment company.
In his lifetime Dodge was a productive inventor, and was granted over 200 patents concerninglink-belts,moving stair, toys, etc.[4] In 1903–04 Dodge was president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 1906 he and Henry R. Towne were responsible for maneuveringFrederick Winslow Taylor to the Presidency of the ASME in 1906.[5]
ThePhiladelphia plant of the Link-Belt Company is known for its significant labor efficiency improvements, due to the introduction of scientific management applications. According toLeon P. Alford especially Dodge's personal involvement and personality made this happen. He had offered the workers special arrangements and incentives to accept Taylor's changes, which won him much respect and trust from the workers.[1].
