Jan G. Smith

Jan G. Smith (...†1966), was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an engineer (M.Sc.) and mechanical designer educated at KTH, Stockholm. For many years he worked in the American automobile industry and returned to Sweden in 1924. His experiences from the American automobile industry was probably the main reason why Gustav Larson asked him to join the team of engineers that started the design work for Volvo's first automobile, ÖV 4, in 1924. He worked for Gustav Larson in the temporary "design office" in Gustav Larsons private flat in Stockholm about a year. A lot of Jan G. Smith's original drawings for the Volvo ÖV4, the gearbox, the main chassi components and technical papers that he had collected in America in the form of a private design book, are saved in the archive of the National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. After the Volvo project he was employed by ASEA in Västerås and later worked for the same company in Stockholm.

He was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), together with Gustav Larson, "for their contribution to the national automobile industry in Sweden" in 1929.

References

* Title: "Volvo Personvagnar från 20-tal till 80-tal," by Björn Eric Lindh, 1984. (Swedish language only). ISBN: 91-86442-06-6
* Title: "Volvo Göteborg Sverige," by Christer Olsson, 1996. (Swedish language only). ISBN: 3-907150-57-0

External links

* [http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/ National Museum of Science and Technology, Sweden. Official website.]
* [http://www.iva.se/ Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Official website.]