We Make America Productive
Mr. Henry M. Lucas was born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 25, 1869 and lived there all his life. He started as an apprentice of the Warner & Swasey Co. in 1886 at the age of 18 years, and later became their Chief Draftsman.
Mr. Lucas made machine tool history by designing and building the original of the now familiar 'Lucas Type' Horizontal Boring, Milling and Drilling machine.
This was the first commercially available machine with a fixed-height work table and simultaneous adjustment of a counterweighted machine head and tailblock. These innovations greatly improved both the accuracy of the boring operation and eased the 'set-up' of the work.
They also permitted the machine bed to be manufactured with a heavily ribbed, deep box construction that was substantially more rigid than other boring machines of that era.
These specific details of machine design are so commonly accepted in the metal cutting machine tool industry of today that many people are not aware that Henry Lucas was the originator.
On January 1, 1900 at the age of 30, Henry M. Lucas organized the Lucas Machine Tool Company with George C. Lucas and Frank Yost as his partners and they soon began production of the world famous Lucas Boring Mill at the original factory on East 99th Street in Cleveland, Ohio.
He was a member of the Cleveland Engineering Society, having joined in December of 1898.
Mr. Lucas' only knowledge of Roanoke College in Salem Virginia was through friend and attorney, R. M. Calfee (Class of 1893) who was also a member of the College Board of Trustees. Mr. Lucas donated $75,594.33 to build a Hall, which was then named after him; Mr. Calfee provided another $5,000 in equipment and the hall was dedicated in 1941. This friend of education left the written reasons for his gift, which were engraved and mounted in the main hall. The dedication plaque reads
"To express admiration for the spirit of achievement displayed by the college and it's students who for one hundred years have made much out of little and to give inspiration to many others who shall have the will to emulate their example this building is presented to Roanoke College by one who appreciates the value of this spirit to the state and to the nation. September 1, 1941 - Henry M. Lucas"
This is a classroom building originally designed as the new home for chemistry, that is now the headquarters for the English and Foreign Languages departments.
Mr. Lucas' many achievements added to the fame of Cleveland as a center of the machine tool industry in this country. His entire life was devoted to the building of a fine product manufactured to the highest standards of accuracy and from those standards, he never departed.
Mr. Henry M. Lucas passed away on March 2, 1942 at the age of 73 years.