George Jacobs

Who was George Jacobs?

George Jacobs was an American inventor, who invented enamel insulation for magnet wire. He founded Dudlo Manufacturing, which became part of General Cable Corporation, and Inca Manufacturing, which became Phelps-Dodge Magnet Wire.

In 1901, George Jacobs was working as a chemist working in the General Electric factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he met co-worker Ethel Mossman. In 1905, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio to take a position with Sherwin-Williams, and continued to work in his own time on an enamel insulation for magnet wire. In 1907, he perfected his formula, and asked Ethel to marry him, and join him in Cleveland, where he went into business in 1911 as Dudlo Manufacturing. The name came from Dudley. Massachusetts, where Jacobs was born, and Ohio.

Undercapitalized, and without business experience, Dudlo initially did not thrive. William Mossman, his father-in-law, came from a monied background. James Mossman had been the court jeweler for the Scottish king James VII, and William was owner of Mossman Yarnell hardware wholesalers. A lonely widower, he offered to back Jacobs in his venture, but demanded that they move back to Fort Wayne.