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Dave Creaden Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: DTF
Date: 05 May 2023

Biographical History

Dave Creaden (1931-2010) was an American mechanical, electrical, and design engineer.

Creaden was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was raised in Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois. He moved to Kansas in the 1960s. In the mid-1960s he helped design the 8-track tape for car radios for Lear Jet. Later he worked for Midwest Plastics and was a partner at Packer Plastics. He was married to Elaine Creaden and had three children.

Lear Jet's development of the Stereo 8 cartridge, also referred to as 8-track tape, was an evolution of the Fidelipac cartridge of the 1950s. It reduced the complexity of the design by integrating a pinch roller into the cartridge, lowering the likelihood that the cartridge would jam. The redesigned cartridge could hold up to 80 minutes of recordings. The 8-track cartridge retained its popularity through the early 1980s, when it was overtaken by compact cassettes.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Dave Creaden Papers contains administrative materials, correspondence, and design materials. All materials relate to the design and production of the Lear Jet Stereo 8 cartridge.

Administrative materials contains invoices and purchase orders for 8-track production materials, Lear Jet employee stock option information, and Lear Jet personnel information.

Correspondence contains Lear Jet internal and external communications about the 8-track design process.

Design materials is subdivided into drawings, project notes, and specifications. Drawings consists of sketches and blueprints of the 8-track and its components. Project notes contains handwritten notes and a journal pertaining to research and production. Specifications contains engineering requirements, parts lists, and product change notices.

Arrangement of the Collection

Internal correspondence and product change notices are arranged chronologically. The rest of the collection is arranged alphabetically.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Persons

Creaden, Dave.

Corporate Bodies

Lear Jet Corporation.

Subjects

Automobiles -- Audio equipment.
Engineering design.
Magnetic recorders and recording -- Installation in automobiles.
Plastics.
Product design.

Genres and Forms

Blueprints (reprographic copies)
Correspondence.
Design drawings.
Financial records.
Journals (accounts)
Research notes.

Occupations

Engineers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Dave Creaden Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 2023.

Table of Contents

Administrative materials

Correspondence

Design materials

Inventory