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Cover image of Elmer Sperry
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Elmer Sperry

Inventor and Engineer

Thomas Parker Hughes
Publication Date
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Awarded the Dexter Prize of the Society for the History of Technology

A major Amercan inventor who obtained more than 350 patents during his lifetime, Elmer Sperry contributed greatly to the momentous technological changes that occured between 1880 and 1930. Best known for the Sperry gyrocompass and automatic pilot, his inventions included arc-light systems, mining machinery, electric automobiles and streetcars, and electrochemical processess. Characteristic of his various inventions were feedback controls that have made automation a fact of life. Richly illustrated with 149 photographs and...

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Awarded the Dexter Prize of the Society for the History of Technology

A major Amercan inventor who obtained more than 350 patents during his lifetime, Elmer Sperry contributed greatly to the momentous technological changes that occured between 1880 and 1930. Best known for the Sperry gyrocompass and automatic pilot, his inventions included arc-light systems, mining machinery, electric automobiles and streetcars, and electrochemical processess. Characteristic of his various inventions were feedback controls that have made automation a fact of life. Richly illustrated with 149 photographs and line drawings, the first full-length biography now returns to print in a paperback edition.

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Superb... In this careful study of a single inventor, Hughes has done more to demonstrate the 'questionable' nature of traditional accounts of invention than all of the theoretical arguments of the past few years combined.

— Technology and Culture
About

Book Details

Publication Date
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Available
Trim Size
7.75
x
10
Pages
368
ISBN
9780801847561
DOI
Series
Subject
Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. The Cultivation of an Inventor
2. Chicago: The Maturing of an Inventor
3. The Inventor-Entrpreneur
4. The Gyrostabilizer: A Very Powerful Fulcrum in Space
5. Harnessing the Rotation

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Preface
Introduction
1. The Cultivation of an Inventor
2. Chicago: The Maturing of an Inventor
3. The Inventor-Entrpreneur
4. The Gyrostabilizer: A Very Powerful Fulcrum in Space
5. Harnessing the Rotation of the Earth: TheGyrocompass
6. Organized Experimentation and Development: The Sperry Gyroscope Company
7. A Beast of Burden Obsessed with motion: Stabilizing the Airplane
8. Brainmill for the Military
9. The Assumption of Leadership: The Naval Consulting Board and the Aerial Torpedo
10. Fulfillment and Legacy
Appendix A: Elmer Sperry Patent Applications Maturing as Patents
Appendix B: Engineering and Scientific Papers of Elmer Sperry
Index

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Author Bio
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Thomas Parker Hughes

Thomas P. Hughes is professor of the history of modern science and technology at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His books include Changing Attitudes toward American Technology and Elmer Sperry, Inventor and Engineer.
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