GREAT AMERICANS--E.A.SPERRY GUIDANCE GENIUS

Almost 150 years after his birth Sperry’s inventions are still the basis for guidance around the world and even in space. Elmer Ambrose Sperry was born in Cortland, New York in 1860 and was educated at the State Normal and Training School. By the amazing age of 20, he had formed the first of his eight companies, the Sperry Electric Company, which made dynamos and arc lamps. Others would include: the Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company, which manufactured machines used in mining; and the Chicago Fuse Wire Company, which fabricated electric fuse wire using machines he had invented. Sperry's most successful venture however would spring from the revolutionary gyroscope.

Sperry engineered a gyroscope that would replace the long-used magnetic compass, a faulty and unreliable form of navigation on ships. 100 years ago, Sperry patented his new device. He founded Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn, New York, two years later. His gyrocompass was first installed on the U.S. battleship Delaware in 1911. During World War I the U.S. Navy adopted the gyro-compass for its activities. It proved so accurate that it remained in use through World War II. Sperry's gyroscope technology was later applied to guide torpedoes, steer ships, and stabilize airplanes, ships and spacecraft. During both world wars Sperry's companies grew as military demand for their technological devices soared. They diversified into aircraft components including bombsights, fire control systems, radar systems, and automated take off and landing systems.

At the time of his death in 1930, at the age of 70, Sperry held an incredible 400 patents. In 1933, the Sperry Gyroscope Company would become the Sperry Corporation, which manufactured early computer devices, precision instruments and controls, farm machinery, and electric and hydraulic equipment. After many mergers and takeovers, the company today is part of the technology giant Unisys.