MR’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY Aviator & EngineerLawrence Burst Lawrence Burst SperrySperry A chip off the old block makes aeronautics his claim to fameBy Patricia Keefe(Photo: Hagley Museum and Library)he U.S. Navy, and the aero- cant improvement over the liquid-? lled nautic ? eld in general, has magnetic compass and a parachute pack bene? ted enormously from – inventions that formed the basic in-Sperry’s CompaniesTthe genius of more than one struments of all manner of planes and Inventor-entrepreneur Elmer A. Sperry was fond of launching new companies to manufacture Sperry. Lawrence Burst Sperry, the sec- most of which remain in use today. new inventors and support his wide ranging interests, at times folding, morphing or selling off ond son and third child of gyrocompass A font of ideas, Sperry also tackled older companies even as he was forming new ones. He is perhaps most closely associated inventor Elmer A. Sperry was a pioneer night ? ying issues and built the ? rst with the Sperry Gyroscope Co.: in instrumental ? ight and famous in- wheeled retractable landing gear in an ventor in his own right, launching the amphibian. That got him a splash in the • Sperry Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Co., founded at the age of 20 to manufac-Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Co. at 26, and March 29, 1915 The Aerial Age Weekly. ture Sperry’s electric dynamos and arc lamp invention. (1880) earning 23 patents before his untimely But it was his performance at French • Sperry Electric Mining Machine Co. (1888)death at the age of 31 in 1923. Avia- air competition for plane safety in 1914 tion promoter and Air Service General that turned him into an international star • The Elmer A. Sperry Co., for research and development work (1888) Billy Mitchell lauded him as one of the overnight and netted a $10,000 prize. most brilliant minds and greatest devel- With his parent looking on, the 22-year-• Sperry Streetcar and Electric Railway Co., for electric streetcars and their components opers in the world of aviation, while one old Sperry and his mechanic wowed the (1894)newspaper called him “Uncle Sam’s crowd, which included military observ-youngest technical expert and aviator.” ers, by walking out on the wings of the • Chicago Fuse Wire Co., (1900); and separately established an electro chemical labora-tory in Washington, DC. , where he discovered a process for recovering tin from scrap It was no exaggeration. plane while it was aloft, to demonstrate metal.Like his father before him, Sperry’s his autopilot technology. Sperry, with engineering brilliance more than made his hands up in the air, offered a whole • Sperry Gyroscope Co. (1910), founded to manufacture navigation equipment, chie