Elmer Ambrose Sperry Papers 1893

Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

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Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Table of Contents

Summary Information ...... 3 Biographical Note ...... 3 Scope and Content ...... 4 Administrative Information ...... 7 Related Materials ...... 7 Controlled Access Headings ...... 8 Collection Inventory ...... 8 Personal ...... 8 General Correspondence ...... 9 Chicago-Cleveland ...... 10 Electro-chemistry ...... 14 General Correspondence ...... 14 Subject Correspondence ...... 14 Patent Records ...... 16 Laboratory Notebooks ...... 16 Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc...... 17 Administrative Records ...... 17 General Correspondence ...... 19 Research and Development ...... 20 Naval Consulting Board ...... 23 Diesel Engines - Research and Development ...... 24 General ...... 25 Automotive Diesel ...... 25 Diesel Locomotives ...... 26 Diesel Marine Engines ...... 26 Diesel Engines ...... 27 Laboratory notebooks, diaries, and appointment calendars ...... 27 Smithsonian Exhibit - Oral Histories ...... 28

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Summary Information

Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Creator: Sperry, Elmer Ambrose, 1860-1930 Title: Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers ID: 1893 Date [inclusive]: 1876-1931 Physical Description: 27 Linear Feet Language of the English . Material: Abstract: Elmer Sperry (1860-1930) was one of America's electric pioneers. He founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in order to develop, manufacture, and market marine gyrostabilizing devices. The papers document Sperry's research and development work and entrepreneurial activities.

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Biographical Note

Elmer Sperry (1860-1930) was one of America's electric pioneers. He founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in order to develop, manufacture, and market marine gyrostabilizing devices. Elmer A. Sperry was born on October 12, 1860, in Cortland, New York. He attended the local elementary schools and then enrolled in Cornell University. At Cornell, he developed an interest in electrical engineering and began working with a group of Syracuse industrialists in order to construct an arc lighting system. By 1882 Sperry was recognized as being one of America's electrical pioneers.

In 1883 Sperry moved to Chicago where he established the Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company. He, however, found that he could notcompete with the more established Edision and Brush Electric companies so he began experimenting with electric coal-mining equipment. In l886 he founded the Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. During these years Sperry also developed an electric street car. After selling his patents to General Electric, he went to work for the company as a consultant.

In 1901 Sperry became associated with a young patent examiner, Clifton Townsend, and the two men worked together to develop an electrolytic process to manufacture white lead. Sperry and Townsend opened a production plant in Niagara Falls, New York, which was sold to Elon Hooker's (1869-1938) Development and Funding Company.

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In 1907 Sperry began to experiment with the gyroscope. Three years later, he founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn, New York. Working closely with the Navy, he developed the gyrocompass, ship stabilizer, and high-intensity search light. During the First World War, the Sperry Gyroscope Company became a major defense contractor, and Elmer Sperry sat on the Naval Consulting Board. After the war, Sperry Gyroscope moved into aeronautics as it developed airplane stabilizers, gyrostabilized bombsights, and the aerial torpedo. Elmer Sperry died on June l6, l930.

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Scope and Content

The Elmer Sperry papers document Sperry's research and development work and entrepreneurial activities. The Chicago-Cleveland records describe his efforts to develop arc lighting systems, stationary power, electric mining machinery, and electric traction technology. Included are correspondence files and financial records of the Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake and the Electric Mining Machine companies. Electro-chemistry files include correspondence and reports documenting the development of the white lead process and the business negotiations that took place between the Sperry and Hooker Chemical companies. Also included is correspondence with William F. Dutton of the American Can Company, Leo Baekeland, and with Ernest LeMaire of the Hooker Electrochemical Company.

Gyroscope company records document the development and marketing of the marine and aeronautical instruments, including the gyrocompass, ship stabililzer, high-intensity search light, airplane stabilizer, fire control systems, automatic bombsights, and the aerial torpedo. These records describe Sperry's close working relationship with the U.S. Navy and his collaboration with Admiral David W. Taylor and Commander William McEntree. Records also describe Sperry's activities on the Naval Consulting Board. Sales and marketing records contain correspondence with representatives of the British, French, Japanese, and Russian navies.

Personal series contains genealogical and biographical information on Sperry and his family. Included is a diary of Stephen Decatur Sperry (Elmer's father), genealogical charts tracing the family roots to England and the reign of Charles I, and letters from Elmer Sperry describing his early life in Cortland and experiences at Cornell University. This series also includes correspondence of Zula Goodman Sperry (Elmer's wife) and her brother. Herbert Goodman. describing the role the Goodman family played in Elmer Sperry's various enterprises.

This series includes Sperry's correspondence with Thomas Edison (a colleague on the Naval Advisory Board) and with Helen Keller. There is also information on Sperry's personal finances and condolences which were written to him after the death of his son, Lawrence.

General correspondence series contains Elmer Sperry's correspondence with a number of prominent scientists, politicians and business people. Letters to Herbert Hoover and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., outline Sperry's political, economic, and social world views. Correspondence with Albert A. Michelson (University of Chicago), David Eugene Smith (Columbia University) and Elihu Thomson (Thomson-

- Page 4- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893 Houston Company) develops Sperry's ideas about the relationship between science and technology. Also included is a letter to Mussolini.

Chicago-Cleveland,This series describes Sperry's inventions and entrepeneurial activities in the two decades (1880-1900) when he was considered one of America's electrical pioneers. It documents his efforts to develop arc lighting systems, stationary power, mining machinery, and electric traction. The records describe the operation of the Sperry Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company, which was founded in 1883 to set up electric power stations and manufacture component parts. These are fragmentary, but they do contain copies of Sperry's agreements with his financial backers and correspondence that traces his efforts to patent his inventions and secure customers.

Records documenting Sperry's associations with the Electric Mining Machine Company and Independent Electric Company are far more complete. These files, which include incoming correspondence, letter books, sales books, and account books, trace Sperry's efforts to develop electric mine cars and undercuttting equipment. Sperry's letter books contain copies of a large number of reports he sent to the engineers at General Electric for analysis and comment. These letters show that Sperry was able to draw on the expertise of many of GE's young engineers who were, during the 1890s, graduating from engineering schools in relatively large numbers. These young engineers helped orient Sperry to the early twentieth-century world of professional engineering. The Chicago-Cleveland records document Sperry's relationship with the Link-Belt Company, which rented him space to manufacture his electric mine cars. The records also show that Link-Belt provided his company with both technical support and legal advice when he became embroiled in a number of patent infringement suits during the mid-1890s.

The correspondence of the Goodman Manufacturing Company traces Sperry's continued involvement with coal-mining machine industry through the 1920s. These records show that Sperry continued to help make policy decisions and served as a consulting engineer long after he left Chicago.

During the late 1890s, Sperry's primary interest was in street railways. His correspondence from this period describes his effort to develop and patent his electric governor and car brake. Correspondence with GE engineers show that Sperry's street car employed a mode of power transmission similar to that in his mine locomotive. The records describe Sperry's efforts to market his street cars as well as his increasing commitment to experimentation and testing. Other records from Sperry's Chicago-Cleveland period include those generated by the Sperry Engineering, National Battery, and Whitley Exerciser Companies.

Taken together, these records suggest that from his earliest days as an electrical engineer, Sperry was experimenting with automatic feedback control. His arc lighting and dynamo patents describe two major improvements: a mechanical governor to automatically maintain uniform output, and an electromagnetic control mechanism to adjust current output to reflect load variations. As Thomas Hughes has pointed out, the operation of Sperry's centrifugal governor was very similar to the conventional feedback devices used in steam engines and anticipated his experiments with gyroscopic feedback control.

The papers clearly demonstrate that by the mid-1880s, Sperry was recognized as an important electrical pioneer. He was a founding member of the National Electric Light Association, which was attempting to regulate the high-power lines developed to transmit electricity economically over long distances.

The Electro-Chemistry series summarizes Sperry's experimental work and entrepreneurial interests in electrochemistry. Correspondence with Clinton P. Townsend describes the work of the Townsend

- Page 5- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893 laboratory and documents the business relationship that Sperry and Townsend established. The letters and technical reports trace Townsend's efforts to develop the caustic soda and white lead processes. Correspondence with E. H. Hooker of the Hooker Electrochemical Company describes the business negotiations between Sperry and Hooker, and Hooker's decision to help finance the development of the Townsend-Sperry process. The records include Sperry's and Townsend's correspondence with Leo Baekeland and Ernest LeMaire, who were assigned to supervise the construction and operation of the Niagara white lead plant for the Hooker Company.

The records document Sperry's and Townsend's attempts to develop an economical detinning process. Correspondence with William F. Dutton of the American Can Company describes operations of the detinning laboratory, as well as the business relationship that developed between Sperry and Dutton. The papers also describe the patent suit with Th. Goldschmidt & Company that eventually forced Sperry and Dutton to abandon their project.

The Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc. records in Series IV include Elmer Sperry's business and technical correspondence that describes the development and marketing of the company's aeronautical and marine instruments. Sperry's research files trace the history of the gyroscope beginning with its invention by Leon Foucault in 1854. His correspondence describes the state of gyroscopic technology and the patent situation as it existed in 1910.

Also contained in Series IV are some fragmentary administrative records. There is a copy of the minutes of the first Board of Directors meeting (June 2, 1910), reports to the stockholders (1917-1918), tax, and financial records.

After the war, the Sperry Gyroscope Company began a systematic effort to market its products abroad. The records documenting these sales initiatives contain correspondence with representatives of the English, French, Russian, and Japanese navies. Sperry's correspondence with Admiral Hideo Takedo, who represented the Japanese Navy as well as Mitsubishi Zo#sen Kaisha Ltd., is of particular interest. These letters trace the process by which Mitsubishi became a licensee for Sperry products and Sperry Gyroscope gained access to the Japanese Navy. The Sperry-Takedo letters have both personal and business dimensions. The two men shared common interests and value systems based on a faith in technological progress and an appreciation of hard work. These correspondence files show that this friendship led Sperry to appreciate Japanese culture. He made several trips to Japan at the end of his life and in 1929 organized the World Engineering Conference in Tokyo.

Diesel Engines - Research and Development series documents Elmer Sperry's files on the compound diesel engine and the electric transmission include a number of blueprints and patent diagrams describing his diesel engine and proposed electronic transmission. During the 1920s Sperry collaborated closely with H. C. Snow, an engineer with the Velie Motors Corporation of Moline, Illinois, and the collection includes a complete file of their letters. These records show that in spite of their efforts the diesel project was both a technological and financial failure. Sperry could not develop a working model nor could he raise the capital required to finance research and development in this area. For a while Ford Motor Company, Standard Oil, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and the Illinois Central Railroad expressed interest in Sperry's work but, when research and development did not proceed as rapidly as expected, they quickly withdrew their support.

Laboratory notebooks, diaries, and appointment calendars series are complete record of his published patents and his laboratory notebooks. These notebooks, which do have some gaps, can be used to trace

- Page 6- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893 the evolution of Elmer Sperry's approach to arc lighting, street railways, electrochemistry, gyroscopic technology, internal combustion engines, and the technological problems he encountered with each of these projects. Sperry was very articulate in his diaries and explored a variety of technological and scientific issues in them. It is evident that he drew on the work of a number of academic physicists and mathematicians and tried to apply their insights to experimental problems. Sperry's diaries contain a large number of sketches which reflect an appreciation of modern science. However, the diaries also show that in many ways Sperry was a nineteenth-century artist-engineer rather than a modern scientist whose insights are based on mathematical models.

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Administrative Information

Publication Statement Manuscripts and Archives

PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library

Provenance Gift of Elmer Sperry III

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Related Materials

Related Material Sperry Gyroscope Company records (Accession 1915), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library

Separated Materials Elmer Sperry photographs (Accession 1985.257), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

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Controlled Access Headings

• Inventors • Electrical engineering • Electric lighting, Arc • Correspondence. • Aeronautics • Research, Industrial.

Collection Inventory

Personal, 1860-1929 Physical Description: 1 Linear Foot Scope and Content

This series contains genealogical and biographical information on Sperry and his family. Included is a diary of Stephen Decatur Sperry (Elmer's father), genealogical charts tracing the family roots to England and the reign of Charles I, and letters from Elmer Sperry describing his early life in Cortland and experiences at Cornell University. This series also includes correspondence of Zula Goodman Sperry (Elmer's wife) and her brother. Herbert Goodman. describing the role the Goodman family played in Elmer Sperry's various enterprises.

Controlled Access Headings: • Genealogies • Sperry, Zula G. (Zula Goodman) • Sperry, Lawrence B. (Lawrence Burst), 1892-1924 • Goodman, Herbert E. (Herbert Edward), 1862-1917 • Sperry, Stephen D. (Stephen Decatur) • Sperry family • Goodman family Title/Description Instances Sperry family genealogy box 1

General correspondence box 1

Papers RE: Cortland, New York box 1

Cortland Normal School (2 folders), 1916-1926 box 1

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Cortland Associations box 1

Baptist Church, 1917-1924 box 1

Diary of Stephen Decateur Sperry and letter of James to Elmer box 1 Ambrose Sperry' mother, 18671859 July 18

Zula Goodman's childhood letters box 1

Zula Goodman Sperry's personal correspondence box 1

Elmer Ambrose Sperry to Herbert Goodman box 1

Poetry (probably one of Sperry's children) box 1

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, Jr., 1935-1937 box 1

Correspondence RE: Elmer Ambrose Sperry' mother, 1926-1928 box 1

Helen Willett box 1

Mrs. C.G. Lunt box 1

Correspondence with Thomas and Mrs. Edison box 2

Helen Keller box 2

Personal finances box 2

Philanthropies box 2

Condolences (Lawrence Sperry) box 2

Zula Goodman Sperry obituary box 2

Henry Ambrose Sperry, 1807-1829 box 2

Goodman Family Personal Papers box 3

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General Correspondence, 1919-1930 Physical Description: 0.5 Linear Feet Scope and Content

This series contains Elmer Sperry's correspondence with a number of prominent scientists, politicians and business people. Letters to Herbert Hoover and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., outline Sperry's political, economic, and social world views. Correspondence with Albert A. Michelson (University of Chicago), David Eugene Smith (Columbia University) and Elihu Thomson (Thomson-Houston Company) develops Sperry's ideas about the relationship between science and technology. Also included is a letter to Mussolini.

Controlled Access Headings: • Politicians • Business and politics Title/Description Instances

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Chronological File (2 folders), 1919-1930 box 4

American Society of Mechanical Engineers box 4

Brown Telephone Relay box 4

Captain G. de Cacquery box 4

Committee of Ten box 4

Doran, Charles box 4

Fritz Medal box 4

Gleason, Edward box 4

Hoover, Herbert box 4

Jewett, Frank box 4

Millikan, R. A. (Robert Andrews) box 5

Mussolini, Benito box 5

National Research Council box 5

Professional Activities Clubs and Societies box 5

Rockefeller, John Dr., Jr. box 5

Sauvaire, Jourdan box 5

Smith, David Eugene box 5

Thompson, Elihu box 5

YMCA box 5

Wilkins, F. H. box 5

World Sunday School Association box 5

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Chicago-Cleveland, 1890-1910 Physical Description: 5 Linear Feet Scope and Content

This series describes Sperry's inventions and entrepeneurial activities in the two decades (1880-1900) when he was considered one of America's electrical pioneers. It documents his efforts to develop arc lighting systems, stationary power, mining machinery, and electric traction. The records describe the operation of the Sperry Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company, which was founded in 1883 to set up electric power stations and manufacture component parts. These are fragmentary, but they do contain copies of Sperry's agreements with his financial backers and correspondence that traces his efforts to patent his inventions and secure customers.

contain copies of a large number of reports he sent to the engineers at General Electric for analysis and comment. These letters show that Sperry was able to draw on the expertise of many of GE's young engineers who were, during the 1890s, graduating from engineering schools in relatively large numbers. These young engineers helped orient Sperry to the early twentieth-century world of professional engineering.

The Chicago-Cleveland records document Sperry's relationship with the Link-Belt Company, which rented him space to manufacture his electric mine cars. The records also show that Link-Belt provided his company with both technical support and legal advice when he became embroiled in a number of patent infringement suits during the mid-1890s.

The correspondence of the Goodman Manufacturing Company traces Sperry's continued involvement with coal- mining machine industry through the 1920s. These records show that Sperry continued to help make policy decisions and served as a consulting engineer long after he left Chicago.

Controlled Access Headings: • Automation • Electric controllers • Coal mines and mining. • Goodman Manufacturing Company • Sperry Electric Illuminating Company • Sperry Electric Company Title/Description Instances Sperry Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company, 1883 box 6

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. General box 6 Correspondence, 1893-1896

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Sale to box 6 Thomson-Huston Electric Company

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Report on box 6 Affairs and Conditions, 1891

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Patents box 6

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Service box 6 Reports

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Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. File on gas box 7 engine patents

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Patent box 7 litigation, 1894-1896

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company Records. Bills and box 7 cancelled checks

Sperry Engineering Company, 1897-1898 box 7

Sperry Electric Railway Company, 1893-1895 box 7

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Correspondence, 1895-1896 box 8

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Correspondence and Patents, box 8 George Selden, 1895-1896

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Patents, 1892 box 8

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Electric Governor Patents box 8

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Accident claims, 1895 box 8

Sperry Electric Railway Company. Correspondence RE: Horseless box 8 Carriage, 1895-1897

Independent Electric Company, 1894 box 8

Independent Electric Company, 1895 box 9

Fuse and Wire Company box 9

National Battery Company, 1903-1905 box 9

Link-Belt Machine Company (photocopies) box 9

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Proposal to Establish box 9 Machine Department at Link-Belt, 1895

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Chain Breast Patent Suit, box 9 1895-1896

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Cheseborough Patents, 1892 box 9

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Electric Mining Machine box 9 Department, 19031905

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Correspondence, box 9 1901-19101916-1930

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Correspondence RE: Mine box 9 locomotive, 1903-1911

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Correspondence RE: box 9 Locomotive patents, 1906-1903

Goodman Manufacturing Company. "Brief History of the box 11 Longwall Machines"

Goodman Manufacturing Company. "Evolution of Mining box 11 Machinery" - Page 12- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Gathering locomotive papers box 11 & correspondence, 1900-1908

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Shirtwall Locomotive box 11 Design, 1910

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Correspondence RE: box 11 marketing coal mining machinery in England, 1920

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Correspondence RE: box 11 Harrison Coal Puncher, 1891-1905

Goodman Manufacturing Company. Whitley Exerciser Company, box 11 1896-1905

Chicago Enterprises various companies correspondence with A. D. box 11 Dana, 1900-1915

Chicago Enterprises Incorporation Papers various companies box 11

Cleveland Enterprises Thomson-Huston Expense Account, box 11 1892-1895

Cleveland Enterprises, General Correspondence, 1893-1896 box 11

Edison Pioneers, correspondence and news clippings box 12

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. Letter book, March 9, box 13 volume 1 1889 - June 9, 1889

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. Letter book, box 13 volume 2 November 19, 1889-September 14, 1891

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. Letter book, box 13 volume 3 September 15, 1891-February 23, 1893

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. Letter book, July 13, box 13 volume 4 1893-November 11, 1895

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company. Supply Dept. & box 13 volume 5 General. Letter book, January 6, 1891-September 5, 1891

Sperry Electric Street Railway Company. Letter book, 1889-1893 box 13 volume 1

Sperry Electric Street Railway Company. Letter book, 1895-1896 box 13 volume 2

Sperry Electric Street Railway Company. Letter book, 1895-1897 box 13 volume 3

Sperry Electric Motor & Car Brake Company. Letter book, box 14 volume 1 1892-1893

Elmer A. Sperry Company. Letter book, 1889-1890 box 14 volume 2

Elmer A. Sperry Company Day Book, 1892 box 14 volume 3

Personal Letter Book, 1892-1894 box 14 volume 4

Sperry Electric Street Railway Company cashbook, 1891 box 15 volume 1

Sperry Electric Street Railway Company cashbook, 1891 box 15 volume 2

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company journal, 1890-1891 - Page 13- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

box 15 volume 3

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company journal, 1891-1892 box 15 volume 4

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company timebook & payroll, box 15 volume 5 1893-1894

Elmer A. Sperry Company Trial Balance, 1896 box 15 volume 6

Elmer A. Sperry Company cashbook, 1889-1890 box 15 volume 7

Elmer A. Sperry Company salesbook & ledger, 1890 box 15 volume 8

Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company salesbook & payroll, box 15 volume 9 1889-1890

Salesbooks, 1891-1896 volume 1-8

Trial Balance, 1891 volume 9-12

Ledger, 1891 volume 13-16

Scrapbook (miscellaneous clippings) volume 17

Railroad scrapbook volume 18

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Electro-chemistry, 1896-1921 Physical Description: 1 Linear Foot Scope and Content

This series summarizes Sperry's experimental work and entrepreneurial interests in electrochemistry. Correspondence with Clinton P. Townsend describes the work of the Townsend laboratory and documents the business relationship that Sperry and Townsend established. The letters and technical reports trace Townsend's efforts to develop the caustic soda and white lead processes. Correspondence with E. H. Hooker of the Hooker Electrochemical Company describes the business negotiations between Sperry and Hooker, and Hooker's decision to help finance the development of the Townsend-Sperry process. The records include Sperry's and Townsend's correspondence with Leo Baekeland and Ernest LeMaire, who were assigned to supervise the construction and operation of the Niagara white lead plant for the Hooker Company.

Controlled Access Headings: • Electrolytic cells • Hooker, Elon Huntington, 1869-1938 • Hooker, Albert H. (Albert Huntington), 1865-1936

General Correspondence, 1896-1910 box 16

Subject Correspondence - Page 14- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Title/Description Instances Anaconda Lead Company box 16

Bakeland, Leo box 16

Betts, Anson box 16

Carbone Lamp Patent - Hecht, Pfeiffer & Co. box 16

Chemical Reduction Company box 16

Cobb, E. B. box 16

Dana, Arthur G. box 16

Donnelley, Thomas E. (Lakeside Press) box 16

Dutton, W. F. (Am. Tin Plate Co.) correspondence with Elmer box 16 Sperry and Clinton Townsend, and Taylor, J. R.

Gabriel, George box 16

Gibbs, William T. box 16

Harrington, Ralph box 16

Heyworth, Lawrence box 17

Hooker, E. M., 1904-1914 box 17

Johnson, Woolsey box 17

LeMaire, E. B. (correspondence with Elmer Sperry, W. F. box 17 Dutton and Clinton Townsend)

Lezensky, George box 17

Lynch & Dorer box 17

Mauran, Max (Castner Electrolytic Company) box 17

Moody, H. R. box 17

Ramage, H. A. box 17

Rodgers Iron Company box 17

Sarco Fuel Savings & Engineering Co. box 18

Solvay Process Company box 18

Stine, Marcus box 18

Swan, Alden box 18

Townsend, Clinton box 18

Townsend-Hooker correspondence box 18

Tucker, Samuel box 18

United States Metal Recovery Co. box 18

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Washburn, Frank (correspondence with Elmer Sperry and box 18 Herbert Goodman)

Wedge, Utley box 18

Whampelmeir, T. J. box 18

Wyley, J. H. (U.S. Chemical Dept.) box 18

Patent Records, 1882-1933 Scope and Content

The Elmer Sperry papers contain a complete record of his published patents. The collection also includes his laboratory notebooks from 1882-1929. These notebooks can be used to trace the evolution of Elmer Sperry's approach to arc lighting, street railways, electrochemistry, gyroscopic technology, internal combustion engines, and the technological problems he encountered with each of these projects.

Title/Description Instances Townsend & White lead patents includes some correspondence box 19 folder 1 with E. Sperry

Report on the Townsend Electrolytical & White Lead Process box 19 folder 2 includes correspondence with F. Pinkham, 1917-1918

Patent correspondence - general box 19 folder 3

Correspondence RE patent searches, 1917-1921 box 19 folder 4

Agreements and Patent assignments box 19 folder 5

Patent applications box 19 folder 6

Patent infringements box 19 folder 7

Patent interferences box 19 folder 8

Laboratory Notebooks box 20 Scope and Content

Sperry was very articulate in his notebooks and explored a variety of technological and scientific issues in them. It is evident that he drew on the work of a number of academic physicists and mathematicians and tried to apply their insights to experimental problems. Sperry's notebooks contain a large number of sketches that reflect an appreciation of modern science. However, the diaries also show that in many ways Sperry was a nineteenth-century artist-engineer rather than a modern scientist whose insights are based on mathematical models.

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Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc., 1910-1929 Physical Description: 5 Linear Feet Scope and Content

The records in Series IV of the Elmer Sperry papers were, for the most part, generated by the Sperry Gyroscope Company. They include Elmer Sperry's business and technical correspondence that describes the development and marketing of the company's aeronautical and marine instruments. Sperry's research files trace the history of the gyroscope beginning with its invention by Leon Foucault in 1854. His correspondence describes the state of gyroscopic technology and the patent situation as it existed in 1910.

After the war, the Sperry Gyroscope Company began a systematic effort to market its products abroad. The records documenting these sales initiatives contain correspondence with representatives of the English, French, Russian, and Japanese navies. Sperry's correspondence with Admiral Hideo Takedo, who represented the Japanese Navy as well as Mitsubishi Zo#sen Kaisha Ltd., is of particular interest. These letters trace the process by which Mitsubishi became a licensee for Sperry products and Sperry Gyroscope gained access to the Japanese Navy. The Sperry- Takedo letters have both personal and business dimensions. The two men shared common interests and value systems based on a faith in technological progress and an appreciation of hard work. These correspondence files show that this friendship led Sperry to appreciate Japanese culture. He made several trips to Japan at the end of his life and in 1929 organized the World Engineering Conference in Tokyo.

Controlled Access Headings: • Aeronautical instruments • Nautical instruments • Defense contracts • Naval research • Gyroscopes • Sperry Gyroscope Company • United States. Navy

Administrative Records Title/Description Instances Gyroscope Prior Art - Easements box 21

Patent records box 21

Patent litigation box 21

Correspondence with patent office, 1920 box 21

Extracts of special Board of Directors Meetings, 1 15/15 box 22

Sperry Gyroscope Ltd., Board of Directors Mtgs, 1915-1922 box 22

Annual Reports to stockholders, 1915-1917 box 22

Miscellaneous stockholder records, 1917-1920 box 22

Administrative Committee Meeting, September 10, 1918 box 22

Post 1918 organization charts box 22

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Price Waterhouse report, 1919 box 22

Financial statement & balance sheets, 1918-1919 box 22

Taxes, 1919 box 22

Financing the Company during World War I box 22

Agreement with Lawrence Sperry box 22

Contracts between Elmer Sperry & Sperry Gyroscope Co. box 22

North American Aviation merger box 22

Patent Department records box 22

Post-World War I planning box 22

Sperry Gyroscope Ltd. correspondence, administrative box 22 memoranda & financial records

Sperry Development Company box 23

Foreign trade box 23

U.S. Government correspondence with various executive box 23 departments

Dept. of Commerce - Herbert Hoover, 1928 box 23

Airmail service box 23

National Bureau of Standards box 23

U.S. Navy box 23

Legal Dept. - patents box 23

Foreign correspondence - patents box 23

Post-World War I transition in patent situation - alien property box 23 custodian

Patents & licenses - France box 23

Sperry Gyroscope - its commercial uses & results, 1911 box 23

General correspondence, 1908-1924 box 23

Aeroclub of America box 23

Bassett, Preston box 23

Curtiss, Glenn box 23

Doran, Charles box 24

Howard, Henry box 24

Gilmore, R. E. box 24

Lea, Robert box 24

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Norden, L. L. box 24

Elmer Sperry - sales trip to Europe, 19111914 box 24

Personnel box 24

General Correspondence Title/Description Instances General correspondence box 25

Commander W. E. Van Auken box 25

Commander R. D. Gatewood box 25

Commander William Mc Entee box 25

Captain David W. Taylor box 25

U.S.S. Henderson box 25

U.S.S. Langley box 25

U.S.S. Mayflower box 25

U.S.S. Osborne box 25

U.S.S. Worden box 25

Submarines box 25

Aircraft carriers box 25

Sperry Gyroscope Ltd. box 26

Foreign sales - general box 26

England box 26

France box 26

Italy box 26

Japan box 26

Russia box 26

Westinghouse Electric Company box 26

Patents correspondence Chessin, Forbes, Norden, Schlick box 26

Paper delivered by E. Sperry Society of Naval Architects box 26 Meeting "Gyrostabilizers in Service", 1917

Frahm anti-rolling tanks, 1910-1922 box 26

Gyrostabilizer - engine blueprints & photographs box 26

Yacht stabilizer Widgeon box 26

Correspondence with U.S. Shipping Board box 26

- Page 19- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Newspaper clippings box 26

Carl Norden "Stabilizing Larger Vessels" box 26

Marine Gyropilot box 26

Torpedo gyro box 26

Research and Development

Gyrocompass Title/Description Instances Elmer Ambrose Sperry's early experiments box 27

Gyrocompass development, general correspondence, box 27 1907-1927

U.S. Navy contract for innovation & production, 1911-1912 box 27

U.S. Navy contract for installation on the Delaware box 27

Trial USS South Dakota, 1916 box 27

Correspondence Sperry Gyroscope Ltd. - Louis Brennan box 27

Martnenssen Compass box 27

Correspondence & reports with contractors box 27

Blueprints box 27

Aeroplane gyrocompass Charles Kettering correspondence, box 27 1916-1920

Mining applications box 27

Correspondence with F. Creagh-Osborne of the British box 28 Admiralty

Foreign patents box 28

German & Austrian patents box 28

Brown Infringement Suit (Great Britain) box 28

Patent litigation Anschutz Company box 28

Rawlings-Henderson interference box 28

Trade catalog box 28

High Intensity Search Light Title/Description Instances General correspondence, 1916-1930 box 28

Technical reports A. A. Michelson correspondence speed of box 28 light tests, 1916-1920 - Page 20- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Sperry-Beck Infringement box 28

Lindberg-Beacon (Chicago) box 28

Applications - motion picture project box 28

Aerial torpedo Title/Description Instances Torpedo tube mine box 29

Directive bomb box 29

Prism Fire Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, 1914-1921 box 29

Bomb sights Title/Description Instances Automatic machine gun sight for plance box 29

Cretien and Aldis gun sights box 29

Serversky bomb sight box 29

Visual stabilization box 29

Airplane instruments Title/Description Instances Correspondence with London office box 29

Correspondence with War and Navy Departments box 29

Aeronautical gyrocompass box 30

Airplane stabilizer Title/Description Instances General box 30

Stanley Beach correspondence box 30

Sperry Gyroscope Ltd. box 30

Patents box 30

Airplane launching equipment, 1923-1927 box 30

Automatic airplane pilot Title/Description Instances British patents box 30

Airplane remote control box 30

- Page 21- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

French tests (Lawrence Sperry letters) box 30

Gyroscopic inclinometer box 30

Airplane voltage standardization box 30

Bothezat helicopter box 30

Flying boat drift indicator box 30

Zepplins box 30

Correspondence with U.S. Coast Guard box 30

Miscellany box 30

Lawrence Sperry Scope and Content

The Lawrence Sperry correspondence describes the development of the aerial torpedo and the involvement of the U.S. Navy's Air Service with the project. The records show that during the early 1920s Elmer Sperry signed over all right to the drift indicator, air distace recorder, airspeed indicator, and air compass to his son's company.

Title/Description Instances Financial agreement between Lawrence Sperry and Gyroscope box 31 Company

Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Co. - aircraft instruments, box 31 1917-1924

Aerial torpedo box 31

Automatic pilot box 31

Correspondence with Elmer Ambrose Sperry and others RE box 31 London & Paris air shows, 1915

Tribune Affair, October1915 box 31

Records of Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Co. (photocopies from box 31 Hofstra University collection)

Zula Goodman Sperry letters to Elmer Ambrose Sperry and box 31 Herbert Goodman RE Lawrence Sperry

Press clippings and obituaries box 31

Fire Control Title/Description Instances General - Page 22- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

box 32

Commander W. R. Auken box 32

Lt. Logan Cresap box 32

Commander William R. Furlogn box 32

Captain F. C. Martin box 32

William Overstreet box 32

Admiral David Taylor box 32

Artificial horizons box 32

Battle tracers box 32

Prism target practice box 32

Correspondence with War Dept., Bureau of Ordnance & box 32 Engineering

Fire control patents - Hannibal Ford box 32

Miscellaneous applications Title/Description Instances Constant speed fan - correspondence with War Dept. - Signal box 33 Corps.

Gyrocompass for tanks box 33

Dynograph car experiments box 33

Rail fissure detector box 33

Northern Pacific Railway correspondence box 33

Golf bag box 33

Submarine speed indicator and range finder box 33

Motion pictures box 33

Electric shears box 33

Gyroscope track record correspondence with L. C. Carter & R. box 33 C. Colley

Villiers odograph box 33

Wheelbarrow & automobile stabilizers box 33

Naval Consulting Board

General Title/Description Instances

- Page 23- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

General correspondence with the Navy Dept., 1917-1920 box 33

Correspondence, 1915-1928 box 33

Minutes and reports box 33

General project file, 1915-1927 box 34

Correspondence with Armstrong Seadrome, Inc. box 34

Elia Net or Wireless Bouy, 1919-1926 box 34

Otto Fricke, ship detector or fog guide box 34

Infra radiation signaling box 34

Dunkirk fighter plane box 34

Long range heavy artillery with mobility equipment equal to box 34 light helicopter projects

Travel expenses box 34

Clippings box 34

U.S. Shipping Board box 34

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics box 34

Elmber Ambrose Sperry Title/Description Instances Elmer Ambrose Sperry, Annapolis, lecture to midshipmen RE box 35 gyrocompass, 1916-19271912

Japan - General correspondence box 35

Correspondence with Admiral Takada, 1919-1930 box 35

Japan - Business & patents box 35

Politics Sino-Japanese relations and Japanese Exclusion Act box 35

World Engineering conference, 1926-1930 box 35

YMCA in China. C. H. Robinson box 35

Japan - Speeches, articles & clippings box 35

Condolences - Japanese Society of New York box 35

Scrapbooks box 36-37

^ Return to Table of Contents

Diesel Engines - Research and Development, 1908-1929 Physical Description: 1 Linear Foot

- Page 24- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Scope and Content

Elmer Sperry's files on the compound diesel engine and the electric transmission include a number of blueprints and patent diagrams describing his diesel engine and proposed electronic transmission. During the 1920s Sperry collaborated closely with H. C. Snow, an engineer with the Velie Motors Corporation of Moline, Illinois, and the collection includes a complete file of their letters. These records show that in spite of their efforts the diesel project was both a technological and financial failure. Sperry could not develop a working model nor could he raise the capital required to finance research and development in this area. For a while Ford Motor Company, Standard Oil, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and the Illinois Central Railroad expressed interest in Sperry's work but, when research and development did not proceed as rapidly as expected, they quickly withdrew their support.

Controlled Access Headings: • Engines • Diesel locomotives • Automobiles -- Motors. • Ships

General Title/Description Instances General correspondence box 38

Aviation - correspondence with Pratt & Whitney National box 38 Advisory Board for Aeronautics

Aviation - British Air Ministry box 38

Competitors prices - folders box 38

Technical reports box 39

Adams. J. H. RE liquid fuels box 39

Aluminum pistons box 39

Betts Machine Company box 39

Cordwin, S. P. - correspondence box 39

Crankless steam engine box 39

C&G Copper Company box 39

General Electric Company box 39

Lyons-Atlas Company box 39

Scandinavia correspondence box 39

Patent files box 39

Thayer, Benjamin - agreement box 39

Automotive Diesel Title/Description Instances General correspondence. box 40

- Page 25- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Notes & sketches box 40

Accelerator, Sharp, REB correspondence, 1925-1929 box 40

Compound gas engine - notes & indicator cards box 40

Electric transmissions, 1908-1927 box 40

Electric transmission patent matters box 40

Electric clutch patent matters box 40

Hydraulic transmission, William Davis correspondence, box 40 1924-1926

Ford, Henry & Edsel - correspondence box 40

Ford Motor Company - correspondence box 40

Kettering, Charles - correspondence box 40

Sleeve valve - correspondence with Continental Motor Co. box 40 (Great Britain)

Correspondence with H. C. Snow of the Velie Motor Company, box 41 (both retained copies and original letters which were acquired from Snow's son), 1925-1930

H. C. Snow - drawings and photographs box 41

News clippings box 41

Diesel Locomotives Title/Description Instances General Correspondence box 42

American Locomotive Company, 1922-1926 box 42

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1922-1923 box 42

Commonwealth Steel, 1924-1926 box 42

Illinois Central Railroad, 1921-1923 box 42

New York CentralRailroad, 1924-1926 box 42

Addresses, essays & papers box 42

Marine Diesel - general correspondence box 42

Marine Diesel - technical correspondence includes files & box 42 drawings of HVID Company

Diesel Marine Engines Title/Description Instances Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. box 43

Brush-Sulzer Bros. - Page 26- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

box 43

Cornell Steamboat Co. box 43

Curtis, Charles G. box 43

Donnelly, William T. box 43

Foreign correspondence box 43

Morse Dry Dock Co. box 43

Newport News Shipbuilding Co. box 43

Schneider & Co. box 43

Standard Oil of New Jersey box 43

Standard Oil of New York box 43

U.S. Shipping Board box 43

Vickers Price Engine box 43

Sketches & technical notes box 43

Sperry Gyroscope Ltd. (magnetic clutch) box 43

Diesel Engines Title/Description Instances Correspondence with U.S. Navy - Air Service & Tank Divisions box 44

Adjustable pitch propellers box 44

Artificial horizons box 44

Automatic hydrogen indicator box 44

Automatic shoal water alarm system box 44

Automobile stabilizer box 44

Azmuth recording instrument box 44

Brennan gyroscope car box 44

Camera stabilizer box 44

^ Return to Table of Contents

Laboratory notebooks, diaries, and appointment calendars, 1880-1933 Scope and Content

The Elmer Sperry papers contain a complete record of his published patents and his laboratory notebooks. These notebooks, which do have some gaps, can be used to trace the evolution of Elmer Sperry's approach to arc lighting, street railways, electrochemistry, gyroscopic technology, internal combustion engines, and the technological problems he encountered with each of these projects. Sperry was very articulate in his diaries and explored a variety - Page 27- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

of technological and scientific issues in them. It is evident that he drew on the work of a number of academic physicists and mathematicians and tried to apply their insights to experimental problems. Sperry's diaries contain a large number of sketches which reflect an appreciation of modern science. However, the diaries also show that in many ways Sperry was a nineteenth-century artist-engineer rather than a modern scientist whose insights are based on mathematical models.

Controlled Access Headings: • Laboratory notebooks • Patents • Diaries Title/Description Instances Laboratory Notebooks, 1882-1891 box 45 General Physical Description note: Volumes 8-27

Laboratory Notebooks, 1913-1927 box 48 General Physical Description note: Volumes 55-65

Laboratory Notebooks, 1891-1900 box 46 General Physical Description note: Volumes 28-41

Laboratory Notebooks, 1900-1912 box 47 General Physical Description note: Volumes 45-54

Diaries, 1894-1915 box 49

Diaries, 1916-1930 box 50

Appointment Calendars, 1918-1920 box 51

Appointment Calendars, 1921-1925 box 52

Appointment Calendars, 1926-1930 box 53

Elmer Ambrose Sperry Published Patents, 1882-1933 box 54

^ Return to Table of Contents

Smithsonian Exhibit - Oral Histories Title/Description Instances Smithsonian Institution Exhibit on Elmer Ambrose Sperry box 55 includes remarks of Preston Bassett on exhibit opening, May1960

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "Active Type of Stabilization Gyro" paper box 56 read at 20th General Meeting of Society of Naval Architects, 1912

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "Utilization of Power Stations for box 56 Electrochemical & Electrothermal Processes During Periods of Low Load"

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "Recent Progress with the Active Type of box 56 Gyro-Stabilizer for Ships," from the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, Vol. 23, 1915

- Page 28- Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "Recognition of the Engineer & American box 56 Engineering Societies" Paper #440, March 4, 1929

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "The Contribution of the Gryoscopeto box 56 Safety" paper presented before the 2nd Pan American Congress, Dec. 27, 1915-Jan. 8, 1916

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "The Electrically-Driven Gyroscope and box 56 Its Uses"

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "The Commercial Gyroscopic Compass" box 56 from the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, Vol 24, 1916

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, Lecture at the U.S. Naval Academy. Post box 56 Graduate Dept., March 16, 1915

Elmer Ambrose Sperry, "Recent Progress with Active box 56 Gyrostabilization for Ships"

News clippings box 56

Interview with Robert Lea, 1966 May box 56 General Physical Description note: three cassettes with transcript

Interview with Preston Bassett, 1960 September box 56

WKRT Cortland, NY "Life and Achievements of Elmer Sperry", box 56 1955 October 12

Thomas Hughes research notes & correspondence box 57-61

Thomas Hughes rough drafts & galleys box 62-63

^ Return to Table of Contents

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