Notable people · Inventor · Business
Elmer A. Sperry
Inventor born in Cincinnatus, New York, who founded the Sperry Electric Railway Company in Cleveland around 1890 and later developed the gyrocompass. A son was born in Cleveland in 1890.
At a glance
- Born
- 1860-10-12
- Died
- 1930-06-16
- Education
- State Normal School, Cortland, NY
- Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1878-1879, studied dynamos
- Known as
- Inventor, Business
- Organizations
- Sperry Electric Railway Company, Sperry Gyroscope Company
Life story
Elmer Sperry was born in 1860 in Cincinnatus, New York. His mother died the day after his birth. He attended the State Normal School at Cortland and spent 1878-79 studying dynamos at Cornell.
He moved to Chicago in 1880 and founded an electric company there. In 1890 he formed the Sperry Electric Railway Company; the Cleveland link comes from his existing record, which says it was based there.
From 1908 he worked on the gyrocompass and in 1910 founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn. The Navy tested his gyro compass on USS Delaware in 1911, and he later built aircraft stabilizers, searchlights and fire-control systems. He was president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1929-30 and died in Brooklyn in 1930.
Timeline
- 1860-10-12: Born (Cincinnatus, NY) source
- 1880: Moves to Chicago, founds Sperry Electric Company (Chicago, IL) source
- 1887: Marries Zula Augusta Goodman (US) source
- 1890: Forms Sperry Electric Railway Company (Cleveland, OH (per existing record)) source
- 1908: Begins gyrocompass development (US) source
- 1910: Founds Sperry Gyroscope Company (Brooklyn, NY) source
- 1911: First navigational gyroscope tested on USS Delaware (At sea) source
- 1927: Awarded John Fritz Medal (US) source
- 1930-06-16: Dies (Brooklyn, NY) source
What Elmer is known for
- Sperry Electric Railway Co., Cleveland, c. 1890 (bought by GE 1894)
- Gyrocompass; founded Sperry Gyroscope Co. 1910
- Gyrocompass
- Sperry Gyroscope Company (1910)
- Aircraft gyro stabilizer (with son Lawrence, 1913-14)
Honors and things named for them
- John Fritz Medal, 1927
- Elliott Cresson Medal, 1929
- USS Sperry (AS-12) named for him
- Elmer A. Sperry Award for transportation engineering
Family
- wife: Zula Augusta Goodman
- child: Lawrence Burst Sperry
- child: Edward Goodman Sperry
- child: Helen M. Sperry
- child: Elmer Ambrose Sperry Jr.
Ohio places
Where Elmer A. Sperry was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Worked: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44114 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Elmer Ambrose Sperry (Wikipedia) dates, Cincinnatus NY, son born Cleveland 1890, gyroscope 1910, Green-Wood burial
