Sperry, Elmer Ambrose |
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BORN 12 Oct 1860, Cincinnatus, New York - DIED 16 Jun 1930, New York City, New York: St. John's Hospital, Brooklyn CAUSE OF DEATH complications from an operation for gallstones GRAVE LOCATION New York City, New York: Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn (Section 130, Lot 35491) |
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Co-inventor of the gyrocompass with Herman Anschütz-Kaempfe. He studied at Cornel University for a while and there he became interested in dynamo electrticity. In 1880 he moved to Chicago and there he founded the Sperry Electrical Company. In 1896 he was the first person to drive a car in Paris that was produced in America. In 1900 he started an laboratory in Washington CD and in 1908 he received a patent for the first gyrocompass system that worked in practice. The navy started using it in 1911 and used in during the First World War. His compass was used on large steamships and during the Second World War by warships. He owned several companies and invented many other devices. In 1918 he produced a new type of searchlight. In 1930 the ship USS Sperry was named after him. |
