born Oct. 12, 1860, Cortland, N.Y., U.S.
died June 16, 1930, Brooklyn, N.Y.
U.S. inventor and industrialist.
He opened his own factory in Chicago at the age of 20 to make dynamos and arc lamps. He designed an electrical industrial locomotive and motor transmission machinery for streetcars and later made electric automobiles powered by his patented battery. He invented processes for salvaging tin and producing white lead and for manufacturing fuse wire. His greatest inventions sprang from the gyroscope (until then considered only a toy), which, once properly aligned, always points to true north. His gyrocompass was first installed on the battleship Delaware in 1911. He extended the gyro principle to guidance of torpedoes, to gyropilots for the steering of ships and for stabilizing airplanes, and finally to a ship stabilizer. In all, he founded eight manufacturing companies and took out more than 400 patents.