Sperry Gyroscope Company, inc.

Elmer Sperry (1860-1930) founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1910 in order to develop, manufacture, and market his gyrocompass, ship stabilizer, and high-intensity searchlight. During the months that followed, Sperry worked closely with Admiral David W. Taylor of the U.S. Navy to perfect these inventions. In 1911 the first gyrocompass was installed on the battleship DELAWARE. Despite some problems associated with its installation, by 1915 it had been adopted as standard equipment by the Navy and had been sold to more than sixty steamship lines. In 1913 the USS WORDEN became the first gyrostabilized ship, and the Sperry Gyroscope Company became one of the Navy's most important military contractors.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Elmer Sperry was asked to sit on the Naval Consulting Board, a position he held until 1925. During these years he and his son Lawrence worked closely with the Navy to develop and manufacture the airplane stabilizer, gyrostabilized bombsights, automatic fire control systems, the aerial torpedo, and a number of anti-aircraft devices.

In the 1920s the company began to sell its products abroad as it opened a number of European and Japanese sales offices. After Elmer Sperry's death in 1930, the engineers at Sperry Gyroscope continued to develop increasingly sophisticated anti-aircraft devices, fire control and automatic pilot systems. The company developed a pioneering radar system based on Klystron technology.

Elmer Sperry's most important contribution to technological development was his ability to apply the principles of the gyroscope to the problems associated with airplane and marine control and stabilization. Sperry worked closely with the U.S. Navy and helped to launch a new era in research and development, one characterized by increasing government influence on the direction of technology for military purposes.