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.

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