Sperry
Sperry names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Sperry CHARLES STILLMAN, an American naval officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES STILLMAN, an American naval officer, born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1847. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1866, and rising through the various grades, became a commander in 1894, captain in 1900, and rear-admiral in 1906. During the Spanish-American War he was on ordnance duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He served in the Philippines, in command of the Yorktown, in 1899, and took an active part in the campaign for the pacification of the islands. In 1903 he was appointed president of the Naval War College, and in 1907 was one of the American representatives at the Second Hague Conference. He was in command of the Second Squadron on the cruise of the American battleships around the world in 1908, was retired in 1909 and died in 1911.
Sperry ELMER AMBROSE, an American electrical engineer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ELMER AMBROSE, an American electrical engineer, born at Cortland, N. Y., in 1860. He was educated at the State Normal and Training School, Cortland, N. Y., and at Cornell University. He was the founder of the Sperry Electric Co., of Chicago; of the Sperry Electric Railway Co., Cleveland, Ohio, and of the Sperry Gyroscope Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. An inventor of great originality, he held over four hundred patents issued in the United States and in Europe. Some of these covered his gyro-compass, aeroplane and ship stabilizers, fire-control apparatus, electric chain mining machinery, etc. He was a member of the Naval Consulting Board and of many scientific societies. His inventions brought him medals at exhibitions and from several scientific societies.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught Elmer Sperry in 1921 with "over four hundred patents" still to his name; he added more before his death in 1930, and the Sperry Gyroscope Co. of Brooklyn grew into one of the great American technology firms. It merged with Remington Rand in 1955 to form Sperry Rand, a pioneer of commercial computing through its UNIVAC line, and in 1986 joined Burroughs to become Unisys; the marine navigation business survives as Sperry Marine, now under Northrop Grumman. Sperry's gyrocompass and gyro-stabilised autopilots became standard equipment at sea and in the air, though satellite navigation has since taken over much of the positioning work his instruments once did alone. The account of Rear-Admiral Charles Stillman Sperry, written ten years after his death in 1911, needs no correction — his Second Squadron command on the Great White Fleet's 1907-09 world cruise remains what he is remembered for.
Written for this edition, 2026.