Videohistory created by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Sculptors -- Interviews -- Massachusetts Search this
A-MAN (African American Male Achievers Network) Search this
Extent:
0.5 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Lectures
Betacam sp (videotape format)
Videotapes
Oral history
Slides
Date:
1995 June 1
Summary:
Collection documents inventor Hal Walker and his research and development work with lasers and electric automobiles.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains original (Betcam SP), master (Betacam SP), reference (1/2" VHS) videos and photographs documenting Spencer Crew, Secretary I. Michael Heyman, Arthur Molella and Jerome Lemelson in honor of the establishment of the Lemelson Center and the first Innovative Lives Program (a series of lecture-demonstrations by American inventors and entrepreneurs for young people--by Hildreth "Hal" Walker. Hal Walker discusses his background and how he became an inventor. With John Travis, a chemist from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Walker demonstrates the properties and applications of lasers, including measuring the distance to the moon and voice communications. Walker developed laser equipment that projected images of the moon back to the earth during the 1969 Apollo moon walk.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1: Original videos
Series 2: Master videos
Series 3: Reference videos
Series 4: Photographs
Biographical / Historical:
Hal Walker was born in 1933 in Louisiana. In 1951, he joined the Navy and served for four years as a qualified electrician's mate. In 1955, Walker joined Douglas Aircraft Company installing radar systems and at the same time began taking classes at L.A. City College. Soon after joining Douglas Aircraft, a series of layoffs occurred and Walker joined RCA working with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS). He continued to sharpen his technical and managerial skills developing industrial and medical uses for lasers, plasma, quantum physics, and holography. By 1981, Walker joined Hughes Aircraft, the organization that brought Laser Target Designator Systems (LTDs) to the United States Army's weapons inventory. Walker retired from Hughes Aircraft in 1989 and with his wife, Dr. Bettye Davis Walker, founded A-MAN, the African American Male Achievers Network, Inc. Science Discovery Learning Center. A-MAN's mission is to utilize Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related projects as a motivational tool and advance the educational achievement, and the intellectual and career development of African-American, Latino and other minority students pre-K thru 12thgrades.
Provenance:
Created by the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation in 1995.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the original videos are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Signed copies of releases for Hal Walker and Mark Lee Stephens on file.
The papers document the career of Roland C. Hawes (1908-) who worked in the field of immunnassay, spectrophotometry, scientific apparatus and instruments industry, and administrative duties at Applied Physics Corporation/Cary Instruments. The papers include correspondence, handwritten notes and sketches, memorandum reports, catalogs, printed material, patent documents, drawings, blueprints (original and diazo copies), and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence, handwritten notes and sketches, memorandum reports, catalogs, printed material, patent documents, drawings, blueprints (original and diazo copies), and photographs document Hawes's work in the field of immunnassay, spectrophotometry, scientific apparatus and instruments industry, and administrative duties at Applied Physics Corporation/Cary Instruments.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1, Personal files, 1938-1997
Series 2, Research files, A-Z, 1913 (1927-1990)
Series 3, Piness Laboratories, 1920-1979
Series 4, Beckman Instruments, Inc., 1939-1974
Series 5, Cary Instruments, 1937-1992
Series 6, Consulting work, 1908-(1939-1992)
Series 7, Professional activities, 1949-1996
Biographical/Historical note:
The career of Roland C. Hawes, born Oct. 4, 1908, Riverside, California, began in chemical analysis and led him into the scientific apparatus and instruments industry, where he worked in the field of spectrophotometry. B.S., chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 1930. He died in 1999.
Related Archival Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Office Of History, National Institutes of Health
Images of Applied Physics Corp. Vibrating Reed Electrometer, Model 31 (89.0001.206); Applied Physics Corp. Cary Vibrating Reed Electrometer, Model 31-V (89.0001.208); and Applied Physics Corp. Cary Recording UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, Model 14 (90.0010.001).
California Institute of Technology Archives
Arnold Orville Beckman: oral history, 1978
Papers of Arnold O. Beckman, 1919-1989
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Roland C. Hawes on September 9, 1997.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Ralph H. Baer was a German-born ordnance specialist, inventor, and engineer. He was a pioneer of early videogame technology. The papers include autobiographical materials; firearms notes, manuscripts, and photographs; and videogame and television engineering notes, diagrams, schematics, and video documentation.
Scope and Contents:
The Ralph Baer Papers include autobiographical materials and an extended oral history interview. The Papers also include materials about military small arms created by Baer during his World War II service. The largest portion of the collection documents Baer's work on video games.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 12 series.
Series 1: Autobiographical Documents, 1962-2006
Subseries 1.1: Manuscript, book and other documents, 1962-2006
Subseries 1.2: Other Media: CDs, VHS videos, periodical, 1991, 2000-2003
Series 2: WW II Small Arms Documents, 1943-1953
Subseries 2.1: Correspondence, 1950-1953
Subseries 2.2: Writings and notes, 1943-1948
Subseries 2.3: Drawings and schematics, undated
Subseries 2.4: Manuals and encyclopedias, 1943
Subseries 2.5: Photographs, 1945
Series 3: Hans Otto Mauksch Materials, 1944-1964
Subseries 3.1: Personal background information, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1964
Subseries 4.4: TV game development documentation, 1966-1968
Series 5: Sanders Associates, Transitron, and Van Norman Industries, 1952-2003
Series 6: Product Development Documents, 1974-2015
Series 7: Product Guides and Technical Support, 1943-2011
Series 8: Legal and Patent Documents, 1966-2014
Series 9: Writings and Notes, 1946-1999
Series 10: Miscellaneous, 1961-2012
Series 11: Correspondence, 1983-2014
Series 12: Publicity and Awards, 1979-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014) was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1938. A graduate of the National Radio Institute (1940), Baer worked as a radio technician in the New York City area, servicing all types of home and auto radios. During World War II, Baer served in the United States Army, one year stateside, and two years in Europe. He was assigned to Military Intelligence and became an expert on military small arms. Baer returned to the United States with eighteen tons of foreign small arms for use in exhibits at Aberdeen, Maryland; Springfield, Massachusetts Armory; and Ft. Riley, Kansas.
After the war, Baer attended the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago, graduating with a BS in television engineering. In 1949, Baer joined a small electro medical equipment firm, Wappler, Inc., as their chief engineer. He designed and built surgical cutting machines, epilators, and low frequency pulse generating muscle-toning equipment. In 1951, Baer moved to Loral Electronics of Bronx, New York as a senior engineer, designing power line carrier signaling equipment for IBM. During 1952-1956, Baer worked at Transitron, Inc., in New York City as a chief engineer and later as vice president. In 1956, Baer joined Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire building airborne radar components. He became manager of the Electronic Design Department at Sanders and eventually Division Manager and Chief Engineer for Equipment Design. Baer retired in 1987.
At Sanders in 1966, Baer began an independent project experimenting with ways for consumers to interact with standard home television sets. Development of interactive TV Game (TVG) ideas became a company-supported project continued by Baer and assisted by William H. Harrison and William T. Rusch (download the TV Game chronology prepared by Ralph Baer in 2006). By mid-1967, ping pong videogames were played inside Sanders, patent disclosures were applied for, and hardware was designed. Baer and his associates called the devices they were developing "boxes" and numbered the various versions one through seven. In 1971, Magnavox became Sanders Associates's first videogame licensee. Between 1972 and 1975, Magnavox produced and sold over 700,000 units of Odyssey, a set of games played on its television receivers. Atari became a licensee in 1976 after the first of many lawsuits won by Sanders in pursuit of patent infringements.
During his tenure at Sanders and thereafter, Baer was a prolific inventor. His creations included many electronic toys and games and other consumer electronic products. Among the better known products based on Baer's work are Milton Bradley's Simon, Galoob's Smarty Bear Video, and Kenner's Laser Command. In 2004 President George W. Bush awarded Baer the National Medal of Technology.
Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952 and they had three children, James, Mark, and Nancy. Ralph Baer died on December 6, 2014, at the age of 92.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Ralph H. Baer Innovative Lives Presentation, August 15, 2009 (AC1179)
The presentation documents a moderated conversation about Baer's life and work. Baer reenacts, with his partner William Harrison, the first time he played "Odyssey," the first home video game for the consumer market, which he invented, and answers questions from the audience. Materials include original video (born digital), master videos, and reference videos.
Materials at Other Organizations
Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at The Strong
Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1968-2010 inclusive; 1975-1998 bulk
The Ralph H. Baer papers are a compilation of correspondence, game designs, drawings, notes, reference materials, photographs, product descriptions, digital videos, schematics, electronic components, and manuals utilized by Ralph H. Baer throughout his lengthy career in the toy and game industry. The bulk of the materials are from 1975 through 1998.
U.S. Ordnance Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia
Materials consist of data on foreign small arms brought back from Europe in 1946 by Ralph H. Baer.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, New York
Holdings include set of seven recreations of "TV game" prototypes originally created between 1966 and 1969, donated by pioneering game developer Ralph Baer. One of Baer's game prototypes, known as the "Brown Box," was licensed by Magnavox and released in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first commercial home video game console.
University of Texas, Austin, Briscoe Center for American History
Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica, 1952-1983, 2006-2012
The Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica includes a fully-functional replica of Ralph Baer's "Brown Box," the prototype video game console that was used as the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. The collection also contains related research materials.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection including early video game prototypes and TV Game products.
TV Game Unit #1 (TVG#1); 1966; vacuum tube spot generator with Heathkit IG-62 Generator (See Accession 2006.0102.01)
Heathkit IG-62; used with TVG #1 (See Accession 2006.0102.02)
TV Game Unit #2 (TVG #2), aka the "Pump Unit," 1967; large aluminum chassis with wooden "pump" handle (See Accession 2006.0102.03)
TV Game Unit #7 (TVG#7), aka "Brown Box," 1967/1968; prototype for Magnavox Odyssey (See Accession 2006.0102.04)
Cardboard program cards for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.05)
Lightgun, 1967/1968; game accessory for Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.06)
TV Game Unit #8, 1968; "de/dt" (velocity responsive) ballgame chassis for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.07)
Magnavox Odyssey (Model ITL200) video game unit, 1972; with all accessories in the original carton (See Accession 2006.0102.08)
Milton-Bradley Company SIMON handheld microprocessor-control game, 1978 (See Accession 2006.0102.09)
Ideal Toy Company MANIAC microprocessor-control game, 1979, in original box with game instructions (See Accession 2006.0102.10)
Golf Game accessory, 1968; golf ball mounted on joystick handle for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.11
"Brown Box" programming card, target shooting, 1967 (See Accession 2006.0102.12)
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Ralph H. Baer in 2003.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution.
The collection documents through correspondence, marketing materials, patent materials, photographs, and newspaper clippings, the development of T-Net, a sport that combines electronic game technology with a diamond-shaped court the length of a tennis court and "invisible" nets created by inventor Michael Fanning.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents through correspondence, marketing materials, patent materials, photographs, and newspaper clippings the development of T-Net, a sport that combines electronic game technology with a diamond-shaped court the length of a tennis court and "invisible" nets created by inventor Michael Fanning.
Series 1, Correspondence, 1993-1996, consists of incoming and outgoing letters. Fanning, the inventor of T-Net, corresponds with corporations and investment companies, such as Reebok, Blockbuster Entertainment, Family Dollar and Turner Sports, Inc. to solicit interest and/or financial backing in his product.
Series 2, Financial Materials, 1989-2003, consists of correspondence, invoices, purchase orders, Internal Revenue Service papers, and documentation for incorporating a business.
Series 3, Manufacturing Materials, 1993, consists of handwritten notes and sketches about materials used and lists of potential companies to consult for fabricating the product.
Series 4, Marketing Materials, 1995 and undated, consists of sketches and documentation describing the T-Net system for potential customers.
Series 5, Patent Materials, 1983-2003, consists primarily of correspondence with patent attorneys (Shefte, Pinckney & Sawyer of Charlotte, North Carolina) to patent the T-Net system. Also included are patent-related expenses incurred by Fanning and patents issued to other inventors that are similar to the T-Net system.
Series 6, Photographs, 1980-1990s, consists of color prints showing the T-Net system in use and laid out on a field.
Series 7, Newspaper Clippings, 1993, consists of one folder of photocopied newspaper clippings related to T-Net.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1, Correspondence, 1993-1996
Series 2, Financial Materials, 1989-2003
Series 3, Manufacturing Materials, 1993
Series 4, Marketing Materials, 1995 and undated
Series 5, Patent Materials, 1983-2003
Series 6, Photographs, circa 1980s-990s and undated
Series 7, Newspaper Clippings, 1993
Biographical / Historical:
T-Net (standing for transparent net) was invented by Michael Fanning. Fanning's idea for the game came from hitting a tennis ball over a telephone wire. In 1993, Fanning was issued US Patent 5,259,625 for an apparatus and method for playing a court game. Fanning's company, Tnnnnt (www.tnnnt.net), manufactures and promotes the game.
The T-Net court/field is divided in two equal halves with three scoring zones on each side. Games can include up to three players per team or be played one-on-one. The objective is to land the flyer in one of your opponent's three scoring zones, and to catch the flyer to prevent the opponent from scoring. Players move freely on their side of the court but cannot cross the center line. Pole- mounted transmitting devices on each side send light beams across the court creating an electronic net (an electronic sensing beam) for each of the three scoring zones. Players must throw a light-reflective projectile (called a "flyer") through the light field and into one of the scoring zones to get a point. When the projectile passes through the beam, a beep is emitted. If the projectile lands on the ground the pole-mounted device flashes a red light and beeps to confirm a score. Players get one point for activating the middle zone, two points for the back zone and three points for setting off both zones. The first team to achieve twenty-one points wins the game. There are six games per set, three sets per match. The game can be played on a variety of surfaces--pavement, turf, composite, snow, carpet, glass, grass, sand, hardwood or over a swimming pool, and it can be played at night in low light conditions.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds related artifacts. See accession 2011.0234.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Michael Fanning on October 24, 2011.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
5.5 Cubic feet (17 boxes, 1 map folder, digital files)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1983-2010
bulk 1991-1994
Summary:
The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, the first robot to perform surgery on a human in the United States through correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting the development of the ROBODOC™. The collection is strong in documentation about regulatory policies and procedures the company undertook for approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Project History and Background Materials, 1985-2003
Series 2: Engineering Materials, 1989-2000, bulk 1991-1993
Series 3: User Guides, 1991-2001
Series 4: Food and Drug Administration, 1987-2001
Series 5: Press Clippings, 1983-2010
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials, 1988-2009
Historical:
ROBODOC™ was the first robot to perform surgery in the United States. It was developed in 1986 by IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, and researchers at the University of California, Davis. They formed a collaborative initiative to develop a surgical device for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). The team included William Bargar, M.D., Howard "Hap" Paul, D.V.M (1949- 1993), and engineers, Brent Mittelstadt and Peter Kazanides. See US Patent 5,769,092 for Computer-aided system for revision total hip replacement surgery and US Patent 5,806,518 for Method and system of positioning surgical robot, 1998. The original company, Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS) was incorporated in 1990.
The goal of ISS was to create a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. Drilling into bone by hand is not always precise, and often requires glue to fill in empty spaces. Additionally there is a danger the bone will splinter. In this regard, ROBODOC is similar to computer-controlled machine tools. ROBODOC "mills" the bone or joint for accurate fitting similar to machine tools.
In May of 1990 the device was successfully tested on dogs. Since 1998 when it received 510 (K) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Total Hip Arthroplasty over 28,000 procedures have been performed worldwide.
ROBODOC™ was eventually sold in 2007 to Novatrix Biomedical, Inc. which formed Curexo Medical, Inc. to handle the acquisition of Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (ISS). ISS became THINK Surgical, Inc. in 2014.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Odex I Walking Robot Collection (AC0203)
Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Presentation and Interviews (AC0603)
Computer oral History Collection (AC0196)
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records (AC0929)
Provenance:
Collection donated by Think Surgical, Inc. through Dr. Mun In-Ki, CEO and President, April 2016.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
International Business Machines Corporation Search this
Extent:
3.5 Cubic feet (11 boxes, 1 map-folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Articles
Transcripts
Technical drawings
Notebooks
Correspondence
Examinations (documents)
Notes
Patents
Date:
1943-2012
Summary:
The collection documents the career of N. Joseph Woodland, who, along with Bernard Silver, invented and developed the bar code.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the career of N. Joseph Woodland, who, along with Bernard Silver, invented and developed the bar code. The collection includes papers relating to Woodland's early life and education, such as exams and transcripts; papers relating to his work with IBM, including correspondence, notes and notebooks, and technical drawings; patents; photographs; awards and honors; articles.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into five series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1943-2012
Series 2: International Business machines Corporation (IBM), 1951-2006
Series 3: Node Code, 1986-2003
Series 4: Consulting, 1987-2000
Series 5: Audiovisual Materials, 1990-2011
Biographical / Historical:
Norman Joseph Woodland (1921-2012) was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Woodland also served during World War II in the Army as a technical assistant for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University (1947) and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University (1956). He joined the Drexel University faculty as a lecturer in mechanical engineering in 1947.
In 1948, Woodland became aware of the need for supermarket inventory control through automated checkout. He conceived of the idea of using printed parallel stripes of varying widths to encode prices of items in 1949. Woodland, together with Bernard Silver (1921-1963), an electrical engineer, and fellow Drexel University faculty lecturer, defined a system to exploit the bar code invention to automatically capture item prices as well as inventory data. Woodland and Silver were issued US patent 2,612,994 for a classifying apparatus and method on October 7, 1952. Woodland and Silver sold their patent for $15,000 to Philco in 1961.
Woodland joined IBM in 1951 as a mechanical designer and later worked as a senior planner in artificial intelligence in general and expert systems. While at IBM, Woodland identified and applied existing and emerging technologies to enhance planned IBM products and systems. He worked in store systems marketing, long-range market planning, product planning, and artificial intelligence development. In 1983, he received an IBM technical sabbatical to work on expert systems and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University and to study these systems in use in Japan. A significant portion of Woodland's career focused on the bar code in general and supermarket automated check-out processes. His work laid the foundation for the creation of the universal product code (UPC symbol), for which ), for which he was an integral part of the IBM team's winning design, in his role as the person responsible for IBM's UPC symbol proposal to the grocery industry's symbol selection committee.
In 1992, Woodland won the National Medal of Technology for his invention and contribution to the commercialization of bar code technology, which improved productivity in every industrial sector and gave rise to the bar code industry. Woodland holds six patents.
Woodland married Jacqueline Woodland (née Blumberg) in 1951 and they had two daughters, Betsy Karpenkopf and Susan Woodland.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2017 by Susan Woodland, the daughter of N. Joseph Woodland.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
InBae Yoon was a Korean American inventor. He specialized in OB-GYN surgery, and his inventions aided in the safety of laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery. The papers include personal documents, corporate agreements and licenses, technical drawings, patent applications, correspondence, project proposals, and methods and procedures.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Dr. Yoon's life and career as a surgeon and his invention and development of numerous tools, instruments and procedures. The collection specifically focuses on three inventions: the "Yoon Ring", a device for tubal ligation for women patented in 1975; a penetrating instrument with safety shield, and method for introducing a portal sleeve into a cavity in the body, patented in 1985; and surgical clips and applicator, patented in 1992. All three were manufactured and widely used. The contents include invention notebooks, sketches, photographs and slides, correspondence, patents, patent applications, legal papers, business papers, articles and clippings, reference files, and some audiovisual materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 6 series.
Series 1: Personal Documents and Correspondence, 1980-1999
Series 2: Professional Activities, 1974-2009
Series 3: Corporate Agreements and Correspondence, 1970-2005
Subseries 3.3: Cabot Medical Instruments Corporation, 1984-1986
Subseries 3.4: KLI, 1973-1980
Subseries 3.5: Reznick,1982-1986
Subseries 3.6: Other Disclosures and Partnerships,1973-1999
Series 4: Drawings and Technical Specifications, 1970-2005
Series 5: Legal Documents, 1970-2003
Subseries 5.1: Patents, 1970-2003
Subseries 5.2: Ethicon Inc./InBae Yoon vs. United States Surigcal Corporation/Choi, 1975-1998
Subseries 5.3: Correspondence, 1975-2001
Series 6: Projects and Proposal Documents, 1975-2001
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. InBae Yoon (1936-2014) was a prolific Korean American inventor of surgical devices and instrumentation. He was born in Korea during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945) and attended the Yonsei University School of Medicine, earning his medical degree in 1961. From 1961 to 1964, Yoon served as medical officer in the South Korean Navy, and in 1964 he participated in a program developed to match Korean medical doctors with United States hospitals and medical schools. As a result, Yoon immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland to conduct his rotating internship and general surgical residency at Church Home and Hospital. During his residency, Yoon switched his training from general surgery to obstetrics and gynecology and became fascinated by laparoscopy, a method of surgery performed using a scope placed through the umbilicus, sometimes with other small incisions in the abdomen. During this period he was exposed to tubal ligation, one of the few surgeries done laparoscopically at the time. Observing some of the injuries and complications from these early laparoscopic procedures he became interested in safer laparoscopic methods. After completing his residency in 1969 and finishing a yearlong fellowship, he joined a private practice. In 1973 he then joined the John Hopkins University School of Medicine as an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology where he explored new laparoscopic techniques and procedures.
Yoon became convinced that laparoscopic or "keyhole" surgery was the future. His first invention, the Yoon Ring, was developed between 1972 and 1974, with the patent being issued in 1975 (US Patent 3,870,048). The Yoon Ring system, manufactured with KLI Incorporated, provided a safer method for laparoscopic tubal ligation by applying a silastic ring around the fallopian tube to prevent pregnancy. This simple mechanical method of tubal ligation avoided many of the complications associated with other tubal ligation techniques that utilized electrocautery. Yoon began to see further potential for the use of laparoscopy and from 1975 to 1985, he focused on inventing safety systems for laparoscopic procedures, including safety trocars, safety needles, and safety catheters, which all aided in different aspects of laparoscopic surgery. Yoon spent much of the late 1980s to the early 2000s, working on new innovations such as retractable penetrating instruments, suture tie instruments, cavity stents and expanders, as well as making modifications to previous safety system designs. During this period, Yoon investigated and sought out the assistance of a few large instrument manufacturing companies, such as Richard Wolf GmbH, Olympus, and Cabot Medical in an effort to bring his trocar designs to the market without success. In 1985, Yoon then incorporated his own company, Yoonitech, Inc. to pursue his inventions. In 1988, Yoon established a relationship with Johnson and Johnson, specifically the subsidiary of the company, Ethicon, which later became Ethicon Endo Surgery (EES) and licensed his shielded trocar patent (US Patent 4,535,773) to bring his product to market. From 1995-2005, Yoon continued to collaborate with EES for the production of instruments and techniques for laparoscopy and endoscopy. Dr. Yoon passed away on December 30, 2014. After 5 decades of focusing on this innovative approach to surgery, he amassed over 200 U.S. patents for his work.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession 2017.0024.
Falope-Ring® Band (2017.0024.01)
Demonstration Forceps (2017.0024.02)
Wold Falope Ring Applicator (2017.0024.03)
Wolf-Yoon Double Puncture Ring Applicator (2017.0024.04)
Falope-Ring® Applicator (2017.0024.05)
Mark II Applicator (2017.0024.06)
Yoon and Stoup Faolpian Ring Applicator (2017.0024.07)
Falope-Ring® Applicator (2017.0024.08)
An instrument with forcep like handles(2017.0024.09)
An endoscope which can be used in conjunction with theFalope-Ring® Applicator (2017.0024.10)
Endoscopic Simulation Training Device (2017.0024.19)
Provenance:
Collection donated by Kyung Joo Yoon, widow of InBae Yoon, 2017.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Mostly photographs illustrating Leonard Karr's hunting and fishing activities in the Pacific Northwest; plus letters from Karr, photographs of his inventions, articles and other printed information, drawings and patterns for a kayak that Karr designed, clippings, scrapbooks, and albums. Personal materials relate to his personal life and his employment as a sign painter.
Scope and Contents:
The bulk of the collection consists of photographs illustrating in vivid detail Karr's hunting and fishing interests. The collection is approximately 3 cubic feet and contains photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, albums and drawings and is divided into two series: Series 1: Sporting Materials and Series 2: Personal Materials. The collection is rich in photographic documentation of goose hunting and related sporting activities in the Pacific Northwest.
Series 1: Sporting Materials, 1930-1991
The first series illustrates Karr's interests in hunting and fishing and consists of photographs, decoy designs, correspondence, scrapbooks and albums. The photos are of particular value in documenting goose hunting and other outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest. Also of interest to researchers are Karr's designs of his decoys, kayak, and a man-sized, goose-shaped hunting blind known as "Supergoose". Although most of the photographs are unidentified the bulk of the material seems to date from the mid 1930s through the early 1970s.
Series 2: Personal Materials, 1930-1995
This series contains photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, albums, designs and drawing relating to Leonard Karr's personal life and his work as a sign painter. Of interest to students of advertising are the photos and scrapbooks that Karr maintained of signs that he worked on or found noteworthy. The majority of photographs are undated and unidentified, but presumably depict his family and friends.
Series 3: Motion Picture Film, 1951-1962
This series contains home movies related to goose hunting in the Pacific Northwest shot and edited by Karr between 1957-1962 with the exception of OF 762.1 which is a Castle Films production collected by Karr.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Sporting materials, 1930-1991
Series 2: Personal materials, 1934-1995
Series 3: Motion Picture Film, 1951-1962
Biographical / Historical:
Leonard Karr was born on December 25, 1913 in Yakima, Washington to John Ross Karr and Teakla Kohlman. He attended the Yakima district schools and graduated in 1931. Prior to World War II, Karr worked as a sign painter and designer for several sign companies in the Yakima area. During World War II Karr served in the military as a sign painter for the 216th Unit of the Army Air Force at Wendover Field in Utah. After the war he returned to private life as a sign painter and designer for the Sun Beem Neon Sign Company. He later moved to the Valley Neon Service and then in 1955 joined Dwinnel's Neon Central where he worked until his retirement in 1983. Mr. Karr was an ardent and successful fisherman and hunter, especially of geese. Karr designed a number of implements to assist in his hunting, including decoys, pit covers and a stake hole punch. In 1933 Karr designed and built his own kayak for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. In 1954 he patented his 2-dimensional goose decoys (US 2,746,196) and marketed them to hunters in the American Northwest. Karr did not renew his patent after its initial term and after it expired his basic design was pirated. Karr died on March 13, 1995.
Related Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life), holds artifacts relating to Leonard Karr and his hunting activities in the Northwest, including a kayak with paddle and car roof rack, three flat metal decoys and stakes, and a three-dimensional, hollow, pit cover used for concealment during hunting.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in February 2001 by Rayne Beaudoin, a hunting companion of Leonard Karr.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents the inventive career of physicist and engineer Robert W. Kearns. Kearns invented and patented in 1967 the windshield wiper system with intermittent operation (US 3,351,836), among other inventions. The papers include notebooks, correspondence, reports, memoranda, photographs, patents, drawings, and trade literature.
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes notebooks, correspondence, reports, memoranda, photographs, patents, drawings, and trade literature. Kearns held patents related to circuitry which are integral to electronic intermittent windshield wipers. The windshield wiper documentation consists of patents, correspondence, and a set of drawings from November 16, 1967 for Tann Company. Other documentation includes Kearns's work with the engineering firm Kearns and Law (brochures, shop orders, agreements); his National Bureau of Standards work, which consists of his personnel file and notebooks detailing his highway skid resistance research; and subject files that cover a range of topics that interested Kearns, such as radar, speed control, and electric cars. At the heart of the collection are 32 invention notebooks (1963-1986) belonging to Kearns as well as engineers he worked with including John Quan, Brian Ivan Brown, and Timothy Kearns, son of Robert Kearns. Bound, paginated, and dated, the notebooks contain sketches, schematics, calculations, data, telephone numbers, and details about materials, costs, testing data, and descriptions for many of Kearns's projects. The notebooks present a comprehensive overview of his ideas and are significant to understanding his creative process and how his ideas changed or did not change over time. The majority of the notebooks are arranged in chronological order and therefore researchers can see Kearns's work unfold. Many of the notebooks are stamped with a "PO" to indicate a "protective order" followed by a number, and many of the notebooks were used during court proceedings. The protective order restricted access to notebooks which were filed with the court, or to be filed with the court at a future date.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1957-1991
Series 2: Notebooks, 1954-1994
Series 3: Patents, 1957-1985
Series 4: Kearns and Law Engineers, 1957-1962
Series 5: Kearns Engineers, 1967-1985
Series 6: National Bureau of Standards, 1967-1972
Series 7: Ford Motor Company (Engineering Technical Education Program), 1964-1966
Series 8: Windshield Wiper Materials (Kearns vs. Ford Motor Company), 1962-1993
Series 9: Subject Files, 1965-1999
Series 10: Correspondence, 1989-1999
Biographical / Historical:
Robert William Kearns was born in Gary, Indiana on March 10, 1927 to Martin W. Kearns and Mary E. Kearns. One of three children, Kearns grewup in the Detroit area, graduating from the University of Detroit, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (1952); Wayne State University, Masters of Science in Engineering Mechanics (1957); and Case Western Reserve University, Ph.D. in engineering (1964). Kearns also earned certificates in nuclear reactor control from Argonne National Laboratories (1958 and 1959). He was a Corporal in the United States Army, assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Strategic Services Unit (SSU); the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA.) from July 31, 1945 to November 29, 1946.
Prior to joining the military in 1945, Kearns worked at Mercury Engineering Company (1943-1945) in Detroit as a draftsman preparing engineering shop drawings. After the war, Kearns joined the H & A Tool and Die Company (1946-1947), also in Detroit, as a draftsman preparing engineering shop drawings for the manufacture of the individual parts for machinery and special dies. Through the University of Detroit Cooperative Program with the National Bureau of Standards, he participated in an engineer in training program (1949-1952) where he executed a variety of standardized tests on engineering materials. He held a variety of engineering positions: designer/draftsman with Peerless Design Company, Detroit (1952); junior engineer with Burroughs Corporation Research Laboratories, Philadelphia (1952-1953); and engineer with Bendix Aviation Corporation, Detroit (1953-1957) where Kearns supervised and directed of a group of engineers responsible for the design of computer components, servomechanisms, control systems and related devices. Other duties included planning, liaison with other Bendix divisions, establishing test equipment requirements, as well as technical specifications and reports. In 1957, Kearns joined the faculty of Wayne State University, Department of Engineering Mechanics, as an assistant professor (1957-1963), later becoming an associate professor (1963-1967).
Kearns also established two independent businesses, the engineering firms of Kearns and Law (1963-1976) and Computer Central (1965-1976). Founded with partner Kenneth J. Law, an electrical engineer, Kearns and Law provided industry with consultation, research, design, and development services in the fields of computers, automatic controls and instrumentation. Computer Central manufactured a series of control components such as the Linear Range Comparator, Sign or Equality Binary Comparator, Identity Comparator, Dual Brush V-Scan Encoder Electronics, Gray Code to Binary Code Encoder Electronics, and Digital Difference to Analog Converters. Kearns served as Detroit's Commissioner of Buildings and Safety Engineering (1967-1971), where he acted as an administrator, overseeing professional engineering activities such as building inspections. Kearns moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1971 to become principal investigator for the highway skid resistance program at the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (1971-1976).
In 1967, Kearns invented and patented an electronic windshield wiper system with intermittent operation (US 3,351,836). Previous wiper systems were controlled by vacuum tubes. He installed his device on his 1962 Ford Galaxy and met with Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation in 1963 with the goal of manufacturing his idea and being a supplier to the auto industry. Kearns tried to commercialize the wiper through the Tann Corporation. In 1969, Kearns's intermittent windshield wiper was installed on Ford cars without his knowledge. He ultimately filed suit against Ford for patent infringement in 1978 (representing himself as Kearns Associates), seeking $141 million in damages (a figure eventually raised to $325 million). Kearns's purpose in pursuing litigation was not a cash award. Rather, he wanted the rightful ownership. In all, he filed lawsuits against 26 car manufacturers and other companies concerning the same patent (US 3,351,836). In July 1990, a federal jury ruled that Ford had unintentionally infringed on Kearns's patent and awarded him $10.2 million. In June 1992, Kearns was awarded $11 million from Chrysler. Kearns held over 30 patents, with the majority relating to windshield wipers.
Kearns died in 2005. He married Phyllis Hall (1932-2013) in 1953, divorcing in 1989. The couple had six children: Dennis Kearns (b.1954); Timothy Kearns (b.1956); Patrick Kearns (b.1958); Kathleen Corsetty (b. 1961); Maureen Kearns (b. 1964); and Bob Kearns (b. 1967).
Provenance:
Collection donated by the Estate of Robert W. Kearns, through Dennis Kearns and Maureen Kearns, 2016.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some health-related materials in Series 6: National Bureau of Standards are restricted until 2055.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Videohistory contains original and reference videos and photographs documenting a lecture program for children by Patsy Sherman, inventor of Scotchgard.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into four series.
Series 1: Original Videos
Series 2: Master Videos
Series 3: Reference Videos
Series 4: Photographs
Biographical / Historical:
Patsy Sherman was born in Minnesota. After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1952, Sherman was employed by 3M Company. At 3M, Sherman and a fellow researcher, Samuel Smith attempted to create a new synthetic material to use with jet fuel. During their experiments, Patsy accidentally spilled some of the compound on her tennis shoe and noticed that the shoe remained clean. This discovery led to the development of Scotchguard. Scotchguard is a compound used worldwide to repel soil on sofas, chairs, tablecloths, clothing, and other objects that are used daily. Patsy Sherman's name appears on 16 patents awarded to 3M for their inventions. She has been awarded numerous honors for her achievements and was inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame in 1989. She retired from 3M in 1992.
Provenance:
Created by the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Innovation and Invention, National Museum of American History, 1997.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the original videos are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Signed releases on file.
Darby, S. Newman, 1928-2016 (inventor) Search this
Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Search this
Extent:
18 Videocassettes
1 Electronic discs (CD)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videocassettes
Electronic discs (cd)
Oral history
Videotapes
Interviews
Date:
April 9, 1999
Scope and Contents:
Presentation by Newman Darby discussing windsurfing and his invention and development of the sailboard. Materials include original, master and reference videotapes and photographs.
Biographical/Historical note:
Newman Darby, born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, invented windsurfing in 1964 when he connected a sail to a board by means of a universal rope joint. The windsurfer was ultimately patented by Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake in 1970 and became known as windsurfer.
Provenance:
Collection transferred by Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The Head Papers, 1926-1991, consist of correspondence, calendars, notes, company records (Head Ski Company and Prince Manufacturing Inc.), drawings, sketches, advertisements, product information, photographs, and slides documenting the development and design of both the Head ski and Prince oversized tennis racket. The collection is arranged into eight series:
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into eight series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1926-1991
Series 2: Correspondence and Writings, 1943-1991
Series 3: Head Ski Company Records, 1943-1990
Series 4: Head Ski Company Reunion Materials, 1986
Series 5: Prince Manufacturing, Inc. Records, 1971-1991
Series 6: Historical Collection Materials, 1986-1991
Series 7: Posters, undated
Series 8; Audiovisual Materials, 1940s-1991
Biographical / Historical:
Howard Head was born July 31, 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended William Penn Charter and graduated from Harvard in 1936 with a degree in engineering. From 1939 to1947, Head worked for Glenn L. Martin Company as a riveter and engineer. He left Martin and founded the Head Ski Company in Timonium, MD in 1948. The former aircraft engineer, developed, designed, manufactured, and marketed the first metal laminate skis in 1950 called the "Head Standard" which revolutionized the ski industry. These skis were made of two layers of aluminum bonded around a core of plywood at very high pressure; the outer layer was made of plastic. By 1952, Head introduced skis with edges made of tempered steel. His skis were lighter and faster than wood and earned the nickname "cheaters" by the industry. In 1969, Head introduced a fiberglass/metal ski, but this ski combined with a diversified product line of javelin and aluminum tennis rackets could not strengthen his company nor stop a takeover by AMF in 1970. In 1968, Head formed a tennis division of Head Sports Inc., to develop a metal tennis racket which he introduced at the U.S. Open in 1969. After Head sold his interests in Head Sports Inc., he became chairman of the board for Prince Manufacturing Inc., in 1971. He decided to enlarge the width and length of the traditional tennis racket, more than doubling its "sweet spot." He developed and patented a line of new aluminum rackets and introduced the "Prince Advantage" in 1976. The Prince racket company was sold to Cheesebrough Ponds in 1982. Head, who died in 1991, revolutionized both the ski and tennis industries.
Related Materials:
Artifacts donated to the National Museum of American History, Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) on May 19, 1997, include downhill skis, ski poles, ski boots, ski bindings, cross sections of downhill skis, competition medals, Prince tennis rackets, and racket covers.
Separated Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Artifacts were donated to the Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) on May 19, 1997,and include downhill skis, ski poles, ski boots, ski bindings, cross sections of downhill skis, competition medals, Prince tennis rackets, and racket covers.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History by Martha Head and The Howard and Martha Head Fund, Inc., May 19, 1997.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for redsearch. No reference copies of audiovisual materials available at this time.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Biomedical Research Foundation. Georgetown University Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuals
Patents
Photographs
Design drawings
Correspondence
Articles
Diagrams
Slides (photographs)
Notes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Albums
Date:
1972-1990
Summary:
The Robert Ledley Papers document the development of the first whole-body diagnostic imaging system, the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner by Ledley in 1973. Also included is material relating to Ledley's company, Digital Science Information Corporation (DISCO), as well as the public and medical communities' reactions to the scanner.
Scope and Contents:
The Robert Ledley Papers document the development of the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner, Ledley's company Digital Science Information Corporation (DISCO), as well as the public and medical communities' reactions to the scanner. The collection is arranged into nine series.
Series 1, ACTA Scanner I Schematics, 1973-1975; Series 2, ACTA Scanner I [Computer and Electronics], 1973; and Series 3, ACTA Scanner Tomograph Mechanics, 1973-1974 document the development and design of the ACTA scanner through drawings, notes, memoranda, and product information. More detailed information about these materials is located in the control file. All oversize drawings have been moved to flat storage for preservation concerns.
Series 4, ACTA Scanner Operating Instructions, 1975, is the operating manual created for the scanner used in Ledley's Georgetown lab.
Series 5, ACTA Articles, Clippings, and Press Releases, 1973-1979, is comprised of the aforementioned materials relating to the ACTA Scanner. Newspaper clippings illuminate the public's perception of the scanner, and scientific pieces highlight the medical community's reaction. Ledley's published articles on the scanner and related topics are included.
Series 6, Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) material, 1973-1981, documents Ledley's career and his company. A biographical sketch, list of articles, textbooks, and patents highlight Ledley's achievements. Invoices, receipts, contracts, and correspondence illuminate the financial situation at DISCO and the relationship between the company and Pfizer.
Series 7, Computer manuals, 1972-1975, documents the computer systems and software that were used with the ACTA Scanner.
Series 8, Photographic material, 1973-1978, includes an album of photographs depicting the ACTA Scanner and images of the scans it created. This album was disassembled due to preservation concerns. This series also includes a collection of slides featuring the scanner and related equipment in use and images of the scans it created. A detailed description of each photograph and slide is included in the control file.
Series 9, ACTA Scanner film, [1974?], is a 16mm narrated film describing the creation of the scanner, its components, the way they work, the scanner in use, and images of the scans produced.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into nine series.
Series 1, ACTA Scanner I Schematics, 1973-1975
Series 2, ACTA Scanner I [Computer and Electronics], 1973
Series 3, ACTA Scanner Tomograph Mechanics, 1973-1974
Series 4, ACTA Scanner Operating Instructions, 1975
Series 5, ACTA Articles, Clippings, and Press Releases, 1973-1979
Series 6, Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) material, 1973-1981, undated
Series 7, Computer manuals, 1972-1975
Series 8, Photographic material 1973-1978
Subseries 1, Photographs, 19731978
Subseries 2, Slides, 1974
Series 9, ACTA Scanner film [1974?]
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Steven Ledley was born in Flushing Meadows, New York in 1926. He received a D.D.S. degree from New York University College in 1948. While attending dental school, he simultaneously studied at Columbia University; he earned a M.A. in Theoretical Physics in 1949. He volunteered for the army and was sent to the U.S. Army Medical Field Service School in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.1 After completing his service, Ledley held a wide variety of research and academic positions in physics, electrical engineering, and medicine.
Ledley was a physicist within the External Control Group of the Electronic Computer Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards from 1953-1954. He was an operations research analyst within the Strategic Division of the Operations Research Office at Johns Hopkins University from 1954-1956. Ledley went on to become an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at The George Washington University from 1956-1960 while also serving as a consultant mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards Data Processing Systems Division, 1957-1960. At this time, Ledley also worked part time at the National Research Council's National Academy of Sciences from 1957-1961. Ledley became the president of the National Biomedical Research Foundation in 1960, a position he still holds today. He was an instructor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1960-1963. He returned to The George Washington University's Department of Electrical Engineering in 1968 where he was a professor until 1970. He then became a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1970. In 1974, Ledley also became a professor in the Radiology Department at the Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1975, he became the director of the Medical Computing and Biophysics Division at Georgetown University Medical Center.
In 1972, the British company Electric and Musical Industries Limited (EMI) released a medical imaging machine for use on smaller areas of the body that were positioned under a water tank. In 1973, Ledley developed the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner (US Patent #3,922,552). This machine was a whole-body diagnostic medical imaging system. He was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health for an engineering equipment project, but the money was never received due to budget cuts. Ledley looked elsewhere for funding. He consulted with Georgetown staff and discovered a neurosurgeon had asked to buy a head scanning machine from EMI. Ledley did not think the images in EMI's brochure appeared clear, and he offered to create a similar machine for half the price. Georgetown agreed to fund this project for $250,000. Ledley secured the services of a machinist at a local machine shop, an electronic engineer, and a programmer/mathematician to assist in the project.2 The ACTA Scanner debuted in February, 1974 and did not require the use of a water tank.
Following the creation of the ACTA Scanner, Ledley organized Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) in order to manufacture the system. DISCO began producing scanners as orders were received. Due to financial constraints, DISCO was forced to request $100,000 upon receipt of the order, $100,000 when the scanner was halfway completed, and the final $100,000 payment upon delivery3. In 1975, Pfizer purchased the rights to manufacture the ACTA Scanner from DISCO for $1.5 million.
Ledley is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has earned numerous awards and honors for his work. In 1997, he received the National Medal of Technology from President William Jefferson Clinton for his pioneering work on the whole-body CT diagnostic X-ray scanner. He also founded the Pattern Recognition Society and Computerized Tomography Society.
Sources
1 Ash, J., D. Sittig, and R. Ledley. "The Story Behind the Development of the First Whole-body Computerized Tomography Scanner as Told by Robert S. Ledley." Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2006 Sep-Oct (2006), 465-469, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1561796. (accessed June 24, 2009).
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
Separated Materials:
An ACTA Scanner and numerous accessories were donated to the Division of Medicine and Science in 1984.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Robert S. Ledley on September 18, 1984.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Correspondence, patents, photographs, newspaper clippings, and subject files about various inventors and ideas. Collection documents women inventors, American culture, 1950s-1970s, and products designed for women and the home. Donovan's papers offer a near complete invention record, including both successes and failures, as well as patent and trademark correspondence.
Scope and Contents:
The Donovan papers offer a near complete invention record, including both successes and failures, and include correspondence, photographs, patents, newspaper clippings, and subject files about various inventions and ideas. This collection documents direct marketing techniques for products designed especially for women and the home. It may be useful for researchers interested in women inventors and entrepreneurs, American culture from the 1950s through the 1970s, and advertising history.
Series 1: Personal Papers and Biographical Materials, 1917-1999
Subseries 1.1: Biographical Materials, 1917-1999 includes newspaper clippings, biographical materials, and memorabilia relating to Marion Donovan's early life, family, and social activities. Note: Original clippings have been photocopied, and researcher copies are available.
Subseries 1.2: Magazine Publications, 1953-1999 includes original magazines which featured articles on Marion Donovan.
Series 2: The Boater, 1949-1995
Includes United States and foreign patents, notes, clippings, correspondence, photos, press releases and scrapbooks that document the invention of the Boater diaper cover.
Series 3: Other Ideas and Inventions, 1941-1993
Subseries 3.1: Marion Donovan's Subject Files, 1941-1995 are arranged chronologically and contain advertisements, articles, correspondence, sketches, notes, United States and foreign patents, photo materials, press releases, publications, and some artifacts documenting her ideas and inventions.
Subseries 3.2: Barbara Walters' Television Special, Not For Women Only, [1975] features an episode highlighting "Inventors and Invention," with a panel that includes Marion Donovan, Jacob Rabinow, and Henry Kloss, demonstrating their inventions.
Series 4: Dentaloop, 1979-1996
Subseries 4.1: Manufacturing Files, 1979-1996 contains files relating to the manufacture and packaging of DentaLoop, and includes photo materials, correspondence with various manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson, clippings, craft materials, and reports.
Subseries 4.2: Patents and Patent History, 1985-1996 contains files kept by Marion Donovan documenting the patent history of her and others' dental inventions.
Subseries 4.3: Marketing Files, 1989-1995 includes a substantial mailing list compiled over the years by Marion Donovan Associates, various order forms, advertising drafts, press releases, correspondence with Procter & Gamble, photo materials, personalized questionnaire responses, and a "How-To" videotape demonstration.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 4 series.
Series 1: Personal Papers and Biographical Material, 1999
Series 2: The Boater, 1949-1999
Series 3: Other Ideas and Inventions, 1941-1993
Series 4: DentaLoop, 1979-1996
Biographical / Historical:
Twentieth-century inventor, Marion O'Brien Donovan (1917-1998), made a career of designing solutions to everyday, domestic problems. Her career is framed by her invention in 1949 of the "Boater," a diaper cover made of surplus parachute nylon, and her invention in 1993 of DentaLoop, individual precut circles of two-ply dental floss. As an inventor and entrepreneur, Donovan created products that addressed problems in personal health, beauty, and household needs.
Marion O'Brien was born into a family of inventors on October 15, 1917, in South Bend, Indiana. Marion's father, Miles O'Brien, with his identical twin brother John, developed an industrial lathe for manufacturing gun barrels and founded the South Bend Lathe Works in 1906. After her mother died when she was seven, Marion spent a majority of her time at her father's factory, even inventing a "tooth powder" while in elementary school. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Rosemont College in 1939, and worked briefly for both Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. In 1942, she married James F. Donovan and moved to Westport, Connecticut.
A Connecticut housewife and mother of two in 1946, Donovan was unsatisfied with the options available to her to keep her babies dry. To her, cloth diapers "served more as a wick than a sponge," and rubber pants assured a nasty case of diaper rash. Looking for a way to hold the dampness in without keeping air out, she experimented by clipping a panel from her shower curtain, sewing a moisture-proof diaper cover, and replacing safety pins with snaps. Three years later, she introduced the "Boater." Donovan's attempts to sell her idea to leading manufacturers failed, but her product became an instant sensation and commercial success when she began selling the Boater at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1949. In 1951, Donovan sold both her company, Donovan Enterprises, and her diaper patents to children's clothing manufacturer Keko Corporation, for one million dollars.
Marion Donovan's interest in design and invention manifested itself in a Master's degree in architecture which she received from Yale University in 1958, at age forty-one. According to her obituary, she was one of three women in her graduating class. In the decades that followed, Donovan would go on to invent "The Ledger Check," a combined check and record-keeping book; "The Big Hang-Up," a garment hanger and closet organizer; and "The Zippity-Do," an elasticized zipper pull.
Marion Donovan was involved in every aspect of product development, serving as creator, designer, manufacturer, and marketer. Often, designing the product also meant designing the machinery that could construct the product to her unique specifications. While working on the development of DentaLoop, for example, she and second husband, John Butler, traveled to a factory in Germany to explore floss-producing machinery ideas. Donovan also went to great lengths to market her floss product. Between the years 1991 and 1995, in collaboration with daughter Christine, she launched her largest promotional campaign, marketing DentaLoop directly to hundreds of dental professionals and pharmacists all over the country. Always envisioning improvements, she continued to correspond with companies specializing in oral hygiene products until her husband suffered a stroke, and she focused her attentions on caring for him. Following his death in July, Marion O'Brien Donovan Butler died four months later on November 4, 1998.
Related Materials:
Artifacts were donated to the National Museum of American History in March of 2000. The "Boater" diaper cover (1949), a key chain bracelet, and "The Zippity-Do" (1970) were donated to the American Costume Collection of Social History Collection (now Division of Cultural and Community Life). "DentaLoop" (1993) materials were donated to the Science, Medicine, and Society Division (now Division of Medicine and Science).
Provenance:
Ms. Donovan's daughters, Christine Donovan and Sharon Donovan Dodd, and son, Dr. James F. Donovan, Jr., donated the collection to the Archives Center, March 2000.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection contains a diverse selection of materials that address a variety of aspects of the ITT Industrial Laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are research and development notebooks from various scientists and engineers, reports and articles on products being developed and research being conducted, technical drawings, a large body of product information, and photographs of products and research projects. People represented in the collection include: George Papp, Hans W.G. Salinger, Philo T. Farnsworth, Madison Cawein, Robert L. Hirsch, Sanford F. Essig, H.J. Lott, and Edward H. Eberhardt. When these materials came to the Archives Center a portion of them were housed in envelopes with captions written on them. The envelopes were photocopied to preserve the information and the contents were incorporated into the above series in order to facilitate intellectual access to the materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series
Series 1: Company Records, 1937-1984
Series 2: George Papp, 1938-1964
Series 3: Hans W.G. Salinger, 1944-1945
Series 4: Research Records, 1934-1969
Series 5: Product Information, 1955-1979
Series 6: Photographs, 1960-1965
Biographical / Historical:
The ITT Corporation Industrial Research Laboratories, Electron Tube Division's laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana conducted research and product development in the field of special purpose vacuum tubes and sensors. Their history in the research and development of these special purpose devices originated in Fort Wayne in 1939, when Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, moved there. What brought him there was that his company, Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, purchased the Capehart Incorporated plant in Fort Wayne.
Rather than build a plant of their own, Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation decided to purchase the plant, which had a reputation for building quality phonographs, and retool it to build radio and television receivers. Farnsworth and his engineers' research at the plant lead to the invention of numerous devices, including amplifier tubes, cathode-ray tubes, vacuum tubes, electron multipliers, and photoelectric materials.
The laboratories in Fort Wayne were responsible for developing new technical concepts, methods and designs of tubes, sensors and devices for application in industrial, government and commercial markets. Laboratory activities included applied research, advanced development and product design, and development and fabrication. They concentrated their efforts on designing and developing components which operated in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Their various areas of research and development led to a diverse offering of products, including: multiplier phototubes (for stellar observation, star tracking, laser detection, vibration analysis, scintillation counting); vacuum photodiodes (for laser detection, scintillation detection, high speed switching, solar radiation monitoring, interference detection); image dissectors (for slow scan TV systems, slide projector readers, industrial process control, electronic star trackers, electronic scanning spectrometers); electron multipliers (for space research, radiation detection, vacuum monochromators, single particle counting, demountable vacuum systems), image converters (for high-speed photography, infrared viewing and surveillance, optical correlation, pulsed light systems, ultraviolet detection and viewing), correlation devices (for motion compensation, area correlation, map reading, document reading, tracking), and accessories (for focusing magnets, image dissector cameras, focusing and deflection coil assemblies and yokes, phototube holders, power supplies).
The Tube and Sensor Laboratories were world leaders in the areas of photometric quantum detectors, image devices, camera tubes, and optical pattern correlators. Some of their major developments included the Star Tracker sensors used in the Lunar Orbiter Program, Vidissector camera tubes used in several observational satellites, and the cockpit display storage tubes used in the F105 Thunderchief and A4D Skyhawk fighter planes.
They were innovators in developing a number of specialized high vacuum devices including: image dissectors, star tracking dissectors and multiplier phototubes, single quantum counting photomultipliers, grid-controlled photomultipliers, biplanar and laser monitoring photodiodes, windowless electron multipliers and single particle detectors, ultraviolet sensitive photodiodes, image converters, image storage and image correlation tubes, and spectral response information.
Throughout the collection there are numerous names that the laboratories were known as that reflects different stages in the company's development. What follows is a chronology of the names of the laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana:
1929 – Capehart Corporation
1936 – Capehart, Inc.
1938 – Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation
1949 – Capehart-Farnsworth Corporation
1953 – Capehart-Farnsworth Company, Division of ITT
1954 – Farnsworth Electronics Company, Division of ITT
1958 – ITT Laboratories, Division of ITT
1960 – ITT Federal Laboratories
1962 – ITT Industrial Laboratories
1969 – ITT Electron Tube Division, Tube and Sensor Laboratories
1973 – ITT Electro-Optical Products Division, Tube and Sensor Laboratories
Related Materials:
130 vacuum tubes, many related to Philo Farnsworth were donated to the Division of Information Technology & Society (now Division of Medicine and Science), National Museum of American History.
Provenance:
ITT donated the collection to the Division of Information, Technology & Society, National Museum of American History through Elaine Tuttle, Vice President of Director of Contracts on September 4, 1992. The collection was transferred to the Archives Center on September 13, 2002.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Interview with Remo Belli, jazz drummer who developed and marketed the first successful synthetic drumheads and founded the Remo company.
Interview with Arthur Ganson, inventor, kinetic sculptor and musician.
Audiovisual Records, 1995-2014 (SIA Acc. 16-092)
Interview with Gary Fisher, inventor of the modern mountain bike.
Lemelson Center, Program/Project Records, 2006-2015 (SIA Acc. 16-043)
Interview with Doreen Lorenzo, former president of Quirky.
Interview with Corinna E. Lathan, co-Founder of AnthroTronix, Inc., a biomedical research and development company with a focus on assistive technologies.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access and use of audiovisual materials available in the Archives Center reading room or by requesting copies of audiovisual materials at RightsReproductions@si.edu.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Inventors Oral History Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Funding for the Marilyn Hamilton, Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, Tahira N. Reid, and Polly Smith interviews was provided by a Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee grant.
This collection largely contains correspondence regarding the Kleinschmidt Teletype, as well as financial records and newspaper clippings regarding the Teletype Company.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of correspondence kept by Charles B. Goodspeed, a major stockholder in KIeinschmidt Electric Company. It relates to internal workings of the company and the telegraphic typewriter it developed, as well as the merger with Morkrum and the purchase of the company by AT&T. Many of the letters are from Sterling Morton, president of the Teletype Corporation.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1915-1930
Series 2: Financial Statements, 1929
Series 3: Newspaper Clippings, 1915-1930
Biographical / Historical:
The Kleinschmidt Teletype was invented by Edward E. Kleinschmidt, a German-American inventor and businessman. He invented a high-speed stock ticker, an automatic fishing reel, a railroad signaling device, and a high-speed teletype that "revolutionized the communications industry." The Kleinschmidt Teletype was considered a breakthrough in world communication, replacing Morse code transmission and reception with typewriters and printers. Kleinschmidt, Howard Krum, and Sterling Morton jointly obtained a patent for this technology in December 1928. Teletype Corporation was sold to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for $30 million in 1930.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Janet Pigott in 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection consists of United States, Canadian, Mexican and other foreign patents issued to William E. Woodard from 1909 to 1949. The patents are for Woodard's developments in steam and electric locomotive design.
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes United States, Canadian, Mexican, and other foreign patents issued to William E. Woodard for developments in steam and electric locomotive design.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into four series.
Series 1, United States Patents, 1909-1945
Series 2, Canadian Patents, 1909-1946
Series 3, Mexican Patents, 1922-1925
Series 4, Patents From Other Foreign Countries, 1926-1941
Biographical / Historical:
William E. Woodard (1873-1942) was directly responsible for many developments in steam locomotive design. As an inventor of locomotive equipment, he held patents on various mechanical features of steam locomotive and electric locomotive design. He worked for the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Cramp's Shipyard, the Dickson Locomotive Works, the Schenectady Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Works (1900-1916), and, finally, the Lima Locomotive Works (1916-1942); during the same period he worked as a consultant to the Franklin Railway Supply Company. At the Lima Locomotive Works, he was vice president in charge of design until his death in 1942.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by George H. Woodard, on July 21, 1984.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This video history consists of original, master and reference videos documenting a children's lecture program by George R. Carruthers, a physicist and inventor. Carruthers invented the Far Ultra-Violet Camera (FUVCAM).
Scope and Contents note:
This collection contains original, master, and reference videos documenting Dr. George Carruthers. Dr. Carruthers discusses his invention, the Far Ultra-Violet Camera (FUVCAM), as well his background, and experience working with the space program.
Arrangement:
Divided into 3 series: 1) Original Videos; 2) Master Videos; 3) Reference Videos.
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. George Carruthers was born in 1939 and grew up in Milford, Ohio and Chicago's South Side. Carruthers received his B.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1961, M.S. Physics in 1962, and his Ph.D in aeronautical and astronomical engineering in 1964. After receiving his Ph.D in 1964, Carruthers joined the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Space Science Division where he is now Senior Astrophysicist. Along with William Conway, another scientist, Carruthers developed the lunar surface ultraviolet camera and spectrograph used on the moon by Apollo 16 in 1972. The camera was used to take ultraviolet pictures of the Earth during the Apollo 16 space mission. It was the first camera to take pictures of the upper levels of the earth's atmosphere and to show that hydrogen exists in outer space.
Provenance:
This videohistory was created by the Innovative Lives Program of The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation on February 22, 1996. The Innovative Lives series brings young people and American inventors together to discuss inventions and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on activities related to each inventor's product.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the original videos are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
