The collection documents Ronald J. Leonard's work at Travenol Laboratories and Sarns/3M, developing pumps and oxygenators used in cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Ronald J. Leonard's work at Travenol Laboratories and Sarns/3M, developing pumps and oxygenators used in cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. The papers include diagrams and design drawings, reports, test data, patent applications, lecture notes, correspondence, photographs, and slides.
Arrangement:
Materials are arranged in chronological order. The collections is arranged into 5 series:
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1966-1996
Series 2: Patent Materials, 1988-2000
Series 3: Project Files, 1969-1998
Series 4: Writings/Lectures/Presentations, 1985-1997
Series 5: Travenol Company Materials, 1967-1995
Biographical / Historical:
Ronald James Leonard was a biomedical engineer and inventor, born on August 17, 1939, in Cuba, New York, a son of Margaret and Roy Leonard. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York, in 1961. He continued his education at Northwestern University in 1962, receiving his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. However, the majority of his work experience was centered in the biomedical engineering field.
He worked for the Naval Ordinance Lab in 1961, Allis-Chambers Research Division from 1962 to 1966, Travenol Laboratories from 1967 to 1985, and the Sarns/3M Company from 1985 to 1997. His early work at Allis-Chambers dealt with fuel cell power supplies. When he worked at Travenol Laboratories, a part of Baxter International Inc., and at the Sarns/3M Company, he helped develop and manufacture several medical devices and products for people with specific disorders, diseases, and conditions. He also worked as an adjunct assistant professor for Northwestern Technological Institute. In his retirement years, he did consulting work. He was also a member of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs and the International Society for Artificial Organs (now known as the International Federation for Artificial Organs).
Leonard designed and patented several devices, including blood oxygenators and heat exchangers, as well as the hollow fiber tubing within the oxygenator. He held more than thirty U.S. patents. Much of his work was dedicated to improving and perfecting these devices, which were widely used for bypass surgeries and aided the lives of many Americans. His dedication to his work, constant research, and developments is clear in the many devices, studies, and years of service he provided.
Ronald J. Leonard passed away, January 14, 2007, at INOVA Fairfax Hospital, when he was 67 years old.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection (Accession #: 2007.0106.01-13) documenting oxygenators, heat exchangers, an artificial heart valve, and vascular graft.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2007 by Leona Leonard.
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.
The papers document the professional career of mechanical engineer, Charles Richardson Pratt. The papers include correspondence, patents, patent application materials, agreements, photographs, publications, and blueprints for many of Pratt's inventions, especially his work on elevators.
Scope and Contents:
These papers contain personal materials of Charles R. Pratt; letterpress copybooks; engineering notebooks; diaries; material relating to the development of the heavy-duty, high-rise electric elevator; material concerning elevator cable equalizers and safety devices, Morton-Jacobsen and other lathe chucks, lathe drives and the Pratt Driver, the hydraulic transmission of power in trucks, and ship steering gear; and studies reports, drawings, photographs, catalogs, and trade literature concerning mechanical engineering.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight series.
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1875-1935
Series 2: Diaries, 1894, 1928-1931
Series 3: Correspondence, 1872-1920
Series 4: Notebooks, 1880, 1889, 1900
Series 5: Inventions, 1860-1927
Series 6: Photographs, 1890-1902
Series 7: Publications, 1895-1929
Series 8: Drawings, 1878-1929
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Richardson Pratt (1860-1935), was born in Massachusetts to John C. and Mary Anne Richardson. He graduated from the Hopkins School of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1879. Pratt worked at Whittier Machine Company of Boston (1882-1890) where he designed and built the first electric elevator in 1888. The elevator was installed in the Tremont House, Boston. Pratt also worked as an agent and later as a consulting engineer for the Otis Elevator Company, the inventors of the hydraulic elevator.
Pratt was best known for his development of the first electrically powered elevator. In 1892, inventor Frank Sprague (1857-1934) founded the Sprague Electric Elevator Company, and with Charles R. Pratt developed the Sprague-Pratt Electric Elevator. They demonstrated that electrically powered elevators were capable of competing with hydraulic elevators. Pratt held several engineering positions and worked for the Marine Engine Company of Newark, New Jersey (1902-1905) developing elevator systems; consulting engineer to the Universal Speed Control Company of New York City (1906-1919); consultant to the American Engineering Company of Philadelphia (1912); mechanical superintendent at the Crocker Wheel Company of Ampere, New Jersey (1919); engineer for the E. Horton and Sons Company of Connecticut (1920-1923); the General Tractors Corporation (1924-1927); and was associated with the Watson Elevator Company of New York City (1928-1930). Pratt patented many of his ideas, earning over thirty-five patents related mostly to elevators,
Pratt was a member of the Masons, the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the MIT Club of New Jersey, and the Motor Club of London. He married Mary Byron Ladd and they had two children, Gertrude Ladd Pratt and Donald Richardson Pratt.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased from Charles R. Pratt's daughter, Gertrude Pratt Vance, in 1973.
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.
The Financial and Legal Documents in the Bellanca Collection are arranged as follows:
Missing Title
financial statements, 1928 --1955
financial institutions, 1934 --1941
business ledgers, 1923 --1932
company reports regarding expenses, 1918 --1954
insurance, 1930 --1953
sales, 1927 --1956
sales records
stocks, 1928 --1958
subcontracting pursuits, 1935 --1955
patents, 1930 --1941
employee relations, 1940 --1956
union relations, 1943 --1953
Bellanca Aircraft Corporation history
miscellaneous
Box 27 contains Sales Records. The first set of records are the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation's Domestic Sales records. They are arranged in alphabetical order by customer name. The next group are the records for Bellanca Aircraft sold abroad, also arranged in alphabetical order by customer name. The researcher should take note that some aircraft that were originally sold abroad eventually came back into the United States. These aircraft are still filed with the foreign orders. The final group are three different sets of Sales Prospects. The first set is in alphabetical order by salesman or distributor name. The second set of prospects is in alphabetical order by customer name. The third set is in order by name or model number of aircraft, or by type of prospect. The researcher may notice some duplication of subjects, as no effort was made to combine groups of cards.
The Bellanca Stock Transactions have been placed in the following order:
Agreements
Securities and Exchange Commission
Stock Exchanges
Stockholder Correspondence
Miscellaneous
Mr. Bellanca had other business ventures. For example, during the corporate refinancing of 1940, Mr. Bellanca was required to resign as president of the company. During this time, he worked at Higgins Industries of New Orleans, LA. Also included in this section, are the subcontracting pursuits of the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation. In 1954, after selling the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, Mr. Bellanca and his son, August, formed the Bellanca Development Company. After Mr. Bellanca's death, this company's name was changed to Bellanca Aircraft Engineering, Inc. These records are arranged by company name.
The Bellanca Patents are arranged numerically by Patent Number, or Patent Application Number.
The Collection contains material from the corporate history of the Bellanca Aircraft Company, and Giuseppe Bellanca's personal biography: handwritten notes, unpublished manuscripts for magazine articles and book chapters, historical exhibits, paintings, material regarding the 25th Anniversary of the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, and ephemera from the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation offices.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Giuseppe M. Bellanca Collection, Acc. NASM.1993.0055, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection consists of the corporate records of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Included in the collection are technical and engineering reports of Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division's operations in St. Louis (Robertson), MO (1935-1945) and Buffalo, NY, (1932-1945), as well as AAS Material Division and AAF Air Technical Services Command memorandum reports collected by Curtiss-Wright's St. Louis and Buffalo technical reference libraries. The collection also contains the files of Curtiss-Wright's Patent Department, which hold records of patents filed by Curtiss-Wright and patent-infringement cases involving Curtiss-Wright. Also included in the collection are specifications issued by and photos commissioned by the Keystone Aircraft Corporation (Huff-Daland Airplanes, Inc. until March 1927), which had been acquired by Wright in 1928 along with Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corp., and formed the Keystone Division of Curtiss-Wright until 1932 when Keystone's Bristol, PA factory closed its doors. The collection also contains financial records of the Curtiss-Wright Airports Corporation, which was liquidated in 1936, as well as an extensive negative collection featuring Curtiss-Wright aircraft from the 1930s and 1940s, concentrated especially on the war years.
Scope and Contents:
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation Records collection contains approximately 212 cubic feet of material. The collection contains the following material:
Army Air Service Material Division & Army Air Force Technical Services Command Memo
Reports & Technical Reports which include testing of various Curtiss-Wright models of aircraft and/or various parts of aircraft
Technical & Engineering Reports from the St. Louis, MO plant [Robertson] & Buffalo, NY plant
Patents, Patent Dockets, Patent Serial numbers, Suits, License Agreements, Patents filed by Curtiss-Wright & Patent Infringement Cases [1800s to 1940s]
Miscellaneous Research Files
Corporate & Financial Records [1923 to 1972]
Correspondence
Blueprint Drawings
Advertisements from Newspapers & Magazines in Scrapbooks
Engine Decals
Photographs
Negatives & Glass Plates
Arrangement:
This collection was arranged into Series and Subseries:
Subseries I: Air Corps Materiel Division, Reports [ACMR]
Subseries II: Buffalo Reports
Subseries III: St. Louis
Series III: Glass Format Photography
Series IV: 1969 Accretion - Listing of Archival Material
Series V: Master Print Books [this part of the collection has not been processed]
Historical note:
An historic event in aviation occurred on June 26, 1929 when two major aircraft companies: the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company merged with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. After this merger, the former Wright organization took over all of the engine and propeller manufacture while Curtiss concentrated on airplanes. This merger was completed by organizing two major divisions under their original names, but under the direction of a corporate headquarters located in New York City. However, there was a recognized separation of spirit as well as specialized facilities that was never completely resolved in succeeding years. The election of former Wright personnel to key corporate positions soon led to Wright becoming the dominant division. At the height of the Lindbergh Boom during the 1920s and 1930s, the Curtiss-Wright Corporation was made up of the following identified organizations: The Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company; The Curtiss-Caproni Corporation; The Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company; The Keystone Aircraft Corporation; The Moth Aircraft Corporation; The Travel Air Manufacturing Company; The Wright Aeronautical Corporation; Curtiss-Wright Flying Service; The Curtiss-Wright Sales
Corporation; The Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation. Curtiss-Wright was quickly becoming the 'General Motors of the Air' until the great depression in October 1929. Sales dropped and Curtiss-Wright was forced to close certain satellite plants and transfer some of their product lines to the St. Louis facility. It looked like even the Buffalo plants would also have to close when Curtiss-Wright received an order from Colombia, South America for Hawks and Falcons. This was the largest military order to Curtiss since the war. The Colombia sale saved the Curtiss-Wright organization at this low point in its history. This order kept the production lines going until new military and civil markets began to open up as the depression waned and the build-up for World War II began. During the U.S. military build-up prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, all existing Curtiss-Wright plants were expanded and new aircraft factories were built at Columbus, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky. The dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan resulted in an unexpected early end to World War II. All of the major U.S. airplane builders including Curtiss-Wright were hit by massive contract cancellations because of the Japanese surrender. In 1946 Curtiss-Wright had only two experimental military models at hand for postwar delivery and no assurance of production orders. Curtiss-Wright was forced to shut down all airplane plants and transfer all units of the Aeroplane Division to their Columbus Plant. The eventual sale of the Airplane Division to North American included design rights to the former Curtiss-Wright airplanes. The Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division, which manufactured airframes, finally closed down in 1951.
Provenance:
Curtiss-Wright Corporation, gift, XXXX, 1969
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
[Stamp "Received" from Patent Department, 1957, for the patent Electrically Inscribable Lithographic Offset Printing Plate, page with rubber stamp imprint]
Unrestricted research access by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection 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.
