The Ford Instrument Company was a U.S. corporation known for being the primary supplier of fire control Rangekeepers and analog computers for the United States Navy before and during World War II .
6-730: It was founded in 1915 by Hannibal Choate Ford as the Ford Marine Appliance Corporation, later been renamed in 1916 as the Ford Instrument Company. Prior to founding the company Ford had worked closely with Elmer Ambrose Sperry holding the position of Chief Engineer of the Sperry Gyroscope Company . In 1930 the company was purchased by North American Aviation for $ 3m, it would subsequently be spun off alone with other non-aviation concerns into Sperry Corporation as part of
12-595: A B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1903. While there he worked in the Sibley College electrical engineering laboratory. Ford began working for Elmer Ambrose Sperry ’s Sperry Gyroscope Company in 1909, where he quickly became chief engineer and helped turn the gyrocompass into a military-grade product. He left Sperry in 1915 to launch what would become the Ford Instrument Company . Before retiring in 1943, he would hold
18-473: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Hannibal Ford Hannibal Choate Ford (1877–1955) was an American inventor and electrical engineer best known for his work during the first half of the 20th century. Hannibal C. Ford was born in Dryden, New York on May 8, 1877, to Susan Augusta Giles and Abram Millard Ford, the publisher and editor of the weekly Dryden Herald . He graduated with
24-675: The patents to over 50 inventions, many of which would prove to be integral to the development of fire control rangekeepers and analog computers used by the United States Navy during World War II . He was married to Katherine Moyer on July 4, 1918. His sister, Grace Conable, was married to noted 20th-century architect George W. Conable , who is best known for designing Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (1908) and Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church (1926). He died on March 13, 1955, in Kings Point, New York shortly after suffering
30-658: The purchase of North American by General Motors Corporation who purchased a controlling interest in NAA, and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation . Ford would thus operate as an independent division of Sperry and later Sperry Rand Corporation. A personal blog, Doug Coward's Analog History Museum, includes a page with details for the Ford Instrument Company Computer Mark I that
36-482: Was used after 1939 on WW II naval guns up to 5 inch and anti-aircraft guns. (via Wayback Machine) This page has a background stating that the Ford Instrument Company is a subsidiary of Sperry Rand , indicating that the displayed page was supplied by Sperry while operating as Sperry Rand , 1955 and 1978. This article about a technological corporation or company is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This United States corporation or company article
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