[real-eyes] Cruise Control: A Public Radio Commentary, general info only

From: <bigdaddylou63@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:47:44 -0500
> EngineerGuy.com, USA
>> Tuesday, August 29, 2006
>>
>> Cruise Control: A Public Radio Commentary
>>
>> By Bill Hammack
>>
>> LINK: Listen using RealAudio (2:42)
>> http://www.engineerguy.com/ram/teetort.ram
>>
>> Successful engineers think in images. Their minds occupy a nonverbal
> world, not easily reducible to words. It is this kind of thinking that 
> Ralph
> Teetor, the inventor of cruise control, had in spades. What makes his 
> story
> remarkable is that he was blind.
>>
>> After losing his sight at age five, he developed an exceptional ability 
>> to
> visulize objects and distances. For example, Ralph had helped build and
> install the basketball hoops at his high school and this was enough for 
> him
> to be able to amaze his friends by sinking basket after basket. And at his
> father's shop, Teetor learned to create things perfectly out of wood or
> metal. So remarkable was his prowess with tools that by age ten his father
> built him a workshop, outfitted with grinders, lathes, and drills.
>>
>> After high school, Teetor decided to become an engineer. But because 1906
> was not as enlightened as today, many colleges refused to even consider 
> his
> application. Teetor had a cousin attending the University of Pennsylvania.
> So, Ralph visited the school and persuaded the Dean of Engineering to 
> admit
> him. Teetor excelled in the mechanical engineering program and on 
> graduation
> became an inventor.
>>
>> 1921, he invented the automatic transmission, although he was too far
> ahead of his time; it only appeared years later when his patent had 
> expired.
> Teetor invented a new fishing rod and reel because his wrist grew tired 
> from
> fly fishing; he also designed and patented new locks. All, of course,
> without a drawing of any sort - just images in his mind. The one invention
> that he timed perfectly was cruise control. During World War Two, the
> government set a speed limit of 35 miles per hour to conserve gas and 
> rubber
> tires. Most motorists found it difficult and boring to travel long 
> distances
> at such a slow speed. He claimed, though, that he'd never have worked on 
> it
> except for his patent attorney. The attorney's jerky driving made Teetor 
> car
> sick.
>>
>> The first cruise controls were elaborate mechanical devices that required
> every bit of Ralph's ability to visual objects and distances. By 1960 
> every
> major auto manufacturer had added this feature to their cars, and with the
> Energy Crisis of the early 1970s, cruise control became a permanent 
> fixture.
>>
>> What was the secret to Teetor's success? One of the engineers who worked
> with him on the first cruise control device asked "With all that you have
> been able to accomplish, what more do you think you would have done if you
> had been able to see?" Ralph replied, with a smile, "I probably couldn't
> have done as much, because I can concentrate, and you can't."
>>
>>
>> http://www.engineerguy.com/ram/teetort.ram 

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[real-eyes] Cruise Control: A Public Radio Commentary, general info only

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