He was the man!
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:14 pm
Earl Gosswiller, 1912-2009: Engineer, prolific inventor
Helped design squad car lights, tornado sirens
Anyone who has been jolted by a whirring police light in his or her rearview mirror can thank Earl Gosswiller, an inveterate tinkerer whose creations included the Federal Signal Beacon Ray, believed to be the first rotating light for the top of squad cars.
Mr. Gosswiller, 96, died of complications from pneumonia on Saturday, Jan. 3, in Cordia Senior Residence in Westmont, his home of four years, said his son-in-law Bruce Broberg.
Mr. Gosswiller, who worked at Federal Signal for almost 40 years, has his name on 29 U.S. patents, said John Segvich, a spokesman for the Oak Brook maker of safety equipment.
"He's considered the father of engineering at Federal Signal," Segvich said.
The Beacon Ray was one of his early inventions. According to Broberg, Mr. Gosswiller came up with the idea after looking at a rotating siren attached to a firetruck. He hooked up four sealed beams to a fixture that rotated horizontally, then capped it with a colored lens.
Mr. Gosswiller and his team advanced the idea with more sophisticated light bars like the Federal Signal Twin Sonic, which use multiple lights and in some cases mirrors to amplify the effect.
"What you don't want to see in your rearview mirror, that's Earl's work," said Andy Kunz, vice president of operations for the mobile systems group at Federal Signal.
Mr. Gosswiller also invented and refined several lines of sirens that warn of tornadoes or other potential disasters.
His creativity didn't stop when he left the job. Awake late one night, he came up with a way to increase the sweet spot on his wooden tennis racket by lining its frame with lead weights, his son-in-law said. The reworked racket made him an even more formidable player in the days before oversize frames.
Mr. Gosswiller graduated from Highland Park High School and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Armour Institute, now the Illinois Institute of Technology.
He took a job with a company that made pinball machines, and helped develop the bumpers that push out the ball in an explosion of light, his son-in-law said.
During World War II, he helped develop a training aid for fighter pilots, using film to show exactly how far ahead of a moving enemy plane they had to fire their missiles to score a hit.
Mr. Gosswiller, who lived for many years in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, was a scratch golfer, at one time had a 190 average in bowling and competed in national club tournaments in tennis.
He retired from Federal Signal in 1982 as vice president of engineering of the signal division, but continued to work as a consultant for several years. Younger engineers looked up to the prolific inventor, who defied some of that profession's stereotypes.
"He wasn't a mad scientist. He was a regular guy," Kunz said.
Mr. Gosswiller's wife, Nancy, died in 1999. Survivors include a daughter, Sue Broberg; a sister, Berenice Fox; four grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in Cordia Senior Residence, 865 N. Cass Ave., Westmont.
Helped design squad car lights, tornado sirens
Anyone who has been jolted by a whirring police light in his or her rearview mirror can thank Earl Gosswiller, an inveterate tinkerer whose creations included the Federal Signal Beacon Ray, believed to be the first rotating light for the top of squad cars.
Mr. Gosswiller, 96, died of complications from pneumonia on Saturday, Jan. 3, in Cordia Senior Residence in Westmont, his home of four years, said his son-in-law Bruce Broberg.
Mr. Gosswiller, who worked at Federal Signal for almost 40 years, has his name on 29 U.S. patents, said John Segvich, a spokesman for the Oak Brook maker of safety equipment.
"He's considered the father of engineering at Federal Signal," Segvich said.
The Beacon Ray was one of his early inventions. According to Broberg, Mr. Gosswiller came up with the idea after looking at a rotating siren attached to a firetruck. He hooked up four sealed beams to a fixture that rotated horizontally, then capped it with a colored lens.
Mr. Gosswiller and his team advanced the idea with more sophisticated light bars like the Federal Signal Twin Sonic, which use multiple lights and in some cases mirrors to amplify the effect.
"What you don't want to see in your rearview mirror, that's Earl's work," said Andy Kunz, vice president of operations for the mobile systems group at Federal Signal.
Mr. Gosswiller also invented and refined several lines of sirens that warn of tornadoes or other potential disasters.
His creativity didn't stop when he left the job. Awake late one night, he came up with a way to increase the sweet spot on his wooden tennis racket by lining its frame with lead weights, his son-in-law said. The reworked racket made him an even more formidable player in the days before oversize frames.
Mr. Gosswiller graduated from Highland Park High School and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Armour Institute, now the Illinois Institute of Technology.
He took a job with a company that made pinball machines, and helped develop the bumpers that push out the ball in an explosion of light, his son-in-law said.
During World War II, he helped develop a training aid for fighter pilots, using film to show exactly how far ahead of a moving enemy plane they had to fire their missiles to score a hit.
Mr. Gosswiller, who lived for many years in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, was a scratch golfer, at one time had a 190 average in bowling and competed in national club tournaments in tennis.
He retired from Federal Signal in 1982 as vice president of engineering of the signal division, but continued to work as a consultant for several years. Younger engineers looked up to the prolific inventor, who defied some of that profession's stereotypes.
"He wasn't a mad scientist. He was a regular guy," Kunz said.
Mr. Gosswiller's wife, Nancy, died in 1999. Survivors include a daughter, Sue Broberg; a sister, Berenice Fox; four grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in Cordia Senior Residence, 865 N. Cass Ave., Westmont.