Woodward, Inc. is an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

, and service provider of control systems and control system components (e.g. fuel pumps, engine controls, actuators, air valves, fuel nozzles, and electronics) for

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

, industrial engines and

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...

, power generation and mobile industrial equipment. Woodward, Inc. was founded as The Woodward Governor Company by Amos Woodward in 1870. Initially, the company made controls for waterwheels (first patent No. 103,813), and then moved to

hydro Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

turbines. In the 1920s and 1930s, Woodward began designing controls for

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

and other reciprocating engines and for industrial turbines. Also in the 1930s, Woodward developed a governor for variable-pitch aircraft propellers. Woodward parts were notably used in the GE engine on

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's first turbine-powered aircraft. Starting in the 1950s, Woodward began designing electronic controls, first

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and then digital units.

Historical information

The company was founded in Rockford, Illinois, in 1870 with Amos W. Woodward's invention of a non compensating mechanical waterwheel governor (U.S. patent No. 103,813). Thirty years later, his son Elmer patented the first successful mechanical compensating governor for hydraulic turbines (U.S. patent No. 583,527). In 1933, the company expanded its product line to include diesel engine controls (U.S. patent No. 2,039,507) and aircraft propeller governors (British patent No. 470,284). Woodward governors followed the rapid advancement of diesel engine applications for railroads, maritime and electrical generation in many fields. The advent of gas turbine engines for aircraft and industrial uses offered still more opportunities for Woodward designed fuel controls. And, of course, the science of electronics has added impetus to this industry. Elmer E. Woodward conceived, designed, and developed the first successful propeller control in 1933. This model PW-34 propeller governor is on display at the Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Modern day company

As of 2007, Woodward Governor Company became a billion-dollar company with establishments worldwide, including Japan, China, and Europe. On January 26, 2011, the company announced that shareholders had approved the name change to Woodward, Inc.Woodward Governor drops the ‘Governor’
''Bizjournals.com'', 26 January 2011 A growing number of general aviation and commuter aircraft rely on Woodward AES overspeed governors, synchronizers and synchrophasers for turboshaft, turboprop, and reciprocating engines. , approximately 34% of the company's sales were to the defense market, including parts for the V-22 Osprey ($645,000 revenue per aircraft) and the

F/A-18 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

($335,000 revenue per aircraft). The engines that are controlled by Woodward Aircraft engines systems include those from Honeywell ( TPE331), General Electric (CT7), Pratt & Whitney Canada (PT6A series), Raytheon, Vans, and Rotax Corporations. In April 2018, Woodward Inc. purchased L'Orange GmbH for $859 million. This supplier of fuel-injection components for stationary, marine, offshore, and industrial engines was part of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

's power-systems business in Germany, the US and China. On January 12, 2020, the company announced an intent to merge with

Hexcel Hexcel Corporation is an American public industrial materials company, based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company develops and manufactures structural materials. Hexcel was formed from the combination of California Reinforced Plastics (founded ...

, according to the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

. On April 20, it was announced the merger was called off, as a result of the health crisis caused by the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic. The COVID19 crisis also led to a sharp drop in revenues for Woodward, Inc.Pat Ferrier
Woodward's sales plunge amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
''Coloradoan.com'', 7 August 2020

Woodward family patents

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References

{{Authority control 1870 establishments in Illinois Aerospace companies of the United States Aerospace materials Aircraft component manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Fort Collins, Colorado Companies listed on the Nasdaq Electrical engineering companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Colorado Manufacturing companies established in 1870 Turbine manufacturers