Bill Cameron, (October 11, 1924 – March 13, 1993) was a Canadian inventor, engineer and founder of the Neil Squire Society. He designed many devices to help people with disabilities including a

Sip-and-puff Sip-and-puff or sip 'n' puff (SNP) is assistive technology used to send signals to a device using air pressure by "sipping" (inhaling) or "puffing" (exhaling) on a straw, tube or "wand." It is primarily used by people who do not have the use of ...

communication system, and a robot arm called M.O.M (Manipulative Obedient Machine). In his life, Cameron was awarded many honors for his work with persons with disabilities. Born October 11, 1924 in California, Cameron moved to Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Canada where he spent his childhood. When World War II broke out, he immediately signed up at CFB Petawawa. Unfortunately, once there he developed a sinus condition and it was decided that it would be too cold for him in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. He was given a medical discharge. Having

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

, Cameron then joined the U.S. Marine Corps to fight in the Pacific. He served overseas during the war as well as in post-war Japan. Upon his return to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, Cameron enrolled in the

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

program at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

but engineering did not feel like a good fit. After an aptitude test it was decided that Cameron would be perfect for the newly created

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

program. In 1948 he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, enrolled at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

through the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

, and completed his degree in 1950. Cameron held many interesting positions throughout his career. During his time at UCLA he worked part-time designing motors for U.S. Motors Company. He worked there full-time for about a year after graduating. He was hired by

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes ...

as a designer in 1951 and in 1952 he was sent to Mojave Air Force base to work on a security project. In 1955 he created his own industrial design company. Among the highlights of his company was the creation of the Nest-a-bin liquid shipping container for

Kaiser Aluminum Kaiser Aluminum Corporation is an American aluminum producer. It is a spinoff from Kaiser Aluminum and Chemicals Corporation, which came to be when common stock was offered in Permanente Metals Corporation and Permanente Metals Corporation's na ...

and a design for a sliding door handle used in the 1962

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He spent a number of years in Iiyama, Japan where he designing the first honeycomb fiberglass skis, which were used by Yuichiro Miura to ski down

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

in 1970. Upon returning to North America, Cameron and his family settled in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. Cameron was hired to work at the

TRIUMF Triumf may refer to: * TRIUMF, Canada's national particle accelerator centre * 14959 TRIUMF, a minor planet * S-400 Triumf, a Russian anti-aircraft weapon system developed in the 1990s * Triumf Riza (1979–2007), Kosovo police officer and member o ...

cyclotron at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

to design remote handling tools for radioactive experiments. In December 1980 Cameron's relative, Neil Squire, was involved in a motor vehicle accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to speak. With an old teletype machine, Cameron put his engineering background to use and designed the "

sip-and-puff Sip-and-puff or sip 'n' puff (SNP) is assistive technology used to send signals to a device using air pressure by "sipping" (inhaling) or "puffing" (exhaling) on a straw, tube or "wand." It is primarily used by people who do not have the use of ...

" system that allowed Squire to communicate. By "sipping and puffing" in

Morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

, Squire's words were made visible on a screen. From these efforts, the Neil Squire Society's first program, Computer Comfort, was born. Cameron continued to work with Squire and other people with disabilities, teaching them to use computers to increase their independence. He was soon aided by a group of dedicated volunteers, and in 1984, after the death of Squire, this group was named the Neil Squire Foundation. The foundation was later renamed the Neil Squire Society and has since gone on to help thousands of persons with disabilities increase their independence. Cameron was diagnosed with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

in October 1990. Though he was told he only had three months to live, he continued to work with the foundation until his death on March 13, 1993.

Awards and honours

In 1994, Cameron was posthumously inducted into the

Terry Fox Hall of Fame The Canadian Disability Hall of Fame (formerly the Terry Fox Hall of Fame), recognizes "outstanding Canadians who have made extraordinary contributions to enriching the quality of life for people with physical disabilities". It is run by the Canadi ...

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20120401213009/http://www.fondationtheresecasgrain.org/retombees.html

External links

* http://www.neilsquire.ca/about/history/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Bill Canadian philanthropists 1924 births 1993 deaths Canadian Disability Hall of Fame