Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...

bid engineered by Burroughs Corporation, which merged the combined operation under the new name Unisys. Some of Sperry's former divisions became part of Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, and

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

. The company is best known as the developer of the artificial horizon and a wide variety of other gyroscope-based aviation instruments like

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

s, bombsights, analog ballistics computers and gyro gunsights. In the post-WWII era the company branched out into electronics, both aviation-related, and later, computers. The company was founded by Elmer Ambrose Sperry.

History

Early history

The company was incorporated on April 14 1910 by Elmer Ambrose Sperry as the Sperry Gyroscope Company, to manufacture navigation equipment—chiefly his own inventions: the marine gyrostabilizer and the gyrocompass—at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Downtown Brooklyn. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the company diversified into aircraft components including bomb sights and fire control systems. In their early decades, Sperry Gyroscope and related companies were concentrated on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York, especially in Nassau County. Over the years, it diversified to other locations. In 1918, Lawrence Sperry split from his father to compete over aero-instruments with the ''Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Company'', including the new automatic pilot. After the death of Lawrence on December 13, 1923, the two firms were brought together in 1924. Then in January 1929 it was acquired by North American Aviation, who reincorporated it in New York as the ''Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc''. The company once again became independent in 1933 when it was spun-off as a subsidiary of the newly formed Sperry Corporation. The new corporation was a holding company for a number of smaller entities such as the original Sperry Gyroscope, ''Ford Instrument Company'', ''Intercontinental Aviation, Inc.'', and others. The company made advanced aircraft navigation equipment for the market, including the Sperry Gyroscope and the Sperry Radio Direction Finder. It also moved into the hydraulics industry when it acquired Vickers, Inc. in 1937. Sperry supported the work of a group of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

inventors, led by Russell and Sigurd Varian, who had invented the klystron, and incorporated this technology and related inventions into their products. The company prospered during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as military demand skyrocketed, ranking 19th among US corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. It specialized in high technology devices such as analog computer–controlled bomb sights, airborne radar systems, and automated take-off and landing systems. Sperry also was the creator of the Ball Turret Gun mounted under the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. In 1944, Sperry sold the Brooklyn factory at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension to the Howard clothing manufacturing company, which already had a smaller nearby factory. Postwar, Sperry expanded its interests in electronics and computing, producing the company's first digital computer, SPEEDAC, in 1953. During the 1950s, a large part of Sperry Gyroscope moved to Phoenix, Arizona and soon became the Sperry Flight Systems Company. This was to preserve parts of this defense company in the event of a nuclear war. The Gyroscope division remained headquartered in New York—in its massive Lake Success, Long Island, plant (which also served as the temporary United Nations headquarters from 1946 to 1952)—into the 1980s.

Sperry Rand

In 1955, Sperry acquired

Remington Rand Remington Rand, Inc. was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington ...

and renamed itself Sperry Rand. Acquiring then-

Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation The Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) (March 1946 – 1950) was a computer company founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. It was incorporated on December 22, 1947. After building the ENIAC at the University of Penns ...

and

Engineering Research Associates Engineering Research Associates, commonly known as ERA, was a pioneering computer firm from the 1950s. ERA became famous for their numerical computers, but as the market expanded they became better known for their drum memory systems. They were ...

along with Remington Rand, the company developed the successful

UNIVAC UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

computer series and signed a valuable cross-licensing deal with IBM. The company remained a major military contractor. From 1967 to 1973, the corporation was involved in an acrimonious antitrust lawsuit with Honeywell, Inc. (see '' Honeywell v. Sperry Rand''). In 1961, Sperry Rand was ranked 34th on the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

list of largest companies in the United States. In 1977, Sperry Rand purchased Varian Data Machines so as to enter the minicomputer market. Varian would be renamed as the Sperry UNIVAC Minicomputer Operation, operating as part of the Sperry UNIVAC division. In 1978, Sperry Rand decided to concentrate on its computing interests, and sold a number of divisions including Remington Rand Systems, Remington Rand Machines, Ford Instrument Company and Sperry Vickers. The company dropped "Rand" from its title and reverted to Sperry Corporation. At about the same time as the Remington Rand acquisition, Sperry Gyroscope decided to open a facility that would almost exclusively produce its marine instruments. After considerable searching and evaluation, a plant was built in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in 1956, Sperry Piedmont Division began producing marine navigation products. It was later renamed Sperry Marine. In the 1970s, Sperry Corporation was a traditional conglomerate headquartered in the Sperry Rand Building at 1290 Avenue of Americas in Manhattan, selling typewriters (Sperry Remington); office equipment, electronic digital computers for business and the military (Sperry Univac); construction and farm equipment (Sperry New Holland); avionics, such as gyroscopes, radars, air route traffic control equipment (Sperry Vickers/Sperry Flight Systems); and consumer products such as electric razors (Sperry Remington). In addition, Sperry Systems Management (headquartered in the original Sperry Gyroscope building in Lake Success) performed work on a number of US government defense contracts. Sperry also managed the operation from 1961 to 1975 of the large Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant near Minden. In January 1972, Sperry took over the RCA Spectra 70 line of electronic digital computers (architectural cousins to the IBM System/360). In 1983, Sperry sold Vickers to Libbey Owens Ford (later to be renamed TRINOVA Corporation and subsequently Aeroquip-Vickers). At the same time, it acquired the Aircraft Radio Corporation from

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...

Burroughs takeover

On September 16, 1986, after the success of a second

bid engineered by Burroughs Corporation CEO and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Michael Blumenthal, Sperry Corporation merged with Burroughs Corporation. The newly merged company was renamed Unisys Corporation— a portmanteau of "united", "information", and "systems," while also referencing Sperry's well-known previous UNIVAC computer branding. The takeover came about even after Sperry used a " poison pill" in the form of a major share price hike to dissuade the hostile bid, the result of which caused Burroughs to borrow much more funding than was anticipated to complete the bid. Certain internal divisions of Sperry were sold off after the merger, such as Sperry New Holland (1986, to

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, who in 1991 sold the Ford-New Holland line to Fiat) and Sperry Marine (to Tenneco, in 1987, and is currently part of

). Also sold—to Honeywell—was Sperry Aerospace Group, while Sperry Defense Products Group was sold to Loral; those two units whose functions were originally at the heart of the venerable Sperry Gyroscope division. This group is now part of Lockheed Martin.

British Sperry

Sperry in Britain started with a factory in Pimlico, London, in 1913, manufacturing gyroscopic compasses for the Royal Navy. It became the Sperry Gyroscope Co Ltd in 1915. In 1923, Lawrence Sperry was killed in an air crash near Rye, Sussex. The company subsequently expanded to the Golden Mile, Brentford in 1931, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire in 1938, and Bracknell in 1957. By 1963, these sites employed some 3,500 people. The Brentford site closed in 1967, with the expansion of Bracknell. Stonehouse closed around 1969. By 1969, the Sperry Gyroscope division of Sperry Rand Corporation employed around 2,500. The site of the Bracknell factory and development center (sold to British Aerospace in 1982) is commemorated by a 4.5-meter aluminum sculpture by Philip Bentham, ''Sperry's New Symbolic Gyroscope'' (1967). In 1989, the Bracknell site was downsized and work was moved to the Sperry manufacturing site in Plymouth by then under the British Aerospace brand. State of the art, high technology MEMS gyroscopes (together with other avionics equipment) are still made on the site today, although the company is now owned by

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational corporation, multinational list of conglomerates, conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous are ...

and is part of UTC Aerospace Systems.

Sperry since 1997

The name Sperry lives on in the company Sperry Marine, headquartered in New Malden, England. This company, formed in 1997, from three well-known brand names in the marine industry—Sperry Marine, Decca, and C. Plath—is now part of

Corporation. It is a worldwide supplier of navigation, communication, information and automation systems for commercial marine and naval markets.

Products

Aircraft

Missiles and rockets

* Sperry MGM-29 Sergeant

In popular culture

*The 1986 comedy '' Jumpin' Jack Flash'' features many Sperry computers in the bank where the protagonist (played by Whoopi Goldberg) works. Jim Belushi plays the role of a Sperry "repairman".

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

USStexasbb35.com
Mark 51 Gun director
dreadnoughtproject.org
Director Firing Handbook index from HMS Dreadnought project

Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division Photograph Collection
at Hagley Museum and Library
Sperry Gyroscope Company Division records
at Hagley Museum and Library
Sperry Rand Corporation, Engineering Research Associates (ERA) Division records
at Hagley Museum and Library
Sperry Rand Corporation. Remington Rand Division records: Advertising and Sales Promotion Department
at Hagley Museum and Library
Sperry Rand Corporation, Univac Division records
at Hagley Museum and Library
Sperry-UNIVAC records
at Hagley Museum and Library {{Authority control Albemarle County, Virginia American companies established in 1910 American companies disestablished in 1986 Avionics companies Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies based in Nassau County, New York Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona Computer companies established in 1910 Computer companies disestablished in 1986 Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in Arizona Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Defunct manufacturing companies based in Virginia Defunct computer companies of the United States Electronics companies established in 1910 Electronics companies disestablished in 1986 Honeywell Instrument-making corporations Technology companies established in 1910 Technology companies disestablished in 1986 Town of North Hempstead, New York Unisys