Sylvanus Albert Reed (8 April 1854 – 1 October 1935) was an American aeronautical engineer who developed the modern metal

aircraft propeller In aeronautics, an aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew,Beaumont, R.A.; ''Aeronautical Engineering'', Odhams, 1942, Chapter 13, "Airscrews". converts rotary motion from an Aircraft engine, engine or other power source into a swirling slips ...

Early life and career

Reed Graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1874. He worked as an engineer specializing in electrical signals for railroad safety until his retirement in 1912.

Later career

In 1915, Reed experimented with metal propellers using a 10 hp electric engine driving propellers up to 19,000 rpm. He researched propeller shapes and materials that could withstand tip speed up to Mach 1.35. In 1920, the local police encouraged him to move his experiments from his attic and rented a shop at the Curtiss aircraft company's Garden City factory. He invented the Reed Metal Propeller, testing it in August 1921 on a Curtiss K-6 powered Standard. It was developed for use on the PW-8 and

Curtiss D-12 The Curtiss D-12, sometimes identified with the military designation Curtiss V-1150, was an aircraft engine of 18.8 liter displacement. It was a water-cooled V12, producing 443 hp (330 kW) and weighing 693 lb (314 kg). It wa ...

powered Hawk. He won the 1925

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is awarded annually "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been t ...

for his development of the Reed Aeronautic Propeller. In December 1934 Reed donated an endowment to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences creating an annual award for the winner of "Experimental or theoretical investigations have a beneficial influence on the development of practical aeronautics". In 1881 he became a hereditary member of the Rhode Island

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

. Reed died in 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Sylvanus 1854 births 1935 deaths Collier Trophy recipients