INVENTORS HALL OF FAME
Lear
Patent No. 1,944,139 Radio Apparatus Car Radio
Though his name is most often associated with corporate jet airplanes, William Lear earlier made his mark in car radios and by inventing the eight-track tape player.
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, Lear attended public school in Chicago through the eighth grade. At age 16 he joined the Navy, where he learned radio electronics. Following World War I, he took up flying.
An early Lear design, a practical car radio, launched the Motorola Company. RCA purchased a radio amplifier design of Lear's, a universal unit usable in their entire line. Lear designed the eight-track player in the 1960s.
Lear began designing navigational aids for aircraft in the 1930s and ultimately filled more than $100 million in defense orders during World War II, under the names Lear Corp. and LearAvia Corp. After the war, he developed a lightweight automatic pilot. In 1962, he sold his interest in Lear, Inc. to form Learjet, which within five years became the leading supplier of corporate jets.
Later, Lear devoted his energies to the development of an antipollution steam engine.
By the 1970s, his aircraft designs included the Canadair Challenger and the Lear Fan, an airplane built entirely from composites. Lear died during the development of the Lear Fan, and although there were a number of advance orders, it was never put into production.
The above information was supplied by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc., Room 1D01-Crystal Plaza 3, 2021 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202. Videotapes and printed materials are currently available. For more information, visit the Foundation's web site at http://www.invent.org
Previous Index
Idea Help
Next
