Arthur Ernest Bishop AM (19172006) was a noted Australian engineer and inventor.

Life

Bishop was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1917. He demonstrated highly innovative capabilities during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

relating to overcoming problems of instability of

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 engines ...

tail-wheel

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

during take-off and landing, and was awarded license fees for his inventions. These were significant and partly as a result, he was able in 1954 to move to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States, with ideas and patents to improve steering systems for automobiles, and for the next two decades introduced improvements into various vehicles around the world mainly in aspects of hydraulically powered and variable-ratio

steering Steering is a system of components, linkages, and other parts that allows a driver to control the direction of the vehicle. Introduction The most conventional steering arrangement allows a driver to turn the front wheels of a vehicle using ...

. In order to license the ideas or supply purpose-built manufacturing equipment, he developed both lower-cost methods for mass production, while also giving improvements to steering feel and vehicle response. By the 1970s he had returned to Australia as a base, and had developed a variable-ratio

rack and pinion A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven ...

using a normal pinion, regarded at the time by gearing experts as being theoretically impossible, and also a low-cost forging method for the variable rack to eliminate machining of the teeth. His organisation grew to include over 200 personnel world-wide, and he created over 300 patents."driven by IDEAS", Clare Brown, UNSW Press 2003. He died in 2006.

Awards

*1984 Member of the Order of Australia. *2001 Centenary Medal *As well as receiving a number of Australian awards, in 2003 he was elected as the first Australian Fellow of the

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

International."AUTO ENGINEER", March 2004, p25 ISSN 0036-0651

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Arthur Ernest 1917 births 2006 deaths Australian mechanical engineers Members of the Order of Australia People educated at North Sydney Boys High School