Clarence Walton Musser (April 5, 1909, Mount Joy, Pennsylvania – June 8, 1998) inventor of

strain wave gearing Strain wave gearing (also known as harmonic gearing) is a type of mechanical gear system that uses a flexible spline with external teeth, which is deformed by a rotating elliptical plug to engage with the internal gear teeth of an outer spline. ...

and also credited with over 250 major inventions and discoveries. Some of his inventions were the Army

recoilless rifle A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

, aircraft personnel catapults, instrumentation for underwater detonation testing. His varied career includes experience in many diverse fields. He was research advisor to the Department of Defense for 15 years. With other industrial and government organizations, he has served as chief engineer, director of research, and consultant. He held professional engineering licences in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. As a research adviser to United Shoe Machinery Corp.,Despite their name, the United Shoe Machinery Corp. were important constructors of many novel pieces of military hardware in the 1950s. he explored nonrigid-body mechanics, using controlled deflection as an operating medium. In 1957 Musser announced invention of

also known as harmonic gearing (U. S. patent 2,906,143). He is also the inventor of first fluidic stepper actuatorsW. Musser, “Fluid wave generator for harmonic drive,” May 7 1963, U.S. Patent 3088333
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musser, Walton Engineers from Pennsylvania 1909 births 1998 deaths People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors