Woodward, Inc. is an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

, and service provider of

control system A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial c ...

s and control system components (e.g. fuel pumps, engine controls, actuators, air valves, fuel nozzles, and electronics) for

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 ...

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, industrial engines and

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...

, power generation and mobile industrial equipment. Woodward, Inc. was founded as The Woodward Governor Company by Amos Woodward in 1870. Initially, the company made controls for waterwheels (first patent No. 103,813), and then moved to

hydro Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

turbines. In the 1920s and 1930s, Woodward began designing controls for

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

and other reciprocating engines and for industrial turbines. Also in the 1930s, Woodward developed a governor for variable-pitch aircraft

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s. Woodward parts were notably used in the GE engine on

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

's first turbine-powered aircraft. Starting in the 1950s, Woodward began designing electronic controls, first

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

and then

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

units.

Historical information

The company was founded in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

, in 1870 with Amos W. Woodward's invention of a non compensating mechanical waterwheel governor (U.S. patent No. 103,813). Thirty years later, his son Elmer patented the first successful mechanical compensating governor for hydraulic turbines (U.S. patent No. 583,527). In 1933, the company expanded its product line to include diesel engine controls (U.S. patent No. 2,039,507) and aircraft propeller governors (British patent No. 470,284). Woodward governors followed the rapid advancement of diesel engine applications for railroads, maritime and electrical generation in many fields. The advent of gas turbine engines for aircraft and industrial uses offered still more opportunities for Woodward designed fuel controls. And, of course, the science of electronics has added impetus to this industry. Elmer E. Woodward conceived, designed, and developed the first successful propeller control in 1933. This model PW-34 propeller governor is on display at the Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

Modern day company

As of 2007, Woodward Governor Company became a billion-dollar company with establishments worldwide, including Japan, China, and Europe. On January 26, 2011, the company announced that shareholders had approved the name change to Woodward, Inc.Woodward Governor drops the ‘Governor’
''Bizjournals.com'', 26 January 2011 A growing number of general aviation and commuter aircraft rely on Woodward AES overspeed governors, synchronizers and synchrophasers for turboshaft, turboprop, and reciprocating engines. , approximately 34% of the company's sales were to the defense market, including parts for the

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...

($645,000 revenue per aircraft) and the

F/A-18 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

($335,000 revenue per aircraft). The engines that are controlled by Woodward Aircraft engines systems include those from Honeywell (

TPE331 The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was originally designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from . Design and developm ...

), General Electric (CT7), Pratt & Whitney Canada (PT6A series), Raytheon, Vans, and Rotax Corporations. In April 2018, Woodward Inc. purchased L'Orange GmbH for $859 million. This supplier of fuel-injection components for stationary, marine, offshore, and industrial engines was part of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

's power-systems business in Germany, the US and China. On January 12, 2020, the company announced an intent to merge with

Hexcel Hexcel Corporation is an American public industrial materials company, based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company develops and manufactures structural materials. Hexcel was formed from the combination of California Reinforced Plastics (founded ...

, according to the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

. On April 20, it was announced the merger was called off, as a result of the health crisis caused by the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. The COVID19 crisis also led to a sharp drop in revenues for Woodward, Inc.Pat Ferrier
Woodward's sales plunge amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
''Coloradoan.com'', 7 August 2020

Woodward family patents

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References

{{Authority control 1870 establishments in Illinois Aerospace companies of the United States Aerospace materials Aircraft component manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Fort Collins, Colorado Companies listed on the Nasdaq Electrical engineering companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Colorado Manufacturing companies established in 1870 Turbine manufacturers