AUSTRALIAN INVENTORS,SCIENTISTS ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS
HALL OF HONOUR
THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO AUSTRALIAN INVENTORS, SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, DESIGNERS AND OTHERS WHO HAVE MADE A SIGNIFICENT CONTRIBUTION TO IMPROVING LIFE THROUGH INVENTION AND INNOVATION.
FURTHER NOMINATIONS INVITED
ENTRIES WILL ADDED AS TIME PERMITS
ARTHUR BISHOP
Probably Australias most successful independant inventor with over 300 patents, mainly in automotive steering technology + other transport systems.
Used in aproximately 25% of cars worldwide, including Mercedes Benz .
Marcus Oliphant
Leader of the team that developed the strapped resonent cavity magnetron, the heart of microwave radar which was credited with saving the UK during WW11.
(Later Sir Marcus Oliphant)
The Magnetron is also the heart of Micro wave ovens.
John Ridley and John Bull - Stripper Harvesting Machine.
Dr William Bland - The Atmotic Air Ship
James Harrison - Refrigeration
Frederick George Wolsley - Sheep Sheering Machine.
David Unaipon - improved sheep sheering machine - Aboriginal Inventor - The Man On The 50 Dollar Note.
Richard Boyer Smith - Stump Jump Plough which was able to ride over tree stumps
Louis Brennan - Torpedoe
James Alston Smith - Windmills
Hugh Mckay - Sunshine Harvester
Christian Koerstz - Wool Press
George Chaffey - Pumping Equipment
Lawrence Hargrave - The Box Kite, Radial Piston Engines and Curved Wings for aircraft ( used by Wright brothers)
Coolgardie Safe - Evaporative food cooling equipment
FranK Bottrill - ' Pedrail ' ( wheels with shoes)
George Julius - Automatic Totalizator
(mechanical computer for betting)
Anthony George Michell - Tilting Padd Thrust Bearing for ships and Crankless Engine using Swashplate. Michel became a patent attorney to prepare his own patents.
Chales Vincent Potter and Guillaume Delprat - Flotation system of extracting zinc from ore.
Walter Hume - Centrifugal system of manufacturing concrete pipes.
John Dethridge - Irrigation system, weirs and metering.
Lance de Mole - Military Tank.
Headley Shepherd Taylor - Sunshine Agricultural Crop Header.
George Nicholas - Aspro
Lance Corporal John Beech - Periscope Rifle
Corporal A. R. Muirhead - Anti Jamming systems and paper feed belts for machine guns.
Cliff Howard - Rotary Hoe
Alf Tragaeger - Pedal powered wireless system used by Australian flying doctors
Robert Falkiner - Suger Cane Harvester
Lou Benjamin - paper making from Australian native hardwoods.
Lewis Bandt - Ford Utility ( pick-up) vehicle.
Evelyn Owen - Owen Sub-Macine Gun
John Pomeroy - Explosive Bullets.
Peter S Barma - Improved bullet protection for military vehicle radiators
George Shepheard - Shepheard Castor.
Lance Hill - Raising Gear System for Rotary clothes drying system. Hills improvement and commercial innovations have led to a business that has manufactured and exported over 5 million clothes lines + many other products worldwide.
Ken Metcalf and Bob Wright - improverments to photo-copy equipment.
Oscar Vonwiller - discovery of a dry - copy imaging process utilising photo conductive properties of selenium - (later perfected by Chester Carlson in USA as Xerography)
Ken Gaunt - Suger Cane Harvesting Machine
Mervyn Victor Richardson - Improvements to 2 stroke engine rotary blade lawn mowers
Alan Walsh - Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.
David Henshaw - CSIRO -Repco cotton Spinning Machine
Ralph Sarich - Orbital Piston Engine (although engine did not reach production, fuel technology improvements have been licensed to several engine companies world-wide. BHP invested some 50 million dollars into project after the engine was seen on the ABC TV Inventors Program. Sarich later relinquished most of his interests in The Orbital Engine Company and entered the property development industry, becoming one of Australias wealthiest individuals - founded on his inventive talents)
Leo Port - Port-El lift control system. (The desired floor is preselected prior to entering elevator. System was originally used at the Milk Board, Sydney University Law School building, in Phillip St and later at 45 Clarence St, Sydney, coincidentally the building housing the NSW office of IP Australia -the Patent Office, until 2007 )
Mike Debenham and Sir Ian McLennn - Push Button Can
After the introduction of ring pull beverage cans in the
late 1960's an alternative was sought to the shortcomings of the original versions in which the 'opening was separated from the can and became a litter / sharp edge problem. Mclennan suggested a push in opening 'button/s' system which would be retained to the can but provide content access and this system and variations was perfected by Debenham. Although the Presto system is not currently in production in Australia it is probably the
Australian invention that achieved the greatest productione world wide - billions of units per year.
Jack Grant - Inflatable aircraft escape slide / raft.
In 1965 Jack Crant was the Qantas airline operations safety superintendent and he developed an inflatable slide which allow passengers to easily escape from an aircraft in distress and where the landing is on water, his invention allows passengers to use the slide as a raft.
