| Mr. Walter J. Krupick Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation Walter J. Krupick invented the two-axis, dynamically turned gyroscopes (Gyroflex and Conex Gyro) which provided a new, low-cost, highly reliable solution to gyroscopic sensors for navigation. This versatile device has guided aircraft, missiles, spacecraft, the gunner's line of sight in tanks and has been used in Air Force, Navy and Army equipment. It has been the most widely used gyroscope for inertial navigation during the 1970s and 1980s. The unique feature of the dynamically tuned rotor gyroscope is a frictionless two-axis flexure suspension, which serves to support the inertia wheel, drive it up to synchronous speed and provides an isoelastic support. Over 50,000 two-axis dynamically turned gyros have been constructed at Kearfott. They have been used extensively over the last 35 years and will continue to be used until the year 2030. The revenue Kearfott enjoyed as a result of this product is estimated at more than several billion dollars. Mr. Krupick has been with Kearfott Guidance and Navigation Corporation for over 51 years and has designed most of the sensor products manufactured there. He has been issued 22 patents related to inertial sensor products, including floated gyros, two-axis flexure suspended gyros, accelerometers, torque motors, synchros, flexure suspensions and the Gyroflex Gyro. He has served as Vice President and General Manager of the Gyrodynamics Division and was honored as "Engineer of the Year" in 1988 for his outstanding technical contributions in the development of inertial navigation sensors. |
