Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2813

Carbon of letter from Spencer MacCallum to Oliver Berliner, c/o Radio Station KFAC, 5773 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

May 13, 1973

Dear Mr. Berliner:

I enjoyed your interview on KFAC this morning tremendously. It was doubly fascinating because of my grandfather’s productive association with Mr. Berliner after the turn of the century.

     Mr. Berliner had hopes of making his third fortune with the helicopter and successfully demonstrated the principle with a set of /rotary/ blades my grandfather, Spencer Heath, designed and made for him. They secured their device with a length of chain /so the contraption would not fly out of control/ and demonstrated that the weight of the engine could be lifted from the ground_.

This was the beginning of my grandfather’s interest in aerodynamics, an interest which led him to found the American Propeller & Mfg Co., makers of the then celebrated “Paragon” propeller. My grandfather developed before World War I the first machine mass production of airplane propellers. Subsequently he developed and demonstrated, in 1922, the first engine powered and controlled, variable and reversible-pitch propeller. In 1929 He sold his patents and production facilities to Bendix Aviation. So Mr. Berliner’s interest in the heli­copter had, indirectly, a significant influence on the early development of aviation.

My grandfather was also at one time general manager of Mr. Berliner’s Gyro Motor Company in Washington. I remember hearing of my grandmother’s frustration at trying to serve what she considered proper family meals. Mr. Berliner and my grandfather would work in the shed behind the house, “tinkering with machinery,” until after 10:30 at night, totally absorbed in what they were doing and without a thought of supper.

I would enjoy meeting you sometime if we could find a mutually agreeable opportunity. Do you ever have occasion to visit the San Pedro area? It would be a pleasure entertaining you for lunch one day.

   Sincerely yours,

  Spencer Heath MacCallum