Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2972

Newspaper clipping from Albuquerque Journal, includes a Journal photo of Heath with his daughter, Mrs. Heath MacCallum, and granddaughter-in-law, Mrs. Crawford MacCallum.

December 30, 1960

 

 

 

Inventor of Reversible Propeller is Visitor Here

By Edna Steinman

 

The inventor of the revers­ible pitch propeller and prin­cipal supplier of propellers during World War I is visiting relatives in Albuquerque.

 

 He is Spencer Heath, who came to spend the holidays at the home of his grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford MacCallum, 3000 Indiana NE. Also visiting here is Mrs. Heath MacCallum, Waterford, Va., a daughter of Heath and mother of Crawford MacCallum.

 

 Heath, who pioneered in aviation engineering for sev­eral decades. Has been engaged in various fields of engineer­ing, practiced law, pursued horticulture as an avocation, helped found a school of social science in New York City and has written a book which is a social analysis.

 

Formed Propeller Company

 

Heath, who will be 85 next Tuesday, nearly was a charter member of the Aero Club of America, a group of scientists and sportsmen who organized about the time the Wright bro­thers were making the first flights with their heavier-than-air craft.

 

 After receiving his law de­gree from National University in Washington, D. C, Heath specialized in patent and engineering law.

 

 Among his early principal clients were Simon and Christopher Lake, who were work­ing on submarine development, and Emile Berliner, who was interested in helicopters. Simon Lake worked out the idea of submerging by negative buoy­ancy, which is used today and Berliner was working to over­come problems of helicopter design.

 

 Heath says he did propeller designing for both the Lakes and Berliner. Out of this inter­est grew the American Propel­ler Co., which he founded in 1910. His company was the first to mass-produce propellers.

 

Big War I Supplier

 

Heath’s company became the principal, almost sole, supplier of airplane propellers during World War I. He supplied the parts for principal aircraft builders such as Douglas and Curtis as well as for the Unit­ed States, Canadian and foreign governments.

 

 A considerable portion of the profits from his company was consumed in the development of the reversible pitch propel­ler. The idea of the variable pitch propeller had been util­ized on small bats /boats?/, but the changing of the blade position had to be done by hand.

 

Heath’s development utilized the power of the motor to change the pitch, which made the variable and thus reversi­ble propeller adaptable to air­craft.

 

 In 1930 Heath sold all his interests in the company and his services as a research en­gineer to the Bendix Co. After spending two years with Ben­dix, he retired to a 110-acre country home in Maryland where he began to develop his hobby of horticulture.

 

Attracted by Natural Sciences

 

Through reading many text­books, he became interested in the natural sciences. From these studies he went on to propose new and radical changes in the social realm. The talks he gave and the pamphlets he wrote on his studies have been incorporated into a book, “Citadel, Market and Altar,” which was pub­lished in 1956.

 

 The book describes the al­ternative to bureaucratic gov­ernment, which is a proprietary administration of communities, the author explained. It has been favorably reviewed by leaders in economics, philosophy, business and religion.

 

 Heath helped to found the Henry George School of Social Science in New York and was on its faculty for several years. “Not that I am a Henry George fan,” he explained. “They are land Communists. I had to outgrow it.”

 

At present, Heath holds a quasi-faculty post with the Harvey Mudd College of Sci­ence and Engineering at Claremont, Calif. He was invited to participate in this experi­mental position because of his eminence in the professional and business world and his interest in the humanities. The step is a move to bring more cultural aspects into technical schools, he explained.

 

 Heath plans to return to Claremont in several days. His daughter may accompany him for a visit there.

 

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