Oscar H. Banker, born as Asatour Sarafian Ասատուր Սարաֆեան (1895 – January 1979) was an Armenian American inventor who invented the automatic transmission for automobiles. Considered as the ‘father of automatic transmission’ he was also responsible for the invention of the needle-less inoculation gun, the primary controls of the first Sikorsky helicopter, and power steering.
Sarafyan was born in Kayseri (Կեսարիա) in 1895 in a cave his parents took shelter to escape the Hamidian Massacres (Համիտեան Ջարդերը) of the Hamidiye cavalry regiments of the Ottoman Empire, and migrated to the USA in 1914.
Arriving in Chicago as a teenager, Safarian adopted his new name Oscar Banker. His first break through as an inventor happened when General Motors adopted his automatic transmission system after their own semi-automatic system failed due to many flaws.
Oscar Banker proposed an automatic transmission system for the company that would be more safe and durable. After battling for eight years with automobile engineering companies, Banker's proposition was accepted and his automatic transmission was adopted by General Motors. Eventually, Banker came to be known as "the man who made [consumer advocate] Ralph Nader." He was also mentioned in Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed.
Banker was also noted for his contribution to aviation mechanics. He invented the primary control of the first Sikorsky helicopter. The invention eventually led to the mass production of helicopters during World War II.
Banker invented a pneumatic inoculation gun. Banker's wife heard on the television that military surgeon Dr. Robert Hingson suggested such a mechanism, and she told her husband. Banker ultimately patented the gun in 1968. The gun was accepted by the Med-E-Jet company in Cleveland, Ohio. It had the ability to administer 2,000 shots an hour. The gun was used throughout the world. When Grenada suffered an epidemic, Med-E-Jet issued many of Banker's pneumatic inoculation guns. On August 2, 1979, Grenada issued a postage stamp to commemorate his achievement
However his inventions did not stay limited to the automotive industry. During WWII, he invented the primary controls of the first Sikorsky helicopter, which lead to a mass production. He’s also the patent holder of many other inventions.
At the age of 83, Oscar Banker died in 1979, Cleveland Ohio. His memoirs titled ‘Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor: An Immigrant's Romance’ were published in 1983 by Bob Hull.
Some of his Notable Patents are:
- Band Saw Sharpener U.S. Patent Number 1,634,281, filing date: 3 March 1924, issue date: 5 July 1927.
- Change Speed Transmission U.S. Patent Number 1,985,884, filing date: 14 December 1932, issue date: 1 January 1935.
- Change Speed Transmission Mechanism U.S. Patent Number 2,198,072, filing date: 31 May 1934, issue date: 23 April 1940.
- Automatic Transmission U.S. Patent 2,199,095, filing date: 18 October 1934, issue date: 30 April 1940.
- Gun Type Inoculator U.S. Patent Number 3,518,990, filing date: 2 May 1968, issue date: 7 July 1970.
- Self-cleaning Apparatus for Purifying Sea Water by Distillation U.S. Patent Number 2,735,807, filing date: 20 October 1951, issue date: 21 February 1956.
- Change-Speed Gearing for Aircraft Propellers U.S. Patent Number 2,348,716, filing date: 15 May 1941, issue date: 16 May 1944.
- Power-steering Mechanism U.S. Patent Number 2,977,813, filing date: 13 April 1955, issue date: 4 April 1961.
Sources:
- Mouradian, George (1995). Armenian infotext (1st ed.). Southgate, Mich.: Bookshelf
Publishers. ISBN 9780963450920.
- Oscar Banker. WORLDLAB. Retrieved 27 February 2013. The creator of the first practical
automatic transmission for cars and buses.
- Stevens, Monica (August 1, 2010). "The Armenian Community in Michigan". Examiner.
Asatour Sarafian, inventor of the auto transmission.
- Are Armenians the only victims of 1915? Agos. Retrieved from http://www.agos.com.tr/.../are-armenians-the-only-victims...
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