Harold McMaster
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Harold A. McMaster (1916-2003) was an inventor with over 100 patents and entrepreneur who founded four companies. Fortune Magazine called him "The Glass Genius".[1] Some believe he will be remembered as the "father" of commercial-scale solar energy, having practically handed the needed technology to society on a platter in the 1990s.[1] His McMaster Rotary Engine, however, may yet prove to be his greatest invention.
McMaster was an inventor early on. His father gave him a set of tools at age 6. By 8, he had built a set of farm machinery, by 10, a threshing machine that husked corn, and by 12 he was making car motors.[1]
Following his graduation from Ohio State with a combined master's degree in physics, mathematics, and astronomy in 1939, McMaster worked as the first research physicist ever employed by the Libbey Owens Ford Glass in Toledo, Ohio.[2] He received his first patent during WWII for a periscope used by fighter pilots to see behind them. [3]
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[edit] Permaglass
In 1948, he started his own company, Permaglass. McMaster had a reputation for moving fast. Within 3 months, he was producing glass for appliances, and for display cases; within 3 years, Permaglass was a leading manufacturer of glass plates for television sets. As the auto and electronics industries boomed in the 1950s, Permaglass was very successful. McMaster merged Permaglass into Guardian Industries of Detroit, Michigan in 1969, creating the third-largest glass company in the world, and left the company in 1971.[1]
[edit] Glasstech
In 1971, with partners Norman Nitschke and Frank Larimer,[4] McMaster started another glass company, Glasstech, which he sold in 1987 for $100 million.[5] Glasstech was not an overnight success; in fact, they filed for bankruptcy protection more than once. However, McMaster, was the world's leading authority on tempering glass, that is, compressing glass to add tensile strength[6] and Glasstech essentially created the market for tempered glass, receiving not only the sticker price, but also a royalty on glass produced, for machines that produce 80% of the world’s automotive glass.[5]
[edit] Solar cells
Inspired by a vacation in sunny Arizona, McMaster began another company, Glasstech Solar, in 1984, to produce cost-effective solar cells. After doing little except absorbing $12 million cash, McMaster gave up on the amorphous silicon research, offered to pay back the 57 investors who followed him into solar cells, and raised yet another $15 million to create Solar Cells Inc., which worked with cadmium telluride technology. By 1997, Solar Cells had a prototype production machine. McMaster, who thought big, referred to that unit as a "toy" even though its capacity is equivalent to about one-sixth of the global production. In 1995, he brought in a new president, and bought still more stock in the company to fund research, although the company had yet to pay a dividend.[5] According to Ken Zweibel, head of the Thin Film Partnership program at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, SCI is clearly the industry leader in photovoltaic technology.[5] In 1999, True North Partners, LLC purchased controlling interest, and renamed the company First Solar LLC.
[edit] McMaster rotary engine
Since the 1940s, McMaster was sketching and tinkering with models, continuously reworking various designs for what has since become the McMaster Rotary Engine (MRE). Son Ronald started working on the project in the 1970s, and brother Robert joined in after the sale of Solar Cells in 1999. The engine[3]
- Weighs only one-tenth as much as a current six-cylinder engine
- Has only two moving parts and eight parts total
- Utilizes a unique, two-part fuel system based on hydrogen and oxygen
- Can function under water or deep in space
- Is shaped like a drum with the same circumference as a basketball
Unlike the Wankel rotary, which has a heavy rotor, the MRE rotor is light wobble plate, promising greater efficiency. See animation In addition to the two-cycle basketball model, work is continuing on a two-cycle engine about the size of a coffeecan that could be built into wheel hubs,[7] and a four-cycle gasoline version.
[edit] Philanthropy
The Harold and Helen McMaster Foundation was founded in 1988, and has made contributions of more than $150 million to libraries, colleges, universities and hospitals in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.[3]
"Harold's contributions to higher education rank him at the very top of the line in American philanthropy, in my opinion. A real middle-American all-star," said Doug Neckers, chairman of the Harold and Helen McMaster Leadership Institute for Scientific and Technical Industry at Bowling Green State University.[1]
Millions went to Defiance College, site of the McMaster Center. McMaster was especially appreciative of DC as they were the only college that offered him a full scholarship to him; with 12 siblings, and a tenant farmer for a father, that was critical. McMaster became a trustee of the College and encouraged others to contribute. The University of Toledo named their physics and astronomy building is named for him, and the McMaster Rotary Engine is being developed there. At the Medical College of Ohio, there is the McMaster Recombinant DNA Laboratory. Bowling Green State University is the home of the McMaster Institute. The Toledo-Lucas County Library got $850,000 to build the McMaster Center for Lifelong Learning.
[edit] Awards
- Doctor of Science (hononary), Ohio State University
- Doctor of Science (honorary), Defiance College
- Pilgrim Award, Defiance College
- Ohio State University Department of Physics Distinguished Alumni Award
- Ohio Department of Development Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 1998
- National Glass Industry's Phoenix Award
- Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, Dayton
- Ohio Science and Technology Hall of Fame, Columbus.
[edit] Family
Harold McMaster was born in Deshler, Ohio. He met his wife, the former Helen Clark, while both were students at Defiance College in the 1930s. In addition to his widow are four children: Ronald McMaster, Jeanine Sandwisch, Nancy Cobie, and Alan McMaster. Harold McMaster died in 2003.[2]
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