Noel Desmond Gray

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications.
Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page.
This article has been tagged since March 2008.

Noel Desmond Gray (December 26, 1920 – November 1999) was an Australian engineer and co-founder of the medical electronics company Telectronics Pty Ltd.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Gray was born to Hilda Alice Gray and Joseph Albert Gray on Boxing Day 1920 in Crookwell, New South Wales, Australia. He was the great grandson of George H. Hedger who may have been the inspiration for the Banjo Patterson poem "The Man from Snowy River".[2] Gray grew up for a time on his grandfather's farm "Middle View" named for its view of the Snowy River near Dalgety.

He attended Sydney Technical School and after passing the intermediate certificate he was employed as a wirer for radio manufacturers AWA Australia and then Kreisler Australasia.

[edit] World War II

Gray enlisted in the army in August 1942. [3] During World War II he was trained at the Army School of Radio Physics, whereupon he became a radar technician and Senior Radar Artificer. He also attended No. 6 OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit) but was denied a commission after failing an associated engineering course.

Gray returned to LHQ where he was placed in charge of the Drawing Office and maintenance section. He helped to install the radar defenses on Rottnest Island for Western Australia and was the Senior Radar Artificer at Exmouth Gulf.[4] He worked on the first US-designed RADAR unit in Australia,[1] which was subsequently used to direct bombers during the Battle of the Coral Sea.[1]

Gray was discharged from the army on 10 May 1946 with the rank of Staff Sergeant posted to 2 SPECIAL RADAR DET RAA.[3]

[edit] Post war

Gray was accepted to study medicine at the University of Sydney and in 1948 he began to study to become a doctor. After passing the first year of the degree he became interested in the electrical workings of the human body and was given laboratory space to perform his own experiments.[1]

In 1950 he married Beth Simes, and in the same year withdrew from his studies to work for the Department of Civil Aviation on RADAR installation at Sydney Airport, and on engineering projects for the Metropolitan Water Sewerage & Drainage Board

In 1952 he returned to work for the Philips' subsidiary Kreisler. Initially he was employed as the sole design engineer on a secret project for the Long Range Weapons Establishment.[1] He then designed and developed printed circuit boards that were used in a production run of Kriesler Duplex radios. A number of patents were taken out on his work.[1]

Gray's innovations to printed circuit technology included double-sided copper laminated phenolic resin sheet, point to point connection between both sides of a double-sided PCB, electroplating copper laminate to improve solder flow, photo-etch system for PC boards using photosensitive flux film technology, a system of flow soldering PC boards using a standing wave in a molton solder bath to eliminate hand soldering. He also experimented in resin encapsulation of various electronic devices including making an implantable circuit using torch batteries and a simple flip-flop circuit. Following a study tour in 1956 and a long visit to Philips NV in the Netherlands, he returned home, joined the Management Committee and was appointed National Service Manager of Kreisler.[1]

Gray resigned from Kreisler in 1959, to start a medical electronics business, an ambition he had developed while studying medicine in 1948. [1] To finance this venture he started a specialist TV repair business[5] and was a founder of ESA (later called TESA).[1]

[edit] Telectronics

Telectronics first pacemaker model P1, 1964
Telectronics first pacemaker model P1, 1964

Telectronics Pty Limited was incorporated in Sydney, Australia, in 1963[6][1] by engineers Gray and Geoffrey Wickham initially designing and manufacturing industrial and scientific instruments but diversifying into medical electronics and commencing cardiac pacemaker research in 1964.[7].[8] The corporate name was derived from "Television and Electronic Services", operated by Noel Gray as a sole trader from 1959-1964.[1]

The company made significant contributions to pacemaker technology including the first definition of the relationship between surface area of the heart electrodes & pacing pulse characteristics, the first use of integrated circuits and the first hermetic titanium encapsulation.[6][1]

Control of Telectronics was gained by a private company Nucleus in 1967, later to became a public listed company Nucleus Limited which was acquired by Pacific Dunlop. However, claims resulting from the sale of faulty pacemaker electrode leads led to eventual sale of the assets of the company and Pacific Dunlop restructuring itself into Ansell.

[edit] Death

Noel Desmond Gray died in November of 1999, leaving his wife Beth, daughter Robyn, and son Christopher.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gray, Christopher & Gray, Noel (1993). The Early Years of Telectronics. (self-published). ISBN 0646151347. 
  2. ^ "Death of George H. Hedger", Monaro Mercury, 1912-08-03. 
  3. ^ a b Listing for Noel Desmond Gray. World War II nominal roll. Australian Government - Department of Veterans' Affairs. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  4. ^ Dunn, Peter. Peter Dunn's Australia at War.
  5. ^ Mingay's Weekly, Nov 27, 1959
  6. ^ a b "Telectronics and The History Of Pacemaking In Australia", Wickham G G, Jeffcoat KW, 1987 manuscript held by http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au. University Of Melbourne .(www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au.)
  7. ^ Foot, Robert. "Rare breed of native industrialist: Paul Murray Trainor, AO Industrialist 1927-2006", Obituaries, Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-04-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-04. 
  8. ^ Display panels tracing the history of 'Telectronics' cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, 1990. Objects from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved on 2006-12-04.