Joel Spira (businessman)

Joel Solon Spira (March 1, 1927 – April 8, 2015) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and business magnate.

He invented a version of the light-dimmer switch, now legendary, for use in homes around the United States and changed his Lutron Electronics Company into a major force in the production of lighting controllers.

Early life

Spira was born in New York City in 1927.^[1] He received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1948 and became a benefactor with his wife, including the School of Mechanical Engineering Ruth and Joel Spira Award and others.^[2]

In the 1950s, he worked for an aerospace company, where he was assigned to develop a reliable trigger for atomic weapons. Suggested by others at the laboratory, he called it the thyristor, a solid state semiconductor. During his research, he recognized that the device could also be employed to vary the intensity of light.

A lighting dimmer existed at the time, but was expensive, complicated, and necessitated the use of large rheostats, about 10 in (25 cm) in size. Even though there were dimming devices being used for theater lighting, they were not appropriate for home application due to their being far too big and bulky. Spira successfully manipulated a thyristor, a solid-state semiconductor small enough to fit into the wall box that housed a standard light switch. Unlike theatrical dimmers, Spira's standalone device was not only small enough for home application, but it also saved an appreciable amount of energy — neither was a small feat.

He resigned from his job at the aerospace laboratory to concentrate on refining the device. Spira thence went onto conduct experiments in a bedroom of his Riverside Drive apartment in New York City, which led to a device capable of dimming the lighting in a home or office setting.^[3]

Formation of Lutron

Spira became, as a result of his discovery, best know for his initial, seminal invention: the first successful solid state-electronic dimmer. He filed for a patent on July 15, 1959 (U.S. 3,032,688).^[4] On the basis of the dimmer alone, he and his wife Ruth, who was an active associate, founded the Lutron Electronics Company in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1961. The privately held firm, whose headquarters remains there today, has grown into an international manufacturer and distributor of not only dimmers, but also of motorized and automated window-covering systems, as well as lighting fixtures and temperature controls. Its hundreds of products have a reputation for being reliable and, from an industrial-design aesthetic, particularly the dimmers, have discouraged imitations.

Spira headed the firm for 54 years and more recently became chair of the board and research director. He died in 2015 at the age of 88 from a heart attack in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania.^[5][6][7]

Just prior to his death of natural causes and remaining active to some degree at Lutron, he was collaborating with company engineers on a new device.

References