Howard Freeman '40—distinguished inventor and industrialist
Howard Freeman '40 built a long and distinguished career on the adage that necessity is the mother of invention. At a recent talk at WPI, the inventor, entrepreneur, and emeritus member of the WPI Board of Trustees described his pioneering work in fire protection and valve engineering as "being presented with a serious need, inventing a way to fill it, testing the idea, and then putting it into service.” Today his nozzle and valve designs are used in a myriad of firefighting and industrial, commercial, and scientific applications throughout the world, from ships and crash rescue vehicles to processing plants and spacecraft, and even potentially for generation of biofuels.
Freeman, who holds 24 patents in fire protection and valve technology, began his career at the Rockwood Sprinkler Company in Worcester after graduating from WPI in 1940. He was hired to be the head of a new department for research and development because of his reputation for being a "rebel” at WPI.
When the U.S. Navy in the spring of 1942 called upon the American fire protection industry to send representatives to a conference in Washington, Freeman was among those selected to attend. At that time, the U.S. was losing ships to fires caused by enemy action, to a very alarming degree. The straight sea water streams used from hoses were completely inadequate to fight the oil and internal compartment fires resulting from shell fire or torpedo action.
To answer this need, Freeman invented a water fog nozzle that effectively extinguished oil fires by discharging a very fine spray of sea water gently over the burning surface. The nozzle also could shield the fire fighters from fires that could come from various parts of the ships. Immediately after these nozzles began to be produced, Freeman noted, the Navy used them to save one of its largest troop ships, the USS Wakefield (formerly named the "Manhattan”) with thousands on board, which had caught fire off the coast of Nova Scotia; and immediately thereafter to save an oil tanker which was burning off the coast of Virginia. The nozzles soon were issued to all of the Navy ships with spectacular results continuing throughout the war. "It was really an important contribution” he said.
In early spring of 1944, the Navy called on Freeman to help solve the problem of destructive gasoline fires caused by Japanese Kamikaze pilots crashing their planes into the U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific. Freeman explained that the available fog nozzles using just seawater couldn't keep up with the too volatile gasoline fires on the decks. These fires required a gentle application of foam from the fog nozzles. Freeman designed a fog nozzle that would mix the foam solution with sea water and air to provide what was necessary. The nozzle was extremely effective. Freeman's fog foam nozzles are credited with saving five aircraft carriers, carrying thousands of personnel each, from destruction and sinking during World War II.
Not long after the war, Freeman's fog foam invention made its way onto land. He recalled a DC2 plane crash at New York's LaGuardia airport that killed everyone on board. This led to the development of airport-based crash trucks, having fog foam nozzles and related equipment of Freeman's design, for fighting fires arising from crashes near or at the airports. Shortly after the installation of a prototype on a crash truck at LaGuardia, the truck and crew saved a DC6 from what would have been a disastrous fire. The U.S. Air Force then developed a fleet of crash trucks equipped with Freeman's fog foam nozzles for its facilities around the world. All in all, countless lives have been saved as a result of Freeman's fire protection inventions. The fog and fog foam designs are the standard on ships and crash trucks to this day. "I was grateful to be a part of it,” Freeman said.
Fueled by an entrepreneurial spirit and "an urge to be on the other side of the desk,” Freeman turned his attention to valve technology and started his own company, Jamesbury Corp., in 1954. Freeman was aware that valve technology in general had not kept up with most other advances in technology and that there was a need for substantial improvement in both design and performance for valves of all sizes. At that time, Freeman lived on Jamesbury Drive in Worcester, which was both the place where the new venture was started and the reason for its name. There, Freeman invented for ball valves self-actuating seats that were self-compensating for temperature, pressure, and wear. It was a revolutionary idea and worked dramatically well. "It really was a breakthrough” said Freeman. The seat design was later used extensively in butterfly valves.
Several years after the company started, the U. S. Navy came to Freeman with the need for a new kind of valve for nuclear submarines while the first two were under construction. Jamesbury's design solved all of the application requirements and would become standard for the nuclear fleet.
Built on the belief that "people were our most important asset,” Jamesbury Corp. grew to become one of the world's major valve manufacturing firms by the end of the 1970s. When the company was sold in 1984 to Combustion Engineering Corporation, an American company, it had about 1,400 employees in its Worcester factory, 600 additional employees around the world, 3,000 stockholders, and $120 million in annual sales.
Never one for complacency, Freeman continues to invent in his retirement. This time he is using his engineering knowledge and expertise to advance the development of renewable fuels. Freeman became interested in this field through his son Jack, who was involved in a startup company in algae biodiesel that had originated at MIT. Jack often shared with him the challenges of growing algae. Here again, Freeman saw a need and wanted to find a way to address it.
Freeman invented a nozzle that mixes CO2 and the liquid containing algae in a way that allows the algae to grow much faster. WPI, under the supervision of Pam Weathers, Professor of Biotechnology, working with her research associate, Dr. Melissa Towler, recently completed some successful experiments in a bioreactor the Freemans built for experiments at WPI's Gateway Park.
When asked about the next invention for him and his son, Freeman returned to the principle that has guided his entire career: "To have an invention there has to be a recognized need. If another need presents itself, maybe we'll invent something else.”
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Last modified: June 04, 2009 11:04:10