Bill Lear

At 75 years old, Bill Lear physical status not available right now. We will update Bill Lear's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

William Powell Lear, 1902-78, was an American entrepreneur and businessman.

He is best known for establishing the Lear Jet Corporation, a commercial jet manufacturer.

He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery and designed the 8-track cartridge, an audio cassette player.

Lear obtained more than 120 patents over his 46 years in his career.

Personal life

Lear had a reputation for being difficult.

In Reno, Nevada, the 75-year-old Lear died of leukemia on May 14, 1978. His remains were cremated and scattered at sea.

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Career

Lear was born in Hannibal, Missouri, to Ruben Marion Lear, a carpenter, and Gertrude Elizabeth Powell Lear. His father died before his father died, and he stayed with his aunt, Gussie Bornhouser, in Dubuque, Iowa. Otto Kirmse took him in and raised him as his stepson later this year. The family had to move to Chicago, where Lear attended Kershaw Grammar School. He attended the Moody Tabernacle (now Moody Church) on Sundays. "He learned grammar and how to speak by listening to Paul Rader of the Moody Tabernacle." He learned how to greet people, how to shake hands, and what to do when he did so... He learned about hypocrisy as well as some of his parishes, and he stopped attending any more church groups.

: 10, 11

Lear was employed at a local airfield for a brief time when he was in Chicago. He and his dad spent one summer in Tulsa, rebuilding a Model-T car. Lear struck out around the country after being too young to go back to his mother in Chicago. He joined the United States Navy and was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. "He decided to complete his high school education after being discharged and with a young family." Lear enrolled at Tulsa Central High School, starting a radio repair store in his house, although he could spend nights. When he was first suspended for showing up teachers, he was in the process of wrapping up the entire four-year curriculum in a one.

": 12–18

"He had read a lot on wireless, including Nikola Tesla's work as the scientist/inventor," Lear was self-taught. He had even built a radio set based on a twenty-five-cent Galena crystal that he sent away for, and he'd figured out the Morse code, the fun part of World War I.

": 15

Lawrence Sorensen was one of his first ventures, promoting "Loose Coupler" radios. Lear had been a "instructor in wireless" in the US Navy, so he proudly described himself as a radio engineer to Clifford Reid in Quincy, Illinois. Reid was selling auto parts and Lear was recruited to expand into radio. Julius Bergen, a broadcaster, founded Quincy Radio Labs and built speaker boxes for radios. Lear also assisted with the establishment of WLAL, which then developed to the popular station KVOO.

With R. D. Morey, he went to Chicago and created a B-battery eliminator for the Universal Battery Company in 1924. He met Waldorf Astoria Smith of the Carter Radio Company, who helped him with radio theory, including Ohm's law. Tom Fletcher of the QRS Company was so impressed by Lear's radio set built around a QRS rectifier tube that he recruited him, earning him 60% more money than Universal Battery. When Lear identified a problem with 60,000 B-battery eliminators that they had made, Bill Grunow of the Grigsby-Grunow-Hinds Company surpassed that estimate. He invented an invention in 1924, but power inverters installed at Stevens Hotel failed to perform for the Radio Manufacturers' Union. In addition, Lear made audio amplifiers and cases for Magnavox speakers. The Magnavox "high dynamic speakers" he created with Grunow were extremely popular.

Lear was a pioneer in electronics miniaturization that was pioneered. Tuning coils in a set's radio frequency bandwagon were rather large; Lear reduced their size by using Litz wire braided from many fine strands to create a wide surface area, giving it high conductivity at radio frequency. Lear borrowed $5,000 from Algot Olson to wrap the strands, braid the cord, and wind the coils. On 65th street, Don Mitchell, a railroad electrician, was set up in the basement of his mother's old house and operated with the help of Don Mitchell, a railroad electrician. Radio Coil and Wire Corporation, Lear, was referred to as Lear. Eugene F. McDonald of Zenith Electronics ordered 50,000 coils, which were one-quarter the size of coils made with solid wire.

: 15–23

Lear sold his Radio Coil company for a one-third interest in Galvin's Galvin Manufacturing Company in Paul Galvin. The radio had not been designed for use in automobiles at the time. Lear developed the first car radio with his companion Elmer Wavering. Lear and Howard Gates of Zenith joined together; Lear conceived the circuit and layout; Gates did the metalwork, and Lear completed the assembly. Galvin originally rejected the prototype but then ordered a 200-unit production run. Galvin and Lear debated names for the product on a cross-country journey, concluding with "Motorola," which was a portmanteau of "motor" and the later common suffix "ola" used with audio equipment of the time (for example "Victrola"). Galvin changed the name of his entire company to Motorola because the product was such a success.

: 23, 24

Lear bought his first plane, a Fleet biplane, in 1931, from a woman in Dearborn, Michigan. Lear was led by the challenges of aerial navigation to the production of radio direction finders and avionics products.

Lear Developments, a company specializing in aerospace electronics and electronics, was founded by Lear. Lear invented radio direction finders, autopilots, and the first fully automated aircraft landing system. In 1949, he was given the Collier Trophy for his contribution to the community.

A panel-mounted radio system was also produced and sold by Lear in general aviation. His "LearAvian" series of portable radios, which included radio direction finder circuits as well as broadcast band coverage, were particularly popular. During WW II, the company earned $100 million for its products.

In 1949, Lear Developments was converted to Lear Incorporated, which opened a manufacturing plant in Santa Monica, California.

Lear moved to Switzerland and founded the Swiss American Aviation Company in 1960. (SAAC). The company's aim was to convert the FFA P-16 jet fighter, which had been cancelled following two accidents during test flights, into a small business jet, the SAAC 23.

During his brief existence in SAAC, King Michael I of Romania met Lear and agreed to serve as a test pilot for the Swiss branch of the organization. This was during the king's coercion exile, which lasted for 50 years until 1997.

After struggling to convince Lear Incorporated's board to enter the aircraft manufacturing industry, Lear Incorporated's interest in the Lear Incorporated sold his interest in the Lear Incorporated to the Siegler Corporation in 1962. Lear Siegler was the name of the resulting firm.

The converted SAAC 23 model was brought to Lear, Kansas, where it was then produced in Wichita, Kansas. Lear Jet, the first mass-produced business jet, began test flights on the Learjet 23, which was the first mass-produced business jet, in October 1963. In 1963, the first Lear Jet was introduced; it could carry eight passengers at 560 mph and cost about $650,000 fully equipped, less than its competitors at the time. Although the Lear Jet was highly profitable and still in production, Bill Lear was eventually forced to sell Lear Jet Corporation to the Gates Rubber Company in 1967 due to other financial difficulties.

Lear's first order, in the 1970s, backed the Foxjet ST600. The Very Light Jet project fell short of success, but the VLJ model became extremely popular 30 years later.

Lear, a Montreal aircraft manufacturer, sold Lear's LearStar design to Canadair, a 1976 Lear Star design. The intention was to build a supercritical wing for Lycoming's latest turbofan engine. The idea, on the other hand, was only a rough outline, and not by a consultant. Although Canada rejected Canada's offer, Lear eventually found that the Canadians had simply been keen on extending their reputation and skills at promotion to reach the market. Lear's concept had no connection to Canadair's, and Lear had no involvement in its development. Nonetheless, the Canadair Challenger business jet was expected to serve for a long time, with many variations. By that time, Bombardier Aerospace, Canada's parent company, had purchased Lear Jet in 1990.

Lear's last project, a seven-passenger plane powered by two turbine engines, was one of Lear's most innovative designs — the LearAvia Learfan 2100, a seven-passenger aircraft whose single pusher propeller was powered by two turbine engines. Rather than the more common aluminum alloys, the fuselage of this aircraft was made of light composite materials. The Lear Fan was never finished; at the time of his death, Lear's wife, Moya, was assisting him in finishing it. She tried to do so with the help of investors, but the aircraft was unable to obtain FAA approval and was not put into production.

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