Science: Happy Ending

Louis H. Crook, professor of aeronautical engineering at Washington’s Catholic University, is a pint-sized (5 ft.) man of 61 with twinkling eyes and white hair. Last week, Professor Crook was a happy man: he had just won one of the biggest patent suits in U.S. history.

In 1926, Louis Crook got to thinking about a contemporary problem. Airplane radios of the day were bothered by high-tension interference from the engine’s spark plugs, each of which acted like a miniature radio transmitter. Various attempts had been made to shush the plugs, but none had succeeded well. The professor focused his mind on the problem, dived into his basement workshop and soon had a solution. He scoffs at newspaper stories of how he worked 20 years on his invention. “Pooh,” he says. “I didn’t work more than 20 minutes.”

His idea was simple indeed. The way to stop spark plugs from broadcasting, he decided, was to enclose the ignition wires in metal shields leading from the magneto to the plugs. Thus, there would be a return path for the high-frequency elements in the spark current (the source of the trouble). The plugs would go right on broadcasting, but the waves they created would stay inside the shield.

In less than a year Professor Crook got a patent: No. 1,645,643. Then he demonstrated models before the Army, Navy and other Government agencies. Always, he says, he got turndowns or runarounds.

Later Dr. Crook discovered that the Services which had rejected his invention were having it manufactured free of royalty. He tried to sue the Government, but he did not get the necessary permission until 1943. When the suit reached the U.S. Court of Claims, the little professor won a unanimous decision.

He is still somewhat breathless about the possibilities. His shielding system was used, and is still being used, on innumerable airplanes, tanks and other radio-equipped vehicles. After winning his suit against the hard-to-sue Government, Crook thinks it will be easy to knock off airplane manufacturers and other unauthorized users. After that, he will try to prove that many important electrical devices, such as the coaxial cable, grew out of his patent. If he proves these points, the millions (about $5,000,000 from the Government, he figures) will shower down. “A reasonable settlement will have to be made,” says reasonable Louis Crook.