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Contact:
Bob Saling |
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Contact:
Bob Saling |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
96-326
LONG BEACH, Calif., Dec. 20, 1996 -- McDonnell Douglas has honored four employees for innovations in commercial aircraft that resulted in the issuance of U.S. patents. The four are the first to be recognized on the new Inventors' Wall of Fame at the Douglas Aircraft Co. facility here.
The latest patent recipients and the first honorees on the Wall of Fame are Al Battenfield, Donald Dailey, Darren Friberg and Teunes Verhoeven, all of Douglas Aircraft Co., the commercial jetliner division of McDonnell Douglas.
"We are proud to recognize our inventors and innovators," said Mike Sears, Douglas Aircraft president. "Developing and applying advanced technologies is critical to the long-term prospects of high technology companies."
Battenfield was honored for his work in the development of a plug door for double deck aircraft that will dramatically increase passenger capacity and comfort while reducing aircraft weight and manufacturing costs.
Dailey's patent was awarded for a hardover protection system which is designed to improve aircraft controllability. When the system is activated by detecting excessive elevator motion on the horizontal stabilizer, hydraulic control is shut off and elevator control is simultaneously transferred to a mechanical backup system.
Friberg was responsible for the development of a seal plate installed in the gap between an aircraft body and movable flight control surfaces, improving aircraft aerodynamics.
Verhoeven developed a standby control system, a cost-efficient secondary cable control system. The standby control system is comprised of a secondary set of cables to the elevators on the trailing edge of a twin jet's horizontal stabilizer that is activated in the event of primary cable damage.
The Wall of Fame is located at the Douglas Center in Long Beach, where many of the company's engineering departments are located. It was dedicated during a ceremony honoring the new patent recipients.
More than 150 active patents are held by Douglas Aircraft Co. and its employees.