Arthur Ernest Bishop was born in Sydney in 1917 and died there in 2006. He began designing machine tools soon after completing his apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and study at Sydney Technical College. Machine tools are crucial to manufacturing industry because they are used to make other tools as well as parts for machinery.
During World War II, Bishop became involved in aeronautical engineering. His first project was in Sydney, developing the tools and processes to manufacture Beaufort bombers and Beaufighters. He solved a serious problem: too much vibration in steering on take-off or landing was destroying aeroplane undercarriages. He took his ideas and skills to the UK, and solved a similar problem for the Lancaster bomber. After the war, he worked on the Invader plane in the USA. His inventive solutions in aeronautics led him to spend most of his life designing innovative steering mechanisms, mainly for cars.
Having failed to interest Detroit in his automotive innovations, Bishop returned to Sydney and found local manufacturers more willing to listen. Over the following years, he set up several companies to commercialise his ideas. He developed new power steering systems and invented variable ratio rack-and-pinion steering, which gives the driver better feel and control and hence improves safety. He also designed machine tools to make parts for his steering systems; patenting the tools reinforced the protection provided by his patents on steering mechanisms, and royalties became a major source of income for his companies. At the end of his life, over 20 per cent of cars worldwide included components designed by him.
Bishop never ceased designing and patenting automotive components and processes. Through one of his companies, Bishop Manufacturing Technology, he provided technology solutions, including the design of highly specialised machine tools, for the automotive, aerospace, biomedical and telecommunications industries. He also became interested in rapid transit and rethought all aspects of rail in designing the automated Austrans system.
Bishop loved beautiful ideas and objects. He had a large, lead weight with a pen attached hanging in a stairwell at his home and delighted in setting it in motion and watching it draw complex curves on paper. With his wife Gloria, Bishop donated important objects to the Powerhouse Museum: a rug designed by Jimmy Pike, a pot by Thancoupie, textiles designed by Douglas Annand, and Melbourne Olympics material by Donald Clark.
- Writers:
- Rudder, Debbie
- Date written:
- 2012
- Last updated:
- 2012
