Kaman

Kaman Corp. develops and manufactures high-tech products and provides technical services for government, industrial, and commercial markets. Particularly well-known for its role in the helicopter industry, it is also the largest independent distributor of musical instruments in the United States. In addition, Kaman supplies repair and replacement parts to nearly every heavy and light industrial sector, and is a high-tech leader in the defense industry. Kaman has a rich history that parallels a classic American success story. Kaman is the progeny of American paragon Charles H. Kaman, an inventor, entrepreneur, musician, humanitarian, and visionary. He was born in 1919 and raised in Washington, D.C. His father, a German immigrant, was a construction supervisor who managed work on the Supreme Court building and Union Station. Kaman demonstrated an early interest in aviation design. During the 1930s, he competed in the city's model airplane design contests held at the local playground. He also showed an enthusiasm for music. Kaman became an accomplished guitar player as a teenager and even turned down an offer to play with the Tommy Dorsey band for an alluring $75 per week. Kaman continued to pursue his interest in aviation during college. For a contest held in Washington, D.C., he made a model plane, which took more than 100 hours to build, was made of balsa wood, covered with an ultra-thin film, and driven by a rubber band. Kaman wound the propeller 1,500 times and asked the judge to clock his warm-up flight. After setting an unofficial record for time aloft, Kaman became determined to surpass his own record. He decided to wind the propeller 3,500 times, using an eggbeater. At about 3,000 turns the band snapped and the plane imploded. Nevertheless, the episode cemented his desire to become an innovator in the burgeoning aviation field. Kaman graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering degree in 1940 from Washington's Catholic University. Although he had dreamed since childhood of becoming a professional pilot, a severe infection following a tonsillectomy that left him deaf in one ear made that an impossibility. Instead of piloting flying machines, Kaman decided to build them. After college, he accepted a position with aviation pioneer United Aircraft (the forerunner to the United Technologies Corporation). He went to work in the company's helicopter division, Hamilton Standard, which was marshalled by renowned inventor Igor Sikorsky. Kaman was told to help design propellers. The chief dilemma facing helicopter engineers during the industry's inception was stability and control. Engineers were challenged to figure out how to devise a machine that could be easily maneuvered and landed, particularly in high winds. Aside from stability and control, helicopters in the early 1940s suffered from several problems. Vibration was a major obstacle. Because of the way in which the rotor was controlled from its hub, the entire aircraft would vibrate, putting stress on the machine that reduced its durability and dependability. Kaman's contributions were quickly recognized at United, and by 1943 he had become head of aerodynamics. Despite his success at United, Kaman became frustrated by the company's lack of attention to his ideas. Specifically, Kaman had suggested an improvement that might increase the stability of United's helicopters. He wanted to put flaps on the main rotor and scrap the tail rotor altogether to improve control. On his own time, Kaman built a homemade rig to test his theories. He fashioned the contraption in his mother's garage using junk parts, including an engine from a 1933 Pontiac, the rear end of an old Dodge, and a bathroom scale. Kaman's initial designs failed. But after several weeks of experimenting he was able to build a device that incorporated his revolutionary servo-flap rotor control system. The new design significantly reduced vibration. It also required much less force by th