This post is not about fairy tales but about one of the 'off ramps' of research that make it such a fabulous journey. I was fascinated by the achievements of Olga Ernst's younger brother and discovering a University prize in Melbourne named in his honour. This blog post thanks his grandchildren Gail, Belinda, Jon and Alice and his niece Helen Dixon for assisting my research.
HANS ERNST PRIZE (RMIT, Melbourne)
Who was Hans Ernst?
There were no babysitters in the small mountain town of Wandiligong where his mother Olga Ernst (nee Johanna Olga Straubel), a young widow of 34, was given a position as an Assistant Teacher in 1897. Consequently Hans began school earlier than most children grasping the opportunity to learn in his mother's schools.
Keen to fly planes, Hans Ernst left in his 20s Australia working his passage over to the US on board a ship. Though his career in California began as a bicycle repairman his ability to see what needed to be improved was soon obvious. He invented the rail car berth-lifting device and a curved dome for club cars to reduce the sun's glare while working for the California Pullman Co. During World War I, the Ernst served in the Royal Canadian Air Force continuing to fly as a hobby until his late 70s.
If inventing was his passion, persistence was his strength and by the time Hans Ernst retired he held over one hundred patents for engineering machines. Engines ran cheaper and faster because of Ernst’s brilliant designs. One of his major technological contributions was developing the first hydraulic feed for milling machines. Substituting hydraulic for mechanical power, heavy-duty machines could feed work more quickly and precisely, dramatically increasing productivity and reducing costs. "It would be difficult to estimate its effects on the economy of the country," a Milacron history said of Ernst's "Hydromatic" breakthrough in the 1920s ("Hans Ernst," 1996).
An inventor who saw problems as a challenge, other inventions included the mechanism that lifts the upper berth of railroad cars into the ceiling. One of his inventions a spiral point drill that used in bone surgery was used on him when a broken hip aggravated past chronic leg injuries.
Not one to retire, after 32 years as Milacron's director of research he joined the University of Cincinnati's faculty, organizing a graduate engineering program that allowed student to gain industry-based experience while completing degrees. He wrote for numerous journals, established the science program at Tel Aviv's Technion.
In 1938, he was invited to return to Australia and give a lecture at the Australian Hall in Sydney and visit family (Herald, 1938). He was honoured with the first 'Outstanding Engineer Award' of the Technical and Scientific Societies Council of Cincinnati, and in 1957 received the American Society of Tool Engineers' first national research medal.
Never one to forget a debt, in 1942, the Melbourne Working Man’s College
(now RMIT) was surprised to receive by wire the large amount of 300 pounds
to create an award for the best Electrical and Mechanical students in their
final year. In 1903, Ernst had been on the verge of abandoning his studies
when an unknown benefactor had stepped in and paid his tuition fees.
Professor K said, “I remember Hans Ernst as an earnest young man
determined to overcome all obstacles” ("Student who made good in USA: Gift
to help another," 1942).
Other inventions
A man with a warm and wry sense of humour, Ernst was firmly guided by the motto: Not what's in it for me, but rather, what is in me, for the job! even when faced with opposition from machine designers who queried the necessity of adding Rube Goldberg-like hydralic pipes and deviced and nicknamed him ‘the kangaroo plumber'.
HANS ERNST PRIZE (RMIT, Melbourne)
Who was Hans Ernst?
There were no babysitters in the small mountain town of Wandiligong where his mother Olga Ernst (nee Johanna Olga Straubel), a young widow of 34, was given a position as an Assistant Teacher in 1897. Consequently Hans began school earlier than most children grasping the opportunity to learn in his mother's schools.
Keen to fly planes, Hans Ernst left in his 20s Australia working his passage over to the US on board a ship. Though his career in California began as a bicycle repairman his ability to see what needed to be improved was soon obvious. He invented the rail car berth-lifting device and a curved dome for club cars to reduce the sun's glare while working for the California Pullman Co. During World War I, the Ernst served in the Royal Canadian Air Force continuing to fly as a hobby until his late 70s.
If inventing was his passion, persistence was his strength and by the time Hans Ernst retired he held over one hundred patents for engineering machines. Engines ran cheaper and faster because of Ernst’s brilliant designs. One of his major technological contributions was developing the first hydraulic feed for milling machines. Substituting hydraulic for mechanical power, heavy-duty machines could feed work more quickly and precisely, dramatically increasing productivity and reducing costs. "It would be difficult to estimate its effects on the economy of the country," a Milacron history said of Ernst's "Hydromatic" breakthrough in the 1920s ("Hans Ernst," 1996).
An inventor who saw problems as a challenge, other inventions included the mechanism that lifts the upper berth of railroad cars into the ceiling. One of his inventions a spiral point drill that used in bone surgery was used on him when a broken hip aggravated past chronic leg injuries.
Not one to retire, after 32 years as Milacron's director of research he joined the University of Cincinnati's faculty, organizing a graduate engineering program that allowed student to gain industry-based experience while completing degrees. He wrote for numerous journals, established the science program at Tel Aviv's Technion.
In 1938, he was invited to return to Australia and give a lecture at the Australian Hall in Sydney and visit family (Herald, 1938). He was honoured with the first 'Outstanding Engineer Award' of the Technical and Scientific Societies Council of Cincinnati, and in 1957 received the American Society of Tool Engineers' first national research medal.
Never one to forget a debt, in 1942, the Melbourne Working Man’s College
(now RMIT) was surprised to receive by wire the large amount of 300 pounds
to create an award for the best Electrical and Mechanical students in their
final year. In 1903, Ernst had been on the verge of abandoning his studies
when an unknown benefactor had stepped in and paid his tuition fees.
Professor K said, “I remember Hans Ernst as an earnest young man
determined to overcome all obstacles” ("Student who made good in USA: Gift
to help another," 1942).Other inventions
- ‘Turri Prize’ in 1909 for his invention of ‘Steering Gear for Aeroplanes’
- ‘Turri Prize’ 1910 for invention ‘Speed indicators for Aeroplanes'.
- His paper entitled "Physics of Metal Cutting" has been called the bible of research in that field machinery that he developed made possible mass production of metal components for turbine blades, automobiles and numerous household appliances.
- The rail car berth-lifting device and a curved dome for club cars to reduce the sun's glare.
- The development of automatic hydraulic cycles and bearings for grinding machines, cutting fluids, unique valves, various hydraulic and electric circuits, and a radioactive tracer method for measuring tool wear.
- Ernst's original hydraulic drive mechanism survived with very little change for more than three decades.
- Hydraulic devices and machine tools became virtually inseparable as a result of his work forever altering and improving factories' mass production techniques.
A man with a warm and wry sense of humour, Ernst was firmly guided by the motto: Not what's in it for me, but rather, what is in me, for the job! even when faced with opposition from machine designers who queried the necessity of adding Rube Goldberg-like hydralic pipes and deviced and nicknamed him ‘the kangaroo plumber'.
Ernst, a religious man who taught Sunday School, viewed his research in
spiritual terms as seeking the answer for ultimate truths. He wrote that he
believed the verse "'Seek and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be
opened unto you,' was not a pious phrase, but proof of the Eternal Master's
plan in the creation and in the unfolding of secrets of our universe"("Hans
Ernst," 1999).
Other successes
The Hans Ernst Prize is awarded to an outstanding student completing final year of the Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) Program at RMIT . ©Robyn Floyd.
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