Citation
(2007), "Inventor of numerical control for machine tools – dead at 93", Assembly Automation, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2007.03327dab.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Inventor of numerical control for machine tools – dead at 93
Inventor of numerical control for machine tools – dead at 93
John Thoren Parsons, inventor of Numerical Control for Machine Tools, born in Detroit, Michigan on October 11, 1913, died in Traverse City, Michigan, on April 18, 2007.
Best known for his work with Frank Stulen, he envisioned a new world of manufacturing using part dimensions in digital numerical form to move machine tool axes to the corresponding locations – quickly named “numerical control.” This was the fore-runner of today's computer aided manufacturing.
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers recognized Parsons as the “Father of the Second Industrial Revolution.” The Numerical Control Society bestowed their coveted Marie Jacquard Award (1968) for his invention of Numerical Control for Machine Tools. Other honors received included the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Founders Award (1982); National Medal of Technology (President Reagan, White House, 1985); The University of Michigan Honorary Doctorate of Engineering (1988); Lake Superior State University Honorary Doctorate of Humanities (1997), and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1993). The Bunsha Group in Tokyo, Japan, specially honored him. His work was chronicled in trade magazines and books. His papers are archived at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.
For 40 years, John worked at Parsons Corporation, founded by his father. The corporation moved to Traverse City during World War II as part of the armament industry's dispersal and, at its peak, expanded with plants in Detroit and Stockton, California. They held license relationships in England, France and Sweden.
The corporation produced munitions for WW II and became the largest producer of helicopter blades in the world, having established an early, personal relationship with Igor Sikorsky. The Traverse City plant would later produce the massive fuel tanks for the Saturn booster rocket that launched the moon exploration capsules.