"Life Raft Inventor" Ward Van Orman Hand Signed 3X5 Card Todd Mueller COA"

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"Life Raft Inventor" Ward Van Orman Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
This item is authenticated by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-4061
Ward Tunte Van Orman
(September 2, 1894 in
Lorain, Ohio
– March 11, 1978) was an
American
engineer, inventor and
balloonist
. A lifelong employee of
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
credited with invention of Goodyear's inflatable
life raft
[2]
and
self-sealing fuel tank
,
Van Orman set an unprecedented record of winning five annual
National Balloon Races
(including the first ever
Litchfield Trophy
issued by Goodyear's Paul Litchfield in 1925), participating in ten and winning three
International Gordon Bennett Races
(1926, 1929, 1930).
Born in
Lorain, Ohio
, Ward Van Orman was inclined to science and mechanics since childhood. At school he managed to save enough cash to enroll in
Case School of Applied Science
. In 1917 he graduated with a perfect 4.0
GPA
and joined the staff of Goodyear in
Akron, Ohio
; in 1918 he qualified for a balloon and
airship
pilot's license
. His first invention, a leakproof cover for
gasoline
tanks, was filed in 1921 and patented in 1928; eventually, he developed reliable
self-sealing fuel tanks
.
[3]
Later in life, Van Orman (who preferred to be called simply "Van")
considered his inventions, and not the record flights, his greatest accomplishments. During the 1925 International Race Van Orman performed world's first emergency
night
landing of a balloon on a deck of a steamship at high seas.
The race took off June 9, 1925 at
Brussels
; at first the
Goodyear III
balloon floated over
France
towards
Spain
but then a change in wind dragged it into
Atlantic Ocean
. Van Orman's partner, Carl Wollam, desperate about inevitable death by drowning, intoxicated himself with
cognac
and attempted suicide at least twice.
[6]
As Van Orman struggled to restrain Wollam from jumping overboard, he noticed
navigation lights
of a ship that turned out to be a small German freighter,
Vaterland
. Van Orman flashed
morse code
message to the captain, who assisted the landing by turning on all available lighting and steering the ship towards the descending balloon.
[7]
The balloon safely landed on
Vaterland'
s forward deck. Van Orman and captain Rudolf Norman remained friends for life. This flight was the longest in 1925 International Race, but Van Orman was disqualified and denied the
Gordon Bennett Trophy
according to the race rules requiring
landing
literally on
land
. Fifty years after this event, Van Orman was still bitterly hurt by the disqualification: "the memory of that unfair decision never has grown dim". Van Orman picked a new partner, Walter Morton, and easily won the 1926 National Race, qualifying for this year's International Race. He won the 1926 Gordon Bennett Trophy flying from
Antwerp
to
Solvesborg
in
Sweden
. The win automatically qualified them to the next year's International Race, where Orman and Morton came third. The National Race of 1928, held on May 30 in
Pittsburgh
, turned out a disaster.
Lightning
strikes downed three aircraft, including Van Orman's. A direct thunderbolt killed Morton instantly and ignited
hydrogen
in the gas bag. The balloon's basket fell from three thousand feet, supported by a "
parachute
" of what remained of its gas bag. Van Orman, unconscious in his basket, survived the impact
without serious injuries.
I was looking directly at the flash... hardly thicker than my finger ... it passed within two feet of my eyes. I had time after the flash to look up over the edge of the 'rain dodger' we had spread across the top of the basket and note that the bottom of the bag apparently was still intact. Probably it was two or three seconds after the flash before the concussion knocked me unconscious. How high we were, I don't know.
When I came to, my head was lying outside the basket, with rain falling on my head. I felt Mortom beside me...
Van Orman survived other, less inspiring incidents: once he was assaulted by an unidentified man, allegedly hired by one of Van Orman's competitors; on another occasion during
prohibition
period he landed a balloon in the middle of an illegal
distillery
operation, and was confronted by
bootleggers
wielding
shotguns
who mistook him for a
federal agent
. During the 1933 National Race Van Orman's balloon flew deep into
Canadian
forests. He and his partners wandered through the wilderness, starving; back at home they were already considered dead. Finally, they reached a telephone line running through the forest; they chopped down a pole, severing the line, expecting that a repair crew will eventually locate them. After this incident Van Orman, a single parent (his first wife died in 1932), quit balloon racing forever.
After retiring from active ballooning sport Van Orman served as a researcher with Goodyear until 1962. His works ranged from fuel tanks to developing waterproof fabrics for
diving suits
and airtight
zippers
for
pressure suits
.
[3]
In retirement Van Orman, a
shriner
, travelled across the country as a
motivational speaker
, periodically flying
hot air balloons
until the final year or two of his life. He died of a
stroke
in 1978 and was buried at Rose Hill cemetery in
Akron, Ohio
.Van Orman authored an autobiography,
The wizard of the winds
(
ISBN
0878390324
), published posthumously in 1978.