Evening star., 1942-01-09
Blind Inventor Bulbs
Automatic Parachute
For Transport Planes
Harry P. Trusty's Device
BoiIs Out Passengers
On Endless choin :.
By HUBBARD KEAvY.
World Wide News.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9.-The man
who invented the automobile rumble
seat has turned his skill to aviation
and produced a new parachute
equipped airplane seat.
He is Harry p. Trusty, formerly
of Caribou. Me, and San Francisco.
His device iAdesigned to unload
automatically And swiftly an air
plane full Of passengers or troops,
dropping them into space-and
probable safety-under parachutes.
Remarkable, you may say, but
more astonishing is the fact that
Inventor Trusty never has seen his
passenger unloading mechanism.
He has been blind for four years.
"Sees" With Fingers.
Inventor and machiniSt for most
Of his 40-odd years, Mr.. Trusty car
ries in his mind every figure and
dimension he ever heard. He learns
by hearing and by feeling.
This will illustrate: Feeling a part
Of the new device, the inventor told
one of his pattern makers a certain
bolt should be one-quarter rather
than hree-sixteenths Of an inch
long. The man protested that 1t was
a quarter-inch bolt. Measurements
proved Mr.. Trusty, as usual, was
right.
When he wants to get something
ON paper, Mr.. Trusty takes out
small notched ruler and Mrs. Trusty
gets paper and pencil. He wants a
new bearing built He describes 1t
in detail to his Nife, the while using
the ruler to guide his thoughts. AL
though she IS not a craftsman,
Mrs. Trusty can do a scale drawing
like an expert. From her drawings
the blueprints are made.
Only recently the Civil Aero
nautics Administration licensed Mr..
Trusty to operate his airplane un-
loader. For months this Federal
agency refused a license on the
ground that it seemed to involve too
many hazards for the necessary
live" tests.
Signs South American Contract.
Coincident with this approval. Mr..
Trusty has signed his first contract.
A large South American air freight
company has bought the Latin
American rights to the uIloader and
will use it for freight work.
The seats (or freight grapplers in
an aerial freighteD are fastened to
an endless chain which is operated
by a motor controlled by the pilot.
The passenger. strapped to his seat
when the plane runs into any kind
of trouble that may mean a crash,
has nothing to do with the unload
ing operation. The chain carries
his seat to the door, he is tossed into
the air-still in his seat-and he is
dropped by parachute to the ground.
The secret of the parachute's
opening quick. even from a height
Of only IS feet, says Mr.. Trusty. is
in its folding. He controls these
patents.
Conceived originally as. a safety
device, Mr.. Trusty now envlsions
whole platoons of parachute troops
dropped from from transports by his
endless chain parachute chairs.
Some Other Inventions.
In addition to the rumble. seat,
which he belittles now. Mr.. Trusty
invented the automatic doughnut
machine, a gauge to measure the
compression Of gasoline motor,
the automatic gum taper and a ma
chine to fold and seal paper cartons.
He also holds 49 basic patents on
printing presses. You'd imagine he'd
be wealthy.
Haven't got a cent" he says.
Spent it all on this safety device -
The Trustys live in an inexpensive
duplex. There in recent months he
has invented a cannon to shoot
mailbags into flying plane. That
remains to be built. And he hopes
to finish a cane for the blind which
will detect metal objects at or 8
feet.
He tells Mrs. Trusty about his
ideas. and she puts them on paper.
I'll never see the cannon or the
cane" he says, but know they'll
work."