Oscar Banker - an American Inventor
Four Remarkable things about Oscar Banker
Had over 300 patents
A gypsy’s fortune reading changed his life
Changed last name to Banker to not tip off Turkish authorities
Invented the automatic transmission because he had hard time shifting gears when driving.
Oscar Banker (Asadoor Sarafian) was the developer of the first practical automatic transmission in cars and buses and inventor of the first versatile needleless inoculation gun along with 300 other patents.
“When I see something doesn’t work quite right, I try to see what I can do to make it work a little better”.
Early Life
Self portrait in 1914, one year arriving in the United States. (courtesy of his book Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor: An Immigrant’s Romance by Oscar Banker and Robert Hull)
Asadoor was born in a cave in Mounjousoun, Caesarea, Turkey, in 1895 during the Hamidian Massacres. His mother, who was known for helping the people in their community with health problems had also treated some Gypsies in 1909 who had been injured. To repay her kindness an old Gypsy woman asked to tell the fortune of the family members. She told them she was very sad to tell them that their future was bleak, they should somehow get away, to leave. When she spoke to Asadoor, however, she said “Young man, you alone have a great future ahead of you. You are going to cross big waters. You are going to attain fame and fortune.” (Oscar Banker: “Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor”.)
The incident was forgotten by all except Asadoor who remembered it many times as his life progressed. In 1913, at the age of 18 while attending the American School for Boys in Talas, he suddenly had an urge to get out – to go. There was a chance he would be drafted into the Turkish army and as an Armenian man it was certain he would not survive it. In spite of his mother’s pleas to wait a year until he graduated from the school, he traveled to Smyrna where his older sister, Marie, was teaching. With her help he obtained a passport and left for the United States. Most of his family were killed during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. His sister was spared. She wrote a book about her experience entitled “My Beloved Armenia.”
His Education and name change
After arriving in the U.S. Asadoor wanted very much to become an educated man. He was good in math and wished to be an engineer. His mathematics teacher in Talas had come to the U.S. to study electrical engineering at Wisconsin University so Asadoor decided to join him there. He was unable to attend the university because he had not completed his high school education although he did attend night school classes at the local YMCA and extension classes at the University of Wisconsin. He was in a college town with no prospects of a job when it was suggested he might try Racine instead. He never obtained a formal high school education nor his beloved degree in Engineering but is listed in the 1976 Who’s Who in the World.
In 1916 he received a letter from his sister with a difference in the return address. She had changed her last name from “Sarafian” to its English translation, “Banker”. He realized using their given last name would tip off the Turkish authorities to her Armenian roots and endanger her life. He decided to also change his last name and since his Swedish friends were already calling him Oscar instead of Asadoor he changed both names.
The Patriotic Immigrant
During WWI many of Oscar’s friends volunteered for the armed services. Oscar registered but his employer exempted him because he was working for a company which was shipping parts to the munitions factories. He tried to join on his own but was turned away because he was not a citizen. He felt he must help someway in the war effort. He tried to find work in a factory which was producing war equipment. He landed a temporary position at his second attempt at the R & V Ordnance Co. in East Moline where they were building large guns for the Navy. His boss said if he could figure out why 60% of their guns were scrapped by the Navy for rifling he would have a permanent position. The company had been working on the problem for months with no solution. Oscar studied the problem and had a solution in one day. Everyone agreed he was correct. The scrapping went down to 2%! That was the start of his “method of operation” for the rest of his life.
“When I see something doesn’t work quite right, I try to see what I can do to make it work a little better.” (Oscar Banker “Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor”.)
First Invention
After the war many people, including Oscar, lost their jobs as munitions companies changed their line of business. He took on small design jobs. His sister had arrived in the U.S. and Oscar bought a house for her where he also lived. Now he had the responsibility of caring for his sister and keeping up house payments. He had an idea to design and build a saw-filing machine for a wood-cutting bandsaw. He made an agreement with the pattern shop to use their machinery to build his invention. It worked very well and was built by the Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company.
While selling his product to various shops around the country Oscar went to Philadelphia. While there he found out a young woman, Rose, he had known in his hometown had survived the Genocide and was living in Philadelphia with her mother and two brothers. They became reacquainted and eventually married and had four children.
Automatic Transmission
The story behind the development of the automatic transmission is very interesting. In 1919 Oscar was working for the Racine Tool and Machine Co. his superintendent, William Rheinhart, gave him the opportunity to buy a car that the company was going to get rid of. Oscar told him he didn’t know how to drive a car, but Mr. Rheinhart showed him and left him to try it out. Oscar had a very hard time trying to shift from low into 2nd gear and finally got around the block in low gear. He was a mechanic and understood machinery but could not make the gears work for him. He smashed ring gears, broke drive shafts and finally decided to do something about it. Unfortunately it took many years to convince the car companies that his idea was correct and better than what their engineers had produced.
In 1933 before Oscar’s automatic transmission was accepted by the automakers he met William Stout the builder of the first all-metal airplane who was under contract to build a new railcar for the Pullman Car & Manufacturing Co. The modern railcar was driven by truck engines and Mr. Stout needed a transmission that worked automatically and was unable to find one. When he saw Oscar’s automatic transmission he accepted it immediately. The Stout Railcar was used as a commuter between Jackson and Tylertown, Mississippi from 1933 – 1953 and gave more than a half-million miles of trouble-free service. After that the Yellow Coach division of General Motors installed his transmission in several hundred double-decker buses in Chicago and New York City. Eventually the Hydromatic transmission, as the first commercial passenger automatic transmission came to be called, made its automotive debut in the 1940 Oldsmobile. In the end, Oscar was known as the “father of automatic transmission”.
Award from his peers
Oscar Banker ready to testify before the Joint Legislative Committee on Motor Vehicles and Traffic Safety on the dangers of shifting patterns and the need for the automatic transmission. (courtesy of his book Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor: An Immigrant’s Romance)
In 1969 at the age of 73 Oscar was honored for his work “in the advancement of modern facilities beneficial to mankind”. The award was presented to him by the Automotive Old Timers,, a national historic organization of automotive inventors, engineers, stylists, Manufactureers and dealers. The Citation specifically credited him for developing the world’s first practical working commercial transmission and for inventing a freewheeling clutch and final drive unit which made Igor Sikorsky’s invention of the helicopter a reality.
Other major Oscar Banker patents include foolproof transmissions for the M6 and M4 “Prime Mover” built for the U.S. Army, Marine reverse gear for the U.S. Navy, Relief valve for pressures up to 10,000 P.S.I., Seawater distillation process, Non-skid hydraulic brake system, variable speed accessory drive for car engines, mechanical power steering for cars, Hydraulic remote control snowplow, automatic car headlight turn-off switch to mention just a few. Oscar Banker died in 1973 at the age of 83.
“I have been called a genius in my time. There is no such thing! Genius is sweat, stubbornness, preoccupation with detail, refusal to quit! That is genius.”