John Edward Sears junior (1883-1954) of the National Physical Laboratory
1922 C.B.E., M.A., Assoc.M.Inst.C.E F.Inst.P., Superintendent of the Metrology Dept., the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington; also Deputy-Warden of the Standards, Standards Dept. of Board of Trade, 6, Old Palace Yard, Westminster. Private Address: Twyford, Gloucester Road, Teddington, Middx. T. N.: Molesey 372. b. Sept. 18, 1883; s. of J. E. Sears, J.P., F.R.r.B.A., M.P. for Cheltenham 1906-10, sometime Chairman, Bridges and Housing Committees, L.C.C., and Selina Marianne Sears (née Read); m. May 28, 1919, Kathleen Lucy Wadsworth, B.Sc., younger d. of E. Wadsworth, organ builder, and Marianne Wadsworth (née Canton). Ed. Mill Hill School, Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge; 1st Hons. Math. Tripos, 1904, and ist Hons. Mech. Sc. Tripos, 1905; John Wimbolt University Prizeman; Research at Cambridge University Engineering Laboratory, under the late Colonel Hopkinson C.M.G., 1905-7. Apprentice to Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., marine engineers, Neptune Engine Works, Walker-on-Tyne. Then till 1918 Principal Assistant in Metrology Division of National Physical Laboratory. Member British Engineering Standards Association, Sectional Committee on Machine Parts, their gauging and nomenclature, Sub-Committee on screw threads for all purposes, Sectional Committee on limit gauges, Sectional Committee on pipe threads, etc. During the War (1915-18) organized gauge-testing section of the Metro. Dept., N.P.L., which developed from a staff of five to one of 200, capable of dealing with 0,0oo gauges of all classes weekly; over 1,000,000 gauges were verified for the Ministry of Munitions in this section during the War, the majority of which had to be measured to an accuracy of o.000i inch, and some to even higher accuracy. Publ.: Paper on " The Longitudinal Impact of Metal Rods with Rounded Ends " (Cambridge Philosophical Transactions, Vol. XXI, 1908); part author of " Notes on Screw Gauges "; editor of " Who's Who in Engineering."
1947 Bio Note. [1]
Mr. SEARS was educated at Mill Hill School and St. John's College, Cambridge, being bracketed 26th wrangler in 1904, and graduating with First Class Honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos in 1905.
He carried out research on elasticity under the late Professor Bertram Hopkinson from 1906 to 1907, then becoming a student apprentice with Messrs. Wigham, Richardson and Company, Ltd., Walker-on-Tyne, from 1908 to 1910, when he was appointed principal assistant, Metrology Division, The National Physical Laboratory, after having had a short period in the gauge department of Messrs. Armstrong Whitworth and Company, Ltd., Manchester.
Mr. Sears was responsible for testing all gauges for the Ministry of Munitions from 1915 to 1918, and for the Ministry of Supply from 1937 to 1945, and was superintendent of the Metrology Division of The National Physical Laboratory from 1918 to 1946, as well as being deputy warden of Standards, Board of Trade, from 1921 to 1931. He has designed a number of new precision measuring instruments for various purposes.
He is a member of various British Standards Institution committees, and of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (at present being president of the latter). He was also a member of the British delegation to the Anglo-American—Canadian Conference at Ottawa in 1945.
1954 Obituary [2]
IT is with regret that we note the death of Mr. John Edward Sears, at the age of seventy-one, on Tuesday, December 21st.
Mr. Sears received his early education at Mill Hill School and went on to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took first-class mathematics and mechanical sciences tripos, and was awarded the University's John Winbolt Prize for studies in civil engineering.
He also served an apprenticeship with Wigham Richardson, Ltd., Walker-on-Tyne.
Mr. Sears subsequently entered the National Physical Laboratory and from 1921 to 1931 served as deputy warden of standards and later became superintendent of the Metrology Division, a position from which he retired in 1946.
Mr. Sears was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and in 1948 he was a warded part of the Institution's Clayton Prize for his services to engineering science and manufacture by research and development in metrology and gauging. During his career Mr. Sears served as president of the International Committee of Weights and Measures, and he was a member of British Standards Institution Committees. He was made a C.B.E. in 1920.
1955 Obituary [3]
John Edward Sears, C.B.E., was educated at Mill Hill School and St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated with first-class honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos in 1905. He carried out research on elasticity under the late Professor Bertram Hopkinson from 1906 to 1907, then became a student apprentice with Wigham, Richardson and Company, Ltd., Walker-on-Tyne, from 1908 to 1910, when he was appointed principal assistant, Metrology Division, The National Physical Laboratory, after having had a short period in the gauge department of Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, Ltd., Manchester.
Mr. Sears' (department) was responsible for testing all gauges for the Ministry of Munitions from 1915 to 1918, and for the Ministry of Supply from 1937 to 1945, and was superintendent of the Metrology Division of the National Physical Laboratory from 1918 to 1946, as well as being deputy warden of Standards, Board of Trade, from 1921 to 1931. He designed a number of new precision measuring instruments for various purposes.
In 1948 Mr. Sears was awarded a James Clayton Prize for his services to engineering science and manufacture by research and development in metrology and gauging, and he was the author of several papers read before the Institution. He was awarded the Royal Honour of C.B.E.
He served as member of various British Standards Institution Committees; Past-President of the International Committee for Weights and Measures; and was also a member of the British delegation to the Anglo-American-Canadian Conference at Ottawa in 1945.
His death occurred on 21st December, 1954 in his seventy-first year of age, having been a Member of the Institution since 1921.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1947 IMechE Proceedings
- ↑ The Engineer 1954/12/31
- ↑ 1955 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries