John Willard Hetrick
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEngineer
Known forAirbag Inventor

John Willard Hetrick (July 23, 1918 - April 8, 1999), from Newport, Pennsylvania, was an American engineer who is credited for inventing the airbag. Hetrick originally called the device a "Safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles." He built the original prototype on his kitchen table in 1952, and applied for a patent on Aug 5, 1952.[1]

He has served as an industrial engineer in the United States Navy and took notable design influences from compressed air torpedoes.

Hetrick received a US Patent #2,649,311 on August 18, 1953 for an "airbag".[2] He did not receive much income for his invention, since automakers did not offer airbags widely until after his patent had expired in 1971.

Hetrick was awarded the Golden Gear Award for his invention.

Further reading

"Milestones - Automotive Engineer". Ae-plus.com. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2016-01-05.

Lisa Wade McCormick (25 September 2006). "A Short History of the Airbag". Consumeraffairs.com. Retrieved 2016-01-05.

"JOHN W. HETRICK by Aminah Badmus on Prezi". Prezi.com. Retrieved 2016-01-05.

"Cushioning the Blow: History of Automotive Airbags". Secondchancegarage.com. 1968-01-01. Retrieved 2016-01-05.

References

  1. ↑ McGaw, Jeff (April 11, 1999). "Man who patented air bag in '53 dies". The Patriot-News. pp. B01. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  2. ↑ US 2649311, Hetrick, John W., "Safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles", published 1953-08-18


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