Noel Desmond Gray
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Noel Desmond Gray (December 26 1920 – November 1999) was an Australian engineer and co-founder of the medical electronics company Telectronics Pty Ltd.[1]
Early life
Gray was born to Hilda Alice Gray and Joseph Albert Gray on Boxing Day 1920 in Crookwell, New South Wales, Australia. He was the great grandson of George H. Hedger who may have been the inspiration for the Banjo Patterson poem "The Man from Snowy River".[2] Gray grew up for a time on his grandfather's farm "Middle View" named for its view of the Snowy River near Dalgety.
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He attended Sydney Technical School and after passing the intermediate certificate he was employed as a wirer for radio manufacturers AWA Australia and then Kreisler Australasia.
World War II
During World War 2 he was trained at the Army School of Radio Physics, whereupon he became a radar technician and Senior Radar Artificer. He helped to install the radar defenses on Rottnest Island for Western Australia and was the Senior Radar Artificer at Exmouth Gulf.[3] He worked on the first US-designed RADAR unit in Australia,[1] which was susbequently used to direct bombers during the Battle of the Coral Sea.[1]
After volunteering for a secret mission where he was transported by submarine to an island deep behind Japanese lines he was sent to No. 6 OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit). He came second mission out on topping this course and completion of this course would normally mean an immediate commisssion. The examiners of the engineering course failed him for their personal reasons because they had 50% of the assessment.
Gray was sent to LHQ to be in charge of the Drawing Office and maintenance section. He was offered a commission to stay in the Army after the War but declined the offer.
Post war
Gray was accepted to study medicine at the University of Sydney and in 1948 he began to study to become a doctor. After passing the first year of the degree he became interested in the electrical workings of the human body and was given laboratory space to perform his own experiments.[1]
In 1950 he married Beth Simes, and in the same year withdrew from his studies to work for the Department of Civil Aviation on RADAR installation at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport, and on engineering projects for the Metropolitan Water Sewerage & Drainage Board
In 1952 he returned to work for the Philips' subsidiary Kreisler. Initially he was employed as the sole design engineer on a secret project for the Long Range Weapons Establishment.[1] He then designed and developed printed circuit boards that were used in a production run of Kriesler Duplex radios. A number of patents were taken out on his work.[1]
Gray's innovations to printed circuit technology included double-sided copper laminated phenolic resin sheet, point to point connection between both sides of a double-sided PCB, electroplating copper laminate to improve solder flow, photo-etch system for PC boards using photosensitive flux film technology, a system of flow soldering PC boards using a standing wave in a molton solder bath to eliminate hand soldering. He also experimented in resin encapsulation of various electronic devices including making an implantable circuit using torch batteries and a simple flip-flop circuit. Following a study tour in 1956 and a long visit to Philips NV in the Netherlands, he returned home, joined the Management Committee and was appointed National Service Manager.[1]
Gray resigned from Philips in 1959, started a specialist TV repair business[4] and was a founder of ESA (later called TESA).[1]
Telectronics
Telectronics Pty Limited was incorporated in Sydney, Australia, in 1963[5][1] by engineers Gray and Geoffrey Wickham initially designing and manufacturing industrial and scientific instruments but diversifying into medical electronics and commencing cardiac pacemaker research in 1964.[6].[7] The corporate name was derived from "Television and Electronic Services", operated by Noel Gray as a sole trader from 1959-1964.[1]
The company made significant contributions to pacemaker technology including the first definition of the relationship between surface area of the heart electrodes & pacing pulse characteristics, the first use of integrated circuits and the first hermetic titanium encapsulation.[5][1]
Control of Telectronics was gained by a private company Nucleus in 1967, later to became a public listed company Nucleus Limited which was acquired by Pacific Dunlop. However, claims resulting from the sale of faulty pacemaker electrode leads led to eventual sale of the assets of the company and Pacific Dunlop restructuring itself into Ansell.
Death
Noel Desmond Gray died in November of 1999, leaving his wife Beth, daughter Robyn, and son Christopher.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gray, Christopher & Gray, Noel (1993). The Early Years of Telectronics. (self-published). ISBN 0646151347.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "gray" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ "Death of George H. Hedger". Monaro Mercury. 1912-08-03.
- ^ Dunn, Peter. Peter Dunn's Australia at War.
- ^ Mingay's Weekly, Nov 27, 1959
- ^ a b "Telectronics and The History Of Pacemaking In Australia", Wickham G G, Jeffcoat KW, 1987 manuscript held by http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au. University Of Melbourne .(www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au.)
- ^ Foot, Robert (2006-04-14). "Rare breed of native industrialist: Paul Murray Trainor, AO Industrialist 1927-2006". Obituaries. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Display panels tracing the history of 'Telectronics' cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, 1990". Objects from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
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