“What I really enjoy…is to see that something can be made out of nothing, out of ideas, how ideas can grow.”
(1924-1996)
The call to become a patented inventor came to Joseph Gerber while he was a college student.
Call to Make a Difference
Born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, Heinz Joseph lived in the house of his physician grandfather while in Austria, close to his parent’s small apartment. In early years Joe loved to build things, such as a radio and batteries to keep it charged. He once wired a doorknob and gave his governess a shock. He built a heater for his father, Jacques, and explained its operation. His call was to invent, build, and teach others.
His mother, Bertha, tried to get the family legal papers to leave Austria. His father had been born in a part of Austria now controlled by Poland and would not be permitted to leave. Joseph and his father attempted to escape Austria to avoid Hitler’s capture. They were caught, placed in a camp, then put onto a train heading to Germany. The two climbed out the trap door to the railroad car roof and tumbled out onto a snow bank. They walked home.
Later Jacques was ordered to board a German train and was never seen again. Finally, Joseph’s grandfather and mother were able to get the fourteen-year-old and his mother out of Austria. In 1942, they left through Italy and sailed to America. Joseph’s grandfather and father died during the war.
Joseph and his mother arrived in Hartford, Connecticut, knowing little English. They lived in two bedrooms in a boarding house. At fifteen, Joseph had to work while attending high school and learning the language. To the surprise of the school officials, he was able to graduate in two years.
It was at RPI, an engineering college in New York, where Joseph invented a variable scale in his Junior year. Doing a bit too much socializing, he had put off some calculations that required days worth of work. The class was scheduled for the next day. It was then the idea came to him of using the elastic waistband in pajamas given to him by his father as a numerical calculator. With this invention he was able to complete the work in just one evening. Joe’s teacher was amazed when he demonstrated the scale. So was a mentor in CT who encouraged the young man to patent this invention, even lending him the $3000. With that money he created his own company, Gerber Scientific.
Rest of the Story
After college, Gerber was employed at two engineering companies. However, he preferred to spend his time working on the many ideas he had in his head. At twenty-eight, he began to work exclusively for his own company. Joe Gerber, as he would be known, was both the inventor and the salesman who spoke to engineers, demonstrating the principles behind his inventions.
In 1951, Gerber set up Gerber Scientific Instrument Company on the second and third floor of a building on State Street in Hartford. His company would go on to build and occupy several buildings in South Windsor and Tolland, CT. Their products would utilize X,Y,Z coordinate positions to industrialize manufacturing for the apparel, eyeglass lens, and sign making industries.
Gerber would own over 600 patents. Noteworthy was the Bristle bed designed for a reciprocating knife cutter and the CAD software that drove it. Single-handedly, the company would revolutionize the garment industry worldwide.
Of national significance was Gerber’s contribution to the space program which earned him the National Medal of Technology. Gerber equipment made data machine code readable. This allowed communication analysis and graphical data displays to be used during the Apollo lunar landing in 1969. Formerly, these calculations were done by hand on the spot by a group of women known as ‘computers.’
Looking Back at Joseph Gerber
In his lifetime, Gerber was called “A modern day Edison” by a General Electric VP. His ideas early on revolutionized American production, and production methods used around the world.
Who knows how great history will declare the importance of Joseph Gerber’s contribution to automating industry to bring it into the twenty-first century.
Recommended Reading
The Inventor’s Dilemma: The Remarkable Life of H. Joseph Gerber, by David J. Gerber, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2015
Notable Facts
- National Medal of Technology, 1994
- 600 plus patents in his name
- Young Man in a Hurry, 1950 Broadway play based on his life
- Mint Coin, CT Innovation, 2020
Miracle of the Call 