William Jerome Rudge, jr.

Biography

William Jerome Rudge, jr. was born in Monroe, Union Co. NC on 26 May 1902. He died of acute respiratory failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the Hillcrest Hospital, Pittsfield, Berkshire Co. MA on 30 Oct 1972. He was trained as an electrical engineer and worked in the Lightning Arrester and Cutout Engineering Division of General Electric in Pittsfield, Berkshire Co. MA. He was ultimately promoted in 1964 to manager of engineering for the Distribution Protective Equipment Department. He was raised a Presbyterian, but as an adult referred to himself as agnostic.

Rudge was born and raised in Monroe, Union Co. NC, a small southern city with a total population of about 2,500 at the time of his birth. He grew up in the early twentieth century, when innovative electrical technologies (e.g. light bulbs, radios and telephones) were transforming daily life. William John Rudge was a prominent businessman and the owner and proprietor of a jewelry/bookstore called the W. J.

In his youth, Rudge was a skilled musician who played the violin. An article published in the Monroe Journal announces that on 28 Jan 1915, he took over the role of director of the six member Monroe Orchestra. He continued while in college. Rudge attended the Monroe Public Schools. Newspaper accounts suggest he did very well in his studies, and regularly appeared on the Graded School Honor Roll. After his high school graduation, he attended Davidson College in Davidson, Mecklenburg Co. NC starting in the Fall of 1920. College catalogs and bulletins identify him as a member of the Class of 1923 who was pursuing a Bachelor of Science) degree, presumably in physics.

Rudge transferred to Trinity College (now Duke University) and entered as a sophomore in the fall of 1921. He was initiated as a member of the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi on 5 Nov 1921. The following fall, he began pursuit of a graduate degree at Duke University (formally Trinity College) in Durham, Durham Co. NC. The 1925 Chanticleer identifies him as a graduate student and an instructor in engineering. He graduated with an A. M. (Masters of Arts) degree and attended the graduation ceremony on 10 Jun 1925.

After completing his education at Duke, Rudge decided that the best way to pursue his career as an engineer further would be to pursue graduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), previously known as “Boston Tech” in Cambridge, Middlesex Co. MA. He apparently was admitted without funding, and as such negotiated a loan to pay for the costs of his education with his uncle, Dr. W. C. Houston. They drew up a formal agreement, which stipulated a set interest rate of 6.5 percent, which seemed reasonable given the prevailing rate of interest on bank loans at the time. Taking on the obligation to repay the loan at this rate turned out to be an enormously consequential decision that he would come to regret for the rest of his life.

On 8 Feb 1926, Rudge started employment at the General Electric (G.E.) Lynn River Works near Boston, MA as a test engineer. He continued to work there until 4 Oct of that year, when he was transferred to Pittsfield Works. Correspondence suggests he worked in the High Voltage Engineering Laboratory. It also indicates he was part of a larger group of M.I.T. co-operative students. who pursued the opportunity in the hope that the projects they worked on for the Pittsfield Works would be suitable for thesis projects. General Electric extended him a more permanent offer of employment on 30 Apr 1928, which included a special pay rate of $40 per week owing to his more than usual number of years in college. Just a few days later on 7 May 1928 he was assigned to the Lightning Arrester Engineering Section and officially became a resident of Pittsfield, Berkshire Co. MA.

Rudge’s thesis entitled "A Circuit for Automatically Recording Lightning Transients on the Dufour Oscillograph" (May 1928) was written under the direction of Max Knobel, who served as a member of the M.I.T. Department of Physics from 1925-1931. He also specifically acknowledges the assistance of K. B. McEachron and Elmer. J. Wade of the Lightning Arrester Department of the General Electric Company for allowing the work to be done in their department and also their valuable assistance and guidance throughout its development. His technical investigations associated with his thesis project were all conducted within a laboratory setting, distinguishing them from his later field work.

Rudge graduated M.I.T. on 5 Jun 1928 with both a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and an Masters of Science (M.S.). He submitted an application for his and only patent, which appears to have been directly associated with his thesis work (“Cathode Ray Oscillograph Control”), with E. J. Wade on 26 Jan 1929. It was granted on 3 Dec 1929. Rudge continued his career at General Electric under the direction of Karl B. McEachron, an electrical engineer who was already becoming well known for his contributions to high-voltage engineering. McEachron and his team decided to continue their research on lightning and its effects on electrical transmission lines by taking their portable lightning generator to Croton, Newaygo Co. Michigan. Rudge's research in Michigan was conducted at the General Electric Experimental Station in Croton, Newaygo Co. MI. And it was there in the summer of 1929 that he met his future bride, Lena Anne Wyss, daughter of Alfred Wyss who was superintendent of the Croton Dam. They returned to Pittsfield in October 1930.

Pittsfield’s ability to respond to the many challenges associated with the Great Depression was intimately linked to the success of General Electric its largest employer. In 1891 William Stanley Jr. relocated his Electric Manufacturing Company from Great Barrington to Pittsfield, where it produced the first electric transformer. Stanley’s enterprise was the forerunner of the internationally known corporate giant, General Electric (GE). Largely thanks to the success of GE, Pittsfield’s population in 1930 had grown to more than 50,000. The city continued to grow over the next three decades. At its peak in the 1960s, the Pittsfield GE plant had a workforce of over 13,000. The decline and relocation of General Electric’s transformer and aerospace divisions over the second half of the twentieth century has had a pronounced and adverse effect on the region’s economy.

In Dec 1930, Rudge was transferred to the Lightning Arrester Proposition Section where he worked as an application engineer. He was later reassigned and placed in charge of the Lightning Arrester Design Section sometime in Jul 1940. His job at this time involved a fair amount of travel to regional and national AIEE conferences where he and his colleagues regularly gave presentations. Of particular note is that some of the write-ups from these events refer to them as “transformer specialists” and “salesmen,” which underscores his move from basic research to the product design part of the business. Rudge wrote numerous technical papers throughout his career. He was also awarded a prestigious one year M.I.T. Business Fellowship (one of only six to receive among M.I.T.’s alumni) on 25 May 1934.

On 26 Jul 1945, Rudge and his wife purchased a house on Beecher Lane., Schermerhorn Park in Lenox, Berkshire Co. MA. In 1947, he assisted on behalf of General Electric in the creation of a record player for the Lenox Library’s Music Department and together with T. H. Hall took on responsibility for its ongoing maintenance.

Throughout the remainder of the 1940s until his retirement from General Electric in 1965, Rudge was very active professionally. On 14 Sep 1945, he was promoted to assistant designing engineer in charge of the design of lightning arresters. He continued to do a great amount of travel to professional conferences where he and his colleagues regularly gave presentations at AIEE conferences, and also served on professional committees including serving as chair of the committee on protective devices. He was formally registered as a Professional Engineer by Massachusetts Board of Registration of Professional and of Land Surveyors on 10 Jan 1947. Rudge was appointed to Section Engineer in charge of Design and Development of Lightning Arresters in the Lightning Arrester and Cutout Engineering Division on 1 Oct 1947. He was named Manager of Engineering in connection with the formation of a second production section for lightning arresters and cutouts on 31 Dec 1956 and on 6 Jul 1964, apparently in connection with these and other administrative changes, his title was changed to Manager of Engineering of the new Distribution Protective Equipment Department (DPE).

Rudge was admitted an Associate of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) on 9 Aug 1927. He presented his first major talk at one of its conferences in 1930. He was actively involved in this organization throughout his career and served as chairman on numerous subcommittees. On 29 Feb 1939 he was transferred to grade of Member; on 22 Mar 1951 he was transferred again to the grade of Fellow. In 1963 he transferred to the grade of Life Fellow. This organization now goes by the name Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). On 10 Apr 1954, Rudge was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, a national honorary engineering fraternity, as an outstanding engineer.

William Jerome Rudge, jr.

Biography

Further Reading