National Air and Space Museum Archives

Vornado Plane Material [Ralph K. Odor]

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2016.0012
Creators:
Odor, Ralph K., 1895-1987.
Dates:
1929-1986
bulk 1930s
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.54 Cubic feet
1 box, 1 reel, and 1 DVD
Repository:
Ralph K. Odor (1895-1987) was an inventor who conceived an aircraft design in the 1920s in which the air was pushed from a propeller into a tube, later named the Vornado Plane. This collection consists of approximately 0.54 cubic feet of material relating to Ralph K. Odor and the Vornado Plane.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of approximately 0.54 cubic feet of material relating to Ralph K. Odor and the Vornado Plane including photographs; news clippings; technical reports and drawings; patents; legal documents; test reports; documents outlining the history of the Vornado Plane's development; and correspondence. Also included are two CDs which hold scans (made by the donor) of some of the textual and photographic materials contained in the collection as well as a 16mm film showing a test of a Vornado Plane scale model at the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, and a copy of the film on DVD.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Collection is arranged by type of material.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Ralph K. Odor (1895-1987) was an inventor who conceived an aircraft design in the 1920s in which the air was pushed from a propeller into a tube. A small model of the aircraft was tested in 1929. In 1932, Odor was invited to work with the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Oklahoma Engineering Experiment Station (Project No. 26), to further develop his propeller assembly concept and it was there that the name "Vornado Plane" was born. Odor filed a patent on his propeller assembly in 1934, which was approved in 1938. The Vornado Trust was formed in 1935 to handle all legal and financial aspects of the Vornado Plane and Vornado principle. In 1936, Odor began to work with Kern Dodge, a mechanical engineer and member of the Vornado Trust. Additional testing was conducted on using the Vornado principle for air circulation and by 1938, the concept of the Vornado Plane was put aside to focus on using the technology for fans. Additional patents were granted to this end in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In 1939, the Vornado Trust contracted with the Propellair company to produce fans using Odor's principles, however these plans were derailed by World War II.

Administration

Author
Jessamyn Lloyd
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donald Morris, Gift, 2016, NASM.2016.0012
Processing Information
Arranged and described (2016), updated, and encoded (2020) by Jessamyn Lloyd.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Vornado Plane Material [Ralph K. Odor], NASM.2016.0012, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aerodynamics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reports Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Technical drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Patents Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motion pictures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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