Charles Lanier Lawrance

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Charles Lanier Lawrance (born September 30, 1882 in Lenox (Massachusetts) , † June 24, 1950 in East Islip ) was an American engineer and businessman.

Lawrance attended Yale University after completing his schooling and worked for an automobile manufacturer until 1907. He then went to Paris to study architecture. At the same time he was occupied with the new aviation and worked in Gustave Eiffel's laboratory on an eight-cylinder engine. He also experimented with various airfoil profiles until he went back to the USA in 1914, where he applied his knowledge to the development and manufacture of air-cooled aircraft engines.

To this end, he founded the Lawrance Aero Engine Corporation in 1916 . His engines performed well and he was also able to sell them to the US Navy and Army. In 1920 he secured a development contract for a 200 hp radial engine for his company. However, the company was unable to resolve the difficulties with the Lawrance J-1 engine , so Lawrance sold his company to Wright Aeronautical on May 15, 1923 and became chief engineer. After Frederick Brant Rentschler left , Lawrance took over management of the company.

The design initiated by him was further developed and finally a commercial success as the Wright J-5 and its successors. Particular attention was paid to this type when Charles Lindbergh was the first to cross the Atlantic alone in a machine equipped with this engine in 1927. After the merger of Wright Aeronautical with the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company , Lawrance left the newly founded Curtiss-Wright company in 1930 to become self-employed. The Lawrance Engineering & Research Corporation dealt with the development and manufacture of equipment parts for aircraft, in particular with generators.

In 1927 Lawrance received the Collier Trophy for the development of its air-cooled radial engine .