08/16/2021
Oscar H. Banker, born as Asatour Sarafian (1895 – January 1979) was an Armenian American inventor who invented the automatic transmission for automobiles. Considered as the ‘father of automatic transmission’ he was also responsible for the invention of the needle-less inoculation gun, the primary controls of the first Sikorsky helicopter, and power steering.
Sarafyan was born in Kayseri in 1895 in a cave his parents took shelter to escape the Hamidian massacres of the Hamidiye cavalry regiments of the Ottoman Empire, and migrated to the USA in 1914.
Arriving in Chicago as a teenager, Safarian adopted his new name Oscar Banker. His first break through as an inventor happened when General Motors adopted his automatic transmission system after their own semi-automatic system failed due to many flaws.
However his inventions did not stay limited to the automotive industry. During WWII, he invented the primary controls of the first Sikorsky helicopter, which lead to a mass production. He’s also the patent holder of many other inventions.
At the age of 83, Oscar Banker died in 1979, Cleveland Ohio. His memoirs titled ‘Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor: An Immigrant's Romance’ were published in 1983.
Sources:
- Mouradian, George (1995). Armenian infotext (1st ed.). Southgate, Mich.: Bookshelf
Publishers. ISBN 9780963450920.
- Oscar Banker. WORLDLAB. Retrieved 27 February 2013. The creator of the first practical
automatic transmission for cars and buses.
- Stevens, Monica (August 1, 2010). "The Armenian Community in Michigan". Examiner.
Asatour Sarafian, inventor of the auto transmission.
- Are Armenians the only victims of 1915? Agos. Retrieved from http://www.agos.com.tr/en/article/10417/are-armenians-the-only-victims-of-1915
