Albert Einstein’s expert opinions on the Sperry vs. Anschütz gyrocompass patent dispute Original Research Article

Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe of Kiel, Germany applied for a patent for a gyrocompass (DE182855) in 1904. Further developments included a gyrocompass damping system to counteract ships roll in stormy seas (DE236200, 1908). In America, Elmer Ambrose Sperry of Wall Street, New York obtained GB patents for gyroscopic apparatus and formed the Sperry Gyroscope Co. in 1910. In 1911, Sperry launched a gyrocompass on the commercial market. When Sperry sold a gyrocompass to the Imperial German Navy in May 1914, Anschütz and Co. sued for patent infringement. The German court in Berlin requested the expert opinions of a university physics professor, Albert Einstein, to clarify the technical differences between the gyrocompasses in the patent dispute.