Elmer Ambrose Sperry (October 12, 1860 - June 16, 1930) was an American inventor and entrepreneur, most famous as co-inventor, with Herman Ansch羹tz-Kaempfe of the gyrocompass, a non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of the Earth to automatically find geographical direction. In 1900 Sperry established an electrochemical laboratory at Washington, D.C., where he developed a process for making pure caustic soda from salt and discovered a process for recovering tin from scrap metal. He experimented with diesel engines and gyroscopic compasses and stabilizers for ships and aircraft. In 1910 he started the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn, New York; his first compass was tested that same year in USS Delaware (BB-28). His compasses and stabilizers were adopted by the United States Navy and used in both world wars. In 1918 he produced a high-intensity arc lamp which was used as a searchlight by both the Army and Navy. After setting up eight companies and taking out over 400 patents, He died in 1930 at the age of 69.