Lamar Dale Springer, BSEE ’49
Lamar Dale Springer, BSEE '49, served in the U.S. Navy from 1944-1946 as an electronic technicians mate 3/C. He graduated from Ohio University in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, in addition to having extra Navy credits.
Springer began his career at the National Cash Register Company (NCR) as an electronic research engineer. Early on, he designed several electronic counters. One of his most complex projects was building a Sterling Multiplier to multiply pounds (a scale of 10), shillings (a scale of 20), and pence (a scale of 12) by a decimal of a decimal fraction (our number system generally uses a scale of ten). The system was patented.
Springer then joined the United Shoe Machinery Corp. as a senior electronics engineer, and in 1957, he joined Booz-Allen Applied Research as a contractor for the U.S. Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division. Among his studies under top-secret clearance were problems involving computer data processing, equipment analysis and evaluation, and a digital-data logging system.
In 1960, Springer became a program manager at Data Corporation, which later became a subsidiary of the Mead Corporation, managing design fabrication and control of a large photographic chemical mixing and distribution facility. He was an Air Force consultant on the computer portions of several reconnaissance systems and on various technical projects for the Foreign Technology Division, including computer programming, equipment evaluation, and modification/design/fabrication of electronic hardware. He also managed two laser Doppler programs.
In 1967, he assembled a group of engineers and an attorney who also was an Ohio University alumnus to start Dayton Scientific Inc., a specialty electronic turn-key systems manufacturer. Currently the company’s president, Springer holds five patents jointly or personally. He is a life member of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association, and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.