Canadian engineer
Winnett Boyd
(October 17, 1916 ? January 30, 2017) was a Canadian engineer who made major contributions to the development of the
jet engine
and
nuclear reactor
design.
Early life and education
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Boyd's father, Winnett Wornibe Boyd, was stationed in
Wales
during
World War I
, where he met Marjorie Sterne St. George, an American. They married, and in 1917 returned to Winnett's home town in
Bobcaygeon
,
Ontario
. Growing up, Boyd lived in Bobcaygeon,
Port Hope
,
Bermuda
and
Toronto
.
In 1935, Winnett began studying
mechanical engineering
at the
University of Toronto
's
School of Practical Science
. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1939 and was offered a staff scholarship by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). He completed one year of graduate studies at MIT as well as a Teaching Assistantship.
Engineering career
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Between 1940 and 1943, Boyd worked as an engineer for Demerara Bauxite in
British Guiana
, and for the
Aluminum Company of Canada
in
Montreal
and
Shawinigan Falls
.
In the fall of 1943, Boyd joined the
Royal Canadian Navy
, but was soon sent to the
National Research Council
(NRC). During this time the NRC was in the midst of implementing the suggestions of the
Banks Report
, which suggested ways of helping with the UK's jet engine development. Among its suggestions was the creation of a cold weather testing station, which the British could not supply as easily as the Canadians, as well as the creation of a local jet engine manufacturer in order to avoid dependence on the UK or US. The NRC sent a number of engineers, including Boyd, to study jet engine design in the United Kingdom over the next year. In the meantime, the government formed
Turbo Research
as a
Crown Corporation
in
Leaside
, now part of downtown
Toronto
. A number of the engineers involved in the creation of the Report worked there, while others created the Cold Weather Testing Station in
Winnipeg
.
On his return to Canada in 1944, the NRC sent Boyd to Turbo Research. The team initially had to decide between the
centrifugal
or
axial
engine designs, and Boyd outlined designs based on both, the
TR.1
being the centrifugal version, and the
TR.2
and
TR.3
being two variations of the axial design. The team eventually decided to move directly to the more promising axial design, and started real work on the
TR.3
in 1945. Boyd split off to start work on a smaller design, the
TR.4
, which was later named the
Chinook
. Work on the TR.3 was later abandoned.
In 1946 Turbo Research was sold to
Avro Canada
, and Boyd became the Chief Designer of what was known as their Gas Turbine Division. In September 1946 they started development of the much larger
TR.5
, which soon became known as the
Orenda
. The Chinook ran for the first time in 1948, but was largely abandoned by that point. The Orenda ran for the first time in February 1949, and matured into a superb design that was the most powerful production engine between 1949 and 1952. Over the next few years just under 4,000 examples would be produced, and used on a variety of designs including the
Avro CF-100
Cannuck
and
Canadair
versions of the
F-86 Sabre
. Boyd resigned from Avro on December 31, 1950 after the company started planning a major reorganization and suggested Boyd become a consultant.
In 1951, he founded a consulting firm as
Winnett Boyd Limited
. At about the same time, he started working as a consulting engineer for the
C.D. Howe
Company, where he was responsible for the design of the
National Research Universal Reactor
, or NRU. The NRU operated at the
Atomic Energy of Canada
plant in
Chalk River
until 2018. The NRU was considered one of the world's finest research reactors and produced a large supply of isotopes, used for medical reasons.
In 1956, Boyd began designing the
Daniels-Boyd Nuclear Steam Generator
(D-BNSG), a nuclear powerplant based on
Farrington Daniels
'
pebble bed reactor
design. After two years of promoting the D-BNSG, the project was ended. He later wrote on the topic, notably in
The Nuclear Future of Canada
in 1958/59. In 1959, Boyd became the first President of
Arthur D. Little
's Canadian affiliate in Toronto. He worked there until his retirement in 1981, while maintaining his work at Winnett Boyd Limited.
Later interests
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Boyd attended the
Pugwash Conferences
in 1965 and 1967. Boyd was a founding member of the Canadian Association for the
Club of Rome
, which is also concerned with world affairs.
Boyd ran for the
Progressive Conservatives
in the 1972 General Election in the
York?Scarborough
riding, but lost to the
Liberal
candidate,
Robert Stanbury
. He used this campaign to publicly discuss the
capitalist
ideologies of his friend,
Louis O. Kelso
. In 1974, Boyd co-founded BMG Publishing with Kenneth McDonald and Orville Gaines. BMG published eight books pertaining to Canadian politics between 1975 and 1979.
Boyd began developing a bicycle brake in the 1970s. In the early 1990s he built bicycles called the BMG Suburban, equipped with the back-pedalling brake he invented. Boyd sells these bicycles independently.
Boyd won numerous engineering awards, including the University of Toronto's Engineering Alumni Medal in 1948, becoming an Associate Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautical Institute in 1954, and certificate of recognition from the Corporation of Professional Engineers of Quebec in 1959. In 1981, Boyd was inducted into the University of Toronto's Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction.
Boyd's writing has been published widely in a variety of periodicals. He has also had three books published:
Personal Thoughts: A Series on the Canadian Prospect
(1966),
The National Dilemma and the Way Out
with Kenneth McDonald (1975), and
Rebel Engineer
(1998).
Winnett Boyd retired to Bobcaygeon. He died on Monday, January 30, 2017 at the Victoria Manor long term care facility in Lindsay, Ontario at age 100.
[1]
References
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External links
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