engineering

Woodward, Inc.

Woodward, Inc. is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Woodward, Inc. rather than just read about it. In short: Woodward, Inc. is an American designer, manufacturer, and service provider of control systems and control system components (e.g. pumps, controls, motors, actuators, air valves, position sensors, fuel nozzles, and electronics) for aircraft, aircraft engines, industrial engines and turbines, power generation and mobile industrial equipment. The company also provides military devices and other equipment for defense.

Key takeaways

Woodward, Inc. belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Woodward, Inc. to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Woodward, Inc. from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Woodward, Inc. is an American designer, manufacturer, and service provider of control systems and control system components (e.g. pumps, controls, motors, actuators, air valves, position sensors, fuel nozzles, and electronics) for aircraft, aircraft engines, industrial engines and turbines, power generation and mobile industrial equipment. The company also provides military devices and other equipment for defense.

Woodward, Inc. was founded as The Woodward Governor Company by Amos Woodward in 1870. Initially, the company made speed controls for waterwheels (first patent No. 103,813) and eventually moved into mechanical controls for hydro turbines. In the 1920s and 1930s, Woodward began designing controls for diesel and other reciprocating engines and for industrial turbines. Also in the 1930s, Woodward developed a governor for variable-pitch aircraft propellers. Woodward parts were notably used in the GE engine on the United States military's first turbine-powered aircraft. Starting in the 1950s, Woodward began designing electronic controls, first analog and then digital units.

Historical information The company was founded in Rockford, Illinois, in 1870 with Amos W. Woodward's invention of a non compensating mechanical waterwheel governor (U.S. patent No. 103,813). Thirty years later, his son Elmer patented the first successful mechanical compensating governor for hydraulic turbines (U.S. patent No. 583,527). In 1933, the company expanded its product line to include diesel engine controls (U.S. patent No. 2,039,507) and aircraft propeller governors (British patent No. 470,284). Woodward governors followed the rapid advancement of diesel engine applications for railroads, maritime and electrical generation in many fields. The advent of gas turbine engines for aircraft and industrial uses offered still more opportunities for Woodward designed fuel controls. And, of course, the science of electronics has added impetus to this industry. Elmer E. Woodward conceived, designed, and developed the first successful propeller control in 1933. This model PW-34 propeller governor is on display at the Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The unofficial history website is www.oldwoodward.com

Modern day company As of 2007, Woodward Governor Company became a billion-dollar company with establishments worldwide, including Japan, China, and Europe. On January 26, 2011, the company announced that shareholders had approved the name change to Woodward, Inc. A growing number of general aviation and commuter aircraft rely on Woodward designed propeller and overspeed governors for turboshaft and turboprop engines. As of September 2016, approximately 34% of the company's sales were to the defense market, including parts for the V-22 Osprey ($645,000 revenue per aircraft) and the F/A-18 ($335,000 revenue per aircraft). Some of the engines controlled by Woodward include those from Honeywell (TPE331), General Electric (CT7/T700), and Pratt & Whitney Canada (PT6A series). In April 2018, Woodward Inc. purchased L'Orange GmbH for $859 million. This supplier of fuel-injection components for stationary, marine, offshore, and industrial engines was part of Rolls-Royce's power-systems business in Germany, the US and China. On January 12, 2020, the company announced an intent to merge with Hexcel, according to the Wall Street Journal. On April 20, it was announced the merger was called off, as a result of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID19 crisis also led to a sharp drop in revenues for Woodward, Inc. In February 2024, a protest outside facilities in Niles, Illinois resulted in arrests of 7 men and 26 women. Protesters said that Woodward is complicit in the Gaza war and called for an end to contracts with Boeing and Israel. A previous protest in support of the Palestinian cause brought about 300 people to the facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, in November 2023.

Woodward family patents

References

External links Unofficial history

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Woodward, Inc.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Woodward, Inc. claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Woodward, Inc. before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Woodward, Inc. ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Woodward, Inc.

In research: Woodward, Inc. appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Woodward, Inc. in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Woodward, Inc. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1870 establishments in Illinois, Aerospace companies of the United States, Aerospace materials, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Woodward, Inc. outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Woodward, Inc. in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Woodward, Inc. means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Woodward, Inc. out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Woodward, Inc. in simple terms?

Why does Woodward, Inc. matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Woodward, Inc.?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Woodward, Inc..