View source for Biography:Henry Sutton (inventor)

{{short description|Australian inventor (1855–1912)}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Henry Sutton
| image       = Henry-Sutton.jpg
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_place = Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=y|1912|07|28|1855|09|03}}
| death_place = Malvern, Victoria, Australia
| death_cause = 
| nationality = 
| other_names = 
| known_for   = 
| occupation  = Inventor, music publisher
|relations    = Hilda Rix Nicholas (niece)
}}
'''Henry Sutton''' (4 September 1855, Ballarat, Victoria – 28 July 1912) was an Australian designer, engineer, and inventor credited with contributions to early developments in electricity, aviation, wireless communication, photography and telephony.<ref name=Branch>{{cite book |last1=Branch |first1=Lorayne |title=Henry Sutton the Innovative Man - Australian inventor, scientist and engineer|date=2018 |publisher=Tried and Trusted Indie Publishing |location=Victoria Australia |isbn=978-1-925332-34-6}} Branch is Sutton's great-granddaughter</ref>{{rp|10}}<ref name=ADB>{{cite book|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sutton-henry-4675|last=McCallum|first=Austin|title=Sutton, Henry (1856–1912)|pages=226–227|editor=Bede Nairn |editor2=Geoffrey Serle |editor3=Russel Ward|volume=6:1851-1890 R-Z Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Melbourne University Press|place=Melbourne|date=1976}}</ref>

==Early life==
{{external media
| width = 300px
| float = right
| title = Family
| headerimage=
| image1 = [https://ehive.com/collections/4819/objects/243750/richard-henry-sutton-1830-1876 Photograph - Richard Henry Sutton 1830-1876], Collection, Gold Museum Ballarat. Retrieved on 5 December 2018.
| image2 = [https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5251f1ec2162ef0d1cc6623a Photograph - Black and White - Sutton Family], Historical Collection, Federation University Australia. Retrieved on 5 December 2018.}}

===Family===
Henry Sutton, the second of the eleven children of Richard Henry Sutton (1831 – 1876),<ref group=f>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/199831057|title=Deaths: Sutton|newspaper=The Ballarat Star|date=26 September 1876|page=2}}</ref> and Mary Sutton (1835 – 1894), née Johnson,<ref group=f>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206497573|title=Deaths: Sutton|newspaper=The Ballarat Star|date=12 March 1894|page=2,4}}</ref> was born in a tent on the Ballarat goldfields on 4 September 1855.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|3}} He had three brothers, with whom he was associated in the ''Sutton Brothers'' musical business originally centred on Ballarat,<ref group=f>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206969474 Sutton's Proprietary, Limited, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Saturday, 29 December 1900), p.1]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207026172 Sutton Bros. and Their Staff, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Tuesday, 1 January 1901), p.6.]</ref> and two sisters.  He married Elizabeth Ellen Wyatt (1860-1901) in 1881,<ref group=f>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139748949/11416079 Deaths: Sutton, ''The Australasian'', (Saturday, 2 November 1901), p.60.]</ref> and Annie May Tatti (1884-), on 17 September 1902,<ref group=f>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196581738 Marriages: Sutton—Tatti, ''The Leader'', (Saturday, 11 October 1902), p.44.]</ref> who bore four and two sons, respectively.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|371}}

===Education===
Up to the age of ten, Sutton was schooled by his mother, then attended a state school, and then Gracefield college between 1869 and 1872.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|23}} Sutton was self taught in the field of science, having read all the available books in
library of the Ballarat Mechanics’ lnstitute by the age of 14.<ref name=Withers>{{cite book|title=The History of Ballarat, from the First Pastoral Settlement to the Present Time|year=1887|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofballara00with/page/316 316]–319|publisher=F.W. Niven And Co|location=Ballarat|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofballara00with|last=Withers|first=William Bramwell|edition= 2nd|ol=9436501W}}</ref>

Sutton trained as a draftsman at the Ballarat School of Design<ref name=Branch />{{rp|18}} where he won a silver medal and 30 other prizes for drawing.<ref name=Withers />

Sutton studied at the Ballarat School of Mines.<ref name=Withers /><ref name=eureka>{{cite web |last=Beggs Sunter |first=Anne |title=Henry Sutton the Eureka man |url=http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/downloads/pdfs/Heritage1105_Henry%20Sutton.pdf |publisher=Australian Heritage |access-date=27 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306082219/http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/downloads/pdfs/Heritage1105_Henry%20Sutton.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Ballarat==
Sutton lectured at the Ballarat School of Mines from 1883 to 1886.<ref name=cg>{{cite web|last=Gervasoni|first=Clare|url=https://federation.edu.au/about-us/our-university/history/geoffrey-blainey-research-centre/honour-roll/s/henry-sutton|title=Henry Sutton|date=30 November 2018 |publisher=Federation University Australia Honour Roll}}</ref>
In 1883, as a consequence of his work on batteries, Sutton was admitted as an associate of the [[Organization:Institution of Electrical Engineers|Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians]].<ref name=Branch />{{rp|50,57}} M. Louis Adolphe Cochery minister of Post and Telegraph Office in France invited Sutton to membership of the Société Internationale des Electriciens.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|50}}<ref name=Withers /> Sutton was also offered membership of Electrical societies from America, Belgium and Russia.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|50}}
In 1890 prior to leaving for England, a farewell dinner was held by the citizens of Ballarat, where Sutton was presented with an Illuminated address.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|84–8}}<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209579190 Farewell to Mr. H. Sutton, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Tuesday, 4 February 1890), p.4.]</ref>

==London: 1890–1893==
Sutton registered Sutton's Process Syndicate in November 1891 at an address in London to exploit his ''Suttontype'' printing process.  The process was not considered particularly innovative and it was reported to be unreliable.  He abandoned the business to return to Australia.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Suttontype Printing Process |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209708434 |access-date=31 December 2018 |issue=p.4 |publisher=The Ballarat Star |date=10 July 1890}}</ref><ref name=Jackson>{{cite journal|url=http://www.bsanz.org/download/script-and-print/script__print_vol._37_no._3_2013/SP_2013-Vol37-No3-3.pdf|last=Jackson|first=Philip|title=Bibliographical Reply: The Suttontype Printing Process|journal=Script & Print|volume=37|issue=3|date=August 2013|pages=165–173}}</ref>

In 1892, he was introduced to [[Biography:Nikola Tesla|Nikola Tesla]] by [[Biography:John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|Lord Rayleigh]] and William Preece.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|ix}}

On the return voyage to Australia in 1893, Sutton used his printing process to contribute pictures to a shipboard newspaper called the ''Red Sea Scorcher''.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209786422 Return of a Ballarat Inventor: An Interesting Interview, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Monday, 15 May 1893), p.3.]</ref>

==Melbourne==
Sutton travelled with [[Biography:Alexander Graham Bell|Alexander Graham Bell]] from Melbourne to Ballarat on 15 August 1910 where they discussed their respective discoveries.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|225–6}}

Sutton died suddenly, at his residence ("Waltham", 9 Erskine Street, Malvern), on 28 July 1912, at the age of 56<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196261061 Deaths: Sutton, ''The Age'', (Monday, 29 July 1912), p.1.] [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10517885 Deaths: Sutton, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 29 July 1912), p.9.]</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221719066 Mr. Henry Sutton: Death of a Well-Known Scientist, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Monday, 29 July 1912), p.1.]</ref> and was buried in the Brighton Cemetery.<ref>[https://brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/suttonh.htm Henry Sutton (1856-1912), Inventor, ''Historic Interments: 150 Years: 150 Lives'', brightoncemetry.com.]</ref>

==Inventions==
===Printing===
[[Image:Henry Sutton (Ev. Post 24 Oct 1899).tiff|left|200px|thumb|''The Evening Post'', Wellington,<br>24 October 1889]]
[[Image:Henry Sutton (NZ Times 26 Oct 1899).tiff|right|210px|thumb|''New Zealand Times'',<br>26 October 1889]]
Sutton's ''Suttontype'' process for converting photographs into a printing surface was patented in 1887.<ref group=p>{{patent|AU-VIC|5389}}[http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1887&class=general&page_num=3167&state=V&classNum=G104&searchCode=4863573 Victoria Government Gazette 104], Friday, October 28th 1887, [http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1887&class=general&page_num=3256&state=V&classNum=G108&searchCode=4863573 Victoria Government Gazette 108], Friday, November 11th 1887, [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20090524153000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23649/20090525-0130/www.library.org.au/modules6273.html Photography Patent 1887, October 20th. No. 5389]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute, Branch (2018). p.283.</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/7891328 "an improved process of converting a photographic image on a gelatine surface into a relief or intaglio printing surface"] New Patents, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 5 December 1887), p.8.</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9146757/821603 Instantaneous Photo-Engraving, ''The Mercury'', (Saturday, 2 June 1888), p.3.]</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241372721 An Australian Invention, ''The (Melbourne) Herald'', (Friday, 27 September 1889) p.4.]</ref>
{{clear}}
===Wireless telegraphy===
Sutton discovered, and patented, a [[Chemistry:Galena|galena]] "detector"<ref>{{cite book|last=Erskine-Murray|first=James|title=A Handbook of Wireless Telegraphy: Its Theory and Practice: For the Use of Electrical Engineers, Students, and Operators|edition=4th|publisher=C. Lockwood and Son|place=London|date=1913}}</ref>{{rp|134}} that had superior performance over other devices used to that time.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wireless Experiments. A Melbourne Inventor. A Sensitive Detector.|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10209092|newspaper=The Mercury (Hobart, Tas)|date=7 March 1912}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Watt|first=Jarrod|title=Australian's forgotten radio pioneer: the amazing Henry Sutton|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/02/12/3428794.htm|publisher=ABC radio|date=12 February 2012}}</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/21383900 An Inventor (Mr. Henry Sutton) and His Invention, ''The Leader'', (Saturday, 14 May 1910), p.36]: with "explanatory notes" supplied by Sutton at [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196493022 Research in Wireless Telegraphy, ''The Leader'', (Saturday, 14 May 1910), p.51.]</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221999963 Wireless Experiments: A Melbourne Inventor, ''The (Sydney) Sun'', (Saturday, 17 February 1912), p.12.]</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|AU|2621}} [http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/applicationDetails.do?applicationNo=1911002621 An improved detector of electric oscillations for wireless telegraphy and like purposes], Australian Patent No. 2621/11, 29 September 1911, Branch (2018). p.297.</ref>

Sutton had also built the world's first portable radio<ref name=Branch />{{rp|222}} and held a number of other patents relating to wireless transmission and reception.<ref group=p>{{patent|AU|3354}} [https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?II=6&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19120206&CC=AU&NR=3354B1&KC=B1# Improved means of producing electric oscillations for wireless telegraphy and other purposes] Branch (2018). p.299.</ref>
<ref group=p>{{patent|AU|16633}} Improvements relating to the production and transmission of hertzian waves, Branch (2018). p.297.</ref>
<ref group=p>{{patent|AU|17127}} Improved means for preventing 'arcing' of the gap in the production of high potential electrical oscillations, Branch (2018). p.297.</ref>
<ref group=p>{{patent|AU|17433}} Improved means for detecting acoustic electric, or like waves, Branch (2018). p.297.</ref>

==Other endeavours==
===Aviation===
Sutton built a clockwork-driven ornithopter operating on a fixed arm<ref name=Branch />{{rp|11}} and presented two papers on flight to the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, in 1878, entitled "On the Flight of Birds and Aërial Navigation"<ref group=note>The first page of the article (p.30) does not display Sutton's name but it is to be found at the foot of the previous page</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1017/S2397930500000631|title = On the Flight of Birds and Aërial Navigation|journal = Annual Reports of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain|volume = 13|pages = 30–52|year = 1878}}</ref> and "Second Paper on the Flight of Birds".<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1017/S2397930500000643|title = Second Paper on the Flight of Birds|journal = Annual Reports of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain|volume = 13|pages = 53–69|year = 1878|last1 = Sutton|first1 = Henry}}</ref>

===Batteries===
In 1881, Sutton had developed a new rechargeable battery<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03556302|last=Sutton|first=Henry|title=On a New Electrical Storage Battery|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London|volume=33|issue=217|date=15 December 1881|pages=[https://archive.org/details/philtrans03556302/page/n0 187]–190}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans04823423|last=Sutton|first=Henry|title=On a New Electrical Storage Battery (Supplementary Note)|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London|volume=33|issue=218|date=12 January 1882|pages=[https://archive.org/details/philtrans04823423/page/n0 257]–8|bibcode=1881RSPS...33..257S}}</ref><ref name=Branch />{{rp|18}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Sutton|first=H|title=On a New Form of Secondary Cell for Electrical Storage|url=http://www.eoas.info/bib/CIAB00105.htm|publisher=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 1882}}</ref><ref name=Withers />{{rp|318}} which was patented the following year.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|49,281}}  He also wrote of a four-volt cell compound battery invention which was described as impossible by the ''English Mechanic and World of Science'' in 1890.<ref name=Jackson />{{rp|170}}

===Lighting===
Sutton demonstrated a light globe sixteen days after [[Biography:Thomas Edison|Edison's]] demonstration on 31 December 1879.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|38}}<ref name=Withers />{{rp|316}}

Subsequently{{when|date=December 2018}} Sutton's vacuum pump design which overcame deficiencies in the Sprengel pump, was used for the production of light globes by the [[Company:Edison and Swan Electric Light Company|Edison Swan company]].<ref name=Branch />{{rp|42–4}}<ref name=Withers />{{rp|316–7}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Sutton|first=H|title=Description of Vacuum Apparatus|url=http://www.ieeeghn.com/wiki6/images/a/a8/Sutton_Vacuum_Invention.pdf|work=Review 13 Dec 1881|access-date=26 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113103742/http://www.ieeeghn.com/wiki6/images/a/a8/Sutton_Vacuum_Invention.pdf|archive-date=13 January 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Telephony===
After reading of [[Biography:Alexander Graham Bell|Bell]]'s 1876 announcement of the invention of the telephone, Sutton had designed about twenty different telephones within a year.<ref name=ieeeghn /><ref name=Withers />{{rp|316}} Sutton was said{{by whom|date=December 2018}} to have "believed in the free flow of information as a gift to science ... patented little, although sixteen of his twenty original telephone designs were patented by others overseas".<ref>Moyal, Ann, "Invention and Innovation in Australia: The Historian's Lens", ''Prometheus'', Vol. 5, No. 1, (June 1987), pp. 92–110; p. 99. {{doi|10.1080/08109028708629415}}</ref>

The first Australian telephone connection was made in Ballarat and Ballarat East, linking fire stations in the two towns. The exact location of one of the telephone sets can be seen in the Ballarat East Fire Station. The device once allowed communication between the two fire brigades in Ballarat so that they could more accurately locate fires from their watch towers.<ref>At the monthly meeting of the Ballarat Fire Brigade, held on Monday, 2 December 1889, it was noted that correspondence had been received "from [the] Post and Telegraph Department, intimating that the [Ballarat] brigade would be connected by telephone with the signal-box at Eastern station without delay": [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209576642 Ballarat Fire Brigade, ''The Ballarat Star'', (Friday, 6 December 1889), p.4.]</ref> Sutton had also wired up Sutton's Music Stores,<ref name=PB>{{cite web |last1=Bentley |first1=Prue |title=Treasures unearthed in Ballarat's Sutton building |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/10/23/4113140.htm |website=ABC Ballarat |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref> his family business warehouses and offices, with a telephone network two years before an official Australian telephone system.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Delacey |first1=Lynda |title=On this day: Birth of Australia's electronics inventor |journal=Australian Geographic |date=2015-09-07 |url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2015/09/on-this-day-birth-of-australias-telephone-inventor/ |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref> Sutton devised a method for using gas and water pipes as part of a telephone circuit.<ref group=p>{{patent|AU-VIC|4784}}[http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1886&class=general&page_num=3163&state=V&classNum=G122&searchCode=4863573 Victoria Government Gazette 122], Friday, November 12th 1886, [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20100524140200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23649/20100525-0002/www.library.org.au/modules4c57.html Improvements in electric circuits for telephonic purposes Patent 1886 October 26th. No.4784]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [http://ballaratmi.com.au Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute].</ref><ref>"Mr Henry Sutton, music seller, of Sturt street, Ballarat, has applied for a patent for improvements in electric circuits for telephone purposes": [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/210838224 ''The Ballarat Star'', (Monday, 15 November 1886), p.2.]</ref>

===Microscopy===
In 1885 after cholera outbreak on a ship in Queensland, Sutton obtained a slide and managed to photograph the cholera germ at 1000 times magnification. A letter to this effect, from Sutton, was published in ''The Argus'' on 28 December 1885.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/6078258 Sutton, H., "Photographing the Cholera Germ (Letter to the Editor, dated 19 December 1885)", ''The Argus'', (Monday, 28 December 1885), p.7.]</ref>

===Photography===
In the 1880s Sutton also devised a colour photography process but, although examples of this work exist, he did not commercialize it.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|98–9,103}}

===Television===
In 1885, Sutton designed, but did not construct, a [[Engineering:Mechanical television|mechanical television]] apparatus to see the Melbourne Cup in Ballarat.<ref name=TJER/><ref name=Withers />{{rp|319}}
Sutton had published his Telephane designs in 1890.<ref name=TJER>{{cite journal |last1=Sutton |first1=Henry |title=Tele-photography |journal=Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review |date=7 November 1890 |pages=550}}</ref><ref name=ieeeghn>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieeeghn.com/wiki/index.php/Henry_Sutton|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505145544/http://www.ieeeghn.com/wiki/index.php/Henry_Sutton|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 May 2010|title=Henry Sutton|publisher=IEEE Global History Network|date=17 May 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=E.R. |title=Les problèmes de la téléphanie d'après M. Henri Sutton |journal=Journal Universel d'Électricité |date=13 Dec 1890 |volume=La Lumière électrique |issue=50 |pages=538–541 |url=http://cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/fpage.cgi?P84.38/538/100/650/0/0}}</ref>  According to historian [[Biography:Ann Moyal|Ann Moyal]], the concept was never successfully demonstrated:  "Sutton's 'TV system', which he called 'telephany', used all the latest technology, such as the recently-invented [[Physics:Kerr effect|Kerr effect]], the [[Engineering:Nipkow disk|Nipkow disc]] (which [[Biography:John Logie Baird|Baird]] was to use in the 'twenties) and the [[Engineering:Resistive opto-isolator#History|selenium photocell]]. But its weak link in the 1870s was that the signal had to be transferred by telegraph lines, as radio had yet to arrive, and these were too slow to transmit the dashing horses of the Melbourne Cup successfully."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moyal|first=Ann|title=Telecommunications in Australia: An Historical Perspective, 1854-1930|journal=Prometheus|volume=1|issue=1|date= June 1983|page=40|doi=10.1080/08109028308628914|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Facsimile===
Sutton used his telephane system to demonstrate facsimile transmission with the help of Nicola Tesla in England.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|188–9}} An account of his invention was later published in Washington in 1896, noting that the first patents for long-distance transmission of images dated back to 1867.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1896-10-17/ed-1/seq-17.pdf Pictures by Wire, ''The Evening Star'', (Saturday, 16 October, 1896), p.3.]</ref>

===Lifts===
For the benefit of his mother, who had been paralyzed by a stroke, a new hydraulic lift had been installed in the newly built Suttons Music Emporium.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|109}} As Ballarat's low water pressure and lack of an efficient drainage system were incompatible, Sutton designed and built a new hydraulic mechanism to drive the lift.<ref name=PB/> This design was subsequently used by the Austral Otis company and exported for use in America.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|110}}

===Automotive===
{{external media
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| title = Second Sutton Autocar
| image1 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20181211010550/http://www.ieeevic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Sutton-Autocar.jpg Photograph: Second Sutton Autocar], Collection of ''[[Organization:Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]]'', Victorian Section. Retrieved on 5 December 2018.}}
[[File:Henry Sutton car.jpg|thumb|left|300px| A '''Sutton Voiturette Pedal Car''', built in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, in 1900 and on display in 2011 at the Ballarat Heritage Festival]]

::"Henry Sutton can be classed as an automobile inventor and designer rather than a manufacturer whose achievements were considerable and internationally recognized. As an inventor he produced a number of automobiles of his own design in an evolutionary process (somewhere between six and eight)."<ref>{{cite work|url=https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:162422/Darwin.pdf|last=Darwin|first=Norman Arthur|title=Early Australian Automotive Design 1895 - 1953|date=June 2018}} (For a detailed account of Sutton's numerous early contributions to the development of automobiles in Australia, see pp.66-73)</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175398165 |title=Mr. Sutton's Trim Built Australian Motor Car |newspaper=Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 February 1903 |access-date=1 January 2019 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>  In 1897, a tricycle fitted with a Sutton designed and built engine was driven from Melbourne to Ballarat.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9770582 Cycling: A Motor Car, ''The Argus'', (Friday, 10 September 1897), p.3];</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174627273/20431705 Cycling Notes, ''Melbourne Punch'', (Thursday, 16 September 1897), p.18];</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241853478 'Kuklos', "World of Sport: Cycling", ''The (Melbourne) Herald'', (Friday, 25 November 1898), p.3.]</ref> Despite atrocious road conditions the trip was completed in eleven and a half hours, and the vehicle arrived in Ballarat to a crowd of thousands.<ref name=Branch />{{rp|129–32}}
From 1898 Sutton held patents for improvements in combustion engine carburettors;<ref group=p>{{patent|US|650736}}{{cite web|title=Explosive-engine. US 650736|url=https://www.google.com/patents/US650736|website=Google patents|date=7 December 1898}} Branch (2018). p.286.</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|US|664689}}{{cite web|title=Speed-regulator for explosive-engines. US 664689|url=https://www.google.com/patents/US664689|website=Google patents|date=10 July 1899}}Branch (2018). p.286.</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|GB|189900634}} Improvements in and relating to Internal Combustion Engines. Branch (2018). p.286.</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|AU-VIC|15777}} [http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1899&class=general&page_num=1318&state=V&classNum=G31&searchCode=4863573 Improvements in and relating to Internal Combustion Engines] Victoria Government Gazette 31, Friday, April 28th 1899. Branch (2018). p.286.</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|FR|285240}} Branch (2018). p.286.</ref><ref group=p>{{patent|AU-NSW|9327}}[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239541674 Improvements in and relating to Internal combustion engines: Patent No. 9327] Patents and Inventions, ''The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph'', (Tuesday, 13 June 1899), p.3.</ref> and, by 1899, he had built and driven the '''Sutton Autocar''', one of the first motor cars in Australia.<ref name=cg/>
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==Automobile Club of Victoria==
Sutton was a founding member of the Automobile Club of Victoria;<ref name=ADB/> and, at its inaugural meeting, on 10 December 1903, Sutton's proposed "objects of the club" were unanimously accepted by all present:
::"that the objects of the club should be the promotion of a social organisation and club, composed mainly of persons owning self-propelled vehicles or motor cycles; to afford a means of recording the experiences of members and others using motor cars and motor cycles; to promote investigation in their development; to co-operate in securing rational legislation and the formation of proper rules and regulations governing the use of motor cars and motor cycles in cities, towns and country districts; to maintain the lawful rights and privileges and protect the interests of owners and users of all forms of self-propelled vehicles whenever and wherever such interests, rights and privileges are menaced; to promote and encourage the improvement, construction and maintenance of roads and highways and the development generally in this State of motoring, and to maintain a club to be devoted to the interests and advancement of automobilism."<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246076996 Motoring: An Automobile Club, ''The (Melbourne) Herald'', (Thursday, 10 December 1903), p.4.]</ref>

==Legacy==

===Henry Sutton Circuit===
On 20 January 2004, several streets in the new Canberra suburb of Dunlop were named after "inventors, inventions, and artists"; and one of these new streets was called "Henry Sutton Circuit".<ref>[https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/DownloadFile/di/2004-12/current/RTF/2004-12.RTF Public Place Names (Dunlop) Determination 2004 (No 1): PN2004-1: Division of Dunlop: Inventors, Inventions and Artists, ''ACT Parliament''.]</ref>

===The Henry Sutton Oration===
In 2014, the ''Telecommunications Association'' (formerly known as the ''Telecommunications Society of Australia'', which had its origins in the ''Telegraph Electrical Society'', founded in Melbourne in 1874), inaugurated its annual Henry Sutton Oration.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://telsoc.org/event/vic/2014-05-14/henry_sutton_oration_14_may_2014_-_robyn_williams|title=Henry Sutton Oration 14 May 2014 - Robyn Williams|website=TelSoc|publisher=Telecommunications Association, Inc.|access-date=30 December 2018}}</ref>

===Poetry===
Les Murray referred to Sutton and television in his 1990 poem "The Tube".<ref>Les Murray, [https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les/the-tube-0562023 "''The Tube''"]: a poem first published in Murray, L., ''Dog Fox Field'', Angus & Robertson, (North Ryde), 1990.</ref>

===''The Science Show''===
Science journalist Robyn Williams has featured Sutton in episodes of his long-running radio program.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/henry-sutton---inventor-of-television/4441244 Henry Sutton – inventor of television] ABC Radio National – The Science Show, 22 December 2012</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}

===Family footnotes===
{{reflist|group=f}}

===Patents===
{{reflist|group=p}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.allcarindex.com/main-index/car-make-details/Australia-Sutton/ Sutton, ''allcarindex.com''.]
* [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-04/why-have-we-forgotten-australias-edison/10567060 Cansdale, Dominic, "Henry Sutton pioneered modern batteries and television so why have we forgotten 'Australia's Edison'?", ''ABC Ballarat'', 4 December 2018.]
* [http://www.electroline.com.au/articles/58873-The-legacy-of-Henry-Sutton The legacy of Henry Sutton] by Mike Smyth, Electronics Online
* [http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs265.aspx Patent records held in Canberra – Fact sheet 265, ''National Archives of Australia''.]
*{{Find a Grave|179388923}}
*[https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LD19-T7V Henry Sutton] Familysearch
{{Telecommunications|state=collapsed}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Henry}}
[[Category:Ornithopters]]
[[Category:Radio pioneers]]
[[Category:Television pioneers]]

{{Sourceattribution|Henry Sutton (inventor)}}