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{{short description|American engineer}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Betty Lou Bailey
| name = Betty Lou Bailey
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| birth_date = 1928
| birth_date = 1928
| birth_place = [[Chicago, IL]]
| birth_place = [[Chicago, IL]]
| death_date = November 13, 2007
| occupation = [[Mechanical Engineer]]
| occupation = [[Mechanical Engineer]]
| education = [[University of Illinois]], [[Penn State]]
| education = [[University of Illinois]], [[Penn State]]
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}}
}}


'''Betty Lou Bailey''' (1929 – 2007)<ref name=philaswe>{{cite web|title=Betty Lou Bailey|url=http://www.philaswe.org/history/bettyloubailey.html|publisher=SWE Philadelphia Memoirs|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref> was a [[General Electric Company]] [[mechanical engineer]] from the [[United States]]. She held a patent for the converging diverging variable exhaust nozzle. The invention operated so that one would vary both the throat and the exit diameters for the hot gas flows.<ref name=swe>{{cite web|title=SWE Women - Bailey|url=http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php/component/content/article/2-uncategorised/961|publisher=Society of Women Engineers|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref> In honor of her legacy, the [[Society of Women Engineers]] named a scholarship after her. To date, that scholarship is still being distributed to eligible female graduate students who pursue a career in engineering.<ref name=scholarship>{{cite web|title=Betty Lou Bailey SWE Region F Scholarship|url=http://www.petersons.com/scholarship/betty-lou-bailey-swe-region-f-scholarship-111_187249.aspx|publisher=Petersons|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref>
'''Betty Lou Bailey''' (1929 – 2007)<ref name=philaswe>{{cite web|title=Betty Lou Bailey|url=http://philadelphia.swe.org/hall-of-fame-a---l.html|publisher=SWE Philadelphia Memoirs|accessdate=11 June 2014|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219110112/http://philadelphia.swe.org/hall-of-fame-a---l.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> was a [[General Electric Company]] [[mechanical engineer]] from the [[United States]]. She held a patent for an aircraft variable exhaust nozzle. The invention operated so that one would vary both the throat and the exit diameters for the hot gas flows.<ref name=swe>{{cite web|title=SWE Women - Bailey|url=http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php/component/content/article/2-uncategorised/961|publisher=Society of Women Engineers|accessdate=11 June 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714112527/http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php/component/content/article/2-uncategorised/961|url-status=dead}}</ref> In honor of her legacy, the [[Society of Women Engineers]] named a scholarship after her. To date, that scholarship is still being distributed to eligible female graduate students who pursue a career in engineering.<ref name=scholarship>{{cite web|title=Betty Lou Bailey SWE Region F Scholarship|url=http://www.petersons.com/scholarship/betty-lou-bailey-swe-region-f-scholarship-111_187249.aspx|publisher=Petersons|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref>


Bailey was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati. She later served as the chair of its Guidance Committee.<ref name="swe"/>
Bailey was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati. She later served as the chair of its Guidance Committee.<ref name="swe"/>


==Early life==
==Early life==
Bailey was the youngest of five children. She excelled in math and science in high school. Although her father was a [[civil engineer]], it was her oldest sister Helen and her husband Paul who influenced Bailey to choose a career in engineering. Paul sold welding machines and taught Helen to weld. Helen taught welding to various men and women during World War II. Although a number of Helen's female welding students scored higher than the male students, all of the men were placed first before the women, regardless of the score. So, between Betty Lou Bailey's junior and senior years in high school, Helen suggested that Betty Lou should go into engineering.<ref name=transcript>{{cite web|title=INTERVIEW WITH BETTY LOU BAILEY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH, 2005|url=http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/images/stories/bailey/BAILEY.pdf|website=http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/|publisher=Society of Women Engineers|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref>
Bailey was the youngest of five children. She excelled in math and science in high school. Although her father was a [[civil engineer]], it was her oldest sister Helen and her husband Paul who influenced Bailey to choose a career in engineering. Paul sold [[welding]] machines and taught Helen to weld. Helen taught welding to various men and women during World War II. Although a number of Helen's female welding students scored higher than the male students, all of the men were placed first before the women, regardless of the score. So, between Betty Lou Bailey's junior and senior years in high school, Helen suggested that Betty Lou should go into engineering.<ref name=transcript>{{cite web|title=INTERVIEW WITH BETTY LOU BAILEY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH, 2005|url=http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/images/stories/bailey/BAILEY.pdf|website=societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/|publisher=Society of Women Engineers|accessdate=11 June 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001752/http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/images/stories/bailey/BAILEY.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their brother Clark had rejected engineering as a career which both sisters felt was one of the reasons that their father was supportive of young Betty's career choice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Oral-History:Betty Lou Bailey - Engineering and Technology History Wiki|url=https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Betty_Lou_Bailey|access-date=2021-12-04|website=ethw.org|date=12 January 2015 }}</ref>


==Education==
==Education==


Bailey attended the undergraduate program in mechanical engineering at the [[University of Illinois]] a year early, at the age of seventeen. By the time she finished her freshman year, both of Bailey's parents had died. In 1950, Bailey graduated with University Honors. In her graduating class of approximately 700 engineers, she was the only female engineer.<ref name="swe"/> In her sorority, she was one out of a total of two engineers (the other one was a civil engineer).<ref name="swe"/> In 1967, she graduated from the Penn State Graduate Center in King of Prussia with a Masters in the Engineering Science.<ref name="philaswe"/>
Bailey attended the undergraduate program in mechanical engineering at the [[University of Illinois]] a year early, at the age of seventeen. By the time she finished her freshman year, both of Bailey's parents had died. In 1950, Bailey graduated with University Honors. In her graduating class of approximately 700 engineers, she was the only female engineer.<ref name="swe"/> In her sorority, she was one out of a total of two engineers (the other one was a civil engineer).<ref name="swe"/> In 1967, she graduated from the Penn State Graduate Center in King of Prussia with a Masters in the Engineering Science, although she was not impressed by the course or teaching.<ref name="philaswe"/><ref name=":0" />


==Personal Life and Death==
==Career and contributions==
Bailey held positions at [[General Electric Company]] as a testing, design, and systems engineer in their Large Jet Engine Department, Gas Turbine Department, and its Valley Forge Space Technology Center. She progressed in her work, from household appliances, to steam turbines and jet engineers, and finally to the NASA Nimbus weather satellite project. During her initial job interview with GE, which occurred before she graduated from the University of Illinois, she remarked that, "I wanted to work for a company where engineers counted and were regarded as important."<ref name="swe" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ovedoff|first=Debora|date=1968|title=Mum's the Word -- Her Job's a Secret.|work=THE EVENING BULLETIN|url=http://philadelphia.swe.org/uploads/2/3/6/6/23664278/bailey_article.pdf|access-date=2021-04-05|archive-date=2016-03-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317171032/http://philadelphia.swe.org/uploads/2/3/6/6/23664278/bailey_article.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>


In addition to her work, Bailey started a math tournament in Cincinnati for high school students.<ref name="transcript" />
Bailey was an active environmentalist. She enjoyed sewing. She traveled, canoed, cycled, and hiked. She walked the entire Appalachian Trail in segments over a few years. She was a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK). In 2004 she received their highest award for her work in monitoring hydropower applications to the Federal Regulatory Commission. She did work in dam-licensing that helped ensure that sufficient water was released downstream to support river life and water recreation.<ref name="philaswe"/>


==Exhaust nozzle==
Bailey died suddenly on November 13, 2007, during an ADK cycling trip.<ref name="philaswe"/>


During her tenure at General Electric, Bailey patented an exhaust nozzle in Evendale. She initiated the format that GE used for getting bids on their air emission tests.<ref name="transcript" />
==Career and Contributions==
Bailey held positions at [[General Electric Company]] as a testing, design, and systems engineer in their Large Jet Engine Department, Gas Turbine Department, and its Valley Forge Space Technology Center. She progressed in her work, from household appliances, to steam turbines and jet engineers, and finally to the NASA Nimbus weather satellite project. During her initial job interview with GE, which occurred before she graduated from the University of Illinois, she remarked that, "I wanted to work for a company where engineers counted and were regarded as important."<ref name="swe"/>


The company had the 7F gas turbine, which was the first-of-its-kind. She was working at the roof of the building and was familiar with enough with the piping to recognize a leak out of the gas line from the gas valve compartment. The company was losing a lot of gas that had already been counted as going into the turbine. Bailey noted the failed efficiency. That gas leak was going into the incoming gas in the machine, so the carbon monoxide was destroying the seal. All six weeks of prior combustion tests that the employees had been running on the machine had to be discarded. Her invention straightened out the problem, and they passed the tests after that. This was important because the company's gas turbine was the first of its kind and would therefore need to pass all of its tests.<ref name="transcript" />
In addition to her work, Bailey started a math tournament in Cincinnati for high school students.<ref name="transcript"/>


==Exhaust Nozzle==
==Societies==
Bailey joined the [[Society of Women Engineers]] (SWE) in 1951, where she was an officer of the Philadelphia section and served on the SWE Executive Committee. In 1985, she was elected to the SWE College of Fellows. A SWE endowed scholarship was established in Bailey’s name in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Betty Lou Bailey SWE Region F Scholarship (Est. 2010) - Society of Women Engineers|date=8 February 2019 |url=https://swe.org/scholarships/betty-lou-bailey-swe-region-f-scholarship-est-2010/|access-date=2021-04-05|language=en-US}}</ref>


She was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati and served as the chair of its Guidance Committee. She has also served on national committees for the [[National Society of Professional Engineers]], the Engineers Joint Council, and the [[American Society for Engineering Education]].<ref name="swe" />
During her tenure at General Electric, Bailey patented an exhaust nozzle in Evandale. She initiated the format that GE used for getting bids on their air emission tests.<ref name="transcript"/>


In 1964, Bailey attended the first [[International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists|International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists Conference]] in New York.<ref name="transcript" /> She travelled to Britain for the second ICWES conference in [[Cambridge]] in 1967, where amongst other things, she was taught how to wear a sari by Indian engineer K. K. Khubchandani alongside British engineers [[Rose Winslade]], [[Cicely Thompson]], [[Henrietta Bussell|Hettie Bussell]] and US engineer Louise Davies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 10|url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_10.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-05|website=twej.theiet.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508125358/https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_10.html |archive-date=2021-05-08 }}</ref>
The company had the 7F gas turbine, which was the first-of-its-kind. She was working at the roof of the building and was familiar with enough with the piping to recognize a leak out of the gas line from the gas valve compartment. The company was losing a lot of gas that had already been counted as going into the turbine. Bailey noted the failed efficiency. That gas leak was going into the incoming gas in the machine, so the carbon monoxide was destroying the seal. All six weeks of prior combustion tests that the employees had been running on the machine had to be discarded. Her invention straightened out the problem, and they passed the tests after that. This was important because the company's gas turbine was the first of its kind and would therefore need to pass all of its tests.<ref name="transcript"/>


==Personal life and death==
==Societies==
In 1964, Bailey attended the first International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists Conference in New York.<ref name="transcript"/>


Bailey was an active environmentalist. She enjoyed sewing. She was active and loved to travel, canoe, cycle, and hike. She walked the entire [[Appalachian Trail]] in segments over a few years. Bailey was a member of the [[Adirondack Mountain Club]] (ADK). In 2004 she received their highest award for her work in monitoring hydropower applications to the Federal Regulatory Commission. She did work in dam-licensing that helped ensure that sufficient water was released downstream to support river life and water recreation.<ref name="philaswe"/>
Bailey joined the [[Society of Women Engineers]] in 1951, where she was an officer of the Philadelphia section and served on the SWE Executive Committee. In 1985, she was elected to the SWE College of Fellows. She was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati and served as the chair of its Guidance Committee. She has also served on national committees for the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Engineers Joint Council, and the American Society for Engineering Education.<ref name="swe"/>

Bailey died suddenly on November 13, 2007, during an ADK cycling trip.<ref name="philaswe"/>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


{{authority control}}
{{Persondata

| NAME = Bailey, Betty Lou
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American engineer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1929
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Chicago, IL
| DATE OF DEATH = 2007
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Betty Lou}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Betty Lou}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:American women engineers]]
[[Category:Women in engineering]]
[[Category:American mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:American mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:General Electric employees]]
[[Category:General Electric employees]]
[[Category:Women inventors]]
[[Category:American women inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century American women engineers]]
[[Category:Engineers from Chicago]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American women engineers]]

Latest revision as of 13:46, 5 December 2024

Betty Lou Bailey
Born1928
DiedNovember 13, 2007
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Illinois, Penn State
OccupationMechanical Engineer

Betty Lou Bailey (1929 – 2007)[1] was a General Electric Company mechanical engineer from the United States. She held a patent for an aircraft variable exhaust nozzle. The invention operated so that one would vary both the throat and the exit diameters for the hot gas flows.[2] In honor of her legacy, the Society of Women Engineers named a scholarship after her. To date, that scholarship is still being distributed to eligible female graduate students who pursue a career in engineering.[3]

Bailey was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati. She later served as the chair of its Guidance Committee.[2]

Early life

[edit]

Bailey was the youngest of five children. She excelled in math and science in high school. Although her father was a civil engineer, it was her oldest sister Helen and her husband Paul who influenced Bailey to choose a career in engineering. Paul sold welding machines and taught Helen to weld. Helen taught welding to various men and women during World War II. Although a number of Helen's female welding students scored higher than the male students, all of the men were placed first before the women, regardless of the score. So, between Betty Lou Bailey's junior and senior years in high school, Helen suggested that Betty Lou should go into engineering.[4] Their brother Clark had rejected engineering as a career which both sisters felt was one of the reasons that their father was supportive of young Betty's career choice.[5]

Education

[edit]

Bailey attended the undergraduate program in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois a year early, at the age of seventeen. By the time she finished her freshman year, both of Bailey's parents had died. In 1950, Bailey graduated with University Honors. In her graduating class of approximately 700 engineers, she was the only female engineer.[2] In her sorority, she was one out of a total of two engineers (the other one was a civil engineer).[2] In 1967, she graduated from the Penn State Graduate Center in King of Prussia with a Masters in the Engineering Science, although she was not impressed by the course or teaching.[1][5]

Career and contributions

[edit]

Bailey held positions at General Electric Company as a testing, design, and systems engineer in their Large Jet Engine Department, Gas Turbine Department, and its Valley Forge Space Technology Center. She progressed in her work, from household appliances, to steam turbines and jet engineers, and finally to the NASA Nimbus weather satellite project. During her initial job interview with GE, which occurred before she graduated from the University of Illinois, she remarked that, "I wanted to work for a company where engineers counted and were regarded as important."[2][6]

In addition to her work, Bailey started a math tournament in Cincinnati for high school students.[4]

Exhaust nozzle

[edit]

During her tenure at General Electric, Bailey patented an exhaust nozzle in Evendale. She initiated the format that GE used for getting bids on their air emission tests.[4]

The company had the 7F gas turbine, which was the first-of-its-kind. She was working at the roof of the building and was familiar with enough with the piping to recognize a leak out of the gas line from the gas valve compartment. The company was losing a lot of gas that had already been counted as going into the turbine. Bailey noted the failed efficiency. That gas leak was going into the incoming gas in the machine, so the carbon monoxide was destroying the seal. All six weeks of prior combustion tests that the employees had been running on the machine had to be discarded. Her invention straightened out the problem, and they passed the tests after that. This was important because the company's gas turbine was the first of its kind and would therefore need to pass all of its tests.[4]

Societies

[edit]

Bailey joined the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in 1951, where she was an officer of the Philadelphia section and served on the SWE Executive Committee. In 1985, she was elected to the SWE College of Fellows. A SWE endowed scholarship was established in Bailey’s name in 2011.[7]

She was the first female member of the Engineering Society of Cincinnati and served as the chair of its Guidance Committee. She has also served on national committees for the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Engineers Joint Council, and the American Society for Engineering Education.[2]

In 1964, Bailey attended the first International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists Conference in New York.[4] She travelled to Britain for the second ICWES conference in Cambridge in 1967, where amongst other things, she was taught how to wear a sari by Indian engineer K. K. Khubchandani alongside British engineers Rose Winslade, Cicely Thompson, Hettie Bussell and US engineer Louise Davies.[8]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Bailey was an active environmentalist. She enjoyed sewing. She was active and loved to travel, canoe, cycle, and hike. She walked the entire Appalachian Trail in segments over a few years. Bailey was a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK). In 2004 she received their highest award for her work in monitoring hydropower applications to the Federal Regulatory Commission. She did work in dam-licensing that helped ensure that sufficient water was released downstream to support river life and water recreation.[1]

Bailey died suddenly on November 13, 2007, during an ADK cycling trip.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Betty Lou Bailey". SWE Philadelphia Memoirs. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "SWE Women - Bailey". Society of Women Engineers. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Betty Lou Bailey SWE Region F Scholarship". Petersons. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e "INTERVIEW WITH BETTY LOU BAILEY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH, 2005" (PDF). societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/. Society of Women Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Oral-History:Betty Lou Bailey - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". ethw.org. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
  6. ^ Ovedoff, Debora (1968). "Mum's the Word -- Her Job's a Secret" (PDF). THE EVENING BULLETIN. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  7. ^ "Betty Lou Bailey SWE Region F Scholarship (Est. 2010) - Society of Women Engineers". 8 February 2019. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  8. ^ "The Woman Engineer Vol 10". twej.theiet.org. Archived from the original on 2021-05-08. Retrieved 2021-04-05.