Jules Saycatch
Jules Saycatch (1873-1938)
1938 Obituary [1]
JULES SAYCATCH was an expert in the electrical and wireless equipment of aeroplanes, of which he had a very lengthy experience. He was born at Havre, France, in 1873, but received his technical education from 1891 to 1893 at the University of Sheffield. His practical training was gained at the Arc Works, Chelmsford, of Messrs. Crompton and Company, Ltd., with Mr. T. Scott Anderson, of Sheffield, and with the British Insulated Wire Company, Ltd., at Prescot, Lancs.
In 1894 he rejoined Mr. Anderson as chief assistant, and was engaged on the design of electric power, lighting, and welding plant, also in the application of electricity to metallurgical plant. He became managing partner of [[Spencers|Messrs. Spencers Ltd.], lighting and heating engineers, of London and Edinburgh, in 1900, and from 1908 to 1916 was general manager and a director of the firm. During the War he joined the technical staff of Messrs. A. V. Roe and Company, Ltd., and was engaged on the design of aircraft components and later in the wireless telegraph and electrical services in aeroplanes. From 1920 to 1922 he was engaged on experimental metallurgical work for Mr. Sherard Cowper-Coles, M.I.Mech.E., but afterwards joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company as a technical assistant, and was concerned both with the structural design of aircraft and with the electrical equipment.
Subsequently he was made senior draughtsman. He represented the firm on various technical committees of the British Standards Institution and the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, Ltd. In 1931 he was an official delegate to the International Illumination Congress. He had a wide knowledge of metallurgy, and latterly took control of the supervision of drawings to ensure that suitable heat treatments should be carried out, and to stipulate the various limits and other practical details.
Mr. Saycatch, who was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1922, died at Tatsfield, Westerham, Kent, on 8th November 1938.