Death of Inventor and Engineer

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 290, 8 December 1936, Page 7

Death of Inventor and Engineer

LEADING AtTTHOEITY ON INTERNAL COMBUSTION Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Last Night. The death occurred at sea on December 3 of Mr. Ernest Robert Godward, inventor and engineer, of Invercargill and America. Mr. Godward was journeying home to Invercargill and died when his ship was off Gibraltar. He was in his 69th year. He was a Londoner who went to sea at a very early age and settled in Dunedin as a young man. There he made a name for himself in the world of athletics. It was as an inventor, however, that most prominence came his way. He took up a cycle business in Invercargill and produced several minor inventions. His biggest achievement was the inventing and patenting of an economizer for gas engines. At the time his invention was hailed as something wonderful by the engineering world and he was sought by many of the world’s leading engineers. As the result of his research he was able to give a big impetus to scientific engineering and he was offered and accepted a big position in New York. During the past 20 years he spent most of his time in the United States where he was recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on internal combustion engines.