Ernest Godward
INVENTIVE ENTREPRENEUR

He was sent home on the orders of the British Consul. Returning to London, he started an apprenticeship with a firm of hydraulic engineers and fire-engine manufacturers where he trained as a mechanic. Three years later he rejected this work-a-day life to set sail once again, this time as a steward on P & O passenger ships. His work at sea consisted mainly of odd jobs: he polished brass, scrubbed the decks and became the crew’s ‘napkin folding champion’.

Some time in the middle of the 1880s Ernest signed on with the "Nelson", which landed at Port Chalmers, Dunedin in 1886. Although he would often be far from it, he called the South Island of New Zealand home for the rest of his life.

Godward worked as a photographer in Dunedin and also excelled in sports. He became a champion rower, cyclist, runner and swimmer. He later joined S.R. Stedman’s cycle business, and in 1893 branched out on his own. He moved to Invercargill where he became a partner in the Southland Cycle Works.    

By 1900 he had invented and patented an egg-beater that could prepare eggs for a sponge cake in three and a half minutes (before it had taken up to 15). He designed a new post-hole borer, a new type of hair curler, a burglar-proof window, a padded draught protector for doors, a hedge trimmer made from bicycle parts… the list was extensive and varied.

Godward’s son Bruce remarked to Bob Riley, author of Kiwi Ingenuity - A Book of New Zealand Ideas and Inventions:

"As a schoolboy I remember our garden tools were a totally different shape from everybody else’s. Being young I thought it was because we were more important!"

The Spiral Hairpin
In 1901, probably due to the influence of his wife, Ernest invented the spiral hairpin. This predecessor to the hair clip, fixed itself to hair unlike the then common straight pin that required constant adjustment.

The spiral hairpin invented by Ernest Godward
From Kiwi Ingenuity, A Book of New Zealand Ideas and 
Inventors by Bob Riley
 

Ernest Godward's home, Rockhaven, Elles Road, Invercargill. Designed by Peter Walker, styled on what Godward saw in the USA. c. 1904
Courtesy: Southland Museum and Art Gallery
    

Keeping the New Zealand and Australian rights, Godward sold the America rights to the spiral hairpin for £20,000, a fortune in 1901. His other inventions were also practical and popular: 250,000 Godward-designed hair curlers were sold in Melbourne alone.

During this time Godward served on the Invercargill Borough Council (1903-1906) and built an impressive house which is still standing. He painted portraits and landscapes, played a variety of musical instruments and sang in local musical productions.  He was also an accomplished elocutionist.
  

The economiser, known commercially as either the Godward Gas Generator or the Eclipse Petrol Economiser, was a generator placed between the carburettor and engine to produce a perfect petrol gas which did not condense, unlike the usual atomised spray. It was a close and important forerunner to the modern carburettor.
 

The 'Godward Gas Generator'
From Kiwi Ingenuity, A Book of New Zealand Ideas and 
Inventors by Bob Riley
 

Godward expanded his cycle business to include the importation of Reo cars, and his economisers worked as well in cars as they did in motorcycles.

He had an avid interest in cars, being an excellent driver and a keen promoter of South Island motor racing. With friend and fellow thrill-seeker Robert Murie, Godward won the widely reported Invercargill to Dunedin motor race in a car fitted with an economiser. The pair were also well known in Invercargill for their love of adventure, and in 1907 they piloted the first hot air balloon to take off from the southern town.

London authorities were interested in fitting their city’s buses with Godward’s invention and he travelled to Britain in 1913 to promote it. His English contacts were amazed that a man with no engineering qualifications could invent such a device. A factory was established at Kinston-upon-Thames to manufacture economisers, but contracts did not eventuate.

Godward returned home and, for the sake of credibility, studied engineering while continuing to refine his invention.
  

In 1929 the city of Philadelphia, one of the largest public transport operators in the United States, adopted the invention. Some 580 buses and 3000 taxies were fitted with the Vaporiser.

His work with these large organisations led to Godward establishing a permanent business premises in New York. From 280 Broadway, Manhattan he ran Godward Gas Generator Inc, manufacturing the Vaporiser under the advertising slogan "Power, Efficiency, Economy".

Although he remained married to Marguerita, they were apart for much of their lives. Even when he based himself permanently in New York, she continued to live in Invercargill. Godward suffered heavy financial losses in the 1929 Wall Street crash, but continued to live and work in the United States.

He invented 72 models of the economiser and by the 1930s was recognised as the world’s leading authority on the internal combustion engine.

Godward died in 1936 on board the SS "Mongolia" returning home to Invercargill. He collapsed immediately after winning an onboard skipping competition: an overachiever to the last.

Godward is admired not only for his inventions; he had an acute business instinct, artistic talent and phenomenal sporting ability. A man from the edge who left a lasting legacy deep into the twentieth century.
  

Ernest Godward
From Kiwi Ingenuity, A Book of New Zealand Ideas
and Inventors by Bob Riley
 

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