Tennessee Engineer Fall 2005 - College of Engineering - The ...

DEVELOPMENT notesTalley Family Establishes Weston Miller Fulton Memorial ScholarshipMrs. Jean Fulton Talley and her husband, JamesC. Talley II, have established the Weston MillerFulton Memorial Scholarship to honor themany accomplishments of Mrs. Talley’s father,Mr. Fulton—devoted family man, capitalist andinventor.The Talleys have included the bequest to theCollege of Engineering’s Department of Electricaland Computer Engineering (ECE) in theirestate plans.“My father was such a generous man, he gave somuch to so many,” Mrs. Talley said. “I know hewould be honored that we are presenting this giftin his name to the university he loved so much.”Weston Miller Fulton was born on August 3,1871, in Hale, Alabama, to William and MaryBrown Fulton. As a young child, Fulton workedthe cotton fields of their family farm. His parentsmade sure that he received an education, attendingthe best schools in both Alabama andMississippi. He excelled in his studies, and uponentering college, decided to concentrate hisefforts in the field of meteorology. In 1892, heearned a Bachelor of Arts Degree (with highesthonors) from the University of Mississippi atOxford and soon took the Civil Service examthat earned him an appointment as meteorologistwith the weather bureau in Vicksburg, Miss.Fulton accepted an appointment to the KnoxvilleWeather Bureau in 1898. While attendingto his duties as weather forecaster, Fulton also begantaking an interest in science courses offeredat UT, and soon became a dedicated student andteacher. During his tenure at UT (1898-1903),he served on the science faculty and continuedhis studies. At one point, Fulton began experimentingto find a way to measure the fluctuatinglevels of the Tennessee River. Subsequently, hedevised an automatic river gauge that caught theattention of the US Government and becamethe subject of a special government bulletin. In1902, Fulton was awarded a Master of ScienceDegree from the University of Tennessee.One of Fulton’s most notable inventions wasthe “Sylphon”—named in honor of Sylph, theNorse goddess of the atmosphere. While studyingthe action of electricity on a mixture of gas andvapors, like water vapor and air in the atmosphere,he needed a device for confining such amixture so he could study the effects of temperaturechanges upon it. He eventually succeeded inproducing a seamless corrugated bellows from athin-walled metal tube.Initially the Sylphon, and the mechanisms thatwent with it, opened and closed draft doors oncoal furnaces and automatically regulated thethermostatic flow of gas-to-gas furnaces and ovens.During World War I, this invention took onMrs. Jean Fulton Talley (left) and her husband James C. Talley II haveestablished a new scholarship for engineering students in honor of Mrs.Talley’s father, Weston Miller Fulton.a critical role to help shorten the conflict againstGermany. As the result of a casual conversationwith War Department agents in 1917 who werelooking for factories that might be convertedto produce wartime materials, Fulton expressedhow his bellows device could be installed on anunderwater bomb to set it off when it sank to apre-set depth, thus destroying many enemy submarines.Fulton’s depth bomb mechanism gavethe Allies their best weapon for destroying Germansubmarines as they attacked the convoys.Additional far-reaching applications of theSylphon range from the cooling systems onautomobiles and refrigerators to eventual usesin satellites, space shuttles and jet liners. Thebellows-like device for thermostatic control oftemperature led to the founding of the FultonCompany in 1904, where many of his inventionswere manufactured.In 1930, Fulton sold the Fulton Sylphon Company(previously known as the Fulton Company)and in subsequent years he broadened his businessinterests to include the W. J. Savage Company(1930-36), the Tennessee Odin InsuranceCompany (1935-46) and the Royal ManufacturingCompany (1940-45). At the time of Fulton’sunexpected death in 1946, he was working on anautomatically controlled stoker for coal burningfurnaces. Mrs. Talley noted that this was thehappiest she had ever seen him with regard to hiswork—this invention was inspired by his desireto help rid cities of smoke. Fulton held patentson more than 200 inventions; at one time theUS Patent Office in Washington had an entireroom devoted to his devices.As Fulton’s wealth grew, so did his generosity. Hewas active in Knoxville and Tennessee government,serving as Vice-Mayor of Knoxville, andwas involved in numerous charities and organizationsincluding the Masons, the board of theChamber of Commerce and the YMCA; he wasalso one of the early leaders in the Great SmokyMountains Conservation Association.Fulton was a devoted husband and father. Hemarried the former Barbara Stuart Murrian in1910 and together they raised five children—Buddy, Barbara, Robert, Jean and Mary. Theoldest, Weston Miller Fulton, Jr. “Buddy” passedaway suddenly in 1926. As a memorial to his son,Fulton donated the family home on presentdayVolunteer Boulevard to the University ofTennessee. The house was used for years as thestudent health center.Fulton had many passions—his family, his work,and the community in which he lived andserved. He was also a fanatical University of Tennesseefootball fan.“My dad loved UT football,” Mrs. Talley commented.“He took me to the Rose Bowl to seeUT play when I was only 15 years old. It was thenational championship game. I’ve never forgottenhow exciting it was to take that trip.”“I am not a college graduate, but both of ourtwo children, their spouses, and all four of ourgrandchildren have their degrees,” Mr. Talleysaid. “Several have graduated from UT. Webelieve in the power of education. Jean and Ihave been married for over 60 years, and we havehad very good fortune over the course of our livestogether. We wanted to establish this endowmentnot only for her father, but also to honorour family.”“We are so pleased that Mr. and Mrs. Talley haveselected the College of Engineering for theirgenerous gift,” said Patty Shea, Interim DevelopmentDirector. “This is a particularly auspicioustime to donate to the ECE Department, since weare currently working to raise funds to match Dr.Min Kao’s $5 million endowment pledge duringthe ECE Challenge Campaign.”The COE development office provides assistanceto alumni and friends of the college with estateplanning and in establishing endowments forspecific scholarship and/or program funding. Formore information, contact Ms. Shea at (865)974-5516 or at pwshea@utk.edu.–Story by Patty Shea and Kim CowartSources for this article include The Knoxville News-Sentinel(1946-1989), the Knoxville Journal (1982) and the Tennessee StarJournal (1999).TENNESSEE engineer • Fall 20059