Archibald Montgomery Low (17 October 1888 – 13 September 1956) developed the first powered drone aircraft. He was an English consulting engineer, research physicist and inventor, and author of more than 40 books.
Low has been called the "father of radio guidance systems" due to his pioneering work on planes, torpedoes boats and guided rockets. He was a pioneer in many fields though, often leading the way for others, but his lack of discipline meant he hardly ever saw a project through, being easily distracted by new ideas. If not for this inability to see things to a conclusion, Low could well have been remembered as one of the great men of science. Many of his scientific contemporaries disliked him, due in part to his using the title "professor", which he was not entitled to do as he did not occupy an academic chair. His love of the limelight and publicity probably also added to the dislike.
Low was working on the invention of television before World War I and promoting its development through the 1920s.
Early life
Low was born in Purley, London, the second son of John and Gertrude Low. His father was an engineer with experience in steam boilers and Low's interest in all things mechanical and scientific was fired by visits to his father's place of work. The family moved to Erith in Kent when Low was still a baby. He was sent to Preparatory school at Colet Court when his father moved to Australia as a director of the Paddy Lackey Deep-level Company gold mine. In 1896 Archibald was only 7 when he sailed with his mother, his elder brother and a maiden aunt on the ship Thermopylae to Sydney for a visit. He recalls being amazed to find that telephones were fitted in every house. As a young boy Low was forever experimenting at home, building homemade steam turbines or conducting chemical experiments that brought havoc to his local neighbourhood and caused his parents to receive many complaints about the bangs, smells and gases created by young Archie.
At the age of 11 he was enrolled into St Paul's School, an institution where he did not fit in; Low described himself as having been "too much of an individual". One of his classmates for several years was Bernard Montgomery, whom Low recalled as being "rather dull".
Aged 16 Low entered the Central Technical College, an institution far more to his liking, where he began to more fully develop his abilities. Under the guidance of his mentor Professor Ashcroft, Low's mercurial mind was given free rein over many of the scientific disciplines. During his time at the CTC Low designed a drawing device which he called "The Low flexible and adjustable curve". This device, along with a dotted line pen and a self filling draughtsman's pen, were marketed by Thornton's, a renowned instrument manufacturer based in Manchester. He also spent a year devising and making a selector mechanism which allowed a lever when moved to fall into a pre-selected slot. It would be 32 more years before pre-selected gears became commercially available, long after Low had originally thought of them.
Early career
Low joined his uncle, Edward Low's engineering firm, Low Accessories and Ignition Company, which at the time was the second oldest engineering firm in the City of London. Unfortunately the company was in a constant struggle for solvency. Edward Low did what he could financially to help get his nephew's ideas off the ground, but what was really needed was a rich investor. During this pre-war period Low was constantly coming up with big new ideas, such as his forced induction engine (which in modern parlance would be called a petrol direct injection engine), which was further developed with the large engine builder F. E. Baker Ltd and exhibited on their stand at the Olympia Motor Cycle Show in November 1912. He also invented gadgets like the whistling egg-boiler which he christened "The Chanticleer". It went on to sell very well, earning him some much-needed money. He also experimented with gas turbines, but the alloys available at that time were unable to tolerate the required heat. A prototype of Low's unique invention, the "petrol direct injection engine", was produced and displayed in 1912.