Our History
About a dozen years ago two brothers, Al and Bob Sanderson, both retired engineers, had decided to collaborate on a project to design a radically different kind of automobile engine. Their seminal invention, called a rocker arm mechanism, was conceived in a breakthrough insight in 1997. Initially, Robert Sanderson had conceptualized a mechanism that would enable an internal combustion engine to achieve unprecedented levels of performance and efficiency. Using a simple and efficient transition arm, the resulting Sanderson mechanism represents a paradigm shift beyond conventional designs that employ crankshafts or other conventional techniques to convert power back and forth between reciprocating and rotational motion.
Following construction of several proof-of-concept models, the Sanderson Engine Development Company, LLC, was formed in August, 1998, to develop and commercialize the Sanderson Rocker-Arm Mechanism (S-RAM). Seventeen major patents later, their company, Sanderson Engine Development, LLC, is now poised to enter the commercialization phase of their ambitious project.
Over the ensuing years, Sanderson Engine Development (SED) has successfully tested a number of prototypes and today we continue to pursue development agreements with a number of US and international companies.
As luck would have it, when the brothers began to experiment they soon discovered that the basic rocker-arm mechanism could be easily applied to other types of products beyond internal combustion engines — including pumps, compressors, hydraulic motors, and other fundamental mechanical products. For more information, please check out the “projects and prototypes” section of this web site. |
