Frank Sudia, Jr., Industrial Chemist

Dr. Frank Sudia, Jr., Industrial Chemist, Westinghouse Electric (1907 - 1991)

After receiving his PhD in Chemistry, my uncle Frank Sudia, Jr. worked as an industrial chemist for Westinghouse Electric, where (I am told) he invented new methods of casting electrical insulators. Previously, when casting large insulators for high voltage power lines, the liquid clay had an unfortunate tendency to solidify and clog the casting machines. Seeing that clay is a colloidal suspension of particles in water, he got the idea that if the slurry had an electrostatic charge on it, the clay particles would repel each other, greatly reducing clogging of the casting system. Then when the charge was released, the clay would promptly solidify. He received patents on these inventions, however such older patents are not accessible online, so I can't link to them, or check their citation counts.

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There were 4 Frank Sudias in my family, not in order: my Grandfather, Uncle Frank (Jr.), his grandson Frankie, and myself.

Frank Sudia, Jr. was born in 1907, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, to Frank Sudia, Sr. and Paraska Storozka. He married Viola Williams, had a daughter Hazel Hewlett, a son Lee Sudia, and a grandson Frankie P. Sudia. He was an older brother of Dr. Theodore W. Sudia, and hence an uncle of Frank W. Sudia, JD. Uncle Frank passed away in 1991, at age 83 in North Carolina.

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