The Northwest Times

D.C. Nisei Scientist Heads Electronic Unit For American Firm

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 3 (JACL)—Washington Nisei community leader Harold S. Horiuchi was recently appointed chief production engineer, to head a section in the newly established electronics division of the American Car and Foundry Company in the Washington area. Horiuchi, a past president of the Washington chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and a former vice chairman of the JACL Eastern District Council, was named to the new position to continue his contributions in the development of a radical design in electrical wiring that may well render obsolete present wiring systems found in radio and other electronic equipment. The Washington Nisei was appointed by the company to head the production section in the manufacturing department which is now being organized here. The company, among the first of its kind in the nation in this field of production, will produce modular electronic packages which may soon be found in new radio and television sets. In organizing the production section, Horiuchi indicated that additional personnel may be required. Interested and qualified Nisei are invited to send inquiries to him, care of the ACF Electronics, 800 N. Pitt St., Alexandria, Virginia. Background in electrical or electronic, mechanical or industrial engineering, or equivalent work experience, is necessary, he said. Although the company will engage in research and development of conventional electronics, including instrumentation of military, industrial and medical equipment and data processing, primary efforts of the new ACF division, explained Horiuchi, will be the mechanized production of electronic packages of modular design. Initial efforts will entail organization of production procedures of this design, which reduces complicated electrical wiring to a system of small standardized package units. The units are then attached to each other, similar to the building of a tinker toy set, to obtain the desired electrical circuit. The invention and system—reducing lead time in production by 75 percent—is described in an official government publication entitled "Hand Fabrication Techniques and Photographic Processing for Modular Design of Electronics." Principal author of the official publication is Horiuchi. United States government patents on the design are also in the name of this enterprising Washingtonian.

The Nisei scientist, as a member of a six-man group, developed the basic pattern during three years research in the Bureau of Standards under a special Navy department request. Earlier this year, the government determined that further research and development should be undertaken by private industry and, accordingly, agreed to release its employees from the heretofore secret "Project Tinkertoy" to continue their important work on a commercial basis. The six scientists were acquired as a team by the American Car and Foundry Company, one of the oldest and most respected industrial giants in the country. Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks, in removing secret restrictions from the now world-famous Project Tinkertoy last February, presented special awards to the contributing scientists. Bureau of Standards division chief J.G. Reid, now general manager of the new division, received a gold medal for the work of the group, with individual members of the six-man team receiving separate certificates. Horiuchi was cited for his "outstanding contribution as a member of a group, in the field of production technology for electronics with important implications for the electronics industry and for national defense." "The appointment of Harold Horiuchi to this responsible position is another tribute to the free enterprise system which selects individuals on the basis of their ability and not on irrelevant factors of racial origin. It is also gratifying to see outstanding Nisei, such as Harold Horiuchi, achieve high distinction in industry as well as prominence in community affairs," declared Mike Masaoka, Washington JACL representative. Originally from Los Angeles, Horiuchi arrived in Washington in 1944 from Gila River Relocation Center. He began government service with Foreign Broadcast Intelligence during the war. After the termination of hostilities, he continued in government service in the Treasury department and later in Central Intelligence Agency. Six years ago, he accepted employment with the Bureau of Standards under the Department of Commerce, where he began work leading to his contributions in the Project Tinkertoy. He is married to the former Masaye Taniguchi, also of Los Angeles, and has two children, Katherine and Carol, ages 12 and 10 respectively.