Engineer and Inventor 1925 - 2006
Nominated for his contribution to the Manufacturing Field and economic growth of Erie.

(photo caption) Bob Ruyak fondly looks over the first in a long line of MagneDrives he invented for Autoclave

Robert Francis Ruyak, was born April 4, 1925, in Rankin, PA, the son of John and Mary (Basista) Ruyak. He was a pilot with the US Army Air Corps in World War ll, receiving his wings at the age of 18. He married Rosemarie (Fritzie) Schuster in 1948. He began his engineering career as a draftsman for Westinghouse Corp., Atomic Power Division, in Pittsburgh. He was a member of the team that designed the nuclear reactor for powering the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear powered submarine, for which he received a medal of distinction from President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

He had been a resident of Erie since 1954, when he moved his wife and children here to join Autoclave Engineers, Inc., from which he retired in 1986. During his years at Autoclave, he created a number of inventions and was awarded more than a dozen US patents. These were primarily innovative tools and processes for use in the medical, chemical, pharmaceutical and petroleum industries. The most significant invention was the Synchronous Magnetic Drive. The MagneDrive opened the possibilities for a whole new complement of chemical reaction studies. It enabled scientists around the world to develop new organic, inorganic and synthetic materials and products. The patent for the MagneDrive was issued in 1959, and it revolutionized the chemical/polychemical industry worldwide because it was used in everything from catalytic studies, medical research, petrochemical/pharmaceutical production, to waste disposal systems aboard the Apollo Spacecraft. He and his sales team traveled around the world successfully promoting the sale of the MagneDrive. Record sales to corporate laboratories, such as DuPont, Dow Chemical, Union Carbide, Monsanto, Celanese, Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Upjohn, were just a few of the many that created a demand for the increased production of the MagneDrive which produced record sales for Autoclave which then generated more jobs and steady employment for hundreds of men and women of Erie, for more than 40 years. Chances are, something you use or touch in your life today, was at one time produced
better, faster or easier thanks to the invention of the MagneDrive.

For his invention of the Synchronous Magnetic Drive, he was nominated in 2003, by his colleagues to the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation in Akron, Ohio, which recognizes technological innovations over the last century. He was also recognized for his technological contributions through
a special exhibit sponsored by the Erie County Historical Society in 2004.

After retiring from Autoclave in 1986, he continued to live and work in Erie consulting, inventing and problem solving. He volunteered to apply his knowledge of pressure and temperature dynamics and the use of his inventions, at the request of the American Red Cross, to try to find a way to kill the HIV virus in donated blood. He also volunteered every week for more than 20 years at the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Bob Ruyak was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a kind, generous man of great faith, who enjoyed life, dearly loved his family and had a true passion for his work and the people he worked with and came to know through the production and success of his inventions.
 

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