Editing Flight recorder (section)

===American designs===
[[File:NTSB investigators remove the recorders from UPS 1354 (9518908718).jpg|thumb|NTSB investigators recover flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from [[UPS Airlines Flight 1354]]]]
[[File:CVR in NTSB Lab (33406167018).jpg|thumb|NTSB staff examine the memory boards of the cockpit voice recorder from [[Atlas Air Flight 3591]]. The boards may have suffered water damage.]]
A flight recorder was invented and patented in the United States by James J. Ryan. Ryan's "Flight Recorder" patent was filed in August 1953 and approved on November 8, 1960, as US Patent 2,959,459.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=02959459 |title=US Patent 2,959,459 for Flight Recorder by James J. Ryan |access-date=March 25, 2014 |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108175156/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=02959459 |url-status=live }}</ref> A second patent by Ryan for a "Coding Apparatus For Flight Recorders" is US Patent 3,075,192<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03075192 |title=US Patent 3,075,192 for Coding Apparatus for Flight Recorders by James J. Ryan |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108175156/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03075192 |url-status=live }}</ref> dated January 22, 1963.

A "Cockpit Sound Recorder" (CSR) was independently invented and patented by Edmund A. Boniface Jr., an aeronautical engineer at [[Lockheed Aircraft Corporation]].<ref name="US3327067"/><ref>[http://www.slyck.com/story2348_Airplane_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder_Technology_How_it_Works "Airplane 'Black Box' Flight Recorder Technology, How it Works"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011073938/http://www.slyck.com/story2348_Airplane_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder_Technology_How_it_Works |date=October 11, 2016 }}. ''Slyck News'', March 13, 2014</ref><ref>[http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/why-are-cockpit-voice-recorders-painted-orange-and-called-a-black-box/ " Why Are Cockpit Voice Recorders Painted Orange and Called a Black Box?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917172701/http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/why-are-cockpit-voice-recorders-painted-orange-and-called-a-black-box/ |date=September 17, 2016 }}. ''Guardian Liberty Voice'', By Jerry Nelson on March 8, 2014</ref> He originally filed with the US Patent Office on February 2, 1961, as an "Aircraft Cockpit Sound Recorder".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aahs-online.org/journals/journal_template.php?vol_no=v59n34|title=AAHS Journal Vol 59 Nos 3-4 - Fall / Win|website=www.aahs-online.org|access-date=September 3, 2021|archive-date=September 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903142935/https://www.aahs-online.org/journals/journal_template.php?vol_no=v59n34|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1961 invention was viewed by some as an "invasion of privacy".{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Subsequently, Boniface filed again on February 4, 1963, for a "Cockpit Sound Recorder" (US Patent 3,327,067)<ref name="US3327067">{{cite web|title=Cockpit Sound Recorder|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3327067?oq=edmund+boniface|work=Google Patents|publisher=Google Inc.|access-date=December 31, 2013|archive-date=April 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428165251/https://www.google.com/patents/US3327067?pg=PA1&dq=edmund+boniface&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5C_CUqWACpXioASq74HIDw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA|url-status=live}}</ref> with the addition of a spring-loaded switch which allowed the pilot to erase the audio/sound tape recording at the conclusion of a safe flight and landing.

Boniface's participation in aircraft crash investigations in the 1940s<ref>[https://issuu.com/fl600aviationdigest/docs/issue_11_may_2015/58 "The Flight Data Recorder"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011060517/https://issuu.com/fl600aviationdigest/docs/issue_11_may_2015/58 |date=October 11, 2016 }}. ''Aviation Digest'', May 11, 2015, page 58.</ref> and in the accident investigations of the loss of one of the wings at cruise altitude on each of two [[Lockheed L-188 Electra#Civilian operations|Lockheed Electra]] turboprop powered aircraft (Flight 542 operated by [[Braniff Airlines]] in 1959 and Flight 710 operated by [[Northwest Orient Airlines]] in 1961) led to his wondering what the pilots may have said just prior to the wing loss and during the descent as well as the type and nature of any sounds or explosions that may have preceded or occurred during the wing loss.<ref name="pdfpiw.uspto.gov">[http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03327067 US Patent 3,327,067 for Cockpit Sound Recorder by Edmund A. Boniface, Jr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707070226/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03327067 |date=July 7, 2017 }};</ref>

His patent was for a device for recording audio of pilot remarks and engine or other sounds to be "contained with the in-flight recorder within a sealed container that is shock mounted, fireproofed and made watertight" and "sealed in such a manner as to be capable of withstanding extreme temperatures during a crash fire". The CSR was an analog device which provided a continuous erasing/recording loop (lasting 30 or more minutes) of all sounds (explosion, voice, and the noise of any aircraft structural components undergoing serious fracture and breakage) which could be overheard in the cockpit.<ref name="pdfpiw.uspto.gov"/>

On November 1, 1966, the director of the Bureau of Safety of the Civil Aeronautics Board Bobbie R. Allen and the chief of Technical Services Section John S. Leak presented "The Potential Role of Flight Recorders in Aircraft Accident Investigation" at the AIAA/CASI Joint Meeting on Aviation Safety, [[Toronto]], Canada.<ref name="AllenLeak1966">{{citation |last1=Allen |first1=B. R. |title=Aviation Safety Meeting |year=1966 |series=BOSP 7-4 |chapter=The potential role of flight recorders in aircraft accident investigation |publisher=U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board |doi=10.2514/6.1966-810 |last2=Leak |first2=John S.}}</ref><!-- And did this presentation prove influential later? Why are telling readers about this presentation? -->