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Memorial Tributes Volume 24 (2022) / Chapter Skim
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TONY F.W. EMBLETON
Pages 86-93

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From page 87...
... W E M B L E T O N 1929–2020 Elected in 1987 "For outstanding contributions and international leadership in engineering acoustics." BY SHEILA EMBLETON SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY T ONY FREDERICK WALLACE EMBLETON, a leader in noise control engineering and acoustical measurement techniques, as well as in standards development and several professional organi­zations, died November 13, 2020, at the age of 91 after a 7-year battle with bladder and prostate cancers.
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From page 88...
... , which increased efficiency in jet engines while quietening them, an advance eagerly adopted around the world. Tony's other patent, "mufflers for percussive pneumatic machines," filed in 1980 with Stanley Baldwin and Vernon Hampton, not only quietened pneumatic drills but led to higher drilling speeds, less icing in the muffler, and less vibration (often a source of physical damage to miners' hands)
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From page 89...
... In the 1970s Tony's interest in sound propagation outdoors was rekindled due to growing public and governmental concerns about urban noise, in particular from traffic. This led to a series of theoretical and experimental studies of sound propagation outdoors, some in partnership with Joe Piercy, addressing the effect of the ground on near-horizontal sound propagation, measurement of ground impedance, acoustic characteristics of actual ground surfaces (e.g., asphalt, gravel, grass, snow, sloping terrain)
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From page 90...
... and for the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering, and was on the editorial board of the Noise Control Engineering Journal. He chaired the NRC Associate Committee on Machinery Noise and Acoustics and Noise Control Committee of the Canadian Standards Association, and was a member of the Noise Subcommittee of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association.
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From page 91...
... He was proud of his contributions as the scientist on the first of the NRC's many Industrial Research Assistance Program projects, which took him to a noisy underground mine in Thompson, Manitoba; his service as a noise consultant on the world's first next-to-the-runway airport hotel built by a major hotel chain (Hilton Dorval Airport, now Sheraton Montreal Airport, with its strategically angled windows) ; his suggestion of a novel way to scare birds away at Vancouver Airport; and the evidence he provided for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as to whether a gun-silencer actually did quieten the gun (only one over the years did not, resulting in an accused who was very surprised but grateful for his acquittal)
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From page 92...
... She had a PhD in chemistry from University College London; they had met in their Russian Reading Knowledge class. She passed away in 2016.
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Key Terms

  • sound propagation
  • control engineering
  • acoustical society
  • acoustics section
  • school board

  • propagation outdoors
  • nrc lab
  • silver medal
  • actual ground
  • technical chair

  • passport printing
  • joe piercy
  • scare birds
  • park public
  • quick burst

  • visiting lecturer
  • program chair
  • canadian nrc
  • annual distinguished
  • success psychologically

  • underground mine
  • passport office
  • noise consultant
  • strategically angled
  • rochester institute

  • executive council
  • founding editor
  • frederick wallace
  • oral history
  • stanley baldwin


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