About Artist/Inventor

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Larry Fransen was born in Denver, Colorado. He received his bachelor of science degree from Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL and his master's degree from Catholic University, Washington, DC. Both of his college degrees were in the field of mathematics. During his four-year tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, he taught mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy. As a civilian, he spent 27 years working at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, DC. During Larry's work at NRL, he received three patents in the area of digital speech compression. On May 9, 2002, Larry received the VADM Harold G. Bowen Award for a patent entitled "Voice Communication Processing System". This Award is given once a year to an important Navy patent.

A desire to build something in the wood shop that had movement led him to build several wooden skeleton clocks. The desire to expose as much as possible of the clock movement led him to the suspended clock concept which he patented in 1996. He likes to think of the design as expressing "suspended time".

Past Activities

1994 - skeleton wooden clock (my first clock) selected for a juried show at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD

1996 - received U. S. Patent 5,521,888 entitled "Clock Having a Suspended Dial Train with Pivotally Coupled Arbors"

1996 - first place in the Experimental Designs category at the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) National Convention

1997 - published an article about the clock patent in the February 1997 NAWCC Bulletin

2002 - selected for the September All-Media Membership Show of The Art League at the Torpedo Factory, Alexander, VA

2002 - one of four featured artists in October issue of Chesapeake Life magazine

2002-2003 - Bicycle Clock was in The Art League Presents The Washington Square Sculpture Show 2002-2003 at 1050 Connecticut AVE NW, Washington, DC, November 3, 2002 - February 1, 2003 - received an equal award given to the top three sculptures in this show

2003 - participated in the American Visionary Art Museum Kinetic Workshops in Baltimore, MD - April 15-18, - received a small stipend to present my suspended clocks at this workshop

Neighbors and Us

The three youngsters in the front row are (l to r): Anna Byrd, Katy Scruggs, and Ryan Shuart.

The six adults in the back row are (l to r): Cheryl Byrd, Janet Scruggs, Larry Fransen, Cindy Shuart, Gross Scruggs, and Judi Fransen.