Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Brookings
Mechanical Engineering ,
Neil Patterson served in the U.S. Air Force in Korea, following his graduation from South Dakota State College. After military duty, he spent one year in development and testing at Wright Air Development Center as a power plant engineering on Wright Aeronautical Aircraft engines and turbines in Dayton, Ohio. After joining the Trane Co. as a sales engineer in 1954, he held several positions in product marketing before being named corporate manager of application engineering with the company. In that position, he was responsible for engineering application of all commercial and light commercial products the company manufactured. Patterson was named the company’s first director of building energy systems engineering, a position in which he was as largely responsible for the development of the TRACT (Trane Air Condition Economics) Computerized Energy Analysis Program and the CDS network of computer programs for the design of air conditioning systems for buildings. He was later named corporate director of market development and new product planning, a position he held until his retirement in 1994. He was a registered engineer in the state of Wisconsin and was active in several professional and technical societies.