Elmer A. Sperry, inventor, died yesterday morning at St. John's Hospital, Brooklyn, from complications which set in after he had recovered from an operation for gallstones six weeks ago. He was in his seventieth year. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 o'clock Thursday morning at the Plymouth Church, Orange Street, Brooklyn. The Rev. S. Parkes Cadman will officiate. Burial will follow in Greenwood Cemetery. The names of the honorary pallbearers will be announced later. More than fifty years of Mr. Sperry's life had been devoted to invention. At his death, he was said to have taken out nearly 400 patents, about double the number taken out by Edison. He is best known for his utilization of the gyroscope for the stabilization of ships, airplanes and aerial torpedoes. Only about two months ago a giant army bombing plane, equipped with two Sperry gyroscopes serving as automatic pilots, flew from Sacramento to San Francisco without the guidance of human hands. He also invented the gyro compass, which eliminated the variations due to the earth's magnetism. Next he invented " metal mike," the automatic steersman, which keeps a ship on a set course. Next he used it to stabilize ships and to keep them on an even keel in all kinds of weather. Later, he applied the gyroscope to airplanes, with devices to give fliers artificial horizons, enabling them to fly "blind" in dense fogs. In addition, he invented new systems of street lighting, new machinery for mining, electric devices for trolley cars, an electric automobile, a lighting system for motion picture projection, an electric arc light, a high-power searchlight and electrochemical processes. Elmer Ambrose Sperry was born in Cortland, N.Y., Oct. 12, 1860, son of Stephen Decatur and Mary (Borst) Sperry, and a descendant of Richard Sperry, who, in 1666, secreted and maintained in the Judges Cave at New Haven Colony three of the judges who had condemned Charles I to death. He was educated in the State Normal School in Cortland and then attended Cornell University for one term, from 1879 to 1880. He also drove the first American-built automobile through the streets of Paris in 1896. Previous to 1910 there were already six industrial corporations founded to manufacture Sperry's inventions, doing then an aggregate annual business of over $5,000,000. In January, 1929, he sold the Sperry Gyroscope Company, of which he was president, to the North American Aviation Company, and soon after started building up the Sperry Development Company, Inc., and also the Sperry Rail Service Corporation. Just this year he had organized Sperry Products, Inc., as successor to the two last-named companies. In 1914, he was awarded first prize of the Aero Club of France or his airplane stabilizer; he also was the winner of two Franklin Institute Medals in 1914 and 1929; Collier Trophies, 1915, 1916; Holley Medal, 1927; John Fritz Medal, 1927; Albert Gary Medal, 1929; two decorations from the last Czar of Russia; two decorations from the Emperor of Japan, the Order of the Rising Sun and the Order of the Sacred Treasure; and the grand prize of the Panama Exposition. He was also awarded three honorary degrees--Doctor of Engineering from Stevens Institute and Lehigh University; and Doctor of Science from Northwestern University. Mr. Sperry was founder and charter member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the American Electro-Chemical Society. He was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Physical Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, New York Electrical Society, American Petroleum Institute, Edison Pioneers, National Aeronautical Association, Aero Club of America, the Engineers Club, National Electric Light Association, Franklin Institute, Japan Society and director of the Museum of Peaceful Arts. Surviving him are two sons, Edward G. Sperry and Elma A. Jr.; one daughter, Mrs. Robert B. Lea, and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Brooklyn. The inventor's wife died a year ago in Havana. She was born Zula A. Goodman, and the marriage took place in Chicago, June 28, 1887. Another son, Lawrence B., lost his life in 1925 while flying over the North Sea in a plane of his own design. Mr. Sperry was a Republican, a Baptist, very active in Y.M.C.A. work and a close friend and supporter of President Hoover. Last year when Professor Albert Michelson conducted his experiment at Mount Wilson, during which he obtained a much more accurate determination of the speed of light, Mr. Sperry financed the cost of the apparatus used. One of its essential features was a Sperry superpower searchlight. Adam Praises E. A. SperrySecretary Declares the Inventor Gave Invaluable Aid to Navy Washington, June 16.--Elmer Ambrose Sperry, whose death occurred in New York today, was praised by Secretary of the Navy Adams for his contributions to naval science. "The United States naval service ashore and afloat," Secretary Adams said, "will learn with deep regret of the loss of one from whom we have received much. As a member of the naval consulting board since 1915, Mr. Sperry has rendered invaluable service as chairman of the committees on mines and torpedoes and aids to navigation and as a committee member on aeronautics, internal combustion engines, and special problems. His numerous inventions, including his gyrocompass, plane stabilizer, high intensity searchlight and his many refinements on apparatus for accurately controlling the fire of our guns, have assisted materially in placing the navy in first-class fighting trim. It is safe to say that no one American has contributed so much to our naval technical progress."