Sawyer was born on June 20, 1901, in
Schenectady, New York, but lived most of his life in
Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey (
Ridgewood,
Bergen County). He received a
bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering from
Ohio State University in 1923 followed by a
master's degree in
mechanical engineering in 1930. His undergraduate thesis was entitled "Preliminary Design of 60,000 kw
Steam Power Station". While an undergraduate, he was a member of
Sigma Pi fraternity and
Scabbard and Blade. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Sawyer began working for General Electric, where he designed and developed early
diesel locomotives. In 1928, while working on his master's degree, Sawyer rebuilt a 1920s
Jordan automobile and replaced the gear box with a generator and motor. He thus created an early
hybrid electric vehicle which combined the Jordan automobile's
internal combustion engine (ICE) with a
DC generator that powered an
electric motor to drive the axles. Sawyer drove the car for 60,000 miles in the
United States and
Australia as a demonstration of its capability. He determined, however, that the electrical parts were too heavy and expensive to be practical, so he discontinued the project and donated the Jordan car to the Mechanical Engineering laboratory at
Ohio State University. Sawyer remained in Australia for a year working as an engineer for Australian General Electric, where he worked on gas-electric railroad cars. == Career ==