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with the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, as an engineer on Government assignment; then from October to January, 1920, he inspected Government flying fields before returning to California. 

From January twentieth until September, 1921, he was with the C. Robert Little Aircraft Works, Pasadena, California, where he designed and supervised the construction of a twin-engine, 50-foot span, folding-wing tractor biplane, powered by two Curtiss OXX engines. Called the "Wampus-Kat," it was flight tested by G.G. Budwig. This plane proved highly efficient and was flown for some time by a number of pilots. Barnhart himself flew it in a weight-carrying contest in an Air Rodeo at Long Beach on November 12, 1921. At that time he was a member of the Los Angeles Aircraft Examining Board.

Following this, Barnhart organized and became President and Chief Engineer of Barnhart Aircraft, Incorporated, of Pasadena, California, for aircraft research and development. There for many years he developed and patented numerous valuable aerodynamic devices in common use on modern aircraft, including trailing edge wing flaps, wheel brakes and wing tanks. He also was inventive in other lines, developing the first steel shaft golf clubs, and in 1949 a process and the machinery for making hydraulic cylinders and tapered tubes by cold forming. He held over 70 patents, most of which referred to aircraft developments. During World War II he gave free use of his patents to the Government for the duration of the war, with the understanding that when hostilities ended all rights were to be returned to him. His generosity cause trouble for him later when he found his patented developments were so ensnarled in War Department legal technicalities that it was necessary to go through Congressional

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