Built on a Lifetime of Innovation
Darryl Berlinger
Son of Convoloid inventor Bernard Berlinger, Jr., Darryl has taken the helm of Gear Innovations to bring Convoloid to global markets. Carrying forward his father's vision, Darryl leads commercialization, licensing strategy, and industry partnerships for this breakthrough technology.
Allen J. Williston, P.E.
Co-presenter of the AGMA Convoloid case studies webinar and co-author of technical papers on Convoloid implementation. Allen brings deep gear engineering expertise to application-specific design, licensing technical support, and heavy-industry engagement. His framing of Convoloid's longevity and lifetime-cost advantages resonates powerfully with mining, wind, and large industrial drivetrain operators.
A registered P.E. (University of Missouri, BSME), Allen spent 16 years at the Dorris Company, finishing as Senior Project Engineer. Since 2005 he has led the multi-year Gear Innovations test program under the U.S. DOE/NREL wind-energy research contract. An AGMA member since 1991, he has chaired the AGMA Computer Programming Committee since 1997 and serves on the Wind Turbine TAG.
Gregg Heimer, CISSP
Gregg keeps Gear Innovations' technology aligned with its business: the digital presence that introduces Convoloid to engineers and partners, the secure handling of technical data shared under NDA, and the systems behind licensing and partner engagement. His strength is translating between the technical and the commercial, so every tool the company adopts serves a clear business purpose and every risk is managed before it becomes a problem.
Gregg brings more than two decades of technology leadership. He began his career as a broadcast engineer for local news affiliates and later worked in private aviation before moving into financial services, where he has led technology for investment firms and broker-dealers operating under SEC and FINRA oversight. Along the way he spent ten years building and running a managed IT services firm that supported small and mid-sized businesses across the Philadelphia and New York regions. A CISSP with multiple Cisco and industry certifications, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Millersville University and a master’s degree from Syracuse University, and is completing a Doctor of Business Administration in Information Systems.
Bernard “Barney” Berlinger, Jr. 1938–2025
Barney founded Gear Innovations LLC in 1997 after founding ASI Technologies Inc. a decade earlier. He was the named inventor or co-inventor of the patents that define Convoloid technology, including the foundational US 6,101,892 and US 10,527,149, both with Dr. John Colbourne. He spent decades developing, testing and publishing the science behind Convoloid gearing. His work, tested under a U.S. DOE/NREL contract and published at AGMA, is the foundation of Convoloid technology.
An AGMA member from 1962, Barney chaired the Fine Pitch Gearing Committee, served on the Board of Directors and was AGMA President in 1986. He later chaired the Board of Trustees of the Gear Research Institute at Penn State (2000–2002). BSME, University of Pennsylvania, 1960.
Dr. John R. Colbourne d. 2016
Dr. Colbourne joined Gear Innovations in 1997 and was the kinematic mind behind the Convoloid tooth form. He co-invented the foundational Convoloid patents with Barney Berlinger and was sole inventor of US 6,964,210 (gear tooth profile) and US 7,077,026 (gear tooth profile curvature).
He was Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. He earned his BS in Mechanical Sciences at Cambridge, including a year of study at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, and his PhD in Kinematic Theory at Stanford. He chaired the AGMA Nomenclature Committee and received the AGMA Technical Division Executive Committee Award for outstanding contributions to the art of gear design and utilization. He passed away in June 2016.