 For his design, he received U.S. Patent 2,742,437 in 1956.Catalytic converters eventually became standard equipment in American cars, following passage of the Clean Air Act, introduced by Edmund S. Muskie in 1970.Houdry's contributions to catalytic technology were recognized by numerous awards, including the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1948,
the Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) in 1959, 
the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry of the American Chemical Society in 1962, and posthumous election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990.