George Herman Babcock (June 17, 1832 – December 16, 1893) was an American inventor. He and Stephen Wilcox co-invented a safer water tube steam boiler, and founded the Babcock & Wilcox boiler company.
Biography
Babcock was born in Unadilla Forks, New York, in a family of inventors. As a boy he started his career in the woolen mill industry. When he was still in his teens he started a printing office in Westerly, Rhode Island. Here he founded the Literary Echo journal, which was later renamed The Narragansett and was continued until the end of the 19th century. Through his interest in photography, he started a printing-press manufacture, for which he invented a polychromatic press for printing in several colors.
After moving to New York Babcock taught mechanical drawing at the Cooper Institute. He was a draughtsman for the Mystic Iron Company and the Hope Iron Company in Providence. Here with Stephen Wilcox, he developed the Babcock and Wilcox engine, which was taken into production.
He died in Plainfield, New Jersey, on December 16, 1893.
Legacy
In 1997, Babcock was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
References
External links
- Biography from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- National Inventors Hall of Fame citation