 |
Henry TowneAmerican mechanical engineer and entrepreneur.
Date of Birth: 28.08.1844
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Henry R. Towne
Henry R. Towne was an American mechanical engineer and entrepreneur. Born on August 28, 1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was the son of John Henry Towne and Maria R. Towne. His ancestry can be traced back to William Towne from Yarmouth, England, who immigrated to America in 1640 and settled near Salem, Massachusetts.
Henry's father was also an engineer and had a wide range of interests in scientific problems related to his profession. In his later years, John Henry devoted much of his attention to the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as one of the trustees and donated around a million dollars to establish a scientific division known today as the Towne Scientific School.
Henry attended private schools and continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania. However, he left the university in 1862 without completing his studies and pursued his professional career. In 1887, the university awarded Towne an honorary master's degree.
Early in his career, Towne found a job as a draftsman at the I. P. Morris, Towne & Co. metallurgical plant in Port Richmond. There, he gained his first experience in mechanical engineering. In 1863, Towne was appointed in charge of repairing the gunboat USS Massachusetts. From 1864 to 1866, he was responsible for installing engines on monitors, military artillery ships of the United States Navy.
In 1866, Henry traveled to England, Belgium, and France to study engineering and physics. During his six-month stay in Paris, he attended lectures at the Sorbonne. Upon his return, he found employment at William Sellers & Co. in Philadelphia.
In the summer of 1868, Towne met Linus Yale Jr., an engineer, industrialist, and inventor, through a mutual friend. Towne was impressed by Yale's invention, known today as the American automatic lock, as he was searching for new business opportunities. In October 1868, the two men established the Yale Lock Manufacturing Co. in Stamford, Connecticut. Towne provided the new company with capital and effective management, while Yale's share was his invention. Later that year, Yale unexpectedly died of a heart attack, and Towne reorganized the company into Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. Under his effective leadership, the company became a leading lock manufacturer in the United States. Towne retired as chairman in 1915.
Contributions and Legacy
Towne was one of the first engineers to view management as a new social role and believed that the development of management methods was crucial for the advancement of the engineering profession. He outlined his ideas about the role of management for engineers in his book "The Engineer as Economist".
In 1888, Henry Towne was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and continued to work on improving labor efficiency in this position.
Henry R. Towne passed away on October 15, 1924, at the age of 80. His wife, Cora E. White, whom he married in 1868, passed away in 1917. According to his will, Towne bequeathed over two million dollars to establish the Museum of the Peaceful Arts in Manhattan.
