Edward Goodrich Acheson

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Edward G. Acheson

Edward Goodrich Acheson (born March 9, 1856 in Washington , Pennsylvania , † July 6, 1931 in New York , NY ) was an American chemist , technician and industrialist. He is best known for his discovery and marketing of the abrasives carborundum and Acheson graphite .

Life and accomplishments

In 1873, when Acheson was 16 years old, his father died and he had to look for an income. He worked in various jobs on the railroad and carried out chemical experiments in his spare time. He later worked for a manufacturer of electrical appliances, from 1880 to 1883 he was an employee of Thomas Alva Edison . He first worked in the laboratory of Edison's partner John Kruesi in Menlo Park , New Jersey, and then went to Europe for two and a half years, where he set up works for Edison. From 1884 he was operations manager of a company competing with Edison that produced electric light bulbs . After that he was self- employed.

His inventions include the abrasive Carborundum (1891), Acheson graphite (1898) and suspensions of graphite , e.g. B. the aqueous suspension Aquadag (1906). Acheson's manufacturing process for carborundum (silicon carbide SiC) in large electric furnaces allowed the manufacture of disks for grinding and cutting as early as 1894. In 1895 he founded a company in Niagara Falls that produced carborundum commercially.

1908-1909 he was President of the Electrochemical Society . He held 70 patents in the fields of mechanics, electricity and chemistry.

Honors

Acheson has received numerous awards, including the John Scott Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1894, the Rumford Prize in 1907, an honorary doctorate in 1909, and the Perkin Medal in 1910. In 1997 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame .

In 1928 Acheson established a foundation that to this day awards the Edward Goodrich Acheson Award every two years , the first winner of which in 1929 was Acheson himself. The prize is currently endowed with US $ 10,000.

Web links

Autobiography

  • Edward Goodrich Acheson: A Pathfinder: Discovery, Invention and Industry . How the world came to have Aquadag and Oildag; Also carborundum, artificial graphite and other valuable products of the electric furnace (=  Series of Educational Biographical Sketches of Eminent Inventors . Volume 1 ). The Press Scrap Book, New York 1910 ( online at the Internet Archive [accessed March 25, 2016]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edward Goodrich Acheson: A Pathfinder: Discovery, Invention and Industry . How the world came to have Aquadag and Oildag; Also carborundum, artificial graphite and other valuable products of the electric furnace (=  Series of Educational Biographical Sketches of Eminent Inventors . Volume 1 ). The Press Scrap Book, New York 1910 ( online at the Internet Archive [accessed March 25, 2016]).
  2. ↑ a b Edward G. Acheson. ECS President 1908-1909. In: History of ECS. The Electrochemical Society ECS, accessed March 25, 2016 .
  3. ↑ EG Acheson: Carborundum: Its history, manufacture and uses . In: Journal of the Franklin Institute . tape 136 , no. 3 , September 1, 1893, p. 194-203 , doi : 10.1016 / 0016-0032 (93) 90311-H ( sciencedirect.com [accessed March 29, 2016]).
  4. ↑ a b Joseph M. Wilson, Wm H. Wahl: Carborundum: A New Artificial Abrasive Material . … The report of the institute […] on the invention of EG Acheson… In: Franklin Institute (Ed.): The Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania . Devoted to Science and the Mechanic Arts. tape 137 , no. 6 . Philadelphia June 1894, p. 401–408 ( online in the Internet Archive [accessed March 29, 2016] with a photo and three drawings of the furnace; for the John Scott Medal, page 408).
  5. ↑ Edward Goodrich Acheson. Carborundum. (No longer available online.) In: National Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016 ; accessed on March 29, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / invent.org
  6. ^ Edward Goodrich Acheson Award. Retrieved March 29, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Acheson, Edward Goodrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist and technician
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1931
Place of death New York , NY