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Worthington
Founder and Honorary member in Perpetuity
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Henry
R. Worthington (1817-1880)
Worthington was born in Brooklyn on December 17, 1817. His father
was a millwright, and it was expected that he would eventually assume
the management of the family enterprise. Worthington, however, was
interested in and had a facility for mechanics. In 1840, he accepted
a challenge by the State of New York to devise a steam-powered canal
boat in an effort to promote traffic on the recently opened Erie
Canal. Even though his barge won recognition by the state, opposing
and more conservative canal interests forced canal traffic to revert
to movement by mule and horsepower.
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The project,
however, led to Worthington's design of steam-driven pumps, for which
he is best known. At the time, steam-powered vessels needed to replenish
the boiler water continuously, and pumps were driven directly by the engine.
But oftentimes engines were idle, and boiler water had to be replenished
by hand-pump — a tedious chore and one that wasted travel time. Worthington
developed a direct-acting, steam-driven feed pump that operated independently
and automatically. In 1845, he joined William H. Baker to form the firm
of Worthington & Baker to manufacture the pump. Initially, it was used
on merchant and naval vessels and later in hotels, factories, refineries,
ironworks, mines and quarries. The company soon grew in international
scope.
In 1854,
in the first of a long succession of municipal projects, Worthington designed
and built three large direct-acting pumps for the Savannah, Georgia, waterworks.
In 1855, he patented and began manufacturing one of the first practical
water meters in the United States. In 1857, he introduced the duplex direct-acting
pump — considered the most significant development in steam-powered
pumps at the time. Composed of two pumps arranged side by side with the
piston rod of each connected to the valve rod of the other, operation
was certain and delivery nearly constant. It was the most widely used
means for handling water by steam power. The first was installed at the
Charlestown, Massachusetts, waterworks in 1863. By 1876, eighty municipal
waterworks in the United States were using it. They were also sold abroad,
and larger units were installed domestically for mining and sewage pumping.
Worthington
had received no education beyond the New York public schools. His highly
regarded professional standing resulted from knowledge he had gained through
practical experience. Aware of the increasing need for individuals with
formal training, he joined other concerned professionals in 1854 to establish
the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute and served on its first
board of trustees.
A member
of American Society of Civil Engineers, he was a founding member of ASME
and, after declining an offer of the presidency, accepted the vice presidency
— just eight months before his death. He died on December 17, 1880.
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