Wilbur H. Armacost

Wilbur Hering Armacost, Jr. (August 6, 1893 - September 23, 1971)[1] was an American mechanical engineer, vice president-consultant of Combustion Engineering, Inc., New York, and inventor. He is known as pioneer developer of materials adaptable to high temperatures and pressure,[2] and designer of high-temperature high-pressure steam engines.[1] He was recipient of the 1958 ASME Medal for distinguished service in engineering and science.[3]

Biography

Youth, family education, and early career

Armacost was born in the 1893 in Green Valley, Illinois,[4] son of Daniel Nicholas Armacost (1851–1940), and Mary Ellen (McCord) Armacost (1857–1947).[5] Armacost was named after his grandfather Wilbur Hering Armacost, Sr.,[6] who had been a tax collector in the 8th district in Western Maryland.[7]

Armacost graduated from the Armour Institute of Technology, now Illinois Institute of Technology, with a BSc in mechanical engineering in 1916. He had written a BSc thesis with Frederic P. Strauch, entitled "Capacity and efficiency test of an autovacuum refrigerating machine."[8]

After his graduation in 1916 he started working as engineer at the Union Stock Yard & Transit Co. in the meatpacking district in Chicago, and became member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.[6] Next he worked for the Armour and Company in Chicago as superintendent of 1600 boiler at the H-P plant for reclaiming potash from cotton seed in 1916-17.[4]

Further career and acknowledgement

In the interbellum Armacost worked as research and design engineer for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, and the Locomotive Superheater Company, before it merged into and Combustion Engineering in 1948. In 1937 Armacost started at Combustion Engineering as chief engineer.[1]

In 1944 he was elected vice-president of the Combustion Engineering Co. in charge of marine activities, to succeed the late engineer and inventor F. H. Rosencrants.[9] and in 1948 vice-president in charge of engineering.[10][11] Bij 1958 Armacost was vice president-consultant and chairman of the technical committee at Combustion Engineering.[12]

Armacost received an award for distinguished service from the American Society for Metals (ASM) in 1948, the Stevens Honor Award Medallion from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1951,[13][14] and the ASME Medal from the ASME in 1958. He received about 75 patents.[1]

Armacost died September 23, 1971, in Litchfield Park, Arizona,[1] and he was buried at the Prairie Rest Cemetery in Tazewell County, Illinois.[5]

Selected publications
Patents, a selection

References
  1. ASME. Mechanical Engineering, Volume 94. 1972. p. 106
  2. Gas Age, Volume 122. 1958. p. 52
  3. ASME, Mechanical Engineering, Volume 81. 1959. p. 69
  4. John William Leonard, Winfield Scott Downs, M. M. Lewis. Who's who in Engineering. Volume 6. 1948. p. 52
  5. Tazewell Co. Genealogical Society, compilers, Tazewell County, Illinois Cemeteries, Vol. I (Pekin, Illinois: Tazewell Co. Genealogical Society, 2013), p. 79.
  6. ASME. Yearbook, Containing Lists of Members Arranged Alphabetically, 1918. p. 13
  7. History of western Maryland. History of western Maryland, 1882. p. 810.
  8. Strauch & Armacost, 1916.
  9. The Log, Volume 39. 1944. p. 106
  10. Power Industry, Volumes 54-55. 1948. p. 129
  11. Paper Trade Journal. Volume 126, Part 2. 1948. p. 20
  12. Power Plant Engineering, Volume 62, Nr. 7-12. 1958. p. 3.
  13. The Stevens Indicator, Volume 68. 1951. p. 6
  14. Power Industry, Volumes 60-61. 1951. p. 106
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