Benjamin Chew Tilghman

Benjamin Chew Tilghman (1821—1901) was an American soldier and inventor. He is best known as the inventor of the process of sandblasting.

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 26, 1821, the third child of Benjamin and Anne Marie (McMurtie). His father was descended from Richard Tilghman, a surgeon in the British Navy; he was related to William Tilghman, Chief Justice of Philadelphia.

Tilghman was educated at Bristol College and later at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with a degree in law in 1839, though he never practiced this profession. With his brother, Richard, he spent much time before the war journeying through Europe, visiting laboratories, chemical works and mills.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered as a Captain in the 26th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, rising to Colonel and commander of the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was severely wounded in the thigh at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and sent home to recover. Upon his recovery, he accepted the role of Colonel and commander of the 3rd United States Colored Troops. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers on April 13, 1865 for "meritorious services".

Legend has it that Tilghman had seen the effect of wind-blown sand on windows in the desert while a general in the army, and that this was the basis of his sandblasting invention.

Around 1870, he invented the Sandblasting process and filed a patent for it in the US (US patent 108,408.), detailing many of the applications for which this technique is uniquely suited, such as sharpening files, engraving bottles, cleaning boilers or bringing out the grain in wood. Later that year a patent was issued in the UK.

In 1871, at the 40th Exhibition of the American Institute of the City of New York, he was awarded the institute's Great Medal of Honor for his invention; shortly after, he was also awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute.

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