Henry Rossiter Worthington

Henry Rossiter Worthington (December 17, 1817 – December 17, 1880) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, industrialist and founder of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880.

Worthington had several inventions leading to the perfection of the direct steam pump (1845-55), patented the duplex steam pump (1859), and built the first duplex waterworks engine, widely adopted and used for more than 75 years. He established a pump manufacturing plant, New York City, in 1859.

Born in New York City, Worthington was the eldest child of Frances (Meadowcraft) and Asa Worthington, an engineer and owner of the "Hope Flour Mills" and a man prominent in public affairs. He was a descendant in the sixth generation of Nicholas Worthington, who emigrated from England about 1650 and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut.

He founded the Henry R. Worthington Pump Works in 1845 in Brooklyn, and had a plant on Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn until 1904 when they moved their company to Harrison, NJ. .

On 24 September 1839, Worthington married Laura I. Newton of Alexandria, Virginia, the daughter of Commodore John Thomas Newton of Alexandria, Virginia. Six children were born to them, four boys and two girls. Charles C., born in 1854, was the youngest and the only one of the children to become actively interested in the family pump business.

At the time of his death, Worthington was survived by his widow, two sons, and two daughters.

After being educated in the public schools of his native city, Worthington, who had shown early a decided bent for things mechanical, sought employment that enabled him to become a hydraulic engineer while still a very young man. He concentrated his attention on the problems of city water supply, became thoroughly familiar with steam engines and mechanical pumps, and engaged in experiments intended to improve these machines. Canal navigation interested him, too, and it was in this connection that he made his first invention. As early as 1840 he had an experimental steam canal boat in operation which was fairly successful except that when the boat was stopped it became necessary to resort to hand pump to keep the steam boiler supplied with water. To overcome this deficiency he invented an independent feeding pump which was automatic in its action and was controlled by the water level within the steam boiler (patent, September 7, 1840).

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