Lewis H. Nash
| Lewis H. Nash | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1852 |
| Died | November 17, 1923 |
| Alma mater | Stevens Institute of Technology, Master of Engineering in Mechanical engineering |
| Occupation | Mechanical engineer |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mechanical |
| Significant design | Liquid ring vacuum pump |
| Awards | Doctor of Engineering (h.c.) |
| Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives | |
|
In office 1923–1925 Serving with Frank Gregory |
|
| Preceded by | Harvey Kent, Samuel Watkins |
| Succeeded by |
Freeman Light, Harvey Kent |
Lewis H. Nash (1852 – November 11, 1923) was an American engineer who invented the liquid-ring-vacuum pump, and was the holder of over a hundred United States patents for pumps, engines, and other equipment. He founded the Nash Engineering Company in 1905, and served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Nash completed his public school education in South Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1869. As his parents were unable to pay for college, he took an apprenticeship course as a machinist at the Norwalk Iron Works. He next enrolled at a new institution, the Stevens Institute of Technology, which offered courses in the new field of Mechanical Engineering. He joined its third class, and graduated as class valedictorian.
Nash initially found his apprenticeship was of greater value in securing work than his degree, so he worked as a machinist in New Haven, Connecticut. In the meantime, he continued to work on a design he had conceived while in college for a new type of water measuring device. He built a model and took it to the National Meter Company of Brooklyn, New York. Though the device did not work satisfactorily in a test, its merits were appreciated, and he was employed with instructions to perfect the meter.
In a few months, Nash produced the "Crown" meter, the first of a large class of single-piston rotary meters, which practically superseded all other forms of water meters at that time. He received over sixty patents for water meters.
One type of meter, the "Gem", was built in sizes up to 36 inches (910 mm). The quantity of water that could be delivered by such a meter was nearly 500,000 US gallons per hour (1,900 m3/h). This presented a problem in testing, as that amount of water could never be taken from the water supply of any city. In fact, a single meter of that size would pass enough water to supply a large town. Nash was given the task of devising a testing plant which re-circulated the water. He accomplished this by the use of a vertical screw pump which lifts the water to a reservoir, from which it passes through the meter to be tested and thence over a weir, where it is measured. The device and the meters both proved to be accurate.
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