Louis Semple Clarke
| Louis Semple Clarke | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1866 |
| Died | January 1957 (aged 90–91) West Palm Beach, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | President, |
| Known for | Invention of spark plug for gasoline engines Member, South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club |
Louis Semple Clarke, or Simpson Clarke or simply LS, was a pioneering businessman and engineer in the American automotive industry. One of the central founders of , Clarke was also an inventor who made numerous contributions to the development of modern motor vehicles, including innovations in the use of the drive shaft, circulating motor oil, sparkplugs, and the American convention of placing a vehicle's steering wheel on the left.
Thomas Shields Clarke started out with a single river boat the “Beaver” in 1832, then by 1842 he and his brother in law William Thaw started Clarke and Co and by 1855 his son Charles joined the firm. Originally the firm was called Clarke and Thaw and over 15 years operated a fleet of steam boats which traveled all the way to New Orleans and was the designate shipping firm for all shipping west of Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Louis was born into an influential family at an influential time in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, a time of great economic expansion and innovation for the region and country. The names with which the Clarkes associated themselves were Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Henry Clay Frick (a few of the more notorious) all of whom were also members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The club’s dam broke in May 1889 causing the largest man-made disaster in US history at the time, the Johnstown flood.
Louis was inspired at this time of innovation and took a keen interest in new inventions and technologies. Louis’s inventive nature propelled him to build a handmade camera, with which he took many of the photos which are now part of the county’s historical treasure trove. As an avid photographer he was the primary person who documented the SFFHC activities prior and after the dam's collapse in May 1889. The glass plates used to take the pictures surfaced 100 years later when his granddaughter in 1991 found them in the attic. At the time she called Charles Guggenheim who had just finished a documentary on the Johnstown Flood and would win an Academy Award for short documentary in 1991. Additionally, the film was narrated by David McCullough who had also written a book the Johnstown Flood in 1968 with various pictures including a picture of Louis.
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