Ralph D. Mershon

Ralph Davenport Mershon was an electrical engineer and inventor. His company Mershon Condensers was a successful manufacturer of electrolytic capacitors for the expanding radio market of the 1920s. He is known for the Mershon Auditorium (1957) and the Mershon Center at his alma mater Ohio State University that his estate made possible. In 1956 a biography and summary of his work was published by Ohio State University; the following article is a digest of that publication.

His father Ralph Smith Mershon was a watchmaker, having apprenticed in Trenton, New Jersey and Philadelphia. He played violin and was an inventor, devising a compound regulator for timepieces, and a repeating pistol similar to the Girandoni Air Rifle. In 1863 he purchased Henry Kruger jewelers in Zanesville, Ohio. R.S. Mershon married Mary Elizabeth Jones on November 12, 1863. Ralph Davenport Mershon was born on July 14, 1868. His sister Hope Lord Mershon was born in 1875 and lived to 1953, but their other siblings perished in infancy. The clock installed by Ralph Smith Mershon in the tower of Muskingum County Courthouse was still functioning in 1956.

Unsatisfied by classes at Zanesville High School in 1884, R.D. Mershon joined a crew surveying for a railroad. Working under Mr. Bateman, a surveyor, he gained hands-on experience with a transit and level. Bateman would not answer Mershon's questioning, referring him instead to the Handbook of Civil Engineering by John Trautwine. From that point he learned to use reference works. Given that young Merson had an interest in mechanics, a coworker suggested he study at Ohio State. Returning to Zanesville, Mershon turned to superintendent of schools William D. Lash for examination and certification. Mershon was admitted to Ohio State in the fall of 1886. His skills being evident, in his senior year he served as student assistant. In 1890 he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation he was an assistant instructor in electrical engineering. Working with alternating current machinery, Mershon developed a means of waveform measurement. It is described as an instantaneous potentiometer method, employing a telephone receiver to indicate balance. This work attracted the attention of the Westinghouse Electric Company.

...
Wikipedia