Tinius Olsen

Tinius Olsen (December 7, 1845 – October 20, 1932) was a Norwegian-born American engineer and inventor. He was the founder of the Tinius Olsen Material Testing Machine Company, a maker of material testing machines. He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal of The Franklin Institute in 1891 for his autographic testing machine.

Tinius Olsen was born in Kongsberg, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. He was one of eight children of Ole Thorstensen (1821–1865) and Helene Marie Hansdatter (1818–1909). His father and grandfather were makers of wooden gun stocks. Olsen graduated from the Horten Technical School (Horten tekniske skole) in 1866.

Olsen first became the foreman of the machine department at a large naval machine shop. Olsen subsequently immigrated to the United States during 1869. Starting in August 1869, Tinius worked as a designer for William Sellers & Co. He was later employed by the firm of Riehlé Brothers, scale and testing-machine manufacturers in Philadelphia. As the firm’s superintendent, Olsen was the principal designer of Riehl’s testing machines during the 1870s.

In 1880, he submitted a patent application for an improved testing machine and the patent was granted the same year, on June 1, 1880. Called the Little Giant it was presented to industrial expositions in Cincinnati and Atlanta during 1881, winning gold medals at both shows. In 1891, Olsen was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute for his invention.

The Little Giant was a vertical model which could accurately perform tension, , and compressive stress tests with just one instrument housed in a single frame. The device was relatively cheap, compact, and simple to operate. Forces were applied to a test specimen from both above and below. Upper and lower loading cross heads contained grips which held the specimen and crushed it, or pulled it apart as the operator turned a handle attached to a system of gears. In 1880, Olsen started the Tinius Olsen Testing Machine Company to produce the device.

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