Walter Kidde
| Walter Kidde | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 7, 1877 Hoboken, New Jersey |
| Died | February 9, 1943 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Fire suppression |
| Institutions | Walter Kidde & Company |
| Alma mater | Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Fire extinguishers |
Walter Kidde (/ˈkɪdə/; March 7, 1877 – February 9, 1943) was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1897. He was the owner of the Kidde company which manufactured fire extinguishers. His parents immigrated to the United States from Bohemia, and he is unrelated to the Danish Kidde family, to which the author Harald Kidde and the cartoonist and author Rune T. Kidde belong. Walter Kidde died of a heart attack in 1943 at the age of 65.
At the age of 23, Walter Kidde opened Walter Kidde & Company. Walter Kidde & Company helped build ship yards at Port Newark and Kearny. He later joined the New Jersey State Highway Commission. During his time there, he oversaw the first traffic circle in Camden, the first clover-leaf intersection and most importantly the Pulaski Skyway in 1932. Even though he had no railroad experience, Walter Kidde was the court appointed trustee of the bankrupt New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway from July 24, 1937 until his death in 1943.
Walter Kidde & Company started out as a construction company, but slowly grew into a fire suppression company. In 1918 Walter Kidde & Company purchased the rights to the "Rich" system for on board fire detection and suppression. The problem with this system was steam was used to put out fire, which then caused considerable damage to the cargo on the ship. Kidde came up with the solution to use carbon dioxide instead of steam. This new design had one drawback, the carbon dioxide was not being released fast enough. In order to solve this problem, he bought the rights to a patent for a siphoning device. With this system Walter Kidde & Company released the first portable carbon dioxide fire extinguisher and the first built in industrial system. In 1926 Walter Kidde & Company helped the US Navy design a system to prevent engines on airplanes from catching fire.
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