Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation
| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor | Studebaker-Worthington |
| Founded | 1845 |
| Founder | Henry Rossiter Worthington |
| Defunct | 1967 |
| Headquarters | United States |
The Worthington Corporation was a diversified American manufacturer that had its roots in Worthington and Baker, a steam pump manufacturer founded in 1845. In 1967 it was merged with Studebaker and Wagner Electric to form Studebaker-Worthington. This company was in turn acquired by McGraw-Edison in 1979.
Worthington and Baker, manufacturers of hydraulic machinery such as steam pumps and meters, was founded by Henry R Worthington and William H. Baker. Worthington was the inventor of the direct acting steam pump. The first foundry was near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1854 the partners moved to Van Brunt street in Brooklyn. The partnership was dissolved around 1860 when Baker died. A new partnership called Henry R. Worthington, or Worthington Hydraulic Pump Works, was formed in 1862.
The US Navy used Worthington pumps to pump bilge water aboard various ships during the American Civil War (1861–1865), including the USS Monitor. After Henry Worthington died in 1880 he was succeeded by his son Charles Campbell Worthington (1854–1944). While head of the company, Worthington contributed many useful improvements to pumps, compressors, and other machines. The company left Brooklyn in 1904 and moved to Harrison, New Jersey.
In 1885 the Worthington Pumping Engine Company, representatives of Worthington pumps of the US, obtained an order from the British Army to deliver ten high-pressure pumps to deliver water needed by the British Expeditionary army coming to the aid of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan. The British pump suppliers could not deliver the pumps fast enough. The British company James Simpson & Co. learned of the Worthington company because of this order, and on 13 December 1885 signed an agreement with the Worthington Pumping Engine Company under which they gained exclusive manufacturing rights for Worthington pumps in Britain. The British company's pumps were sold in the English and Colonial markets.
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