Albert L. Marsh

Albert Leroy Marsh, (1877–1944) was an American metallurgist. In 1905 he co-invented the first metallic alloy from which a high-resistance wire could be made that could be used as a durable and safe heating element. While working at Hoskins Manufacturing, the company of chemist, electrical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur William Hoskins (1862–1934) the two experimented for several years until the alloy was perfected. The material was patented that year as chromel, later and still today marketed as nichrome.US patent|811859] Cite web
url=http://www.toaster.org/museum.html
title=The Cyber Toaster Museum
work=Toaster.org
last=Norcross
first=Eric
pages=section "1900 - 1920"
year=2006
publisher=The Toaster Museum Foundation
accessdate=2008-08-16] Cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SzdrtFSFG6IC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=%22William+Hoskins%22+high-resistance+wire+electric+heating&source=web&ots=xAPyylB6_N&sig=ppG1DHl4OJs-__1PNw2vxZmpylI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
title=Antique Electric Waffle Irons 1900-1960: A History of the Appliance Industry in 20th Century America
last=George
first=William F.
publisher=Trafford Publishing
id=ISBN 155395632X
year=2003
pages=p. 20
accessdate=2008-08-16] Cite journal
url=http://www.toaster.org/hoskins_tragic.html
title=The World's Most Tragic Man Is the One Who Never Starts
last=Clark
first=Neil M.
journal=The American
month=May
year=1927
accessdate=2007-02-24; republished in "hotwire: The Newsletter of the Toaster Museum Foundation", vol. 3, no. 3, online edition. The piece is largely an interview of Hoskins. (And there actually is a Toaster Museum, backed by a related foundation. They take the history of toast, and electrical heating in general, quite seriously.)] For this invention, Marsh was acclaimed as "father of the electrical heating industry".citequote|date=August 2008

Early life

Marsh was born August 16, 1877 in Pontiac, Illinois, the oldest of three children. The family moved to Pana, Illinois in 1884. Marsh went to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1901, Albert received his bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering. The same year, he married Minnie Haywood in Massachusetts.

Career beginnings

While working with an electric storage battery and doing technical writing, he began experimenting with nickel and chromium] alloys during his spare time. In 1904, in need of better place to work on his wiring project and more funding, he made a business arrangement with William Hoskins of Chicago; Hoskins was with Mariner & Hoskins, a leading firm of consulting chemists. He hired Marsh at a small salary – while giving him permission to work on the alloy project during his spare time. When later formed as Hoskins Manufacturing Company, the business relocated to Detroit, Michigan.

uccess

When perfected, the new alloy was 300 times stronger than other types at that time. Chromel is made of 80% nickel and 20% chromium (though other ratios are used for special purpose nichrome appliations). The US patent was granted February 1906, in Marsh's name, and later sold to Hoskins Manufacturing.

By Hoskins's own account, he was deeply involved in the experimentation process, and not simply a funder.

Toasters, dental furnacesClarifyme|date=August 2008 and chromel wire for appliance manufacturers were the first focus of the Hoskins company. The first two were unprofitable and were later dropped. The company concentrated on manufacturing the chromel wire.

Marsh served as chief engineer and general manager of Hoskins Manufacturing Co. in Detroit. He was named president of the firm in 1915.

Awards

In 1936, Marsh was awardedClarifyme|date=August 2008 the John Price Wetherill Medal for "significant and timely contribution to the science of automotive engineering" and "for outstanding discoveries in the physical sciences".

In 1941, the American Metals Congress bestowed upon Marsh with The Sauveur Award for outstanding metallurgical achievement.

References

External links

* [http://www.toaster.org/marsh.html Albert Marsh, Inventor, Scientist]