- Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr.
Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr. (October 27, 1836 - March 11, 1916), also known as E. D. Leavitt, was a noted American
mechanical engineer best known for hissteam engine designs.Leavitt was born in
Lowell, Massachusetts to Erasmus Darwin, Sr., and Almina (Fay) Leavitt, graduated from local schools at age 16, and performed a 3-year apprenticeship at the Lowell Manufacturing Company. He then worked for one year at the engineering firm of Corliss & Nightingale inProvidence, Rhode Island before returning to Boston, where he became assistant foreman for Harrison Loring. In this role he designed thesteam engine for theUSS Hartford (1858) . From 1859-1861 he again worked in Providence, this time as chief draftsman for Thurston, Gardner & Company, builders of steam engines.During the Civil War, Leavitt first served aboard the
USS Sagamore (1861) , then in construction roles inBaltimore ,Boston , andBrooklyn , and ultimately as an instructor in steam engineering at theUnited States Naval Academy . In 1867 he resigned his teaching post to become a consulting engineer.Leavitt first achieved professional prominence in 1873 for his design of a novel pumping engine. From 1874-1904 he served as consulting engineer for the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, where he designed more than 40 types of engines for a variety of uses for the company's Michigan mines. Each huge stationary steam engine was named, much like a steam locomotive or ship, with names including the Arcadia, Chippewa, Frontenac, Mackinac, Marquette, and Superior. He also designed steam-powered water pumps for various municipal water systems, including those of
Louisville, Kentucky andBoston , and the power source for a hydraulic forge at theBethlehem Steel Company .Leavitt was a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and a founding member of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers , for which he served as Vice President from 1881-1882, and President in 1883. In 1884 he received the first honorary doctorate of engineering degree granted by theStevens Institute of Technology .Leavitt was a resident of
Cambridge, Massachusetts . [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=siPZKHPQ1rcC&pg=PA219&dq=erasmus+darwin+leavitt&lr=&ei=mCXKSMmeFYPWsgOMx7T4Dg#PPA219,M1 A History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1916, Samuel Atkins Eliot, Cambridge Tribune, Cambridge, 1913] ]See also
*
Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine
* [http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/3129.pdf Leavitt Pumping Engine paper PDF version] at the [http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Landmarks/LeavittRiedler_Pumping_Engine.cfm American Society of Mechanical Engineers] , [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:ojw9zf1yVFgJ:files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/3129.pdf+Chestnut+Hill+Water+Company&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=us Leavitt Pumping Engine paper HTML version] at google, see page 6 for his biography.
* [http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/chesHistory.htm Chestnut Hill Reservation History,] which mentions the early pumps.References
* Carol Poh Miller, "Landmarks in Mechanical Engineering", Purdue University Press, pages 16-17. ISBN 1557530939.
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