Benjamin G. Lamme

Infobox Scientist
name = Benjamin G. Lamme

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birth_date = birth date|1864|1|12
birth_place = Springfield, Ohio
death_date = death date and age|1924|7|8|1864|1|12
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fields = Electrical engineer
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Benjamin Garver Lamme (Springfield, Ohio, 12 January 1864 - 8 July 1924) was an electrical engineer and chief engineer at Westinghouse responisble for the design of power electrical machines. He was the principal engineer who designed the giant Niagara Falls generators and also the power plant of the Manhattan Elevated Railway in New York City.

Interested in mechanics and mathematics from childhood, Lamme enrolled in Ohio State University from which he earned an engineering degree (1888). In 1889, Westinghouse hired Lamme; soon after joining Westinghouse Corp, he became the company's chief designer of electrical machinery. Over a period of several years, he designed a variety of electrical motors and generators. Among his eight US patents were inventions on induction motors, electrical ship propulsion, and Gyroscopic stabilizer systems.

His sister and fellow Ohio State gradutate, Bertha Lamme (1869-1943), the nation’s first woman electrical engineer, joined him in his pioneering work at Westinghouse until her marriage to fellow Westinghouse engineer, Russel Feicht. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railway adopted the Lamme’s single-phase electric rail system in 1905.

Benjamin Garver Lamme was Westinghouse's trusted chief engineer from 1903 until his death. He designed the giant Niagara Falls hydroelectric generators. For many years the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power station was the largest in the world. Bertha Lamme worked alongside her brother in the design of the turbogenerator at Niagara Falls. Operation began locally in 1895 and power was transmitted to Buffalo, New York, in 1896. [ [http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/sel/electricity.html Electricity and its Development at Niagara Falls ] at ublib.buffalo.edu]

He received the 1918 AIEE Edison Medal "for his contributions to the electrical power field".

In his will, Lamme established the IEEE Lamme Medal in 1924 to recognize members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, later IEEE, for 'meritorious achievement in the development of electrical apparatus or machinery.'

In his will he provided that a gold medal be presented annually to a technical graduate of his alma mater, Ohio State University, for "meritorious achievement in engineering."

Engineering papers

* [http://www.archive.org/details/electricalengine028673mbp Electrical Engineering papers] (Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, 1919)

US Patents

*US patent|1,729,882 Control system, 1924
*US patent|1,640,549 Gyroscopic stabilizer system, 1922
*US patent|1,416,038 Driving system for gyroscopic stabilization, 1922
*US patent|1,392,182 Means for preventing commutator flashing, 1921
*US patent|1,390,624 System of electrical ship propulsion, 1921
*US patent|1,387,496 Speed control for induction motors, 1921
*US patent|1,336,566 Speed control for induction motors, 1920
*US patent|1,333,664 Speed control for induction motors, 1920

Notes

ources

* [http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/lamme.html IEEE History Site Benjamin Lamme]
* [http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/sums/lammesum.html IEEE Lamme Medal]
* [http://www.eng.ohio-state.edu/alumni/buckeye/Lamme.phpfor Benjamin G. Lamme Meritorious Achievement Medal]