Parkhurst, Edward G.

SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Weapons and armour

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b. 29 August 1830 Thompson, Connecticut, USA

d. 31 July 1901 Hartford, Connecticut, USA

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American mechanical engineer and inventor.

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Little is known of the early training of Edward G. Parkhurst, but at the time of Civil War (1861–5) he was employed by the Savage Arms Company of Middletown, Connecticut. In 1869 he joined the Pratt \& Whitney Company of Hartford, Connecticut, as Assistant Superintendent and later took charge of their gun department. He was the inventor of many improvements in machine tools and armaments. Among these was an automatic rod feeder for turret lathes, in which movement of a single lever enabled bar stock to be fed through the lathe spindle and gripped by a collet chuck while the machine was in motion. This was patented in August 1871 and was followed by other patents, particularly for improvements in machine guns and their accessories. Parkhurst retired from Pratt \& Whitney c. 1895 but was afterwards associated with the American Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Company. He was a founder member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880 and served his home city of Hartford as Councillor and Alderman. In 1900 he contributed to the journal American Machinist some articles of reminiscences dealing with the early history of the American machine-tool industry and, in particular, the earliest milling machines and the origin of the turret lathe.

RTS