Herbert Thacker HerrBorn 19 Mar 1876; died 19 Dec 1933 at age 57.U.S. mechanical engineer who advanced the design of steam turbines with simplifications, increased capacity and improved methods of manufacturing. Early in his career as a machinist and draftsman for a railroad, he invented a braking control for trains having several locomotives (1904) and a mechanism to regulate braking power according to the weight of the car. By 1908, he was vice president and general manager of the Westinghouse Machine Company. In developing steam turbines (1913), he brought together elements of the highly efficient Parsons system with elements of the lighter Curtis- Rateau impulse system. He also pioneered in propulsion of marine vessels, and remote-control to operate a ship's engine from the bridge (1916).« |
