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THE LATE GEORGE H. CORLISS.The Inventor of tho Automatic Cut Offfor Steam Engine#.Mr. George H, Corliss, fcho inventor andmechanical engineer, died at his home in Providence, R. I., on the 21st of February last,' It frequently happens that a roan toils for many years to accomplish results without being widely known among hie fellow men, until some especial work, either by itself or coupled with some marked event, suddenly causes his name to become familiar. Such was the case with Mr. Corliss, For more than forty yeans he labored'in th© work of perfecting and constructing steam engines, practically revolutionizing their construction, but it was not till he erected tho great Corliss engine at tho Centennial exposition in Philadelphia that his name became generally known.Hr. Corliss was boru at Easton, New York, on June 2,1817. In 1825 he moved to Greenwich, R. I., where he attended school-and afterward opened a country store. His first manifestation of mechanical ingenuity was in the construction of a tom-porary bridge which had been washed away by a,Jresliet, and after such a structur’d had boon pronounced impracti-cable. Then ho con- OEOnciI! H- CORLISS.stracted a machine for stitching leather, before tho invention of the Howe sewing machine. From 1814 he was engaged in developing improvements in steam engines at Providence, B« I., by which uniformity of motion was attained. In 1850 the Corliss Steam Engine company was organized. In 1872 he was appointed centennial commissioner for Rhode Island, and the next year submitted a plan for a sitt;\ engine of 1,400 horse power to move all the machinery of tho exhibition. It was predicted tbat his engine would be noisy and troublesome, but Hr. Corliss gave it his personal attention, spent §10,000 upon it beyond the appropriation of congress, and made it a {success in ©very particular.Mr. Corliss received numerous testimonials of the appreciation of different governments nud associations for the benefits conferred by his inventions. At the expositions at PariB in 1807 and at Vienna in 187$ lie received awards, and the Rumford medal by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1870. In 187$ ho won tho French Montyon prize for that year, tho highest honor for mechanical achievements. Ho made no cx hibit, but was awarded the prize because the foreign engine builders who exhibited claimed that their engines wore of fcho Corliss type. He was also made an officer of tho Order of Leopold by the King of Belgium. In Rhode Island Hr. Corliss was highly esteemed. He served in fcho state senate, and was urged to run for mayor of Providence and governor of the state, but declined.
Newspaper Details
Le Mars Sentinel
Le Mars, Iowa, US
Tue, Mar 06, 1888
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Burlington P.
IA, USA 02 Jul 2020
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