Abdul Rakim Khan
Abdul Rakim Khan (1888-1947)
1947 Obituary [1]
"ABDUL RAKIM KHAN was associated with the sugar industry in India during the whole of his professional career, in the course of which he became well known as a technical expert in that branch of mechanical engineering.
He was born in 1888, and educated at the Agricultural College, Cawnpore. His technical instruction was obtained at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, where he gained the College Diploma in sugar manufacture. After serving his apprenticeship with the Harvey Engineering Co and with Messrs. Mirrlees Watson and Company, Ltd., of Glasgow, from 1914 to 1916, he went to the West Indies and as a pupil under Sir F. Watts received a year's training in the manufacture of sugar. He was then entrusted with the management of a sugar factory at Dhampore, and from 1910 to 1920 gained valuable experience in the purchase of sugar machinery in the position of consulting engineer to Messrs. Bhagat Brothers, Ltd., which was followed by his appointment as sales manager and designer of sugar machinery to the Empire Engineering Company, Ltd., of Cawnpore. During the next three years he was engaged in the latter capacity at the Angus Engineering Works, in Calcutta.
His principal concern having been hitherto the manufacture and marketing of sugar, he turned his attention in 1928 to the educational and technical side of the industry, and became lecturer on sugar technology and head of the sugar department of the Harcourt Butler Technical Institute, at Cawnpore, where he also became responsible for the erection and running of a Government experimental sugar factory. Eight years later he received his final appointment as head of the technical section of the Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology, in the same city. As such he was responsible for advising the staffs of sugar factories on all technical matters, especially with regard to the improvement of processes, and also for the supervision of his department. In addition, the sugar factory control section and the Bureau of Indian Sugar Standards were under his direction. Mr. Khan retired from these activities in 1944. Recently he had been engaged as manager of the agency department of Messrs. Jaipuri Brothers, Ltd., of Cawnpore, with responsibility for establishing trade connexions with firms dealing in sugar machinery and general engineering products. He was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1946, his death occurring only a few months later in January 1947."