John Jonathan Kermode
John Jonathan Kermode (1859-1931)
1931 Obituary [1]
JOHN JONATHAN KERMODE devoted the whole of his engineering career to inventions in connexion with the use of oil fuel for ships and factories and for industrial cooking and central heating. Over thirty years ago he demonstrated before the Admiralty on H.M.S. "Surly" the possibility of obtaining full power from a water-tube boiler arranged to burn oil only. His system was subsequently adopted for use in the British Navy and in the French and other navies, and during the War Mr. Kermode's apparatus was installed in many warships, hospital ships, oil-tankers, and military locomotives.
Mr. Kermode was born in 1859 and received his engineering training at Owens College, Manchester, which he entered in 1876 as a Whitworth Exhibitioner. He subsequently served his apprenticeship at the works of Sir Joseph Whitworth, by whose foundations he was one of the first to benefit.
Later, he joined Messrs. Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and afterwards went to sea and obtained a Board of Trade first-class Certificate as a marine engineer with the West Indian and Pacific Steamship Company.
He ultimately became engineering superintendent for the latter firm, but subsequently returned to Messrs. Laird Brothers, for whom he was engaged on warship construction.
In 1900 Mr. Kermode commenced business on his own account in Liverpool, specializing in oil-burning appliances, a subject on which he wrote several technical papers.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1906 and his death occurred on 19th November 1931, in his seventy-second year.