Oberlin Smith
Oberlin Smith (1840-1926) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 22 March 1840 to George R. Smith and Salome (Kemp) Smith, who were immigrants from England.
He went to work for the Cumberland Nail and Iron Works in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and then started a machine works and repair shop in Bridgeton. A cousin, J. Burkett Webb, became a partner in 1863-64. When Webb moved on, Smith brought in his younger brother Frederick as a partner.
The company became the Ferracute Machine Co in 1877, and Smith remained for 63 years - until his death - as the president and chief engineer. The firm specialised in metalworking presses for working metals, including coining presses. Smith took out numerous patents, mainly relating to pressing and stamping, but covering a diverse range of inventions.
In 1888 he wrote one of the earliest published articles dealing with magnetic recording of sound. For detailed information on Smith's pioneering ideas on magnetic sound recording, see 'Oberlin Smith and the Invention of Magnetic Sound Recording'[1]
He died on 19 July 1926 in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
See Oberlin Smith - Biography[2], which is the source of most of the above information, and contains, and has links to a wealth of information about Smith, his work, and his inventions.
Note 1: This source states that his Oberlin's cousin was Robert Longsdon, partner of Sir Henry Bessemer. The link between Smith and Longsdon has not so far been verified from other sources.
Note 2: The same source (and others) give his cousin/partner's name as J. Burkett Webb. In fact his passport application of 1875 clearly spells the name as John Birkett Webb. He was born in Philadelphia in 1841, and died in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1912[3].
Some Birkett Webb genealogy: J Birkett Webb's parents were Charles Roe Webb (1814-1900) and Eliza A. Greaves (1816-1847). Charles Roe Webb was the son of Burkitt Webb and Sarah (Smith). Burkitt Webb was born in Stowmarket, Suffolk, in 1789, the son of Joseph Antrim Webb and Rebekah (Holman) Webb. Sarah Smith was born in 1783 in Arfleet, Corfe Castle. Burkitt Webb emigrated to the USA as a young man, and died in Philadelphia in 1886, in his 97th year.[4]
At the age of 80, Oberlin applied for a passport in 1920. From his application form, we learn that his parents arrived in the USA from England in 1837.
His father died in 1857. His mother died in 1884, aged 71 years 8 months.
Oberlin Smith wrote a number of books, including 'Press-Working of Metals'[5]
'Mechanical Engineering" obituary here.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] 'Oberlin Smith and the Invention of Magnetic Sound Recording - An Appreciation on the 150th Anniversary of the Inventor's Birth', with an Introduction by Friedrich Karl Engel 1990/2006
- ↑ [2] Oberlin Smith - Biography: Website of Advocates for the Preservation of Local Industrial History, Bridgeton New Jersey
- ↑ [3] The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 18, Oct 1911 - Aug 1912
- ↑ [4] 'Ancestry and Descendants of Nancy Allyn (Foote) Webb ....' by Mary Evarts (Webb) Cooch, Star Publishing Co, Wilmington, Delaware, 1919, pp.108-9
- ↑ [5] 'Press-Working of Metals' by Oberlin Smith, John Wiley & Sons, 1899