Joseph Harrison (1810-1874)
Joseph Harrison (1810-1874)
1874 Obituary [1]
The death is announced, at the comparatively early age of 64 years, of Mr. Joseph Harrison, a somewhat prominent mechanical engineer of the eminently industrial city of Philadelphia, U.S.
Born in September, 1810, Mr. Harrison became an apprentice in a Philadelphia mechanical establishment when 14 years old; and as he showed himself a youth of energy and resource, he had attained the position of foreman by the time that he was 20.
The next four or five years witnessed the commencement of American locomotive building, and in 1835 we find Mr. Harrison foreman in the shop of Messrs. Garrett and Eastwick. Here, in conjunction with Mr. Eastwick, Mr. Harrison designed and built for the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company a locomotive named the "Samuel D. Ingham," which attained some notice, and even celebrity at the time. At any rate, this now almost forgotten engine brought Messrs. Garrett and Eastwick quite a number of orders for locomotives, so that the firm was obliged to extend its establishment.
In 1839, Mr. Harrison became a partner in the house, although his contribution to its resources was only his skill as a mechanic. In the same year Mr. Harrison designed an 11-ton locomotive for the heavy freighting purposes of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company....[more]