David Robert Yarnall, Sr. (June 28, 1878 – September 11, 1967) was an Americanmechanical engineer, co-founder and president of the Yarnall Waring Company in Philadelphia, and the 65th president of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1946–47.[1]
Yarnall was born in 1878 inMiddletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania as son of Edward S. Yarnall and Sidney S. (Garrett) Yarnall. After attending theWesttown School from 1892 to 1897, he obtained his Bsc in Mechanical Engineering from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1901.[2]
After graduation Yarnall started working as engineer at Coatesville Boiler Works inCoatesville, Pennsylvania, and allied companies from 1901 to 1906.[3] In 1908 Yarnall and Bernard G. Waring[4] founded the Yarnall Waring Company for the manufacturing of specialty valves for power plants.[5] He served as president of the company until 1957, and afterwards as chairman of the board.[6]
Yarnall was a respected leader within theReligious Society of Friends in the Philadelphia area. He volunteered to lead Quaker relief efforts in Germany after World War I, and was a founding member in the 1920s of the Business Problems Group ofPhiladelphia Yearly Meeting.[7] In 1938 Yarnall traveled with George Walton andRufus Jones on a mission to Nazi Germany to try to help Jewish people there after theKristallnacht.[8]
In 1941 Yarnall was awarded theHoover Medal, and in 1942 he received the honorary Doctor Engineering fromLehigh University. He was elected president of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers for the year 1946–47, and in 1947 received the honorary Doctor of Science fromHaverford College. His son, Robert Yarnall Jr. (1925-1999), followed into his footsteps.[5]
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