Worcester Reed Warner | |
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| Born | May 16, 1846 |
| Died | June 25, 1929(1929-06-25) (aged 83) Eisenach, Germany |
| Resting place | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery,Sleepy Hollow, New York |
| Occupation(s) | Machinist, inventor, manager, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder of theWarner & Swasey Company |
Worcester Reed Warner (May 16, 1846 – June 25, 1929) was an American mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, manager, astronomer, and philanthropist. WithAmbrose Swasey he cofounded theWarner & Swasey Company.
Warner was born nearCummington, Massachusetts.[1] He met Swasey at the Exeter Machine Works. On the completion of their apprenticeship in 1870, both entered the employ ofPratt & Whitney inHartford, Connecticut.[1]
In 1880 he co-founded a business to manufacture machines withAmbrose Swasey. The firm, Warner & Swasey, was initially located inChicago but soon moved toCleveland.[2] Worcester Warner would design the 36-inchrefracting telescope installed atLick Observatory in 1888. He later built telescopes that were used inCanada andArgentina.
Warner was a charter member of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers,[1] and from 1897[1] to 1898 he served as the 16thpresident of ASME. (Ambrose Swasey would later serve as the 23rd ASME president.) In 1900 the firm was incorporated asWarner & Swasey Company.[3] Warner served as president andchairman of the board, but retired in 1911.
Both Warner and Ambrose Swasey also became trustees of theCase School of Applied Science. As both men had an interest in astronomy, they donated an entire observatory to the school. This became theWarner and Swasey Observatory. It was dedicated in 1920.
The Warner Building onCase Western Reserve University houses the Worcester Reed Warner Laboratory, named after the former university trustee. The construction of this building was partly funded by Worcester Warner.
The Warner Library inTarrytown, New York, has served both Tarrytown and North Tarrytown (nowSleepy Hollow, New York) since 1929. It was built and gifted to the two communities by Warner and his wife Cornelia.[4] Constructed of Vermont limestone, theNeoclassical building was designed byWalter Dabney Blair.
The craterWarner on theMoon is named after Worcester Warner.
Warner died inEisenach,Saxe-Weimar,Germany, and is buried inSleepy Hollow Cemetery,Sleepy Hollow, New York.
TheWorcester Reed Warner Medal is awarded by the ASME for "outstanding contribution to the permanent literature of engineering".[5] It was established by bequest in 1930. Some of the recipients are:
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