HENRY TIMKEN Biography - Pioneers, Explorers & inventors

 
 

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HENRY TIMKEN

Name: Henry Timken                                                                     
Born: 1831                                                                             
Died: 1909                                                                             
                                                                                       
Henry Timken (1831 - 1909) was an inventor who was born in Bremen, Germany. He         
founded the Timken Company in 1899, which is located in Canton, Ohio. Timken was       
inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame on September 19, 1998. Henry         
Timkin was one of six inducted into the hall of fame at ceremonies done at the E       
J Thomas Hall in Akron, OH.                                                           
                                                                                       
William Robert Timken, Jr., Timken's great-grandson, the retired chairman and         
chief executive officer of The Timken Co, and who is the current United States         
Ambassador to Germany, received the award on behalf of his great-grandfather. "Tim"   
Timken ushered his family's bearings and steel maker from old-school management       
into manufacturing's modern era.                                                       
                                                                                       
Henry Timken patented the tapered roller bearing in 1898. A year later, he             
established the Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company which grew rapidly as the           
product was in great demand by cars, trucks, and tractors. By 1923, 90% of the         
country's production came from Timken. His slogan "Wherever wheels and shafts         
turn", describes the widespread use for bearings—trains, conveyors, elevators,       
aircraft engines, even space shuttle landing wheels.                                   
                                                                                       
Emigrating to America as a child with his family, he left the family's Missouri       
farm to enter the wagon-making business. He opened his own company in St. Louis       
in 1855, and introduced several improvements to the carriages his firm produced,       
including his patented "Timken spring", which made him a fortune. Other patents       
included the Timken roller bearing. He retired in 1897 and settled in California.