Henry Rossiter Worthington

Henry Rossiter Worthington (December 17, 1817December 17, 1880) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, industrialist and founder of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880. Worthington had several inventions leading to the perfection of the direct steam pump (184555), patented the duplex steam pump (1859), and built the first duplex waterworks engine, widely adopted and used for more than 75 years. He established a pump manufacturing plant, New York City, in 1859. Biography Born in New York City, Worthington was the eldest child of Frances (Meadowcraft) and Asa Worthington, an engineer and owner of the "Hope Flour Mills" and a man prominent in public affairs. He was a descendant in the sixth generation of Nicholas Worthington, who emigrated from England about 1650 and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut. He founded the Henry R. Worthington Pump Works in 1845 in Brooklyn, and had a plant on Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn until 1904 when they moved their company to Harrison, New Jersey.