MEN OF TRIBOLOGY' by DUNCAN DOWSON2 8 ROBERT HENRY THURSTON (1839-1903) 9 OSBORNE REYNOLDS (1842-1919) Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article-pdf/100/4/455/5607633/455_1.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 8 ROBERT HENRY THURSTON (1839-1903) Biography Thurston remained at the Stevens Institute of Technology for Robert Henry Thurston was born in Providence, Rhode Island fourteen years, but in 1885 he accepted an invitation from The in the United States of America on October 25th, 1839. His father, Trustees of Cornell University, to organise a course in Mechanical Robert Lawton Thurston, manufactured steam engines in Providence Engineering for the Sibley College of Engineering and Mechanical and provided his son with a workshop training. The young Robert Arts. In due course Albert Kingsbury became one of Thurston's stu­ Henry Thurston went to Brown University, where he graduated as dents and Sibley College developed at an early stage in its history a a Civil Engineer in 1859. He then spent two years working for the firm long standing connection with various aspects of tribology. According 3 in which his father was a senior partner before joining the navy as to Hersey (1966) Thurston held a consultancy with the Pennsylvania officer of engineers in 1861. He served on various vessels throughout Railroad and one aspect of his agreement called for the testing of new the Civil War and was present at the battle of Port Royal and the siege shipments of babbitt for the rolling stock bearings. This was achieved of Charleston. At the end of 1865 he was transferred to the Depart­ by scraping a bearing of the babbitt to fit one of Thurston's testing ment of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the United States machines and then determining the coefficient of friction. Kingsbury, Naval Academy at Annapolis and was for a time acting Head of the who was skilled in machine shop practice, did such a professional Department. He accepted the Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the scraping job that the bearings on which he worked acted in a hydro- new Stevens Institute of Technology in 1870 and was much involved dynamic manner and produced a coefficient of friction lower than in the planning of the curriculum before the Institute opened in the anything Thruston has seen previously. In any event it seems clear autumn of 1871. that Thurston introduced Kingsbury to the subject of bearings and An important feature of his work at the Institute was that it formed lubrication, but the cost was high, since it resulted in the loss of his at that time an unusual combination of research, instruction and consultancy with the railroad when all babbitt bearings suitably commercial work. Most of his work was concerned with the mechan­ scraped henceforth produced the same results! ical properties of materials, but he also initiated his extensive studies Robert Henry Thurston's marriage to his first wife Susan T. of the friction of lubricated surfaces and developed his famous pen­ Gladding of Providence, R.I., lasted from 1865 until her death in 1878. dulum lubricant tester at the Stevens Institute. His recognition of the Two years later he married Leonora Boughton of New York. He died importance of friction and lubrication, both technically and eco­ suddenly on his birthday in Ithaca, N.Y. at the age of 64. nomically, and his individualistic and enthusiastic preaching of the essential features of the.arguments, won him renown on both sides Academic Work and Professional Societies of the Atlantic. His lectures on Friction and Lubrication, published A notable feature of Thurston's life was his energetic involvement by the Railroad Gazette Publication Company of New York in 1879, in writing, teaching, research and the work of Government Com­ were most valuable in drawing attention to the significance of tri- mittees and Professional Institutions. He published some three bological topics in a rapidly developing technological society. His hundred papers in Scientific and Technical Journals. Perhaps his best pragmatic approach did much to stimulate interest in the friction of known contribution to the literature on tribology was his book, written lubricated surfaces and his work was well known to Petrov and Tower whilst he was at the Stevens Institute, on Friction and Lost Work in who, in 1883, were to confirm the fluid-film nature of well lubricated Machinery and Mill Work (1885). The book ran to seven editions, journal bearings. the last one being published in 1903. Thurston represented the United States at an International Ex­ Professor Thurston was an active figure in the American Society position in Vienna in 1873 and he edited four large volumes of reports of Civil Engineers and he was accorded the distinction of nomination on the exhibition for the Government. as the first President of The American Society of Mechical Engineers at the age of 41. He had been instrumental, along with Professor J. E. Sweet and Mr. A. L. Holley, in calling the initial organising meeting 1 Based upon a series of biographical sketches of "Men of Tribology" from a on February 16th, 1880, and his Presidential Inaugural Address was forthcoming book The History of Tribology to be published in 1978 by Longman Group Limited, Longman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex, England. Amer­ ican enquiries to Longman Inc., 19 West 44th Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. 2 Professor of Engineering Fluid Mechanics and Tribology, Institute of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Leeds, England. * I am grateful to Mr. F. R. Archibald for drawing this to my attention. Journal of Lubrication Technology Copyright © 1978 by ASME OCTOBER 1978, VOL 100 / 455 Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article-pdf/100/4/455/5607633/455_1.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Robert Henry Thurston (Reproduced by kind permission of The American Society of Mechanical En­ gineers) delivered at the First Annual Meeting held in the Union League Friction and Economics Theatre, N,Y., on November 4th and 5th of the same year. He spoke Thurston's approach to engineering problems of the nay was simple with, , .. "much diffidence, although with pride and pleasure" and and convincing. Ifmachines were correctly designed and constructed clearly thought that the honour should have been bestowed upon one they would not experience permanent distortion in performinl( their of the ... veterans of the profession, many of whom are with us in functions and would not therefore cause energy to he dissipated. person, and more of whom are with liS in spirit today." He referred Friction thus emerged as the source of lost work ann illl'{ficiFncy in to what he described as a good saying .. , "Old men for council and machinery. He wrote; young men for war," The object of the Society was ... "the promotion · ... "The study of the laws of friction. the cOllstrllction of its ofthe arts and sciences connected with engineering and mechanical theory, and the experimental investigation ofthe conditiOll,' which construction . .. to publish and circulate papers ofsufficient value determine the loss of efficiency in machinery by frictioll, al'l' thlls .,. and the enlightment ofour national legislators in regard to the obviously of supreme importance to the engineer who desilins, the needs, the wishes and the legal and moral rights of the industrial mechanic who constructs, and the operator or manufacturer who classes in our country." The Presidential Address provided a valuable makes use of machinery." insight into both the aims of the Society and the individual and He argued that it was to the engineer; wide-ranging views of Robert H. Thurston. Reference was made to · ... "a vitally important branch of applied sciellce, ami it is ethics, the importance of the Society for all branches of industry, the coextensive with the application of mechanical sciences." reputation of the United States as the home of all ingenious and ef­ The message is as clear and valid today as it was almost one hundred fective labour saving devices, and aspects of mechanical and scientific years ago; yet it appears that it has to be restated and emphasised for philosophy. It is interesting to note how energetically and successfully successive generations. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers strives to achieve the Thurston backed up his general remarks with painful facts. objectives outlined by Thurston. · ... "The loss of power in mills ranges, with different machines, 456 / VOL 100, OCTOBER 1978 Transactions of the ASME from 5 to 90 percent, averaging for cotton and flax mills about 60 Summary percent with good management, and in woolen mills about 40 per­ Robert Henry Thurston made significant contributions in many cent." fields of engineering activity, but his work on lubricants, lubrication The loss of 50 percent of the available power in overcoming friction and friction alone has brought him great renown. His lectures and his between lubricated surfaces in mills, together with figures ranging book (1885) had a great impact upon late nineteenth century attitudes from 3 to 16 percent in steam engines and about 15 percent in iron- to the subject we now call tribology. His discourse on the nature of working tools provided an adequate motivation for his subsequent friction and lubrication, his comprehensive accounts of the properties evaluation of lubricants. Thurston delivered a series of lectures on of lubricants, his emphasis on the need to test lubricants on appro­ Friction and Lubrication before the Master Car Builders Association priate instruments and machines and his powerful economic argu­ and elsewhere, which were later published in the Railroad Gazette ments to justify consideration of the effect of friction upon machine (1879). A more extensive account of the subject formed the basis of performance established his book as a most important text.