Albert Leroy Marsh, (August 16, 1877 – September 17, 1944) was an American

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

. In 1905 he co-invented the first

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

lic

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

from which a high- resistance wire could be made that could be used as a durable and safe

heating element A heating element converts electrical energy into heat through the process of Joule heating. Electric current through the element encounters resistance, resulting in heating of the element. Unlike the Peltier effect, this process is independe ...

. While working at Hoskins Manufacturing, the company of chemist, electrical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur William Hoskins (1862–1934) the two experimented for several years until the alloy was perfected. The material was

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed that year as

chromel Chromel is an alloy made of approximately 90% nickel and 10% chromium by weight that is used to make the positive conductors of ANSI Type E (chromel-constantan) and K (chromel-alumel) thermocouples. It can be used at temperatures up to in oxidizin ...

, later and still today marketed as

nichrome Nichrome (also known as NiCr, nickel-chromium or chromium-nickel) is a family of alloys of nickel, chromium, and often iron (and possibly other elements) commonly used as resistance wire, heating elements in devices like toasters, electrical kettl ...

. ; republished in ''hotwire: The Newsletter of the Toaster Museum Foundation'', vol. 3, no. 3, online edition. The piece is largely an interview of Hoskins. (And there actually is a Toaster Museum, backed by a related foundation. They take the history of toast, and electrical heating in general, quite seriously.) For this invention, Marsh was acclaimed as "father of the electrical heating industry".
from Pana News-Palladium, retrieved 1997-06-05

Early life

Marsh was born August 16, 1877, in

Pontiac, Illinois Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,931 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Livingston County. The town is also the setting of the 1984 movie ''Grandview, U.S.A.'' Geography Location P ...

, the oldest of three children. The family moved to

Pana, Illinois Pana is a small town in Christian County, Illinois, United States. A small portion is in Shelby County. The population was 5,199 at the 2020 census. History The area around Pana was first organized as Stone Coal Precinct in 1845. The county's ...

, in 1884. Marsh went to

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. In 1901, Albert received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

. The same year, he married Minnie E Hayward in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Career beginnings

While working with an electric storage

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

and doing technical writing, he experimented with

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

and

chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

alloys An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

in his spare time. In 1904, needing a better location to work on his wiring project and additional funding, he made a business arrangement with William Hoskins of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Hoskins was with Mariner & Hoskins, a firm of consulting chemists. He hired Marsh at a small salary – while giving him permission to work on the alloy project in his spare time. When later formed as Hoskins Manufacturing Company, the business relocated to

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Success

When perfected, the new alloy was 300 times stronger than other types at that time. Chromel is made of 80%

and 20%

(though other ratios are used for special purpose nichrome applications). The US patent was granted February 1906, in Marsh's name, and later sold to Hoskins Manufacturing. By Hoskins's own account, he was deeply involved in the experimentation process, and not simply a funder.

Toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast. Types Pop-up toaster In pop-up or automatic toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaster. ...

s, dental furnaces and chromel wire for

home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...

manufacturers were the first focus of the Hoskins company. The first two were unprofitable and were later dropped. The company concentrated on manufacturing the chromel wire. Marsh served as chief engineer and general manager of Hoskins Manufacturing Co. in Detroit. He was named president of the firm in 1915.

Awards

In 1936, Marsh was awarded the

John Price Wetherill Medal The John Price Wetherill Medal was an award of the Franklin Institute. It was established with a bequest given by the family of John Price Wetherill (1844–1906) on April 3, 1917. On June 10, 1925, the Board of Managers voted to create a silver ...

The Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memoria ...

for "significant and timely contribution to the science of automotive engineering" and "for outstanding discoveries in the physical sciences". In 1941, the American Metals Congress bestowed upon Marsh with The Sauveur Award for outstanding metallurgical achievement.

References

External links

Albert Marsh, Inventor, Scientist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Albert L. American inventors 1944 deaths People from Lake County, Illinois 1877 births People from Pontiac, Illinois People from Pana, Illinois