Eckley Brinton Coxe (June 4, 1839 – May 13, 1895) was an American

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

coal baron A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

, state senator and philanthropist from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He was a co-founder of the Coxe Brothers and Company coal mining operation which became the largest individual producer of

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the high ...

in the United States at the time. He was instrumental in the formation of

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

as a mining school in 1865 and founded the Institute of Miners and Mechanics in 1879. He served as president of the

American Institute of Mining Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

from 1878 to 1880 and of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

from 1893 to 1894. He served as a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

for the 21st district from 1881 to 1884.

Early life and education

Coxe was born June 4, 1839, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

to Charles Sidney Coxe (1791–1879) and Anna Maria Brinton (1801–1876). His great-great grandfather was

Daniel Coxe Daniel Coxe III ( – January 19, 1730) was an English physician and governor of West Jersey from 1687 to 1688 and 1689 to 1692. Biography The Coxe family traced their lineage to a Daniel Coxe who lived in Somersetshire, England, in the 13th c ...

, his grandfather was

Tench Coxe Tench Coxe (May 22, 1755July 17, 1824) was an American political economist and a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1788–1789. He wrote under the pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian," and was known to his political enemies as ...

and his cousin was

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

. Coxe graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1858 with degrees in Chemistry and Physics. He spent six months after graduation in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of Pennsylvania conducting a topographical geology survey of his grandfather's 35,000 acre estate under the supervision of

Benjamin Smith Lyman Benjamin Smith Lyman (11 December 1835 – 30 August 1920) was an American mining engineer, surveyor, and an amateur linguist and anthropologist. Biography Benjamin Smith Lyman was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard Uni ...

. In 1860 he traveled to Europe and studied for 2 years at the Ecole des mines in Paris, France and for 1 year at Freiberg Mining Academy in

Freiberg, Saxony Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage ...

. He spent an additional 2 years studying the mines in England and continental Europe and returned to the United States in 1864. He served during the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

on the staff of Major General

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate States Army, Confederate Full General (CSA), General Robert E. Lee at the Battle ...

Career

Eckley Coxe's grandfather, Tench Coxe, had purchased 800,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania and urged his heirs to hold on to the land as he suspected coal would be found in the region. Tench's son, Charles, was able to retain ownership of 35,000 acres and left it to his sons including Eckley. Coal was found in the Coxe owned land and the Coxe Brothers and Company mining company was founded in 1865 with the first mine opened in

Drifton, Pennsylvania Drifton is an unincorporated community located in Hazle Township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Drifton is located along Pennsylvania Route 940, northwest of Jeddo and southwest of Freeland Freeland may refer to: Places Canada *Freeland, ...

. By the late 1800s, the company was the largest independent producer of

with nearly 4,000 employees, coal shipments in excess of 1.5 million tons and land assets valued at $10 million. The Coxe Brothers & Company organization became the Cross Creek Coal Company led by Coxe, and in 1890 Coxe organized and became president of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuylkill Railroad. In 1869, Coxe married Sophia Georgina Fisher. Together they worked to improve the lives of miners by building a fully functional hospital at the mines to help miners injured on the job. He lectured frequently before scientific bodies. He published several technical papers on mining and translated the first volume of

Julius Weisbach Julius Ludwig Weisbach (born 10 August 1806 in Mittelschmiedeberg (now Mildenau Municipality), Erzgebirge, died 24 February 1871, Freiberg) was a German mathematician and engineer. Life and work Weisbach studied at the '' Bergakademie'' in Frei ...

's "Mechanics of Engineering and Construction of Machines" from German to English in 1872. He was instrumental in the founding of

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

as a mining school in 1865 and served on its board of trustees until his death. In 1877, his mines were selected by the

Columbia College School of Mines The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (popularly known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering; previously known as Columbia School of Mines) is the engineering and applied science school of Columbia University. It was founded as th ...

for their study program due to the quality of the mines. He founded the Institute for Miners and Mechanics in 1879 in

Freeland, Pennsylvania Freeland is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was originally called Birbeckville, South Heberton, and Freehold. Freeland is south of Wilkes-Barre and northeast of Hazleton. It was incorporated as a borough on September ...

. The intent of the school was to teach math, science and English to the men working in the mines. He was strongly anti-union and defeated two powerful unions in one of the longest strikes in the coal industry from September 1887 to March 1888. He was a member of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He was elected as a member in 1870 to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1880 Coxe was one of the original founders of the

. He served as the president of the

from May 1878 to February 1880 and as vice president of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers from April 1880 to November 1881. Coxe was an inventor who was granted over 100 patents. He developed a long steel tape for the measurement of land by surveyors and the traveling grate, which he patented in 1893. He served as a Democratic member of the

for the 21st district from 1881 to 1884. He served as chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1884. He died on May 13, 1895, of pneumonia and was interred at Saint James Episcopal Churchyard in Drifton, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

Eckley Miners' Village Eckley Miners' Village in eastern Pennsylvania is an anthracite coal mining patch town located in Foster Township, Pennsylvania. Since 1970, Eckley has been owned and operated as a museum by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. His ...

in Pennsylvania was named for him in 1857 by his father. The Coxe Hall (1910) at

, originally a mining laboratory, is named after him. Coxe was admitted to the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also opera ...

in 2006 for his work on the traveling-grate furnace.

Publications

* Eckley B. Coxe.
A Furnace with Automatic Stoker, Travelling Grate and Variable Blast, Intended Especially for Burning Small Anthracite Coals.
''Transactions of the American Institute of Mining.'' 1895.
Mechanics of Engineering: Theoretical Mechanics, with an Introduction to the Calculus
, D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 1889.

References

External links

Coxe, Eckley - Lehigh University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coxe, Eckley Brinton 1839 births 1895 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American engineers 19th-century American inventors 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American philanthropists American company founders American mechanical engineers American mining engineers American patent holders Burials in Pennsylvania Deaths from pneumonia in Pennsylvania Engineers from Pennsylvania Founders of schools in the United States Lehigh University people Members of the American Philosophical Society Mines Paris - PSL alumni Politicians from Philadelphia Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators Philanthropists from Pennsylvania People from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers University of Pennsylvania alumni