Eliphalet Williams Bliss (April 12, 1836 – July 21, 1903) was an

American 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 ...

manufacturer and inventor who established the

E. W. Bliss Company The E. W. Bliss Company is a manufacturer of machine tools founded by Eliphalet Williams Bliss. The company was based in Brooklyn, New York and is now based in Hastings, Michigan as BCN Technical Services. BCN is owned by Schuler Group. History ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His company supplied the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

with Whitehead and

Bliss-Leavitt torpedo The Bliss-Leavitt torpedo was a torpedo designed by Frank McDowell Leavitt and manufactured by the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York. It was put into service by the United States Navy in 1904 and variants of the design would remain in it ...

es, as well as projectiles for its naval guns during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

Bliss was born on April 12, 1836, in

Fly Creek, New York Fly Creek is a non-incorporated hamlet (and census-designated place) three miles west of the Village of Cooperstown on conjoined NY-28/ NY-80, in the Town of Otsego, in Otsego County, New York, United States. The zipcode is 13337. The Fly Creek C ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, one of six children of

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

John Stebbins Bliss and his wife, Ruby Ann Williams Bliss. The young Bliss was educated at public schools and at a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

. He apprenticed at an Otsego County machine shop until he was twenty-one years of age. He later moved to

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and found work at the Parker gun factory in

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.American 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 ...

he served as a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

in Company I of the 3rd Connecticut Volunteers and saw action during the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

. One of his brothers, Lucien Wood Williams Bliss, served with the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. After the Civil War, he returned to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and married Anna Elizabeth Metcalf on June 19, 1865. The following year, he relocated permanently to Brooklyn, where he was employed for a time at the Campbell Printing Press Company.

E. W. Bliss Company

In 1867, Bliss founded the

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...

s which would become the E. W. Bliss Company. He also acquired the United States Projectile Company and the Stiles and Parker Press Company. His interest in mechanical matters diverged along two lines, the manufacture of

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All m ...

s, presses, and dies for use in

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...

work, and the manufacture of shells and projectiles. Bliss had numerous

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 ...

s taken out, many of which were his own inventions; machines for manufacturing and soldering metal cans and for shaping and casting sheet metal. Bliss' company also supplied part of the material used in building the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

. The E. W. Bliss Company obtained rights to manufacture the

Whitehead torpedo The Whitehead torpedo was the first self-propelled or "locomotive" torpedo ever developed. It was perfected in 1866 by Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. It was driven by a th ...

used by the US Navy, while the United States Projectile Company would later manufacture most of the shells used in its large guns. The company's experience with building the Whiteheads proved valuable in the development of the

, which was also acquired by the US Navy.

Other occupations

Aside from owning the E. W. Bliss Company and the United States Projectile Company, Bliss was also involved in numerous other business endeavors. He was Vice President of the

Brooklyn Heights Railroad The Brooklyn Heights Railroad was a street railway company in the U.S. state of New York. It leased and operated the streetcar lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, but started out with the Montague Street Line, a short cable car line con ...

, and was Director of the Brooklyn Gas Fixture Company and the Kings County Trust Company.

Death

Bliss died on July 21, 1903, in

. At the time of his death, the E. W. Bliss Company's plant covered eighty-five city lots and employed 1,300 men; in 1884, it was the largest factory in the world. E. W. Bliss had been a member of the

Peary Arctic Club The Peary Arctic Club was an American-based club with the goal of promoting the Arctic expeditions of Robert Peary (1856–1920). This association of influential persons was able to overcome the opposition of the U.S. Navy Department to grant th ...

;

Bliss Bay Bliss Bay ( da, Bliss Bugt) is a bay in the Wandel Sea, Northern Greenland. The area of the bay is uninhabited. Administratively Bliss Bay and its surroundings belong to the Northeast Greenland National Park. Bliss Bay is clogged by fast ice year ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

was named after him by

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss, Eliphalet Williams 1836 births 1903 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American company founders