Edwin Burnley Powell (September 23, 1880 – 1963) was an American

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and

consulting engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

. He was awarded the 1954

ASME Medal The ASME Medal, created in 1920, is the highest award bestowed by the ASME (founded as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Board of Governors for "eminently distinguished engineering achievement". The award has been presented every year ...

for many years of consulting engineer. The ASME had argued, that in these days he was "probably the most widely consulted engineer in the public-utility field."

Biography

Youth, education and early career

Powell was born in

Brookhaven, Mississippi Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States, south of the state capital of Jackson. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It was named after the town of Brookha ...

in 1880 to Edward F. Powell and Hardinia (Burnley) Powell. He attended

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webste ...

in Jackson, Mississippi, where he obtained his BSc in 1904.John William Leonard, Winfield Scott Downs, M. M. Lewis, ''Who's who in Engineering.'' Volume 9, 1964. p. 1486 In 1900 Powell had started his career in 1900 at the New York Edison Company, now Consolidated Edison, at the meter and testing department. After his graduation in 1904 until 1907 he was as chemist in charge of the Chemical Laboratory & Mechanical Testing Department.

Further career and acknowledgement

In 1907 Powell moved to the Stone & Webster engineering services company in Stoughton, Massachusetts, where he started as engineer on the engineering department. From 1914 to 1920 he was betterment engineer, supervising charge betterment work on several power stations. In 1920 he was appointed consulting engineer for the organization, specializing in power stations. In 1952 Powell was elected Fellow of ASME, and in the same year he celebrated fifty years of continuous membership. In 1954 the ASME awarded his that year the

for "distinguished service in engineering and science."

Family

Powell married Jessie Elizabeth (Walker) Powell. Their son, Edwin Burnley Powell, Jr. (27 Sept. 1909 – June 1985) followed into his footsteps. He graduated from MIT in 1932 and published a series articles about a method of measuring and displaying generator rotor angles in the late 1950s.J. D. Ristroph and E. B. Powell, "Contamination of Condensate by Heat-Exchanger-Tube Alloys," ''Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engrs,'', 1953, 75, 729-745;

Selected publications

* Powell, Edwin Burnley
Boiler-furnace refractories
'' New York, American society of mechanical engineers, 1925. ;Articles, a selection * E. B. Powell. "Requirements in the Design of Steam Power Stations for Hydraulic Relay," ''Mech. Eng.'', vol.43, no. 10, Oct. 1921, pp. 650, 652 and 674 * Powell, E. B. "Design of the Steam-Power Station for Hydraulic Relay." ''Power.'' Vol. 53, 12, pp. 482–5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Edwin Burnley 1880 births 1963 deaths American mechanical engineers Millsaps College alumni People from Brookhaven, Mississippi ASME Medal recipients