George B. Grant
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George Barnard Grant (December 21, 1849 – August 16, 1917) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and botanist. He is notable for having made important contributions to 19th-century
mechanical calculator A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators we ...
s, for pioneering new techniques in gear making, and for starting several successful companies. Grant came to be known as "the Father of the American Gear Cutting Industry". Several of his businesses continued to operate many years after his death.


Personal life

Grant was born in Gardiner, Maine, to Peter Grant, a farmer, and Vesta (Capen) Grant. Both his parents were descended from families that originally came to New England in the 1630s. He prepared for college at Bridgton Academy and then started at the Chandler Scientific School at Dartmouth College, where he studied for three terms. In 1869 Grant transferred to the
Lawrence Scientific School The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...
at Harvard University, graduating with a B.S. degree in 1873. After graduation from Harvard, Grant lived in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Maplewood, Massachusetts. He moved to
Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
, in 1887, and then Pasadena, California, around 1900. He died in Pasadena in 1917, having never married.


Calculating machine work

While a student at Harvard, Grant worked on the problem of inventing a mechanical calculator. With the encouragement of his professor,
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (February 21, 1822 – December 9, 1908) was an American chemist. He is known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses, namely the reductions of copper and nickel ions to their respective metals. Biograp ...
, he set about improving on the work of
Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...
and
Per Georg Scheutz Pehr (Per) Georg Scheutz (23 September 1785 – 22 May 1873) was a Swedish lawyer, translator, and inventor, who is now best known for his pioneering work in computer technology. Life Scheutz studied law at Lund University, graduating in 1805. He ...
. He published this work in the ''American Journal of Science and Arts'' (see below), and was awarded two patents as a student. Shortly after college, Grant designed and built two calculating machines that were displayed at the
Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
held in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in 1876 One of them, known as a difference engine, was eight feet long and five feet high, and weighed 2,000 pounds. It may have been the largest calculator ever built (pictured below). The other, known as the "Centennial Model", is among the Smithsonian collection of Grant's inventions. The
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
has nine of Grant's inventions in its collection in Washington, D.C. Grant's calculating machine business was known as "Grant Calculating Machine Company of Lexington, Mass". Although Grant's sales of calculating machines were modest (125 of the "Rack and Pinion Model" were sold commercially), his machines were considered sturdy and reliable Grant's calculators won a number of awards: the Centennial Medal, the Scott Medal of The Franklin Institute, and the Gold Medal of the Massachusetts Mechanics Association.


Gear industry work

As an outgrowth of Grant's work on calculating machines, he became interested in the production of gears. This field was undergoing much growth and change in the late 19th century. Grant played a leading role in that development. For example, a controversy had raged for many years over gears' optimal design. In Grant's time, the most common were cycloidal gears. Grant argued that in fact
involute gear The involute gear profile is the most commonly used system for gearing today, with cycloid gearing still used for some specialties such as clocks. In an involute gear, the profiles of the teeth are ''involutes of a circle.'' The involute of a cir ...
s were superior for most applications. Grant played an important role in shifting industry convention, and since then most gears produced have been involute. As with calculating machines, Grant published his work in journals, and was awarded patents for his inventions of new gear manufacturing devices (see below). Grant also published books that became standard reference works in the gear industry (see below). Companies that Grant started included Grant Gear Works (1877), Boston Gear Works, Lexington Gear Works, Cleveland Gear Works, and Philadelphia Gear Works (1892). The Philadelphia Gear website has a corporate history that explains Grant's significance to the company.


Contributions to botany

In California, starting in about 1900, Grant became a collector of previously undocumented plant species. He named a number of plants, and his collection is now part of the Stanford University herbarium.


Publications

* * * * *


Patents

* U.S. patent 129,335, "Improvement in Calculating-Machines", 1872 * U.S. patent 138,245, "Improvement in Calculating-Machines", 1873 * U.S. patent 368,528 "Calculating-Machine" from 1887 * U.S. patent 405,030 "Machine for Cutting Spur and Worm Gears", 1889 * U.S. patent 407,437 "Machine for Planing Gear Teeth", 1889 * U.S. patent 512,189 "Machine for Generating Beveled Gear-Teeth", 1894 * U.S. patent 605,288 "Calculating-Machine", 1898


Further reading

* G.B. Grant obituary, August 18, 1917, Boston ''Evening Transcript'' * Otnes, Robert K. (1987) ''Calculators by George B. Grant''. Historische Buerowelt * * Woodbury, Robert C. (1972) "Studies in the History of Machine Tools", The M.I.T. Press


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, George Barnard American inventors 1849 births 1917 deaths People from Lexington, Massachusetts Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni