Alexander Ewing Outerbridge

Background

Alexander Ewing Outerbridge was born on July 31, 1850, in Philadelphia, the son of Alexander Ewing and Laura C. (Harvey) Outerbridge, and a member of a family prominent in the shipping business in New York, Newfoundland, and the Bermudas.

Education

Alexander Outerbridge was educated at the Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, and subsequently received private instruction in chemistry and mathematics.

Career

In 1867 Alexander became assistant to Henry Morton, then secretary of the Franklin Institute, and when Morton, in the absence of Dr. John F. Frazer, became acting professor of chemistry and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, Outerbridge aided him in his teaching. He also taught English at the Episcopal Academy. He was appointed in 1868 assistant in the assay department of the United States Mint in Philadelphia. During his ten years in this post he made several notable contributions to metallurgy. For eight months in 1873, at the Mint and in laboratories at Stevens Institute, Hoboken, and the University of Pennsylvania, he experimented with the spectrum analysis of gold, silver, and other metals, reporting his results in the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint (1874). In 1876 he developed a method of obtaining thin films of gold or other metals for study under the microscope with transmitted as well as reflected light. He deposited the gold electrically on copper foil, then dissolved the copper, leaving the thin gold film to be mounted on a glass slide. Such films were obtained 1/10, 000, 000 of an inch in thickness. Later series of experiments dealt with the impurities in silver.

While at the Mint Alexander also designed apparatus to collect metallic vapors escaping from the crucibles when precious metals were melted in the furnaces. In 1878 he declined appointment as chief assayer at the United States Mint in Helena, Montana, but the next year accepted a transfer to the Mint at New Orleans where an assay office was to be reestablished. After organizing the office, he returned in 1880 to the Philadelphia Mint, but shortly resigned to become metallurgist for A. Whitney & Son, Philadelphia, manufacturers of car wheels. In 1888 he resigned this position and became metallurgist for William Sellers & Company, Philadelphia, in which connection he continued until his death. During the year 1886 he invented a process for carbonizing delicate plant leaves, lace, and other organic substances without rendering them brittle. These carbonized materials or patterns were utilized in moulding iron, steel, bronze or other metals to obtain perfect replicas of such delicate objects to use as dies. For this contribution he received the John Scott Medal from the City of Philadelphia (1888).

In a paper read before the American Institute of Mining Engineers, February 20, 1896, Outerbridge made public his two years' study on the "mobility of molecules" of solid cast-iron; the Franklin Institute appointed a committee to investigate the subject, publishing the report in its Journal, July 1898. The year previous, 1897, he had again received the John Scott Medal for these studies. From them it later became evident that iron castings could be made to grow or change in cubical dimensions while in the solid state without destroying their metallic properties or distorting their shapes. For this discovery Outerbridge was awarded in 1904 the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal by the Franklin Institute.

While investigating the process of hardening tool steel, he perfected a form of permanent color screen for determining the precise temperature of a bath of molten metal. Outerbridge was an active member of the Franklin Institute, serving on its committee of science and arts for fourteen years and on its board of managers for five; was made professor of metallurgy in 1901 and president of the mining and metallurgical section in 1908. He was an extensive contributor to newspapers and technical publications. Alexander Outerbridge died on January 15, 1928.

Achievements

• Alexander Outerbridge developed a method of obtaining thin films of gold or other metals (1876). Alexander designed apparatus to collect metallic vapors escaping from the crucibles when precious metals were melted in the furnaces. Outerbridge received the John Scott Medal (1888) for inventing a process for carbonizing delicate plant leaves, lace, and other organic substances without rendering them brittle. These carbonized materials or patterns were utilized in moulding iron, steel, bronze or other metals to obtain perfect replicas of such delicate objects to use as dies. Outerbridge again received the John Scott Medal (1897) for study on the "mobility of molecules" of solid cast-iron. Alexander Outherbridge was awarded the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal by the Franklin Institute (1904) for his discovery that iron castings could be made to grow or change in cubical dimensions while in the solid state without destroying their metallic properties or distorting their shapes.

Membership

Alexander Outerbridge was an active member of the Franklin Institute; the Republican party; and the Episcopal Church.

Personality

Having great personal charm, Alexander Outerbridge made friends easily.

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Alexander Outerbridge played on the American cricket team in a number of international matches at a time when that gentlemen's game appealed strongly to Philadelphians.

Connections

Alexander Outerbridge married in 1880 Mary Ely Whitney of Philadelphia, who died the following year after the birth of a son. On January 29, 1905, he married Margaret Hall Dunn.

Father:

Alexander Ewing Outerbridge

Mother:

Laura C. (Harvey) Outerbridge

Wife:

Margaret Hall (Dunn) Outerbridge

Wife:

Mary Ely (Whitney) Outerbridge