Charles Edward Emery was born at Aurora, New York, the son of Moses Little and Minerva (Prentiss) Emery and a descendant of John Emery who landed at Boston with his brother Anthony in 1635 and soon moved to Newbury, Massachusetts. Moses Little Emery, an architect and builder, died when his son Charles was two years old.
The boy was educated at Canandaigua Academy, and after some experience as draftsman for railroads and manufactories he decided to study law and become a patent attorney.
For two years he pursued these studies, but gave them up at the outbreak of the Civil War in order to organize a company of volunteers.
His company was not wanted, however, so he enlisted in the navy and received an appointment as third assistant engineer.
He resigned from the navy in 1868 but served as a consulting engineer and on a special advisory committee for years afterward.
At the Novelty Iron Works in New York City he conducted a series of experiments on stationary engines, the records of which were subsequently published by Prof. W. P. Trowbridge in Tables and Diagrams Relating to Non-Condensing Engines and Boilers (1872).
In 1869-70, as a member of a joint board of engineers representing the Treasury Department, Emery conducted an extended series of experiments to determine the relative value of compound and non-compound engines, the reports of which were published in scientific literature in the United States and abroad and were the only reliable data extant.
As consulting engineer to the Coast Survey and Revenue Marine, Emery fitted out nearly twenty revenue cutters, being in some cases responsible for the construction of the hulls as well as of the machinery.
In 1874 he made an experiment before a board of engineers, comparing a long-stroke, high-pressure condensing engine, a short-stroke, low-pressure condensing engine; a fore-and-aft compound condensing engine, and a high-pressure condensing engine with the cylinder jacketed.
The results of this trial, with Emery’s analysis, were published in Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers (vol. HI, 1875) and soon after, the University of the City of New York conferred upon him the degree of Ph. D.
Through private investigations, Emery became an authority on the isochronism of timepieces.
He made successful experiments in electricity and built several dynamos and motors that operated by direct current without the use of a commutator.
Fie was a member of the commission on the purchase of the Long Island Water Supply Company’s plant by the City of Brooklyn, and served as a member of a board of experts appointed to give an opinion as to the best method of increasing the number and size of trains on the New York and Brooklyn bridge by changes in the New York terminal.
He acted as judge on engines, pumps, and mechanical appliances at the Centennial Exposition in 1876; served as general superintendent of the Fair of the American Institute in New York City in 1869; and was one of the judges at the World’s Fair in Chicago.
He was a frequent contributor to the technical press.
As consulting engineer for the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, he was instrumental in bringing about a novel compromise between the city and the mills, by which the mills agreed to furnish to the city water-power from the Watuppa ponds in consideration of the abatement of taxes on water-power. As chief engineer and manager of the New York Steam Company (from 1879) “he performed the most remarkable work of his time in the distribution of heat and power from a central steam plant; and his construction was not only the largest, but almost the only one attempted on a large scale which has proved a successful piece of engineering” (New York Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Circular No. 579, Aug. 20, 1898).
(London 1889. first edition. Octavo. pp. 196-270 plus disc...)
member of a joint board of engineers representing the Treasury Department
Fie was a member of the commission on the purchase of the Long Island Water Supply Company’s plant by the City of Brooklyn, and served as a member of a board of experts appointed to give an opinion as to the best method of increasing the number and size of trains on the New York and Brooklyn bridge by changes in the New York terminal.
Emery was married in 1863 to Susan S. Livingston, a great-grand-daughter of General William Livingston, colonial governor of New Jersey
