Edgar Boyd Kay was born on January 15, 1860 at Warriors Mark, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Isaac Franklin Kay, a physician, and Catherine (Bell) Kay. His ancestor, John Kay (sometimes spelled Key), whose parents came from England in the ship Welcome with William Penn in 1682, was the first child of English parentage born in Philadelphia. In recognition of this fact William Penn gave him a grant to a tract of land in Philadelphia, which patent is still on record.
Edgar Boyd Kay received his early education in Bellwood and Birmingham, Pennsylvania, where he prepared for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in civil engineering in the class of 1883.
For two years Kay was an instructor in civil engineering at Rensselaer and then for some ten years was engaged in professional work, first as a contractor and later in consulting practice. Between 1896 and 1912 he returned to teaching, being an instructor at Union University, Schenectady, New York, 1897-1898, instructor in engineering at Cornell University, 1898-1903, and professor of engineering and first dean of the College of Civil Engineering at the University of Alabama, 1903-1912. Here under his direction and supervision Comer Hall was built to house the College of Engineering.
While he was in Alabama he was also very busy in his profession--serving as consultant for the Alabama Railroad Commission (1903 - 1915), for the state convict bureau, and for various power companies. His work during this period included the construction of many water works, sewer and lighting systems, and steam and electric railways. In 1918, as a leader in the field of sanitation he became chief of the hydraulic and sanitary section of the Quartermaster-General's Office of the United States Army and under his direction sanitation measures for the large army cantonments were studied comprehensively and outlined. In this connection Kay developed an incinerator. While Kay was granted patents upon the device, he gave the War Department the right to use it, retaining only the commercial rights for himself.
Kay's later years were most active in the field of sanitation and incineration, in which he became a leader, his studies and investigations including conditions in Europe as well as in America. While in Alabama he was the promoter of Pinehurst, one of the subdivisions of Tuscaloosa, where he established a home that became a notable social center. During the last years of his life he resided in Washington, D. C.
Kay was known chiefly as an inventor of the incinerator which was adopted by the War Department as its standard. His invention has been widely used by municipalities, and large plants following Kay's designs have been installed in various American cities. At Cornell University, he also designed and built an automatic machine for testing the time and rate of the setting of the cement.
Kay had a wide membership in professional societies and clubs, and was a Thirty-second Degree Mason.
Kay had a keen sense of humor and a deep appreciation of the beautiful.
On September 26, 1900, Kay was married to Florence Edna Means, daughter of Lyman North Means, a banker and plantation owner of Wapakoneta, Ohio. They had no children.
