Background
Francis Hodgkinson was born on June 16, 1867 in London, England, the only child of Francis Otter Hodgkinson and Margaret (Thompson) Hodgkinson.
Francis Hodgkinson was born on June 16, 1867 in London, England, the only child of Francis Otter Hodgkinson and Margaret (Thompson) Hodgkinson.
Hodgkinson received his education at the Royal Naval School, New Cross, London, and attended night courses at Durham University and worked during the day.
Hodgkinson was apprenticed in 1882 as a machinist with Clayton and Shuttleworth of Lincoln, England, who were agricultural engineers and builders of steam engines.
In 1885 he went to work for Clarke, Chapman, Parsons and Company, where some of the earliest Parsons turbines were built. That same year, after Sir Charles Parsons had formed his own company, Hodgkinson joined it, traveling widely as guarantee engineer at turbine-driven electrical plants and rising to superintendent of field construction.
He served as second engineer on a destroyer for the Chilean navy from 1890 to 1892, including the period of the civil war of 1891. Then, after two years of work on telephone lines and electric power plants for a Peruvian company, he returned to the Parsons firm in 1894.
Shortly after that, George Westinghouse acquired United States rights to the Parsons patents, and, in 1896, by which time he had become shop superintendent, Hodgkinson went to Pittsburgh on Parsons' recommendation to supervise the design and construction of steam turbines for Westinghouse.
Hodgkinson continued as chief turbine engineer for Westinghouse until 1916, when he became chief engineer, a position he held until 1927. After that, he served as consulting engineer, and, during the 1930's, spent many months in Japan as the Westinghouse consultant on turbines bought by the Japanese navy. He was also consulted on the mountings of the 200-inch reflecting telescope at Mount Palomar, California.
After his retirement in 1936, he remained a consultant for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. In the tradition of that less celebrated but more constructive breed of empire-builders who for more than a century carried British industrial technology to the United States and other parts of the world, Hodgkinson braved skepticism and hostility toward the use of steam turbines in electric power plants. He overcame opposition by the success of his designs and by his skill and persistence in educating both suppliers and workmen, an achievement much aided by his solid background in shop work.
Practically all commercial steam turbines built by Westinghouse were originated by him and designed under him; the first commercial steam turbine generating station was designed by him and installed in the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. in 1899-1900. Around him there developed a group of young engineers, many of whom became leaders in their profession.
Although well-grounded in mathematical theory, Hodgkinson remained a thoroughly practical steam engineer, always ready to argue details of design and construction on grounds of both theory and practical experience. Eventually, he took out more than a hundred patents in steam turbine design.
In 1948 he moved from New York City to the home of his son Francis in Toledo, Ohio, where he died of cancer.
Originally an Anglican, Hodgkinson eventually became a Roman Catholic.
Although well-grounded in mathematical theory, Hodgkinson remained a thoroughly practical steam engineer, always ready to argue details of design and construction on grounds of both theory and practical experience. For all his plainspoken practicality, Hodgkinson had a ready and pungent wit and a facility for debate. He was well-read and loved music.
Hodgkinson married Edith Marion Kate Piercy in Bedford, England, on June 1, 1897. They had three sons.