Background
Herbert Thacker Herr was born on March 19, 1876 in Denver, Colorado, United States. He was the second of the three children of Theodore Witmer Herr, a lawyer, and his second wife, Emma (Musser) Neff Herr, and a descendant of John Herr.
Herbert Thacker Herr was born on March 19, 1876 in Denver, Colorado, United States. He was the second of the three children of Theodore Witmer Herr, a lawyer, and his second wife, Emma (Musser) Neff Herr, and a descendant of John Herr.
At an early age Herr showed his interest in mechanical engineering by serving an apprenticeship as machinist with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
Following his apprenticeship he went back to school and completed his training at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1899.
Returning to Denver Herr went to work as a machinist and draftsman with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and over a period of six years served successively the Chicago Great Western Railroad at Des Moines, Iowa, and St. Paul, Minnesota; the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad at Fort Madison, Iowa; and the Norfolk & Western Railroad at Roanoke, Virginia. As a result of this training and experience he was recalled by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1905 and one year later was made general superintendent.
During his years of service with the railroads, he became familiar with their operating difficulties and with the inadequacy of equipment to meet the growing demands for train control. In 1904 he invented a braking device for the control of trains using two or more locomotives, and in that same year he put into service a device which set the braking power on a car to the weight of the car. This achievement by a man only thirty years of age was not to go unnoticed.
The Duquesne Mining & Reduction Company of Duquesne, Arizona, soon made him their vice-president and general manager. His pioneer work on airbrakes, however, attracted the attention of George Westinghouse, who, to meet the demands for effective train-control equipment, brought Herr to Pittsburgh in 1908 as general manager of the Westinghouse Machine Company. There his career was as remarkable as it had been in the service of the railroads. He became a director of the company in 1913, and in 1917, when the Westinghouse Machine Company was merged with the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, he became a vice-president in the new organization.
Three years later he was placed in charge of the South Philadelphia works and remained in that position until 1930.
He died at his home in Philadelphia, of a sarcoma of the lung, and was buried in Pittsburgh.
Herr was an influential, public-spirited citizen who served his community broadly. He was a member of many professional societies, civic organizations, and clubs.
On February 10, 1896, Herr married Irene Viancourt of Denver. They had two children, Herbert Thacker Jr. , and Muriel Viancourt.