(The American Jew as patriot, soldier and citizen. 624 Pages.)
The American Jew as patriot, soldier and citizen. 624 Pages.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Jew-patriot-soldier-citizen-ebook/dp/B00D665JX8?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00D665JX8
chemist inventor scientist author
Louis Edward Levy was born on October 12, 1846 at Stenowitz, Bohemia (present day Czech Republic) the son of Leopold and Wilhelmina (Fisher) Levy. When he was nine years old his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit.
He attended school in Detroit.
In 1861 Levy entered the employ of Louis Black & Company, opticians, and at the same time studied optics, the microscope, and surveying. He gained sufficient knowledge of the mariner's compass to correct the compasses of lake pilots. In 1866 he made observations in Detroit for the United States Meteorological Service and studied wet-plate photography to record his researches with the microscope. Photography fascinated him, and it was in this branch of science that he made his most notable achievements.
At twenty-three he was given the management of the branch office of Louis Black & Company in Milwaukee. He continued his studies and experimented in methods of photo-engraving. In 1873 he accepted the invitation of David Bachrach, Jr. , to use the facilities of the latter's photographic studio in Baltimore. The two worked together and invented a photo-chemical engraving process which they called the "levytype, " and which they patented in January 1875. In the same year Levy organized the Levy Photo-Engraving Company in Baltimore and took into the business his brothers Max and Joseph. In 1877, believing that Philadelphia offered better opportunities for them, the brothers moved there and established the Levytype Company. Later Max and Joseph established similar plants in Chicago and Cincinnati. About 1889 Max Levy returned to Philadelphia and worked with his brother Louis in an effort to develop better methods of half-tone reproduction. They invented the Levy half-tone screen--an etched glass grating--which they patented in Europe and America in 1893. For this invention they received the John Scott Legacy Medal. Louis Levy later invented an etching machine by which etchings could be produced by the application of a spray of acid forced upward against a horizontal metal plate by an air blast. His last invention was a device for applying powdered resin to plates preparatory to the etching process.
After the Levytype Company was established in Philadelphia a publishing department was added to the business. In 1887 Louis Levy purchased the Evening Herald, a Democratic daily which he published until July 1890, and the Sunday Mercury. He used these papers to demonstrate his inventions and to prove that his company could produce engravings of current events promptly.
He was the author of several works, including The Jewish Year (1895), The Jewish Refugees in the United States (1895), and his own reminiscences, Recollections of Forty Years: A Photo-Engraving Retrospect (1912). Among the works which he edited are The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen (1895), by Simon Wolf, and Cuba and the Cubans (1896), by Raimundo Cabrera. In his later years he gave much time to philanthropic work. He was one of the founders and for many years president of the Association for the Relief and Protection of Jewish Immigrants and served as president of the Jewish Community (Kehillah) in Philadelphia.
Levy was known for his invention of a method of photochemical engraving, the "Levytype". For invention of the etching machine he received the Elliott Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1899 and recognition from other sources. He also received the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1907 for the new method of etching. He contributed to many technical journals and was an organizer and leader of many Jewish communal organizations in Philadelphia.
(The American Jew as patriot, soldier and citizen. 624 Pages.)
Levy had married on January 9, 1881, Pauline Dalsheimer of Baltimore. They had two sons.
