Walter Ryan

April 17, 1870 (age 63)

Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

In 1892 Ryan became a student engineer at Lynn, Massachussets, in the shops of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which that year was merged with other organizations into the General Electric Company. After varied and intensive experience he became a commercial engineer and investigated the use of power for operating metal-cutting and wood-working machinery. In the late nineties he determined to specialize in electric illumination, and upon his representations the General Electric Company, on January 1, 1899, established at Lynn an illuminating engineering laboratory. Five years later Ryan was formally appointed illuminating engineer, the first person in the electrical profession to be so designated. Under his direction electric illumination was developed into both a science and an art. The scientific side embraced a photometric and spectro-photometric studies of lighting units and efficiencies and methods of light distribution. Globes and reflectors were developed by scientific procedure and various instruments were introduced for making light measurements. Both arc and incandescent searchlights benefited from these laboratory studies. The artistic aspect of electric illumination, greatly facilitated by the appearance, about 1913, of high capacity incandescent lamps, found expression in spectacular applications of light, with contrasting shadow effects, in combination with color. The first disclosure to the public of these artistic possibilities occurred in 1915, during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco. There Ryan departed from prevailing conventional practices by illuminating the facades of the buildings from concealed sources--from which procedure arose the art of floodlighting of public buildings, business structures, monuments and statuary. He had previously supervised the lighting of the expositions at Buffalo in 1901 and St. Louis in 1904, and subsequently carried out many other spectacular lighting displays, notably the lighting of the Brazilian Centennial Exposition in 1922 at Rio de Janeiro and of "A Century of Progress" in 1933 at Chicago. From 1909 until his death in 1934, Ryan's headquarters and those of the Illuminating Engineering Laboratory were at the main works of the General Electric Company in Schenectady. Between 1920 and 1930 he introduced the revolutionizing conception of high-intensity street lighting. He was constantly engaged in educational work in his chosen field, and from 1917 until his death was lecturer in illuminating engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was actuated in his work by the precision of the engineer combined with the imagination of the artist. Both were sustained by an intense energy, a contagious enthusiasm, and great affability of disposition. These qualities made him a leader of men in all the technical associations of his profession, particularly in the Illuminating Engineering Society, of which, in 1906, he was one of the founders. On June 13, 1932 he was appointed a consulting engineer of the General Electric Company. He died at his home in Schenectady.

Walter D'arcy Ryan

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engineer

Background

Walter D'Arcy Ryan was born at Kentville, Nova Scotia, the son of James William and Josephine (Rasuse) Ryan.

Education

He was educated at Kentville Academy, Professor Currey's School and St. Mary's College at Halifax, Memramcook College at Memramcook, N. B. , and the Royal School of Cavalry at Quebec.

Career

In 1892 Ryan became a student engineer at Lynn, Massachussets, in the shops of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which that year was merged with other organizations into the General Electric Company. After varied and intensive experience he became a commercial engineer and investigated the use of power for operating metal-cutting and wood-working machinery.

In the late nineties he determined to specialize in electric illumination, and upon his representations the General Electric Company, on January 1, 1899, established at Lynn an illuminating engineering laboratory. Five years later Ryan was formally appointed illuminating engineer, the first person in the electrical profession to be so designated. Under his direction electric illumination was developed into both a science and an art. The scientific side embraced a photometric and spectro-photometric studies of lighting units and efficiencies and methods of light distribution. Globes and reflectors were developed by scientific procedure and various instruments were introduced for making light measurements. Both arc and incandescent searchlights benefited from these laboratory studies.

The artistic aspect of electric illumination, greatly facilitated by the appearance, about 1913, of high capacity incandescent lamps, found expression in spectacular applications of light, with contrasting shadow effects, in combination with color. The first disclosure to the public of these artistic possibilities occurred in 1915, during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco. There Ryan departed from prevailing conventional practices by illuminating the facades of the buildings from concealed sources--from which procedure arose the art of floodlighting of public buildings, business structures, monuments and statuary.

He had previously supervised the lighting of the expositions at Buffalo in 1901 and St. Louis in 1904, and subsequently carried out many other spectacular lighting displays, notably the lighting of the Brazilian Centennial Exposition in 1922 at Rio de Janeiro and of "A Century of Progress" in 1933 at Chicago.

From 1909 until his death in 1934, Ryan's headquarters and those of the Illuminating Engineering Laboratory were at the main works of the General Electric Company in Schenectady. Between 1920 and 1930 he introduced the revolutionizing conception of high-intensity street lighting. He was constantly engaged in educational work in his chosen field, and from 1917 until his death was lecturer in illuminating engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

He was actuated in his work by the precision of the engineer combined with the imagination of the artist. Both were sustained by an intense energy, a contagious enthusiasm, and great affability of disposition. These qualities made him a leader of men in all the technical associations of his profession, particularly in the Illuminating Engineering Society, of which, in 1906, he was one of the founders. On June 13, 1932 he was appointed a consulting engineer of the General Electric Company. He died at his home in Schenectady.

Achievements

Ryan was a pioneer in skyscraper illumination. He designed the Scintillator colored searchlights display, and was responsible for the lighting of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, in addition to the first complete illumination of Niagara Falls. He combined illumination into both an art and a science. Among the more significant of his published papers were Light and Illuminating Engineering (General Electric Company, 1903); "Luminous and Flame Arcs versus Open and Enclosed Carbon Arcs for Street Illumination" (Proceedings of the National Electric Light Association, vol. I, 1910); "Illumination of the Panama-Pacific Exposition" (Scientific American Supplement, June 12, 1915); "Building Exterior, Exposition and Pageant Lighting" (Illuminating Engineering Practice, University of Pennsylvania lectures, 1917); "Illumination of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition" (Proceedings of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, vol. XXXVI, 1917); "Lighting the Exposition" (Architectural Forum, July 1933).

Connections

Ryan was married to Katharine Haskins. They had a son and three daughters.

Father:: James William Ryan
Mother:: Josephine (Rasuse) Ryan
Spouse:: Katharine Haskins

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Walter Ryan

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Walter D'arcy Ryan

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